Blake Griffin nearing return as he practices with Clippers

Blake Griffin shooting the basketball

Blake Griffin/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

Blake Griffin of the L.A. Clippers on Saturday practiced with his team, which means he is on the cusp of returning to action for the first time since Christmas. He has missed 41 consecutive games with first a partially torn left quad tendon and then a fractured right hand.

The Clippers (44-27) are so far 24-17 without their power forward and leading scorer.
Griffin’s right hand healed quicker than the quad injury, even though the former happened Jan. 23 and the latter was discovered the day after Griffin and the Clippers beat the Lakers on Dec. 25.

Griffin has been shooting and conditioning for a while, but this was his first actual practice, which means he is cleared for contact.

“Yeah, well, we’re not going to do much contact anyway,” coach Doc Rivers said before practice. “He’s just going to go and see what he can do. We’ll go from there.”

After practice, word came from a Clippers spokesman that Rivers said Griffin looked “phenomenal” in practice and did not sit out at all. His conditioning was better than expected.

Griffin still must serve a four-game suspension imposed by the team (with input from the league) for fracturing his hand on the face of team assistant equipment manager Matias Testi on Jan. 23 in Toronto, once he’s deemed ready to play by the Clippers. With his high marks Saturday, that could take place before Sunday’s game against the Denver Nuggets at 12:30 p.m. at Staples Center.

If that’s the case, Griffin would be eligible to return April 3 when the Clippers host the Washington Wizards. That would give Griffin seven regular-season games to shed the rust ahead of the playoffs. And there will be rust, Rivers said, “because you’re not playing basketball.”