Barry Improves as Cast Removed

Clipper guard Brent Barry, who sprained his left thumb in an exhibition game against the Orlando Magic on Oct. 15, had the cast removed from his left wrist and a plastic splint placed on his thumb.

“It feels pretty good,” Barry said. “I did some work yesterday with some silly putty. I think I was supposed to squeeze the silly putty, but I kept making impressions of the newspaper comics.

“It’s really sore because I think I worked it out a little too much yesterday, but a couple weeks and I’ll be back ready to play. They said it’ll be two to three more weeks, but we’ll see if we can bump that up a little bit.”

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Nugget forward LaPhonso Ellis, who has sat out 113 games over the last two seasons because of knee injuries. left the game with 9:40 remaining in the first quarter with a knee injury. Ellis will undergo an MRI exam today.

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Clipper center Kevin Duckworth was called for a flagrant foul with 9:40 left in the third quarter when he knocked Bryant Stith to the court as he was driving for a layup. However, it appeared from video replays that Duckworth got a piece of the ball. . . . Clipper center Dwayne Schintzius, placed on the injured list at the start of the season because of an ankle injury, didn’t make the trip.