Column: Short-term victory for Clippers could be a big loss depending on Blake Griffin’s injury
His hands clasped over his head, Blake Griffin wandered over to the sideline in disbelief.
Really? Did that really just happen?
The scene that unfolded Friday night at Vivant Smart Home Arena was so astonishing, so unfortunate, it almost made you believe in the existence of the supernatural.
Griffin was injured.
Again.
Griffin slammed his right hand on one of the seats that was part of his team’s bench, unleashing a frustration all too familiar to previous generations of Clippers.
The Clippers Curse was back.
The Clippers claimed a 111-106 victory over the Utah Jazz to take a two-games-to-one lead in the first-round playoff series, only this didn’t feel like a win.
They are in trouble, if not in this round, certainly in the next.
The Clippers still have Chris Paul, who could will them to the next round as he willed them to victory in Game 3. But their standards have changed. The franchise is dreaming of an NBA championship, not of another second-round elimination.
This team won’t be lifting any trophies without a healthy Griffin.
The Clippers’ fate will be determined by the follow-up examinations Griffin underwent late Friday night on the big toe of his right foot.
Coach Doc Rivers wasn’t pessimistic, but he wasn’t optimistic either.
“We don’t know,” he said.
The worst-case scenario was avoided, as a preliminary X-ray examination indicated the toe was bruised and not broken.
“We should have more news tomorrow,” Rivers said.
Whatever the result, the reality is that Griffin didn’t return to the court after his departure late in the first half after a transition layup. If he plays again in this series, he’ll almost certainly be compromised. If he doesn’t, a significant change in strategy will be in order.
“We won’t be able to play through the post so much,” Paul said. “Blake is such a dynamic player. We go to him in the post, and we cut and move off of him. He’s our other assist guy. There’s just a different feeling when he’s on the court.”
And to think how well everything was shaping up.
The Clippers withstood a 21-point opening quarter by Gordon Hayward, the All-Star forward they contained in the first two games of the series. They were about to erase what was once a 14-point deficit.
With 3:53 remaining in the first half, Griffin blew by Rodney Hood for a basket that reduced the Clippers’ deficit to 47-43.
This was the very kind of sequence Jazz coach Quin Snyder wanted to avoid.
Snyder’s team had only three offensive rebounds in the Clippers’ Game 2 victory and the coach said before Game 3 there wouldn’t be much emphasis to change that. With center Rudy Gobert still sidelined, Snyder said he wanted to focus more on transition defense than second chances.
The Jazz were again limited to three offensive rebounds in Game 3.
“They’re tough to guard in transition, one of the most difficult teams in the league,” Snyder said, citing Griffin’s ability to push the ball as one of the reasons.
Ironically, this was the play that ended Griffin’s night.
Rivers called time out soon after, but said he was unaware Griffin was injured. Rivers recalled looking for Griffin in the huddle, only to be told he returned to the locker room for X-rays.
Griffin was the Clippers’ best player up to that point, as he had 11 points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.
If this looked or felt familiar, it’s because it was.
Griffin re-injured his left quadriceps tendon in Game 4 of the opening round of last year’s playoffs against Portland. Paul broke his hand in the same game.
The Clippers dropped the series to the Trail Blazers, four games to two.
Griffin’s durability was again a problem in the regular season. He missed 18 games as he recovered from a knee operation.
The postseason offered the prospect of a new chapter in Clippers history.
Austin Rivers hasn’t played because of a strained left hamstring, but the team’s principal players were healthy: Griffin, Paul and DeAndre Jordan.
As long as they were on the floor, they had a chance against anyone, even their likely second-round opponents, the Golden State Warriors.
Paul alone drove the Clippers to victory Friday night.
That could be enough to win this series, but that won’t be enough to change the story of this franchise. The Clippers are still cursed.
