Los Angeles Clippers Forward Blake Griffin Diagnosed With Sprained MCL, Out for Two Months
The good news is that Blake Griffin managed to avoid a serious injury to his surgically repaired left knee. The bad news is that he's still going to be out for a while, so the Los Angeles Clippers will have to find a way to stay competitive while he's on the shelf.
The team has announced that Griffin has medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain in his left knee and he's expected to miss up to eight weeks while he recovers from the injury. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam also revealed that there was no structural damage in the knee.
The All-Star forward sustained the injury when Austin Rivers fell on his knee during a loose ball scrum late in the fourth quarter of their 120–115 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.
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Griffin actually tried to play through the pain, but they had to pull him out of the game soon after because he was visibly limping up and down the floor.
"I knew immediately, I thought," Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said, via ABC News. "But then Blake said he was ok. I just saw his leg go in, and then when they switched on back-to-back plays, he couldn't move so we had to get him out of the game," he added.
With Griffin sidelined, DeAndre Jordan is now the only opening night starter healthy enough to suit up for the team. Patrick Beverley (knee injury), Miloš Teodosić (left plantar fasciitis) and Danilo Gallinari (strained left glute) are dealing with injuries of their own.
The injuries are starting to really pile up for the Clippers. Now Jordan, Lou Williams and Austin Rivers will have to shoulder the scoring load.
"Listen, you don't want injuries," Rivers said after Monday's game, via the Los Angeles Times.
"And when you have them, you just got to pull within and see if you can steal each game. That's where we're at right now. Every game is a game that we have to try to get and that's where we're at," he continued.
