Clippers Injuries: Chris Paul Out Indefinitely With Broken Hand, Blake Griffin Out For Postseason

The Los Angeles Clippers announced on Tuesday that two of their star players are injured. Point guard Chris Paul will be out indefinitely with a broken right hand, while power forward Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the postseason due to a re-aggravated left quad.

Clippers Injuries: Chris Paul Out Indefinitely With Broken Hand, Blake Griffin Out For Postseason

Both players suffered their respective injuries during the Clippers’ 98-84 Game 4 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

Paul fractured his hand in the third quarter of Game 4 when he attempted to swipe the ball away from Blazers guard Gerald Henderson as he drove to the basket. Paul was visibly angry as he headed to the locker room early, and eventually left the Moda Center in Portland with a cast on his hand and his arm in a sling.

On Tuesday morning, he underwent surgery to repair the fractured third metacarpal (in the center of the palm) in his right hand, his shooting hand. The usual recovery time for this type of injury usually lasts about three to six weeks.

Just minutes after Paul left the game, Griffin re-tweaked the same left quad injury that forced him to sit out the second half of the regular season. He had suffered a partially torn quad tendon on Christmas Day, and also broke his hand during an altercation with a member of the team’s staff earlier this year. He underwent an MRI on Tuesday morning that revealed no structural damage, but he was declared officially out for the rest of the postseason. However, Griffin is expected to return for training camp.

The Clippers and the Blazers are now tied 2-2 in their first-round series, and Los Angeles will have to continue without their two perennial All-Stars from now on. Game 5 is set for Wednesday night in Los Angeles, and Game 6 will then take place in Portland on Friday.

“Yeah, it’s not the best luck,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday. “I mean, it’s the worst that I’ve seen. There’s storms and every storm, it stops raining at some point. We’ve just got to figure it out. We can’t look at the future other than tomorrow. That’s all we’ve got to do. We’ve got to focus on tomorrow. That’s what our team has to do. We can’t control the noise outside of our team.

Austin Rivers will replace Paul and Jeff Green will replace Griffin in the starting lineup on Wednesday.

PORTLAND, OR – APRIL 23: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers has some words with Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers as Chris Paul #3 of the Los Angeles Clippers looks on in the fourth quarter of Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at the Moda Center on April 23, 2016 in Portland, Oregon. The Blazers won the game 96-88.

Article by Pablo Mena