Doc Rivers coaches through a glut of Clippers injuries
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All the injuries the Clippers have suffered during training camp haven’t stopped Coach Doc Rivers and his staff from trying to get his team ready for the start of the regular season on Oct. 29.
“If any coach expects everyone to be healthy through camp and is not prepared when you have injuries, then you’re going to have problems,” Rivers said Thursday. “This is how the season is too.”
All-Star power forward Blake Griffin sat out the last two exhibition games with a sore right ankle, and he’s not expected to play Friday night when the Clippers play their first home exhibition this fall at Staples Center against the Portland Trail Blazers. Griffin also has missed some practices with a bone bruise in his left knee.
Starting guard J.J. Redick (bruised left quad), forward Matt Barnes (sore left calf) and rookie Reggie Bullock (sore right knee) also haven’t practiced yet.
Rivers said all three players are getting close to returning to the court, but they probably won’t play this weekend when the Clippers play Portland and against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Rivers hopes Redick, Barnes and Bullock will begin practicing next week. Meanwhile, second-year guard Maalik Wayns needs surgery for a torn cartilage in his left knee.
“In a perfect world, I would have loved for everybody to be healthy so we can get everything in. But we live in an imperfect world and so we have to make adjustments and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Rivers said.
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