LOS ANGELES – The LA Clippers have officially been eliminated from NBA playoff contention, which means that any players with some nagging injures will likely take it easy over the final two games of the season or even possibly take nights off to avoid any further injury.
According to head coach Doc Rivers, it appears that both center DeAndre Jordan and guard Lou Williams are two candidates to miss Monday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans and/or Wednesday's season finale against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“[DeAndre] has been laboring with his ankle for almost a month and no one knew that,” revealed Rivers after the Clippers loss to the Nuggets. “We didn't want to share it with anybody, but he has been. Literally, you could see him [struggling] and yet he kept playing. He doesn't miss games. I swear, with that ankle, he was never right once he came back and I'm gonna tell you most guys miss 10 more games at least and he just wanted to play and be out on the floor. I thought that was the type of group we had all year.
“I'll ask him [if he can play Monday], but I'm gonna try to get them all to play. Lou sprained his ankle in the Utah game and he was iffy going into the game, but he just said I want to go and see what I can do. My guess would be probably no Lou, but I'm gonna try to get them all to play.”
There's really no reason to play either Jordan or Williams in the final game of the season against the Lakers, but Rivers did say he wanted to protect the integrity of the game by playing his main guys on Monday night when the Pelicans, who are fighting to desperately hold onto their playoff spot, visit Los Angeles for their second-to-last game of the season.
Jordan, who was expected to have a down year with the absence of Chris Paul, is averaging 12.2 points, 15.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 0.9 blocks per game on 64.4 percent shooting in 75 apperances this season. He is currently not listed on the injury report, but anything could happen by the time the game is set to tip off.
Williams, who is easily the leading candidate to win the Sixth Man of the Year award, is averaging 22.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.4 three-pointers per game on 43.5 percent shooting from the field and 35.9 percent from beyond the arc in 79 appearances this season. He is officially listed as doubtful to play on Monday night.
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