LOS ANGELES – The LA Clippers are in the midst of one of their toughest seasons in recent history, struggling to stay afloat in the Western Conference amid the slew of injuries. While Blake Griffin and Milos Teodosic returned from early-season absences, Danilo Gallinari has been out almost six weeks and Austin Rivers has been out nearly a month. So what’s going on with the two key injured Clippers as we near the end of January?
Danilo Gallinari has been out with what was initially called a strained left glute, but was later revealed to be a partial tear of his glute muscle. Gallinari missed 13 games and just under a month of action nine games into the season as he was recovering from the same glute strain. He would return at 100% to play two games, but re-injure that glute after being undercut and landing hard on his hip area.
Earlier this week, Gallinari could be seen on the Clippers practice floor working out and doing drills. Head coach Doc Rivers said before the team’s last game that Gallinari was getting closer to a return, but wouldn’t disclose a timetable yet.
Gallinari spoke to ClutchPoints prior to the team’s ESPN matchup against the Celtics and said he is traveling with the team for the two-game road trip in Memphis and New Orleans, but would not play. He added that although its unlikely, a return on Tuesday back home against the Portland Trail Blazers is a possibility for the nine-year Italian forward.
Gallinari has struggled shooting the ball this season at a career low 34.5 percent shooting from the field and 25.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. It’s unclear how much of his struggles can be attributed to the discomfort and injury, but the Clippers are hoping the second half of the season will bring them the Gallinari that played well for the Denver Nuggets over the last half-decade. Gallinari is averaging 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 three-pointers per game this season.
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Guard Austin Rivers has been out for nearly a month with what the team initially called right Achilles injury. He suffered the injury in a late December game against the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter. The injury initially appeared to be a potentially serious Achilles injury, but Rivers says his Achilles is 100 percent healthy.
Following a second and third opinion on his ankle, Rivers was determined to have a right ankle impingement, which means there’s a pinching of the joint capsule between Rivers’ right tibia and talus, the two bones which slide on one another. Per Physioworks, the two bones have caritlage that cushions the impact of the tibia on the talus during weight-bearing activity. If I understand correctly, it’s the pinching of the joint capsule that caused inflammation in Rivers’ foot, which forced him into a walking boot for about two and a half weeks until the foot was ready to have weight put on it again.
As of Wednesday, Austin Rivers had officially been out of the boot, but Coach Rivers said he doesn’t expect to have the sixth-year guard back for at least another two weeks. It could be more than two weeks, but LA will have severe lack of depth at the point guard position until Rivers can return.
Rivers is averaging career-highs across the board at 15.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 2.5 made three-pointers per agme on 42 percent shooting from the field and 40.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Prior to his injury, Rivers closed December out by putting up a career-high 36 points on the Houston Rockets in a road victory, and followed that up with 38 points the following night against the Grizzlies.
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