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Blake Griffin's sudden injury whispered only words of sadness to L.A. Clippers faithful who have seen this story play itself out before: Here we go again.
Ask guard Austin Rivers, and he's only seen the latter part of the curse that has roamed around this franchise, which has been marred by injuries at the worst possible time.
“They have been saying that for years,” Rivers said of the so-called curse, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “I remember them saying it two years ago when [former Clippers guard] Chris [Paul] went out… They said it was going on before I got here. And then when I got here, I would just hear little jokes about it.”
“Obviously, it’s still jokes. You can go down to any team and they have injuries. It’s part of sports. It is what it is. The only place where it really applies to me is the past three years in a row with the playoffs. I went out last year. Blake was out. Chris went out. It’s not funny. But it’s like, ‘Jesus, what is going on?’”
Griffin had already faced a reputation for being a fragile big man after missing his entire first year in the league with a broken left kneecap after a previously diagnosed stress fracture failed to heal properly.
Any time the Clippers would gain momentum, the air of uncontrollable fate would blow through, smashing the sand castle the team had put together.
This time, Rivers was part of it, which made the issue that much more personal.
“Me and [Lakers guard] Lonzo [Ball] both are on the ground scrambling for the ball, and Blake’s leg is below us,” said Rivers, reminiscing into what took place. “I felt his leg bend backwards a little bit. I stopped caring about the play and started caring about Blake because I felt me and Zo’s bodyweight on his leg.”
Griffin was ruled out for the game and then diagnosed with a sprained MCL, showing no structural damage. The recovery period of two months might just be more than what the Clippers can bear, having recently lost point guard Patrick Beverley and still having Milos Teodosic and Danilo Gallinari sidelined as well.
