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The LA Clippers season that has been marred by injuries continues on the same path it has over the last couple of months. Forward Blake Griffin exited Saturday afternoon's game with what the team called a concussion in the first quarter against the Golden State Warriors with a scary head injury and did not return to the game, which turned out to be a 105-121 victory for the visiting Warriors.
Head coach Doc Rivers said he didn't catch what happened initially, but the replay on the big screen at Staples Center showed exactly what happened as fans reacted in anguish to what they saw. After the game, Rivers spoke to members of the media, where he explained what he was able to see on his end.
“Honestly, I didn't see it. Obviously, we had the ability to look up and see the replay and he got hit pretty hard. You could always tell, I think it was Curry that accidentally hit him, that when those players stick around, they know it was a hard hit. And then when you see Blake's hand, you knew it was bad.
“I know it's a concussion, unfortunately. I don't ever ask during the game because I knew he wasn't coming back, and the only one that actually told me that was Milos.”
Griffin took an elbow to the head from Warriors' center JaVale McGee as he was driving to the basket and it was immediately evident that something was wrong. Griffin dropped the ball, grabbed his head and collapsed to the floor in obvious pain as the Warriors went ahead to try and score the ball on offense. While four Warriors players made it past half-court, guard Stephen Curry who was very close to Griffin at the time of the injury, stayed alongside him and spoke to him to make sure he was responsive following the hard hit. For a brief moment, scary video captured Griffin's right hand trembling as he was on the floor.
Rivers was able to see his star forward at halftime, and said that Griffin was struggling with the injury.
“I don't know if he lost consciousness,” said Rivers. “I talked to him at halftime and he was struggling. My guess is yes [he did lose consciousness], but I don't know that at all. He was struggling at halftime, so that's not good.
“We're all in the new world of concussions, and so we don't know anything about them, but I do know that it's dangerous and you've got to do all the right things and take all the right steps.”
Griffin will presumably enter the concussion protocol now, where he'll have to undergo a series of rigorous tests to ensure that he's free of any concussion-like symptoms. Coach Rivers said Griffin will most likely miss Monday's game against the Hawks, and he could very well miss more time beyond that.
