The Clippers have done well without Blake Griffin, but that doesn’t mean they won’t welcome his return.
Griffin is out with a fractured right hand after getting into a fight with assistant equipment manager Matias Testi in late January. From Chris Paul to DeAndre Jordan to Jamal Crawford, Griffin's teammates say that when he returns he’ll be welcomed with open arms.
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"We’re his support system," Crawford told USA Today. "We all love Blake. No question about it. We love him to death. We can’t wait until he gets back. This guy is the top shelf of NBA players. He averaged (23.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and five assists per game) — only a couple guys in the world put up those types of numbers. And we know him as a person, so we can’t wait to get him back. We’re just holding it down, doing what we do, until he comes back. He’s our big gun. We know that."
Griffin is focusing on rehabbing and getting ready to help the team make a playoff run. He is expected to be back before the postseason.
"(Griffin is) obviously down that he can’t play," Jordan said. "He’s upset about the fact that he can’t help us out right now. But he’s still working, doing his rehab and conditioning and all of that stuff just to get back, so we’re just trying to keep his spirits up."
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The Clippers have won 22 of 29 games since the five-time NBA All-Star went down with a quad injury on Christmas night. He then broke his right hand in the Jan. 23 fight with Testi. Still, they say he’ll be needed if LA is going to compete for a championship.
"We can’t win a championship without Blake," Paul said recently. "We’re playing for a championship, and there’s no championship without Blake Griffin."