Clippers guard Jamal Crawford has missed the team's last nine games with a strained right calf, and his head coach isn't so sure about when the sixth man may return.
“Well, I’m concerned,” Doc Rivers said Saturday, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram's Robert Morales. “I mean, make no mistake about that. I mean, I was pretty confident that Blake (Griffin) would be back at some point, so I didn’t have concern on that. But I do have concern with Jamal; I’ll say that.”
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When pressed about a potential timetable for Crawford's return, Rivers was noncommittal.
“You know, I don’t know right now because he’s improved, but not enough, I can tell you that," he said, per Morales. "He’s nowhere near, in my opinion, playing. So we just have to hope he gets better.”
In Crawford's absence, the Clippers have gone 5-4 and have remained in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture. With a 45-25 record, Los Angeles currently occupies the No. 5 seed and is only 1.5 games behind the Rockets for third place.
While the Clippers' place in the postseason appears to be relatively safe, they will need Crawford's 16.4 points per game off the bench if they intend to go deep into the playoffs.