Austin Rivers will miss at least one more game of the playoff series with the Jazz because of a left hamstring strain that he suffered late in the season, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. His father and coach, Doc Rivers, said Austin went through a shooting session Saturday for the first time since the injury. He also did some light sprints and dribbling drills as the workout went better than a previous attempt. “I was on the court three or four days ago,” Austin Rivers told Bill Oram of The Orange County Register, “and it didn’t really go as I planned. Didn’t feel good and they took me off and waited a couple more days, with a little treatment and stuff like that. Today we tried it again and it worked.” He is aiming to be ready for Game 3 Friday night in Utah.
There’s more today out of Los Angeles:
- The Clippers are hoping to add a D-League franchise next season, reports Adam Johnson of D-League Digest. The original plan was to have a team in place for 2018/19, but the organization decided it doesn’t want to wait that long. Ontario, California, is the preferred location, and the Clippers are awaiting league approval for that site. If that doesn’t work out, Johnson suggests Bakersfield as an alternative. The city hosted the Bakersfield Jam before that franchise was purchased by the Suns and moved to Northern Arizona. The new team would be the 26th in the D-League and the fourth to join next season.
- The Clippers are facing Utah’s Joe Ingles in the playoffs three years after waiving him. Doc Rivers says the move was necessary because of another contract that the Clippers were obligated to keep, tweets Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. That contract belonged to Jared Cunningham, who only spent 19 games in L.A., according to Dan Woike of DanWoikeSports (Twitter link). Ingles was waived by the Clippers on October 25th, 2014, and claimed by the Jazz two days later.
- The Clippers should have been more inspired in Game 1 considering that their long-term future is at stake, writes Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin can both opt out this summer, and the core of the team could be broken up with another early playoff exit.