Clippers at Nuggets
The Los Angeles Clippers figured out how to win without star power forward Blake Griffin last season, but finding success without point guard Chris Paul is proving to be more difficult. The Clippers will try to bounce back and earn their first win since Paul's latest injury when they visit the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.
Paul sat out seven of eight games bridging December and January with a hamstring injury and watched Los Angeles go 2-5 in those games, and the team dropped a 104-101 decision on Thursday after it was announced that Paul would need surgery to repair a damaged ligament in his left thumb and would be out six-to-eight weeks. “There are a lot of things (Paul) can do that (Raymond Felton) and I just can’t do," Clippers guard Austin River told reporters of he and fellow guard Felton, who figure to share Paul's responsibilities. “We just have to be ourselves and play hard. I think our effort can outweigh things. We’re undermanned. We’ve got to play harder than everybody else." The Nuggets can relate, though their key injuries are shorter term with Wilson Chandler (personal), Darrell Arthur (leg), Gary Harris (ankle) and Danilo Gallinari (ankle) all day-to-day. Denver was missing all four players on Thursday and did not quite have the firepower to get around San Antonio as a three-game winning streak came to an end.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), Altitude (Denver)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (29-15): Paul's injury comes with Los Angeles on the verge of getting Griffin, who sat out the last 16 games following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, back in the lineup. "We’re excited," Clippers center DeAndre Jordan told reporters. "I’m ready for Blake to come back. I know he’s extremely ready to be back on the floor. Whenever both of those guys are back and we’re a full, healthy team, we’re going to be pretty tough. While these guys are still out, everybody’s going to step it up even more and be ready to play." Griffin is running and going through basketball drills but has yet to participate in full contact practices.
ABOUT THE NUGGETS (17-24): Denver is reportedly shopping center Jusuf Nurkic with the trade deadline approaching, and he has become expendable due to the rapid development of Nikola Jokic. Jokic collected a career-high 35 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Thursday's setback and is averaging 29 points and 12 boards during a run of four straight double-doubles. The Nuggets are starting Jokic alongside veteran Kenneth Faried, leaving Nurkic to average nine minutes and 3.3 points in the last four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nuggets rookie SG Jamal Murray is shooting 19.2 percent from 3-point range in eight games this month.
2. Jordan scored a career-high 29 points on 12-of-15 shooting Thursday and is 31-of-36 from the floor in the last three contests.
3. Los Angeles earned a 119-102 win over Denver with Paul on Dec. 20 but lost the rematch 106-102 six days later with the star point guard out of the lineup.