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Davis’ Status Uncertain For Game 7

Rowan Kavner

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – Glen Davis is questionable to play Saturday in Game 7 after injuring his ankle in the fourth quarter Thursday night in Game 6.

“Big Baby” was in major pain as he hobbled off to the side of the court, needing help up and off to the tunnel, where he left in a wheelchair.

“It’s an ankle sprain,” head coach Doc Rivers said Friday. “We’ll find out more tomorrow. We won’t know much today.”

Rivers said if Davis can’t go, the Clippers could turn to Spencer Hawes, Hedo Turkoglu or another smaller lineup. Turkoglu has played in five games and registered 22 minutes this series, while Hawes has played in two games with 11 total minutes.

Davis was one of eight Clippers to play in all six games in the series. He’s averaging 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per game in the playoffs.

Rivers said after Thursday’s win that he believed Davis “turned it pretty good.” Rivers joked that he’s “no normal guy to scoop off the floor,” but it saved the Clippers a vital timeout in the game by getting him off to the side.

“We would not have had that timeout,” Rivers said after the win. “That’s why I was screaming because he was out of bounds, so it allowed our guys to try to pick him up, which is not that easy, and get him off. So that was big in a crazy way... Then the second thing is hopefully he’s healthy, or somebody else will play.”

Davis has been vital in giving some brief rest to Blake Griffin and providing some energy off the bench.

Four of the Clippers’ five starters are averaging at least 36 minutes per playoff game. Only three bench players have registered more than 23 minutes in the series, and Davis is one of them.

Chris Paul said after the win he didn’t know how serious the injury was, but that “Big Baby’s a worker.”

“Guys stepped up when he went down, but we need him,” Paul said. “We need him. Baby’s an emotional leader for our team. He really leads that second unit, and we have an amazing training staff – I think the best training staff in the league. Those guys will get him ready to go by Saturday.”