Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – The injury to Jamal Crawford’s calf is a deep contusion, which he’s had drained at least once in the last 10 days.
Crawford’s missed the last 10 games after injuring his calf March 2 against the Timberwolves. The Clippers hope to get their sixth man of the year candidate back before season’s end, but there’s still no timetable on his return.
Head coach Doc Rivers hadn’t seen Crawford before Sunday’s game, and at that point, Rivers didn’t believe there was any change in Crawford’s status or timetable.
“My guess is no, but I don’t know that for sure,” Rivers said. “Jamal told me he’s feeling better, it just doesn’t seem like he is.”
Crawford’s doing work in the pool and getting massages to rehab the bruised calf, but he still has to stay off it as much as possible, and there’s still no target date for Crawford’s return.
“If no Jamal, then someone else has to step up and you have to do it as a group,” Rivers said. “I think we’ve done that, but it does make it a lot harder, for sure.”
The Clippers have gone 6-4 since losing Crawford. The injury’s meant more time for J.J. Redick, who’s stepped up without Crawford by scoring at least 20 points in each of his last four games and scoring at least 20 points in seven games since Crawford’s been out.
Crawford’s averaging 16.4 points per game this season. He was coming off a month in February in which he averaged 20.1 points per game.
The good news for the Clippers is the rest of the team is healthy. Crawford’s the only player currently unable to play for the Clippers as they make their run to the playoffs.
Rivers said if he thinks a player needs rest toward the tail end of the season, he’ll provide it. He said that’ll depend mostly on the player and head athletic trainer Jasen Powell.
“I know that for a fact a healthy team is better than an unhealthy team,” Rivers said. “I actually like late season rest better than midseason rest. What I still don’t know, and I’m not smart enough to know this, is if you rest in games 40 to 50, is that more effective than resting from games 70-80? We all have theories.”
