AUBURN HILLS – The news on Blake Griffin’s ankle could have been better. But given the experiences the Pistons have had with ankles this year, it could have been a whole lot worse, too.
The MRI test on Griffin’s right ankle revealed a bone bruise. He’ll be re-evaluated in a week. But unless the re-evaluation turns up something entirely unexpected, the Pistons will count that as a win.
In a season where Jon Leuer’s sprained ankle suffered in the season’s eighth game knocked him out for the season and Reggie Jackson’s sprained ankle in late December cost him nearly half the season, forgive Stan Van Gundy if he went to bed fearing the worst Thursday.
“It’s disappointing, but at least there’s nothing major there,�� he said after Friday’s practice.
Griffin’s injury came when he took a charge from Julius Randle in Monday’s win over the Lakers.
“Julius Randle fell on his leg,” Van Gundy said. “I didn’t notice it in the game, either. I had to go back and watch it, but that’s what happened.”
Leuer was guarding Randle on Oct. 31 when the Pistons played at Los Angeles when he suffered his ankle injury, which eventually ended his season when Leuer opted for January surgery to remove bone fragments that lodged in ankle ligaments.
“Yup. It’s been tough,” Van Gundy said of the crazy bad luck with ankles the Pistons have endured this season. They were 19-14 when Jackson went down and they’re 4-1 since he returned, but are now five games out of the final playoff spot with only seven games left. “You just deal with it and move on. The silver lining is Henry (Ellenson) gets some minutes here earlier than expected in games that are still pretty meaningful.”
Griffin’s diagnosis means he’ll miss at least the next three games – the weekend back to back in New York against the Knicks and Nets and Wednesday’s home game with Philadelphia. After that?
“The last four, we’ll see where he is,” Van Gundy said. “There’s just no way of knowing on that. It’s a matter of the swelling going down and everything else. A week’s a long time.”
The Pistons could well be eliminated by the time Griffin is ready to return even if they don’t lose another game. Three more Milwaukee wins would clinch a berth for the Bucks. But it’s unlikely Van Gundy would shut down Griffin if he’s ready to play even at that point if for no other reason than to give him more time next to Jackson.
“It’s good that there’s no long-term major problem, but it’s still disappointing because we get Reggie back for the last 12 games and you want to get our group together and now he missed last night and he’ll miss at least the next three,” Van Gundy said. “So it takes away at least a third of the time you could’ve had them together, it not more so.”