Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin suffered a high ankle sprain in practice Monday, and tried to push through it in Game 5, but could manage only 19 minutes in a 103-93 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies that pushes them one loss away from elimination.
Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro called the injury a "freakish" accident. According to Del Negro, Griffin was working on a post move half speed in practice when he came down on the foot of teammate Lamar Odom. Griffin was unsure if he would even suit up for the game Tuesday night, but wound up trying to play as much as possible.
Griffin scored four points, grabbed five rebounds and had five assists in 19 minutes of floor time, but was clearly limited. The Clippers were minus 11 points with the hobbled Griffin on the floor. Griffin called playing through the injury a challenge and his status for Game 6 is uncertain.
"I've never had a high ankle sprain before," Griffin said. "I don't think I've ever had [an ankle sprain] this bad before. Normally, I can go in a couple days or the next day. We just got to wait and see. It's two days. I felt good enough at the beginning of the game today, but it just kind of got worse as the game went on. Hopefully, two days of rest and two days of treatment will help me."
On facing elimination, Griffin said winning Game 6 and sending the series back home will not be easy. "They are tough at home," Griffin said. "But we've gotten tough wins at their place before. So you can't rule anything out. Obviously, this is it. Our backs are against the wall. We have to play with a sense of urgency or everybody knows what happens."
With his lob partner injured Clippers point guard Chris Paul assumed the scoring load, pouring in a playoff career-high 35 points, but it wasn't enough to combat the Grizzlies' bruising interior. Zach Randolph turned in a 25-point, 11-rebound effort for Memphis, while Marc Gasol had 21 points and eight boards.
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