Los Angeles: Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul faces an indefinite injury layoff with a broken hand while Blake Griffin will miss the rest of the season, the NBA team announced Tuesday.
A statement on the Clippers website said Paul, who broke his hand against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, had undergone surgery to repair the fracture.
“Paul will be out indefinitely,” the Clippers said in an injury update.
Another statement on the Clippers website said Paul would be re-evaluated in four to six weeks — a layoff which could mean the 30-year-old’s season is over.
The injury to Paul has dealt a devastating blow to the Clippers’ hopes of mounting a sustained play-off challenge.
With Paul off the court on Monday, the Portland Trail Blazers roared back to claim a 98-84 victory and level the series at 2-2.
The gloomy medical bulletin worsened for the Clippers with confirmation that Griffin will miss the rest of the season.
Griffin aggravated a quadriceps tendon injury which forced him to miss 41 games earlier this season.
Griffin felt a tweak in the muscle after being fouled by Portland’s Mason Plumlee during the third quarter of Monday’s game.
An MRI on Tuesday revealed no further structural damage to the area — but Griffin’s season is over, the team said.
Rivers brushed off suggestions that the Clippers were victims of a curse.
“There’s no jinx there. I don’t know. It’s bum’s luck three years in a row,” Rivers said.
“I get down for like five minutes and I was last night, but you wake up in the morning and you feel like we’re going to find a way and it’s my job to get them to feel like I feel and if we do that, I think we’ll have a fighting chance.”
