National Basketball Association

Doc Rivers on Blake Griffin's return: 'There's a chance for Sunday'

Published Mar. 4, 2015 10:51 p.m. ET

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Blake Griffin is nearing his return with the Clippers, and that could come as early as Sunday.

The Clippers play Golden State - which leads the Western Conference - on the road, in a nationally-televised game.

"There's a chance for Sunday," Doc Rivers said Wednesdaybefore the Clippers played Portland.

The Clippers have played well in Griffin's absence, going 7-3 before Wednesday's game.

Griffin had surgery on his right elbow to remove a staph infection, and he stayed in Los Angeles and began workouts while the Clippers went 3-1 on a roadtrip, which included wins at Memphis, Chicago and Minnesota.

"He's better, a lot better," Rivers said of Griffin. "He's working out, I can tell you that. He was doing some shooting yesterday, from what I hear. I didn't actually see it."

If Griffin returns Sunday, he'll have missed 11 games. There was never a timetable for his return, but 4-6 weeks was used as an estimate. He would've been out one day shy of four weeks if he were to return against Golden State.

If not on Sunday, the Clippers host Minnesota on Monday.

The Clippers will have a healthy and rested Griffin for the stretch run and postseason, which means his injury could be a blessing in disguise. Bench players have garnered more minutes, and that's meant success for Spencer Hawes, Austin Rivers, Glen "Big Baby" Davis and others.

In the last week, the injury bug hit Matt Barnes, who missed his second consecutive game with a hamstring injury, and Jamal Crawford, who left Monday's game with a calf contusion, was out Wednesday, too.

Jordan Hamilton started Wednesday for the second consecutive game, and he was signed to a 10-day contract eight days ago.

The Clippers likely will practice Friday and Saturday at their training facility in Playa Vista before Sunday's game, meaning Griffin conceivably have two practices with his teammates before returning. But that's not a necessity.

"It would be important, obviously, but if they told me he was cleared to play and hadn't had a practice, I'd still play him," Rivers said. "You just figure even a rusty Blake is pretty good. But it just so happens if he does play Sunday, we will have two practices (Friday and Saturday), so he'll be able to get that."