NBA Playoffs: Injuries to Clippers’ Blake Griffin, Bulls’ Rajon Rondo shake up teams’ fortunes

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin, centre, and Utah Jazz forward Gordon Hayward, left, and centre Boris Diaw (33) look for a rebound during the first half of Game 3 of their NBA irst-round plShow more

Los Angeles Clippers star forward Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the NBA playoffs because of a big toe injury, the team announced Saturday.

The news came less than 12 hours after the injury to the plantar plate of his right big toe suffered during the Clippers’ 111-106 win over the Utah Jazz on Friday night in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls lost for the first time in their series to the Boston Celtics just a few hours after finding out starting point guard Rajon Rondo suffered a thumb injury that would keep him out for the rest of the play-offs.

Griffin, a five-time All-Star, will be re-evaluated upon the team’s return from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.

The 6-foot-10, 251-pound Griffin injured the toe after landing awkwardly with 3:18 left before halftime. He went to the locker room during a subsequent timeout and had X-rays taken on the toe.

Griffin scored 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and collected six rebounds in 18 minutes. He averaged 25.0 points and 6.0 rebounds during the first two games of the series against the Jazz.

During the 2016-17 regular season, Griffin averaged 21.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists in 61 games.

Griffin, 28, has been plagued by injuries throughout his career. In last year’s playoffs, he aggravated a left quadriceps injury in Game 4 of the Clippers’ first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers and did not return for the remainder of the series. The Clippers eventually were eliminated in six games.

Griffin missed 18 straight games earlier this season after undergoing surgery on his right knee.

With Griffin out in the second half, Clippers point guard Chris Paul sparked the team’s second-half rally Friday night, finishing with a season-high 34 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists.

“One of the biggest adjustments is, we probably won’t be able to play through the post so much,” Paul explained after the game how different the Clippers’ offence will be without Griffin.

“He’s such a dynamic player. We go to him in the post, and we cut and move off him. ... He’s our other assist guy. Just his leadership, it’s just a different feeling when he’s on the court.”

The Clippers have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 will be Sunday night in Utah.

Chicago setback

Eastern Conference top seeds Boston also clawed back from an 0-2 deficit, beating the Bulls in Chicago 104-87 after dropping the first two games of their series at home.

“That was our only goal for this game was (to) just get the win no matter what for us to have a chance to make it a series,” the Celtics’ Jae Crowder said.

“You go down 0-3 and it’s really, really tough for you to fight back, but we just wanted to take it one game at a time and get this game and give ourselves a chance.”

Al Horford scored 18 points, Isaiah Thomas and Crowder added 16 each as five Boston players scored in double figures.

Dwyane Wade scored 18 points and Jimmy Butler chipped in 14 for Chicago, but the Bulls offence looked stagnant without Rondo.

Butler connected on just seven of his 21 shots from the floor and didn’t get to the free throw line.

The Bulls didn’t have a single assist in the third quarter as they struggled to get their offence going.

“We’re not going to put this all on us missing Rondo because if that’s the case we might as well not show up anymore because it looks like we’re going to be missing him for awhile,” Wade said. “We have to figure out a way to be better.”

OKC get one back against Houston

Russell Westbrook produced yet another triple-double and the Oklahoma City Thunder held on for a crucial 115-113 victory over the Houston Rockets in the NBA playoffs on Friday.

With the win on their home court, the Thunder avoided falling into an 0-3 hole in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series, narrowing the deficit to 2-1.

In Oklahoma City, Westbrook became the first player to notch back-to-back triple-doubles in the same playoff series since Jason Kidd in the 2002 Eastern Conference finals.

But even his 32 points, 11 assists and 13 rebounds were barely enough against the Rockets, who had a chance to win at the buzzer only for James Harden to miss a three-point attempt.

Westbrook’s second missed free throw in the waning seconds had kept the door open for the Rockets, who had tied it at 111-111 with 52 seconds to play on a Harden three-pointer.

Westbrook responded with his first three-point attempt of the game. It didn’t fall, but teammate Steven Adams was there for the tip-in that put the Thunder back in front.

* From wire reports

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