LOS ANGELES – Here comes the cavalry.
Los Angeles Clippers forward, Blake Griffin, is gearing up to return to the court, just as his team enters the final stretch run of the NBA season.
Griffin has missed 41 games this season with both a quadriceps and broken hand injury, the latter of which was suffered in Toronto, when he punched a team equipment manager.
The team has gone 27-14 in his absence, but have struggled lately, going 4-7 over their last 11 games. Griffin was cleared to practice on Saturday, and was on the court at the team's facility in Playa Vista.
"We're not going to do much contact," said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. "He's just going to go and see what he can do and we'll go from there."
According to sources, Griffin looked great in practice and experienced no discomfort or setbacks. Griffin was suspended four games for conduct detrimental to the team after his incident with equipment manager, and will need to be activated in order to serve the suspension.
"I don't know if one practice is enough to activate him," Rivers continued. "We've got to activate him when we think he's ready to play."
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The start of the suspension has not been announced by the team, but presumably, the team will activate him on Sunday, allowing Griffin to play in the team's final seven games of the season.
UPDATE: Blake Griffin was medically cleared to play on Sunday morning and will begin serving his four-game suspension immediately for punching the Clippers equipment manager. The first game of the suspension will be tonight against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center.
In addition to the Nuggets, Griffin will also sit out games against the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder. Griffin's return to the court is expected to be on April 3 against the Washington Wizards after missing the team's last 45 games.
As expected, the #LAClippers have activated Griffin and he will serve the 1st game of his 4-game suspension today when Clips face #Nuggets — Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) March 27, 2016
Mark your calendars, Blake's coming back. (@LAClippers) https://t.co/WFuiFgLVWs pic.twitter.com/eVudTdo7b3 — FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) March 27, 2016
