
LOS ANGELES -- Blake Griffin is out for the rest of the playoffs after aggravating his left quadriceps tendon and Chris Paul had right hand surgery Tuesday, leaving the Los Angeles Clippers without their top two players for the remainder of their first-round series against Portland.
The team said Griffin had an MRI that revealed no further structural damage to the quad that sidelined him for 45 games earlier in the season. He's expected to be ready for training camp in September.
Paul had surgery to repair a hand fracture sustained in the third quarter of Monday night's 98-84 loss in Game 4 that allowed Portland to tie the best-of-seven series 2-2.
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The series victor will face the winner of the Warriors-Rockets series, which Golden State is leading 3-1.
Griffin averaged 15.0 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists, while Paul averaged 23.8 points, 7.3 assists and 4.0 rebounds in the team's first four playoff games.
Game 5 is Wednesday at Staples Center.
"We still have home court. No one has won a road game yet in this series," coach Doc Rivers said. "Now we have to find a way of winning tomorrow and that's as far as we can think right now. My job with the guys is to make sure that they're ready and focused. It's easy when you have the injuries we have to think all kinds of other stuff."
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Rivers had not yet decided who will start in place of Griffin and Paul.
"We've had 10 different lineups on the board," he said. "Most likely it will be a pretty big lineup."
The Clippers are 25-21 in regular-season games and 1-1 in the playoffs without Paul, who missed two games against Houston in last year's Western Conference semifinals.
"We have a very competitive basketball team and they have proven that all year," Rivers said. "We have won games before without key guys and we can win games in the future without key guys."
In the final two weeks of the regular season, the Clippers won by two points at Oklahoma City and by three points in overtime at Utah without Griffin and Paul.
Paul controls the Clippers' offense like few others in the NBA. However, they installed a motion offense for when Paul wasn't on the floor this season, freeing up scoring guards Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers while letting anyone else get the ball moving.
"We were very effective at it," Doc Rivers said. "Thank god we did that because now playing without him we'll be in motion for 48 minutes."