Austin Rivers Injury: Updates on Clippers Guard's Face and Return

Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers suffered a facial injury in the first quarter of Friday night's first-round Game 6 matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers.Continue for updates.Rivers Returns Despite Big HitFriday, Apr. 29Going up for a rebound, Rivers was elbowed in the face by Portland's Al-Farouq Aminu and immediately hit the floor. Cameras caught a glimpse of the area around his eye that was badly bruised and bleeding profusely, via Alex Kennedy of BasketballInsiders.com:According to ESPN.com'sArash Markazi, Rivers received stitches for two cuts and returned with 5:28 to go in the second quarter.A bench player for a majority of his NBA career, Rivers has been Chris Paul's primary backup since his father, Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers, acquired him from the New Orleans Pelicans in 2015.But when Paulbroke his handduring Game 4 on Tuesday night, Austin Rivers was thrust into the starting role to keep the team's backcourt afloat.In the first four games of the series, Rivers averaged just 18.5 minutes and seven points per game.In Game 5, Rivers played 37 minutes, scoring 13 points, including a monster dunk, but it wasn't enough as the Blazers took a 3-2 series lead with a 108-98 win:While Rivers was off of the floor, the Clippers have looked toward 38-year-old Pablo Prigioni and NBA Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford to play the point.Prigioni isn't much of a threat, having averaged 2.5 points and 2.2 assists per game this season, but Crawford brings a dangerous scoring threat to the position.But after having lost Paul and forward Blake Griffin (quad), the Clippers are relying heavily on DeAndre Jordan, Jeff Green and Crawford to keep their season alive. Rivers' return at least ensures that Los Angeles has another option.Against a Blazers team that is full of confidence after three straight wins in the series though, that might not be enough to force a Game 7.Stats courtesy ofBasketball-Reference.com.
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