Austin Rivers at some point may actually want to thank Al-Farouq Aminu of the Portland Trail Blazers. It was an errant elbow by Aminu in the second quarter of the Clippers’ season-ending 106-103 Game 6 loss at Portland on Friday that busted up the left eye of Rivers.
Rivers missed a quarter of action and came back with 11 stitches around the nearly shut eye. He went on to play an almost unbelievable game considering the circumstances. He scored 21 points, grabbed six rebounds and had eight assists.
Rivers, just 23, has a player option for $3,344,106 for next season.