Chris Paul has bruised thumb

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Grizzlies Win On The Road

Highlight Of The Night: Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley combined to score 66 points as the Grizzlies held Blake Griffin to four points in a 103-93 Game 5 victory.Tags: Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Game 5, Game 6, NBA Playoffs

Grizzlies Win On The Road

LOS ANGELES -- As if the Clippers needed to deal with any more injuries, point guard Chris Paul was diagnosed with a bruised left thumb after Tuesday's Game 5 but is expected to start Friday's Game 6 against the Grizzlies.

Meanwhile, Blake Griffin, who suffered a high right ankle sprain during Monday's practice and was taken out of Tuesday's game early, underwent an MRI and X-ray Wednesday, which came back negative. Griffin was hardly able to walk after the game and his availability for Friday is still in doubt.

Memphis leads the series 3-2 after a 103-93 win Tuesday.

Paul injured his thumb when it got caught in the jersey of Grizzlies forward Quincy Pondexter in the first half. Paul left the Clippers' locker room after the game with his left hand and thumb heavily taped but he did not want to talk about the injury when asked.

"I'm cool, I'm good," Paul said. "I hit myself."

"He'll be fine," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said Wednesday.

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The Clippers did not practice Wednesday but will go through a light workout Thursday before boarding their flight to Memphis.

"He's just getting therapy right now," Del Negro said. "He battled through it last night. He couldn't move real well. Right now it's such a physical series; we'll just see how he feels."

Del Negro said Lamar Odom would start if Griffin could not go but wanted to see how he felt Thursday and Friday before making any decision. Griffin is officially listed as day to day.

"As the game went on he got fatigued," Del Negro said. "Offensively I thought he did some good things but defensively it was hard for him to move. You could tell on his rotations. He gave us the effort he could but he just wasn't improving well enough and in the third quarter you could see him get fatigued and we just had to shut it down. It's just terrible timing."

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Arash Markazi

ESPNLosAngeles.com

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• Former columnist and writer after five years with Sports Illustrated
• Markazi has also written for Slam, King, Vibe and Playboy
• On board of directors for Jim Murray Memorial Foundation.