Clippers expect to see Blake Griffin return ‘sooner than later’

The talk of Blake Griffin inching closer to a healthy return is a positive sign for the injury-riddled Clippers.

Though there was no official timetable for Griffin’s return from a medial collateral ligament sprain to his left knee, the belief is that he’ll be back within a couple of weeks.

When Griffin sustained the injury while playing against the Lakers on Nov. 27, the Clippers said the power forward could be out up to eight weeks.

“He’s close, I can tell you that,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “He’s going to come back probably sooner than later.”

Griffin has been rehabilitating his knee at the team’s practice facility over the past three-plus weeks.

“He’s been great,” Rivers said. “Watching him work out is inspiring. Obviously he’s not on the floor. People don’t get a chance to see that. But he works as hard as any guy I’ve seen.”

Clippers hold out Teodosic

Clippers guard Milos Teodosic didn’t play Friday night against the Houston Rockets for what the team said is “return from injury management.”

The Clippers are being careful with Teodosic after he missed 22 games because of a plantar fascia injury to his left foot.

Because he’s still on a minutes restriction, the Clippers don’t want Teodosic to play in back-to-back games. Rivers said Teodosic will play Saturday night at Memphis.

“Yeah, it’s just the same protocol,” Rivers said. “If you are going to do a back-to-back, you always sit them in the first one. That way it gives him more time to recover from the last game.”

When Teodosic returned to play Dec. 11 against the Miami Heat at Staples Center, he also played at Orlando two days later.

The Clippers held him out of the Washington Wizards game on Dec. 15, but Teodosic played in the second of the back-to-back games on Dec. 16 at Miami.

Beverley upbeat

Patrick Beverley just couldn’t stay away from the Clippers, joining them at the shoot-around early Friday and later at the game against the Rockets.

Beverley was using crutches to get around for the right knee he had season-ending surgery on last month.

Beverley has been rehabbing in Houston.

As he sat on the bench in the first quarter, the Rockets paid tribute to Beverley, showing highlights of his time here. He was traded from the Rockets to the Clippers for Chris Paul.

“I’m good and taking it day by day,” Beverley said. “I’m getting better. I’ve been in a personal situation where I didn’t have to kind of go through the same thing other people had to go through with this type of injury. So, we’ll see.”

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Update: The Grizzlies are next to last in scoring in the NBA, averaging 96.6 points a game. They are ranked 25th in shooting (44%) and 26th in three-point shooting (34.6%). But the Grizzlies still defend well, holding teams to 101 points a game, sixth in the league.

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BA_Turner