Foot Sprain Keeps Jaric Guessing About Return

Marko Jaric, who has sat out the Clippers’ last three games because of a sprained right foot, sounded confident Sunday that he’d be ready to play again Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz.

Twenty-four hours later, his mood had changed.

One week after he’d suffered the injury in practice, he was discouraged by his lack of progress, unsure when he’d be able to return.

“I can’t do much,” he said, sitting in the front row at the FedExForum as teammates warmed up before Monday night’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. “I’m running back and forth and every time I try to push on the [foot], I’m so scared. I feel pain, and I’m scared that something’s going to happen.”

The Clipper point guard has a reputation for dramatizing his injuries, but he sounded genuinely concerned.

“I’m nervous,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with the injury. It really depends.... Morning, it feels a little bit better and then, evening, I’m hurt. Then [I] come here I can run a little bit. I try some more, then I feel like I’m hurt. I don’t know how to feel about the injury, you know? I’m trying to come back as soon as possible.”

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Bobby Simmons missed 10 of 13 shots and scored six points, 10 below his average, in Sunday’s 96-79 loss at Houston.

“He didn’t get a good rhythm,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

But, he added, “I think what you find a lot of times now is, there are a lot of guys going after his elbows. “They’re hitting his elbows some and they’re getting away with it. We’ve got to try to take a look at it, make some film up, send it to the league ... [and] ask the referees to look at it while the game is going on.”