Clippers forward Elton Brand took another major step Monday to playing in a game this season when he participated in his first sanctioned full-court scrimmage.
Under the watchful eyes of Coach Mike Dunleavy and the team's athletic trainer Jasen Powell, Brand ran five-on-five for 20 minutes.
Brand said that his lower left leg is fully healthy and that he can run and jump without restriction. As for his game, it is rusty, as expected.
"A little but it wasn't bad,'' Brand said. "I got some blocked shots, I got some rebounds, I got some buckets. I was very comfortable.''
Dunleavy's assessment was that Brand still needs more workouts, similar to Monday's, to get in better game-playing condition.
"There's more conditioning that needs to be done, for sure,'' Dunleavy said. "But it was a good first step.''
OC Register
"My feelings are, if you didn't know I was out for a while and watching the practice, I fit in pretty well," Brand said, adding that his Achilles' is 100%. "It's totally healed now. Now it's just pushing it and just playing."
Coach Mike Dunleavy gave a target date for Brand's return for the first time, pinning down the last five or six games of the season.
LA Times
