Good Time for a Little R

Starting today, the Clippers have five days to rest, relax and recover from an injury-filled first 28 games. They are scheduled to practice today, Tuesday and Thursday before facing the Suns on Friday at Phoenix, although they may not have enough healthy bodies to scrimmage.

“We’re not going to be able to do much at all,” Coach Alvin Gentry said. “We’re not going to have training camp-type practices. We’ll shore up some things mentally.”

Gentry hopes to soon have Elton Brand and Eric Piatkowski back from calf and abdominal strains and believes Quentin Richardson, who sprained his left ankle last week, will be sound.

What’s more, Lamar Odom is scheduled to return Saturday against the Golden State Warriors, ending an 11-month layoff because of wrist and ankle sprains. Odom said last week he thought he could play Friday, but is expected to say today that his return will be Saturday.

“If we get those guys back, we have to incorporate them back into the team again,” Gentry said of getting his starting lineup healthy again by the weekend. “I just want us to get healthy so we can have some kind of consistent rotation.”

The Clippers haven’t looked like themselves recently, with Tremaine Fowlkes and rookie Chris Wilcox starting at the forward spots and Marko Jaric filling in at point guard, shooting guard and small forward.

In Saturday’s victory over Denver, Fowlkes scored a career-best 16 points in 46 minutes and Jaric had 22 points, six steals, three rebounds and two assists in 43 minutes.

Elliott Teaford