Nagging injuries keep Mobley from finding his rhythm

SACRAMENTO -- Was it the bursitis in Cuttino Mobley’s left elbow or the strained right groin that had sent him into a 19-for-70 shooting slide before Friday?

Both. Neither has completely healed and Mobley still plays with a large sleeve covering his shooting elbow and places ice and wrap on his leg while on the bench.

“That’s the price it is when you get hurt,” Mobley said. “I’m just trying get back to the rhythm of where I was at.”

Mobley engaged in a lengthy conversation with Coach Mike Dunleavy while watching game footage from a laptop at the end of Thursday’s practice. He also leg pressed on a weight machine for the first time since he sustained the strained groin Nov. 7, trying to increase its strength.

He said both injuries are slowly healing.

“It’s like a toothache,” Mobley said of the dual nagging injuries. “You can’t explode as much as you want.”

He sat out two games because of the groin injury and is averaging 33 minutes in 12 games since.

In the Clippers’ seven wins, Mobley averages 15.6 points and shoots 59% from the field. In their losses, he’s at 9.4 points and shooting 29%.

“Cuttino is doing everything he can physically for us,” Dunleavy said. “He is playing not at 100%, but it’s one of those things where he has to mend on the fly for us. Him at whatever percentage he is at right now is better than not having him.”

Center Chris Kaman says he is still waiting to find out if the league will rescind a flagrant foul against him Nov. 17 against the Chicago Bulls.

Kaman came from behind to foul Bulls forward Andres Nocioni as he went up for a layup in a game marked by testy play on both sides.

“I talked to my agent and he hadn’t heard anything yet,” Kaman said. “We’ll see. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Point guard Sam Cassell, who sat out his fifth straight game because of a strained left calf, is scheduled to rejoin the team in Los Angeles today. . . . Jared Jordan, the Clippers’ second-round draft pick this year who was traded to and then waived by the New York Knicks, signed with BC Lietuvos Rytas in the Lithuanian league.

--

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com