Injury Fails to Stop Murray

The Clippers got a scare when forward Lamond Murray, who had 28 points, four rebounds and two blocks in Wednesday night’s 110-104 loss to the Washington Wizards, bruised the palm of his right hand in the second quarter.

Murray, who missed two games after injuring his right hand in a 99-77 loss at Boston last December, went to the locker room for X-rays, which were negative.

Murray started the third quarter, making his first shot.

The Clippers were fortunate not to lose Murray, who is having the best season of his career.

Murray has averaged 15.8 points in his last five games.

“I got a lot of chances [Wednesday against Washington] because they were missing [Juwan] Howard and [Chris] Webber,” Murray said.

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Forward Rodney Rogers, the most modest Clipper, wasn’t impressed after he tied his career high with 34 points in his last game.

“It wasn’t my best offensive game of the season, it could have been better,” said Rogers, who made 12 of 20 shots in 44 minutes.

“I would have been happier if we’d won.”

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Clipper forward Maurice Taylor, who had played only nine minutes in the last two games with tendinitis in his right knee, had 12 points in 12 minutes in the first half.