Austin Rivers receives 11 stitches after elbow to face

Players on the Los Angeles Clippers are dropping like flies at the worst possible time.

Already without the services of stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the Clippers lost Austin Rivers - the guard who had replaced CP3 in the starting lineup - just minutes into the opening quarter of Game 6 on Friday night.

While going for a rebound, Rivers took an accidental elbow to the face from Portland Trail Blazers forward Al Farouq-Aminu, resulting in two cuts around his left eye.

He immediately headed to the back, and received 11 stitches to close the wound - four on the top cut, and seven on the bottom.

Rivers returned to the bench midway through the second quarter.