Things out West are tough.

It's almost a guarantee that either the Thunder, Suns, or Pelicans are going to miss out on the postseason despite being top-16 teams based on four to six weeks with a staph infection in his right elbow.

What will this injury mean for the Clippers? Do they have the depth to sustain it? They beat up the unfortunate Mavericks last night, but can that trend continue?

The Impact

Right now, the Clippers are sitting pretty with a 99.2 percent chance to make the postseason, per our math. They also have a 6.3 percent chance to win the title, fourth-highest in the NBA. They're also pegged to win roughly 51 games and lose 31. So how do things look without Blake?

Well, not that bad, really. Based on simulations without Griffin in the lineup, the drops are minimal.

According to our metrics, if Griffin were to miss four weeks, the Clippers should expect to lose only 0.83 more games than they would with him in the lineup, and if he was out six weeks, that would cost them 1.25 wins. Hardly anything, right?

With Blake out, their playoff odds drop from 99.2 percent to just 97.0 percent. Again, not much, but they're already 34-19. What about their NBA Title hopes? That declines from 6.3 percent to 5.5 percent. That would drop them from fourth to fifth in the current race, but most important is that they'd fall behind the Dallas Mavericks, whose odds currently sit at 5.9 percent.

1.25 wins doesn't sound like much over the final stretch of the year, but right now, they're on pace for 51.1 wins, tied with the Mavs for seventh-most in the league and fifth-most in the West, per our math. They're already sitting in sixth in the Western Conference standings, and this decline in wins could help San Antonio, currently projected for 49.3, leap them in the standings.

What Will Change

This year, Griffin's basketball-reference.com, the Clippers are, unsurprisingly, worse on offense. Their effective field goal percentage with Griffin on the court (1,800 minutes) is .545. Without him, it's just .498. Their offensive rating drops from 117.2 to just 103.9, too. The Clippers currently boast an NBAwowy.com, Paul sees a drastic bump in usage rate. With Blake on the floor, Paul's usage rate is just 21.9 percent -- the same as last night. Jordan's defensive rebounding rate without Griffin is 34.7 in 313 minutes compared to 29.9 with him -- in 1,466 minutes. His offensive rebounding rate jumps from 14.7 with Blake to 20.1 without him.

Filling in for Griffin will be some combination of Spencer Hawes and Glen Davis, both of whom have nERDs on the wrong side of zero (-0.9 for Hawes and -0.6 for Davis). Really, they're (slightly less than) replacement-level talents in the NBA, which is a big reason why the Clippers shouldn't expect to plummet in the standings too drastically.

With the increase for the efficient Chris Paul, even better rebounding outputs for Jordan, and a combination of forwards who really aren't taking too much away from the Clippers at the four, Los Angeles should be able to continue winning in the West. And that's saying a lot, as 11 of their next 14 games come against top-13 teams in our power rankings.