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LOS ANGELES – Talk about a sigh of relief.

After hearing a “pop” in his calf in the second quarter Wednesday, Clippers guard Jamal Crawford thought the worst as he headed for an MRI exam the next day.

"I was praying in the MRI machine, it was like 'give me some good news,’” Crawford said. “I was praying seriously, so I'm just thankful and blessed that it wasn't anything more serious."

Crawford, the leading candidate to win his second Sixth Man of the Year award, sat out for the first time this season in the Clippers’ 108-76 win over the New Orleans Pelicans with a strained left calf. But he’s not expecting to miss much time.

"I it can get better in a day,” Crawford said. “It's something you can't really rush, because it can go all the way backwards and you lose time. You don't want to do that. So, I think we'll just take it day-by-day and go from there."

Crawford, who played in 76 of the Clippers’ 82 games last season, had played all 60 games for the Clippers in 2013-14. He’s averaging 19.0 points, playing 37 games off the bench and 23 in the starting lineup in place of J.J. Redick. Last week he became the first player in the NBA since 2008-09 to score 30 points or more in twice as a starter and twice as a reserve in the same season.

He said Saturday that he had never felt something in his leg like he did when he was forced to leave the game against the Rockets.

“Obviously, I've had a strained calf,” Crawford said. “I think I had a strained calf in Atlanta the year I won Sixth Man. I wore a sleeve that whole year because in the preseason, I didn't stretch my calf, and I was out like a week.

"I was nervous because it popped. I felt a pop, and I didn't feel right. So, I was really, really nervous. I've never experienced anything like that. The more you hear, 'That happens sometimes' it [becomes] not that big of a deal. It popped, but I never experienced it, so I was a little nervous."