LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Clippers were gift-wrapped a 108-78 win over
the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night. Shortly before the start of the
game, the Cavaliers announced their star players would not be playing in this
game due to rest.
Blake Griffin led the way for the Clippers with a game-high
23 points and seven boards. DeAndre Jordan scored 13 points and grabbed 17
rebounds. J.J. Reddick chipped in 16 points.
“It’s a different game without Lebron, Kyrie, and Kevin
playing, obviously,” said Griffin. “We’re not going to pretend like it’s not.
But at the end of the day, you still have to go out and execute.”
It took the Clippers a quarter and a half to finally
separate themselves from the short-handed Cavaliers and ease the stress of the
home crowd. As they took control of the game by scoring 13 unanswered points,
Cav’s coach Tyronn Lue resorted to intentionally fouling Jordan for on
possession; Jordan split the pair of free throws and Lue didn’t go back to the
well. That was the turning point of the game, as Cleveland didn’t have enough
its arsenal to challenge the Clippers on the scoreboard.
“Guys started making shots,” said Chris Paul, who didn’t
make a field goal in the game for the seventh time in his career. “I still
didn’t, but I think our defense got a little better, we started getting out in
transition defense.”
Griffin put an exclamation on the Clippers’ second quarter
dominance with two seconds left in the first half when he caught the Cavs
sleeping and came unimpeded down the lane to rebound a DeAndre Jordan missed
free throw with an emphatic put-back dunk. The Clippers led 47-31 at the half
and never looked back.
“The ball just kind of took several bounces, a couple of
more bounces than any of us thought and I just happened to be there… I just got
lucky,” said Griffin. “Our trust was high tonight, that is what I like the
most.”
Even with Cleveland’s big three sitting out this game for
rest, the Clippers’ recent defensive woes surfaced when Iman Shumpert sank an
open 19-foot jumper then drove for an uncontested layup for the games first two
baskets.
However, the home team quickly got their affairs in order as
they forced and took advantage of seven empty possessions to go on a 12-0 run. The Cavs responded with a 14-2 run of their
own, holding the Clippers scoreless for the final 3:28 of the period, to lead
16-14 after the first quarter.
The Clippers entered the game as losers of three straight
and in sixth place in the Western Conference standings. Oklahoma City tied them
with the same record but was in fifth place due to a tiebreaker. It was a
much-needed win for Los Angeles, who play three beatable opponents in the
Knicks, Lakers, and the Mavericks next on the schedule before playing the
fourth-place Utah Jazz next Saturday, March 25.
Chris Paul didn’t make a field goal on eight attempts.
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