Los Angeles Clippers Even Up Series
The Clippers house of cards looked one sniff away from an epic collapse after being demolished in Game 3 and appeared as if they were on their way to another epic post-season exit. Instead, an absolutely fired up Los Angeles squad came back motivated and outworked the defending champion Spurs for a 114-105 victory to even up the series at two a piece.
After what was their worse loss in franchise history, the Clippers knew they needed something big in order to put themselves back in a position to win the series. They found it in a big way as the entire squad stepped up to out-hustle San Antonio in Game 3. From the opening tip the Clippers were very active on the defense end and showed they had made the necessary adjustments.
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Chris Paul led the way for the Clippers with an amazing 34 points and 7 assists, with an impressive 10-10 on free throw attempts. Blake Griffin had with 20 points, 7 assists, and 19 rebounds. The bench also provided an exceptional boost despite utilizing only four players. The coach’s son Austin Rivers had 16 points and Jamal Crawford had 15 points. The team also had a great boost from J.J. Redick who had 17 points while DeAndre Jordan provided 14 rebounds.
By comparison, Kawhi Leonard of the Spurs had 26 points while Tim Duncan had 22. Tony Parker, who had been injured in several of the games of the series had a cool 18 points in 29 minutes of play. The Spurs bench provided help in the form of 34 points combined from Manu Ginobli, Patty Mills and Boris Diaw.
The most notable thing that could be seen was the sense of urgency shown by the Clippers throughout the game. Blake Griffin and co. knew that among other issues the team would have to make-up for the deficit of not having Jordan out on the floor to stifle the Spurs Hack-A-Jordan strategy, going for the defensive rebounds on the opposite end of the floor and matching the Spurs on the boards.
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Long regarded as the best floor general in the NBA, Chris Paul showed the composure and focus that reflected his desire to finally reach the conference finals. On top of his offensive effort, his perfect performance from the free-throw line helped bolster the teams performance. After the team’s woes from having DeAndre Jordan at the line, the team did not lose offensive momentum with Paul. Griffin’s effort to make-up the difference on the defensive end was also a key factor that the Clippers will need going into Game 5.
The series now returns to Los Angeles where the Clippers will undoubtedly enjoy the home-crowd support. Fans in Los Angeles will be very ecstatic knowing that the next game in the series will be the most crucial if the Clippers are to advance to the second round. With all the sports talk revolving a certain event going down on Saturday, the Clippers showed that they could take a punch and have worked themselves back into the fight.
Game 5 of series will take place on Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcasted live on TNT.