Clippers Steal Game 1 from Grizzlies

Blake Griffin grabbed the rebound as the clock expired. He quickly high stepped his way towards the Grizzlies logo at half court. He looked like he was going to run out of the building, trying to escape with this victory the Clippers stole. In an instant, he jerked his head around, eyeing a Grizzly to taunt, any Grizzly, before he came back to his team sports senses and began bumping chests with the pile of Clippers players celebrating their victory. Somehow, the Clippers rallied from a 27 point deficit for the win.

It shouldn’t come back to this point, but for the first round, the first game, the celebration seemed like too much. It wasn’t like they won an overtime game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But the Clippers have not been in the playoffs since 2006, and to finally get a long awaited playoff win in dramatic fashion no less, the exuberance as the clock expired seemed justified. The fist pumping, chest thumping was antagonistic by nature, but it arose organically considering where the Clippers came from both in that game and as a franchise historically. The few minutes of shouts and cheers from Clippers players were nearly drowned out by the deafening silence of the 18,111 on hand at the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis.

So how did they do it? Well it wasn’t by letting the Grizzlies take a 34-16 lead in the first quarter. Nor by letting the Grizzlies score 58 points in the first half. The Clippers however were only outscored by 1 and 2 points in the second and third quarters respectively. Really? That seemed entirely against the run of play as Memphis continued to dominate. But the numbers say the Clippers were in the game, and Memphis wasn’t going to shoot about 70% the whole game. Down 27 points, frankly, it looked like the Clippers in the playoffs.

Then in the fourth quarter, the bench came in and replaced the ineffectual starters. And the bench changed the flow of the game. Bledsoe, Young, Evans, and Williams matched Memphis’ energy and changed the whole atmosphere in the building.

Then there are conflicting reports about how this next part went down. Chris Paul in his post game interview said he told Coach Del Negro that it was time for him and the starters to get back in the game and (actually) have a go at winning the game. In his post game news conference, Del Negro spoke of how he (Del Negro himself) never gave up, implying that putting the starters on the bench and then back in the game was all part of his coaching strategy. Paul implied that it was his coaching from the bench, and then overall on the court direction that won the game. He was also quick to credit the bench (Reggie Evans gets the game ball in his book). Inferring implications from press conferences is an ill-advised idea, but if there is any truth to these divergent accounts, Del Negro will certainly be gone at the season’s end—a sequel similar enough to his two-year stint in Chicago that Hollywood could make a two movies out of it.

Either way, Nick Young made clutch 3-pointers down the stretch, knocking them down like he’d been there before, which of course the Clipper and previous Wizard obviously has not. Young put on a similar display in the Clippers most recent victory against OKC.

Down by one with a minute remaining, Chris Paul penetrated and then went up for a contested shot. Thinking better of taking the shot, he dumped the ball off to the rolling Blake Gr . . . no, Reggie Evans for the two steps and finger roll over the rotating defender? The Clippers took their first lead of the game. Reggie Evans, who received less playing time as the season wore on, was on the court down the stretch, took down 13 boards, and took the lead on a play, which considering the unlikelihood of its source, drew comparisons to Matt Greene’s game winner in Game 1 of the Kings series against the Blues.

Rudy Gay countered with a two of his own, the Clippers countered back with Chris Paul making two free throws, and rather than taking multiple attempts at tying the game, Rudy Gay went for the win over a contesting Kenyon Martin and fell up short. In the end, the Clippers outscored the Grizzlies 35-13 in the fourth quarter.

Insert jumping, celebrating on the court, and in front of every television set that was still turned on, even though it was unlikely to still be turned to TNT. Insert disbelief in Memphis, as Griffin turned to taunt the Grizz after their unbelievable loss, If the Grizzlies manage to rally, which is a tall order after they crumbled under the fourth quarter pressure on Sunday night, they will remember the Clippers celebrating on their home court. And with Blake Griffin involved, this one could get ugly before one team gets out of the first round.

In other news, Caron Butler left midway through the game with what ended up being a fractured hand. He is unlikely to play with that injury. This bad news all around since the Clippers do not have much depth at the small forward position without him. Furthermore, Butler had managed to stay healthy this season after missing much of the last few seasons, including last years playoffs with the eventual NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.