Blake Griffin, Chris Paul lead Los Angeles Clippers to a blowout win over Houston Rockets: NBA Recap
The Los Angeles Clippers sparkled at the Staples Center to put the Houston Rockets firmly in the shade on Wednesday night. Dominating their encounter right from the start, the Clippers sent out a statement to the rest of the league
with an emphatic 117 - 89 win.
Blake Griffin led all scorers on the night with 22 points and 9 boards. Chris Paul was excellent as always and got his double-double on the night with 20 points and 10 assists. Randy Foye also made an impact coming off the bench
with 16 points.
On a sorry night for the Rockets, Kyle Lowry was one player who could hold his head high with 17 points and 5 assists. Kevin Martin had 14 while Luis Scola netted 12 in the losing effort.
Early exchanges between the two sides were pretty even, with the scored locked at 10 apiece 4 minutes into the game. The Clippers gave an indication of what was to come at that point with a 7 – 2 spurt. A mammoth 21 – 9 run followed
to end the first quarter with Los Angeles firmly in the lead at 41 – 26.
The Rockets signalled their intention of putting up a fight when starting the second period with an 8 – 2 run aimed at cutting Los Angeles’ lead down to size. Houston’s offence did come to the party with 29 points in the period,
but their defence couldn’t get in the stops necessary to take advantage. The sides headed into the interval with the score 67 – 55 to Los Angeles.
Try as they might, the Rockets couldn’t get a foothold in the game when the second half began. The little good work done just before the interval was wasted after the sides left the locker room as the Clippers held off Houston
with a minimum of effort. They went into the final period safely entrenched in the lead at 90 – 75.
The Rockets pretty much gave up after that and were abysmal in the final quarter. They could manage only a meagre 14 points while the Clippers put on a show again with 27 in the period. When the game was finally brought to a close,
the score card was emblazoned with a resounding 117 – 89 margin in favour of Los Angeles.
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