Blake Griffin helps Los Angeles Clippers beat Oklahoma City Thunder 98–92
The Los Angeles Clippers rallied back from a 14-point deficit to record a 98-92 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Staples Centre on Saturday night. Blake Griffin led the way with 26 points and 16 rebounds on the night to guide the Clippers to
victory.
Eric Gordon had 18 points; DeAndre Jordan recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Craig Smith ended up with 14 points off the bench for the Clippers.
The Clippers trailed by 12 points at the half, but they fought back with some fine play to overtake the Thunder in the second half. Griffin played his heart out on the night. He hustled for every loose ball, jumped for every rebound and kept tumbling to
the floor.
Clippers guard Eric Gordon described Griffin's performance by saying, "He really was after it. I mean, you know it when he's really active and animated when he gets a defensive rebound and goes all the way down the court and tries to score a basket."
Oklahoma City came out the gate blazing as they grabbed a 15-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Russell Westbrook’s layup with just over three minutes left gave the Thunder a 12-point advantage. The Clippers countered with an unanswered seven-point
run to reduce the deficit somewhat, heading into the second period.
Oklahoma carried their momentum into the second quarter. Daequan Cook’s three-pointer with over eight minutes left to go in the second period gave the Thunder a 35–19 lead; their biggest of the game. The Clippers responded with a 5–0 run but Oklahoma City
held on to the advantage and took a 49–37 lead into the half time break.
Los Angeles bounced back in the third quarter with a spirited 31-point performance to tie the game at 59-59 with less than four minutes left to go in the period. Blake Griffin poured in 10 points during the quarter to lead the Clippers fight back. Oklahoma
ended the quarter with a flurry of shots to hold on to a slight 71–68 advantage heading into the final period.
Things heated up in the third quarter as tempers flared on both sides. Lead official Joey Crawford and his team had their hands full, as they called six technical fouls during a three minute and 40 second stretch in the third quarter.
The Thunder led 92-91 with a minute and a half to go in the game, before the Clippers went on a 7–0 run to finish the game off strongly. The Clippers outscored the Thunder 30-21 in the last period to grab the lead and their 30th win of the season.
Blake Griffin praised his team-mates after the game. He said, "We just stepped it up defensively and stayed aggressive at the offensive end. It's a great win, but it's only 30 wins. We have to do a better job closing out games and making sure we win a lot
of them - not just getting up to win certain games."
The Thunder’s All-Star guards Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were rusty from the field, as they collectively missed a plethora of shots. Durant added 23 points, but went 0-4 from beyond the arc. While Russell Westbrook went 1-of-12 from the field to
put up a mere nine points, which was way off his scoring average. James Harden also contributed 14 points off the bench for the Thunder.
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