Blake Griffin roars as Los Angeles Clippers down New Jersey Nets 101-91 - NBA Recap
Los Angeles Clippers suffered a major blow on Saturday night in the form of point guard’s Chris Paul hamstring injury that has now forced him out for few games.
However, the team made a strong statement tonight by collecting an important win in the absence of their star guard. In what was their 10th outing of the season, Clippers overpowered New Jersey Nets 101-91, to improve their record to 7-3.
Clippers started the game in a brilliant manner and finished the first frame with complete dominance, ahead by 15 points, 32-17. They somewhat lost their way in the second frame and allowed Nets to rattle a 14-6 burst, which let New Jersey back in the game
at 31-38.
Los Angeles though made up for the blunder within the second quarter, scoring quickly to regain the dominance and end the half ahead by 13 points 53-40.
Clippers pushed the momentum into the third frame and maintained a double digit lead throughout the quarter. In the first two minutes of the deciding frame, they were still ahead by 13 points 79-66, however in the ensuing passage, Kris Humphries and Deron
Williams of the Nets reeled off a crucial 12-2 burst that opened the game up.
With the match heading towards a nervous finale, newly acquired veteran guard Chauncey Billups jumped into action and scored 9 quick points in the last few minutes to seal the victory for his team.
Billups finished with 20 points overall.
Blake Griffin led the offense with a game high 23 points including 9 for 15 from the floor and 14 boards while Caron Butler pounded 20. Randy Foye had 13 and 10 assists while DeAndre Jordan netted 12 points.
"We did a good job of pulling it out," Griffin said. "I mean, we shouldn't have let it get to that point in the first place. We'd much rather have kept that lead and rested a little bit, but we did a good job of grinding and getting it done when we needed
to. A win's a win, and we'll take it any way we can get it”
Rookie MarShon Brooks had a great night out for the Nets with 19 points and 8 rebounds while Mehmet Okur registered 15 including 3 for 6 from the long range. Humphries and Deron Williams both bundled 14 points each.
Tags: