Los Angeles Clippers stun Miami Heat: Beat them 95-89 in an overtime spine-chiller - NBA Recap
Los Angeles Clippers are a team to watch out for in this season. With Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Caron Butler and Blake Griffin in their ranks, they have every chance to not only reach the playoffs, but to stun the strongest contenders and go very far
indeed.
On Wednesday night, they initiated the process by edging past one of the favourites for the title, Miami Heat 95-89 in an overtime thriller. This was, without any ambiguity, one of the biggest wins for the franchise to date and would definitely take the
confidence of the team to a whole new level.
The game was close throughout, with both sides wowing the crowd with some dazzling plays. They matched each other pretty well and looked fired up for the highlight encounter.
After a competitive 48 minutes, Clippers were heading for a win before LeBron James intervened and made two crucial free throws to make it 86 all and take the game into Overtime.
He would only delay the inevitable though, because the Heat only managed to amass 3 points in overtime, courtesy of Mario Chalmers downtown strike, while Clippers finished with a 9-3 run to complete an outstanding victory.
"The level was definitely raised a little bit," Griffin said. "We were tired, but the intensity was as high as it should be. It's good to get a win and get it by grinding it out."
All the big guns fired for the Clippers tonight.
Paul paced them with a game high 27 points on 11 for 21 from the floor and 11 assists. Griffin and Butler both bundled 20 apiece and had 16 rebounds between them while Billups netted 12 points on 6 for 7 from the charity stripe.
LeBron spearheaded the Heat with 23 points, 13 boards and 7 assists while Chris Bosh drained 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Mario Chalmers (18) and Dwyane Wade (17) were the two other prominent scorers for the side.
Although, there was nothing much to differentiate between both the teams in terms of stats, Miami Heat looked rusty with their free throws and shot only 58.8%- LeBron being the most erratic, which hurt them badly in the end.
"We missed 14 free throws and eight of them came from me," James said. "I've been shooting the ball particularly well from the free throw line, but tonight I didn't make enough. So I put our free throw shooting on me. It's kind of a rhythm when it trickles
down to everybody else, so I've got to concentrate a little more and knock them down when I get fouled."
The game was perhaps a litmus test for Los Angeles and going up against arguably the strongest team in the NBA, they didn’t disappoint.
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