Chris Paul, Blake Griffin each score 26 in Clippers’ 123-115 win over Raptors
Blake Griffin took matters into his own hands in the third quarter Monday night, lifting a struggling Clippers team onto his shoulders and carrying them toward a 123-115 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Staples Center.
The power forward scored his team’s first 10 points of the second half and tallied 12 of his 26 total points by making five of six shots in the third period. Griffin, who had seven assists and seven rebounds, then helped the Clippers fend off several late Raptors threats while improving their NBA-best record to 13-2.
“He’s doing everything for us,” Coach Doc Rivers said. “The fact that he can bring the ball up the floor and make decisions on the break gives us another dimension offensively. He can pass in traffic . . . he’s just been great for us. I love him.”
Point guard Chris Paul added 26 points and 12 assists, and four other Clippers scored in double figures — J.J. Redick (20), DeAndre Jordan (17), Jamal Crawford (12) and Luc Mbah a Moute (10) — to offset Toronto’s Kyle Lowry (27 points) and DeMar DeRozan (25).
Griffin scored five points in a first half from which the Clippers emerged with a 54-45 lead, despite shooting 41% from the field (16 of 39) and turning the ball over seven times.
“It was a very frustrating [half] from a coaching standpoint because . . . it felt like we should be up a lot,” Rivers said. “We got a ton of stops to start the game and we basically fumbled the ball and missed shots. We looked bad offensively. I thought the whole team was frustrated at halftime. We were up by eight or nine, and it felt like we should be up more. We allowed them to stay in the game.”
Enter Griffin, who opened the second half with three driving baskets, one with a free throw tacked on, and a jumper from the left elbow that put the Clippers up by 11 with 9 minutes 15 seconds left.
They took a 17-point lead late in the third quarter when Toronto’s strategy of intentionally fouling the notoriously poor-shooting Jordan backfired. Jordan, a 44.3% free-throw shooter entering the game, sank five of six free throws to give the Clippers an 82-65 lead with 3:35 left in the period.
But the Raptors closed the quarter with a 7-0 run, capped by DeRozan’s 16-foot jumper, to trim the Clippers’ lead to 88-79 entering the fourth.
Toronto continued to chip away at the lead in the final quarter, pulling to within four points twice, but Griffin made a pair of free throws and Paul hit a jumper for a 105-96 lead, and Jordan’s slam off a Griffin miss made it 107-97.
Griffin’s most impressive basket, when he drove the lane, leaped toward the basket with the ball in his right hand, switched it to his left hand and banked it in, gave the Clippers a 110-101 lead with 3:06 left.
In the final three minutes, Griffin found Paul alone in the left corner for a three-pointer, and Paul drove the length of the court for a layup and free throw that made it 113-104 with 2:20 remaining.
The Raptors would not go quietly, cutting their deficit to 119-115 on Lowry’s three-pointer with 21 seconds left, but Redick made four free throws down the stretch, and the Clippers held on.
“We executed the last three minutes of the game as well as we could offensively,” Rivers said. “Defensively, we had some miscues, but offensively, we were good.”
As rocky as the first half was, the Clippers ended the first and second quarters with impressive three-pointers. Crawford closed the first period by taking an in-bounds pass on the left side, dribbling to the right side and lofting a high-arching three-pointer that swished through the net at the buzzer for a 23-19 lead.
Late in the second period, Redick took a pass while tearing off a screen and, with his momentum carrying him from left to right, sank a 24-foot jumper with 27.3 seconds left.
“I’ve never seen a guy run so fast and have the balance to make a shot,” Rivers said. “That three he made before halftime . . . maybe four guys in the league could make that. At the pace he was running, there’s no way that ball should go in, yet he makes those shots.”
Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna
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