Clippers enjoy the moment after 11th win in a row

The Clippers 11th straight win may have been fun to watch, but it didn’t compare to the after-party.

After the Clippers beat New Orleans, 93-77, on Wednesday evening, the team’s locker room felt like a backyard barbecue, and Blake Griffin’s and Chris Paul’s post-game interviews resembled a stand-up comedy show.

In the locker room, Paul’s son, Chris, flitted around, dodging Matt Barnes, who was asking him if he had a girlfriend. He eventually found his father and, with jumps and smiles, congratulated him on making a dunk in the third quarter.

Griffin wasn’t quite as effusive.

“You saw I had to like help him down,” Griffin said, referring to when he reached out his hands and practically held the 6-foot-tall Paul during his descent from the 10-foot hoop.

Paul fired back, poking fun at Griffin for failing to give him an opportunity to dunk earlier in the week.

“Well, I did that one because Blake wouldn’t throw me the lob in Detroit.” Paul said, referring to Monday’s game. “... All the lobs I throw to him, I was on the break running with him, and he wouldn’t throw to me. But it is what it is.”

The good-natured jesting lasted their entire interview and spanned various subjects, including Paul reaching 5,000 assists. Paul hit that milestone in the second quarter after he dished the ball to Griffin, who was fouled during a layup and converted the free throw for a three-point play.

“I didn’t know what everybody was cheering for,” Paul said of the standing ovation he received. “I didn’t know, seriously. I’m always so intense in the game, trying to figure out what defense we’re in or what plays we’re running.”

Griffin joked that Paul’s humility was a bit misguided.

“He told me, ‘You got to get fouled so the crowd can acknowledge me,’” Griffin said of Paul.

The laugh fest continued, transitioning to a moment in the fourth quarter when a seemingly bored Griffin decided to entertain himself during the blowout by launching a shirt into the crowd from the bench. When a reporter prodded Griffin to expound on his throw, Griffin proudly proclaimed that he “quarterbacked the shirt.”

Replied Paul: “And he hit a little kid in the head.”

The party celebrating the record-tying win streak for the franchise, a mark that was last set by the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves, lasted about 10 minutes.

Ten minutes too short, if you ask Paul.

“[I] told everybody on the team, the food tastes better, the music sounds better, you sleep a little bit better, everything’s a little bit better when you’re winning,” he said.

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