Clippers Helpless Against Reeves

The man they call “Big Country” lifted the Vancouver Grizzlies to new heights on Monday night.

Bryant Reeves scored 35 points as the Grizzlies set a franchise record with their 16th win, 106-95 over the Clippers.

Reeves, who had 15 points in the third quarter, also pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked five shots as Vancouver ended a seven-game losing streak. The Grizzlies won 15 games in 1995-96, their inaugural season, and 14 in 1996-97.

“I thought it was important for us to get a result, especially when you’re looking at this late in the season and you’re not going to the playoffs,” said Reeves. “We have come in and given it everything we had night in and night out and come up empty, but tonight we came out and gave it that same type of effort and came away with a victory.”

Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 16 points for the Grizzlies and Michael Smith had 12 points and a career-high 18 rebounds.

Eric Piatkowski went four for seven from the three-point line and led the Clippers with 20 points. Rodney Rogers scored 18 points and Isaac Austin had 14 points and seven rebounds.

“The difference was the inside game,” Austin said. “They got the ball down low to Reeves and he scored when he had to. You can’t fault them, they played well. We just didn’t come out as a team and execute our game plan.”

Austin said the Clippers planned to double-team Reeves at every opportunity but didn’t follow through when it mattered.

“We didn’t double him every time. When we did he wasn’t able to get his shot,” said Austin. “Tonight we didn’t execute on our game plan, if you don’t do that he is going to score every time. It’s the same with me if they don’t double me and let me shoot every time on the block. You have to double good players and he is a good player.”

The Grizzlies outrebounded the Clippers, 60-44, setting a team record for rebounds in one game.