The Los Angeles Clippers are quickly gaining ground in the Western Conference playoff race, and the news and rumors are picking up.
Check out the latest buzz below.
Paul, Griffin Pick-and-Roll Dominating NBA
Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have been enormously successful with their pick-and-roll game, leading one writer to say it’s “dominated the NBA.”
“The Clippers’ pick-and-roll featuring Griffin, Paul, and a steady dose of DeAndre Jordan has become one of the most unguardable plays in the NBA,” wrote Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report.
Paul and Griffin averaged 1.11 team points per possession on pick-and-rolls, ranking fifth in the league, and Paul was just as productive with Jordan.
“The pick-and-roll is such a dynamic play that it changes every possession, which direction you go, and it’s the toughest thing to defend,” Paul said. “I’ve made a living off the pick-and-roll.”
Opponents know it’s a move they have to watch out for.
“When you’ve got a guy like Chris Paul that’s a great scorer and he passes the ball so well, and they’ve got shooters surrounding him, it makes it hard to control the ball,” Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard said.
“Blake is going to go get [the ball] over everybody else. And Blake is getting a lot better at the pick-and-pop, so they can get to any option in the pick-and-roll. When you can get to every option and it’s effective, that makes it that much harder to guard.”
Paul’s style has included adding the “cross-back” maneuver, where the point guard curls tight around the pick, putting his point guard defender on his back, and dribbles to the other side of the free-throw line with the big man defender also trailing him. Paul can then either take a jumper, or throw an alley-oop to the rolling big man. But this is far from the only move off the pick-and-roll that Paul has.
“Chris can pick things up and calls audibles. It’s like Peyton Manning with Denver,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “Chris is also like a kung fu player on the basketball court. He’s very physical, and he has a chip on his shoulder. [John] Stockton was the same way. That’s why teams physically try to pound the hell out of him, sometimes with a bigger defender.”
Redick’s Quick Start Key to Wins
J.J. Redick wasn’t playing well earlier this season, but he has picked his game up since then and is a big factor in the Clips turnaround.
The team is 7-1 when Redick scores at least 14 points. In those games, he is averaging 6.8 points in the first quarter while shooting at a high 51.4 percentage (47.4 percent for 3-pointers).
He had nine points before five minutes had elapsed against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and finished the first quarter with 13 and the game with 23.
“As a shooter, you want to see your first couple of shots go in,” Redick told the Los Angeles Times. “I just feel like it gives me confidence.”
Coach Doc Rivers said getting Redick involved in the offense early has been a priority.
“We’ve tried to do it, he just wasn’t making shots,” Rivers said. “Finally it’s starting to go in for him.”
Paul said his teammates know Redick knows what he’s doing.
“We just get him the ball and get out of his way, especially when he gets in there making fake passes and reverse layups,” he said.
Rivers Compares Jordan to Rodman
Rivers recently compared Jordan’s game to Dennis Rodman’s style of play.
“I say it every night, he does so many things for us; his pick setting, his rolling,” Rivers said of Jordan, reported NBA.com. “It’s funny, he’s such an offensive weapon because he rolls so hard to the basket. Every time he rolls, someone has to take him. He never gets the bucket, but it usually means J.J. (Redick)’s open, Blake (Griffin)’s open. He just does so many little things, Dennis Rodman-ish.”
Rivers noted how he only played with Rodman for a short while but still learned a lot.
“I played with him for one year, and it was amazing,” he said. “I didn’t see it not playing with him, then you play with him, and you realize, you kept thinking Dennis didn’t score, but he created so many scores. I think DJ’s starting to do the same stuff.”
Paul noted that Jordan does a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, such as setting strong picks.
Jordan said he doesn’t care about the statistics as long as the Clippers win.
“He was definitely a big hustle energy guy, played with a lot of heart and a lot of effort,” Jordan said about Rodman. “Anybody who’s defense first and hustle and effort first, that’s definitely somebody I'd like to meet and kind of pick their brain.”
See an Associated Press recap of the game below.
Clippers Rout Magic for Win
When Blake Griffin and Chris Paul spend the entire fourth quarter on the bench, it means they can rest up for the next game and give their backups some extra playing time.
Griffin scored 21 points, Paul had 19 points and 10 assists, and the Clippers routed the undermanned Orlando Magic 114-86 on Wednesday night for their sixth straight victory.
“Games like that, where we’re not having to exert any energy in the fourth quarter, just saves everybody towards the end of the year — and you definitely notice the difference,” Griffin said. “I remember two years ago, when the second unit was just rolling almost every game. We‘d be up eight, and when we came back in the game, we’d be up by 18.”
J.J. Redick had 20 points for the two-time defending Pacific Division champions, who have won their last four by an average margin of 21.6 points. DeAndre Jordan finished with 16 rebounds and blocked three shots.
The Clippers, who finished with a total of 32 assists, are 84-14 when they get 30 or more since Paul joined the club.
“We’ve just been moving the ball really well,” Paul said. “Obviously at times, Blake will iso, or I'll iso. But other than that, we’ve been playing the right way. And we’ve been building that trust on the defensive end, too. That’s where it starts, because we’re so dangerous in transition. When we get stops, that’s when we’re at our best. We’re letting our defense dictate our offense.”
Orlando lost for the sixth time in seven games and committed 17 turnovers, which the Clippers converted into 19 points. Tobias Harris scored 16 for the Magic, who had only four offensive rebounds and no second-chance points through the first three quarters.
“There’s no secret that rebounding has been an Achilles heel of ours,” Paul said. “We know we all have to get in there too. It’s not up to just Blake and D.J. to do all the rebounding. The guards have got to help. The less amount of shots that we give the other team, the more opportunities we get.”
Orlando center Nikola Vucevic, who began the day leading the league in total minutes played, total rebounds and double-doubles (13), sat out for the first time this season because of a back spasms. The four-year veteran had 19 points and 14 boards against the Clippers in a 114-90 loss on Nov. 19 at Orlando.
Kyle O'Quinn started in place of Vucevic and played eight minutes before receiving an automatic ejection for his flagrant 2 foul against Griffin with 5:54 left in the first half.
“I got hit in the face, but I honestly didn’t think it was going to be a flagrant 2,” Griffin said. “I didn’t think it was anything vicious or anything like that.”
The Clippers never trailed, getting 17 points from Redick and 15 from Griffin en route to a 57-44 halftime lead. They opened the game with a 20-5 run before the Magic closed to 38-35 with a 12-2 spurt capped by Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer and Ben Gordon’s 12-footer with 7 minutes left in the second quarter.
But O'Quinn’s untimely ejection left Orlando vulnerable in the paint at both ends of the court, and the Clipperswere able to pull away again after 7-footer Dewayne Dedmon took over at center for the Magic.
Griffin dove for a loose ball and quickly flipped it to Paul, who pushed it upcourt before hitting a 15-footer that extended the Clippers’ margin to 73-52 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the third. Matt Barnes’ 3-pointer made it 100-72 with 7:17 remaining.
TIP-INS
Magic: Rookie G Elfrid Payton, who came in with a team-worst free throw percentage of 49.0, threw air balls on his first two attempts and missed his first six from the line before finishing 2 for 9. ... Shooting guard Willie Green, who spent the previous two seasons with the Clippers, played 13 minutes and had seven points.
Clippers: Redick, Hedo Turkoglu and Glen Davis all were teammates in Orlando during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, a fact that coach Doc Rivers acknowledged was beneficial in terms of team chemistry. “I guess that probably helps, if they had a good experience when they were there. And those three had a very good experience,” Rivers said. “I'll tell you where it helps — when you’re thinking about bringing one of them to your team. When we were thinking about Turk, I called J.J. And he loved him, so that made it easier for us to go after him.”
