Rowan Kavner
Score: LAC 103 – MIL 90
LOS ANGELES – Lance Stephenson dished and danced, Josh Smith knocked down shots behind the arc, the improved defense continued making strides and the Clippers found a way to turn what could’ve been a trap game against the Bucks into continued success.
Head coach Doc Rivers said the Clippers actually tried to get Wednesday’s game changed. It felt like a sixth straight road game in terms of rest. The Clippers had just returned from a five-game trip late Monday night and would play just the one game before leaving the next morning after for another two-game trip.
But the Clippers (16-10) didn’t let any of that affect them, leading by at least eight points every quarter in an eventual 103-90 victory against the Bucks (10-17).
Next Game: 12/18
Tipoff: 5:00pm PDT
“When we had walkthrough before the game, we were talking about how funny it felt after being gone so long,” said Chris Paul. “Sometimes teams have letdowns, but I think we were focused.”
Paul finished with 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Blake Griffin had 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. J.J. Redick stayed hot with 19 points, and the Clippers got a boost from their bench.
Stephenson provided instant energy with four points, four assists, two rebounds in a steal in nine first-half minutes. When DeAndre Jordan was issued back-to-back technical fouls and ejected midway through the third quarter, Smith answered behind the arc, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to end the third quarter after the Bucks started creeping back in.
Smith finished 3-for-3 from 3-point range and led the bench with 13 points and helped the Clippers take a double-digit advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Bucks once again started to creep back into the game early in the fourth, but after cutting the Clippers’ lead to seven points, Austin Rivers scored the next seven points for the Clippers and got the lead back up to 10.
Despite little runs from the Bucks throughout the second half, the Clippers never relinquished the lead after halftime. Paul Pierce scored six points in the first half, with the first two coming on a buzzer-beater which took him to 26,000 career points, becoming one of five active players to reach the mark.
The Clippers have now won nine of their last 11 games and three straight as they embark on a two-game trip to Texas, beginning Friday against the Spurs.
Key Moment: Jordan finished an alley-oop with the foul, then proceeded to hit the free throw to put the Clippers ahead by 14 points midway through the third quarter. Less than a minute later, he was ejected, and the Clippers’ defense suffered. The Bucks cut the lead down to six, but the bench answered from there, scoring eight of the game’s next 10 points to close the quarter and get back to a comfortable distance.
Clippers Star: Chris Paul – Paul led the Clippers in points (21) and assists (8). He said it felt good to be home, and it showed. Paul was 3-for-4 from 3-point range, and on a night where some Clippers could’ve had an excuse to be tired, Doc Rivers said he thought Paul in particular showed he had his legs under him.
Bucks Star: O.J. Mayo – He was the only Bucks starter to finish on the right side of the plus-minus, and he was the only one adding perimeter shooting, knocking down three 3-pointers. Mayo and Michael Carter-Williams each had 17 points, with Mayo also adding six assists and four rebounds.
X-Factor: Bench energy – Doc Rivers didn’t care what the plus-minus said about the reserves. He saw a backup group that helped give the Clippers a lift, and it’s something Rivers said the starters talked about at halftime. There were plenty of Stephenson dances following nifty passes for buckets, and Smith’s shot-making came up big in the second half.
“I think they were aggressive, defended early,” Paul said of the reserves. “I don’t have a clue what the plus-minus said, but like Doc said, the energy is contagious. We try to start off the game with a good defensive mindset, and those guys came in and played well.”
Quotes:
Blake Griffin: “It was good to get a home game, even if you’ve got to fly back across the country to do it. CP and I were talking on the road, jokingly, we should’ve just gone back to Milwaukee and played another game there and stayed out on the road than change these time zones. But it’s a challenge, and every team has to go through it at some point or another.”
Doc Rivers: “The funny thing is sometimes you’ve just got to laugh with (Lance). At halftime, the guys were killing him. He gets a dunk, or steal. I said, ‘You can’t have a parade after every basket.’ He did that, but on the upside, he’s doing so many other things for us. I think our guy gets him. He really wants to make plays. He doesn’t necessarily want to score.”
NOTES: Pierce’s buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter gave him 26,000 points for his career, which made him one of five active players and one of 16 players all-time to reach the mark … Rivers called the milestone “amazing” and said Pierce is “just special” ... Jordan was issued back-to-back technical foul calls and ejected midway through the third quarter by referee Marc Davis after voicing his displeasure when a foul wasn’t called … Griffin said sometimes technical fouls are deserved and sometimes they aren’t, but the Clippers may put themselves in a position not to have the same leeway or cushion other teams do in that department …