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Lob City In Full Effect As Clippers Thrash Heat, 110-93

Rowan Kavner

MIAMI – The Clippers team that earned the “Lob City” nickname showed up more than it had all year Thursday in Miami.

They shot, defended, lobbed and dunked their way to a 39-15 first quarter lead, giving the Heat their largest deficit after one quarter ever at home, and maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way in a 110-93 win.

“Especially tonight, I thought we put it together for pretty much all four quarters,” said forward Blake Griffin. “At times, we got a little sloppy, but tonight we built upon what we did last night, and that’s promising. That’s what we need to do every night out.

Griffin began the game with a put-back dunk, and Griffin and DeAndre Jordan proceeded to put on an aerial display. The two players combined for seven dunks in the first half, including five alley-oop dunks, as the Clippers consistently found ways to score in the paint to help start the road trip with two wins.

The Clippers entered the game 28th in the league in points in the paint with 34.8 a game and already had 30 by halftime. The Clippers also ended the first half with 18 assists and only four turnovers, while the Heat had as many assists (6) as turnovers (6) at that point.

“I just thought the ball movement in the first quarter was beautiful. It’s hard to guard that,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “We’re starting to find our way. You can see that.”

Griffin and Jordan each added another dunk in the third quarter. All 12 of Jordan’s points in the game came off dunks, and he finished with a double-double by also securing 11 rebounds. Two different times, the Clippers’ lead went down to 14 points in the third quarter before blossoming back to comfortable 22-point leads.

A lot of that was the result of Chris Paul’s driving into the lane. He also finished with a double-double, tying Griffin for the team lead with 26 points and adding 12 assists.

“We’re forcing some turnovers, and we’ve got shooters,” Paul said. “We’ve got finishers. When everything is clicking like that and the ball is moving, a team really can’t key on one guy.”

The Clippers’ 88-66 advantage after three quarters was plenty to finish off the Heat, who struggled at both ends. The Clippers shot 55.8 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from 3-point range.

NOTES: The Clippers had lost five straight games on the road against Miami and were swept in the season series last year before tonight’s win … The Clippers held the Heat to 23 percent from 3-point range … J.J. Redick led the Clippers with four 3-pointers … The Clippers finished with 18 more points in the paint than the Heat … The Clippers also had 31 assists to the Heat’s 11 … This win marked back-to-back victories for the Clippers to start a seven-game road trip.

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