Rowan Kavner
OKLAHOMA CITY – The news hit hard in the morning and the Thunder followed suit in the afternoon.
There wasn’t much time for the Clippers to process the loss of Blake Griffin before they had to play Sunday in Oklahoma City, where the Clippers (33-19) battled throughout the first half before the Thunder (26-25) offense became too much to handle in a 131-108 loss.
“We’re depleted right now, but no one feels sorry for us,” said Doc Rivers. “You’ve just got to figure it out and keep playing. I thought we had the right game plan going in. We were going to try to plug up the paint and then as the game went on, it just got away from us.”
The Clippers played without Griffin or J.J. Redick on the seventh game of an eight-game road trip. They also lost Glen Davis in the middle of the game to upper back spasms, with the forward needing help off the court.
As the days on the long road trip pile up, so too have the injuries and the losses for the Clippers, who now find themselves on a four-game losing streak for the first time since Jan. 21-26, 2013. DeAndre Jordan said the plan obviously wasn’t to start 2-5 on this road trip.
“It should be the opposite,” Jordan said. “We’re in every game until a certain point. We just have to keep fighting, man. Hopefully, we’ll get through it; I think we will. We have a lot of positive energy, a lot of positive guys. Doc is still behind us 115 percent. Nobody’s giving up on anything.”
The Clippers know the challenge ahead of them as they wait to see how long they’ll be without their star power forward, who missed his first game of the season. In the meantime, they’ve got to figure out how to win during a particularly grueling stretch of top-notch competition.
“We’re a playoff team, so we have to start playing like it, and we will,” said Austin Rivers, who played through a foot injury. “All it takes is one win and we’ll get it…Things happen, it’s a tough stretch, some guys have gone down, whatever, whatever. You can say all the excuses you want, but we have to be there for each other. You have to put a full 48 (minutes) together.”
Putting a full game together has been tough lately for the Clippers, who led by as many as 20 in the first quarter in Toronto the game prior before losing that one. The Clippers never had that kind of a lead in Oklahoma City, but they did keep things within striking distance early on, trailing by two after the first quarter.
The day started particularly well for Spencer Hawes, who started for Griffin and scored 17 points, all of which came in the first half. But with bench players starting and aches and pains abound throughout the roster, as the game wore on, so too did the deficit. To make matters worse, Davis’ injury left the roster even further depleted.
Chris Paul did what he could to keep things competitive as long as possible, scoring 18 points and adding 13 assists and six rebounds, but there weren’t enough stops. The Clippers showed signs of life trailing by 21 in the third quarter when they went on a 7-0 run, but they failed to hold the Thunder at the other end.
“We’ve got to be consistent on defense, no matter who’s out there,” said Matt Barnes. “All it takes is effort. You don’t have to be the best defensive player, you’ve just got to play hard.”
After getting outscored by eight points in the second quarter, the Thunder came out of the first half on fire, outscoring the Clippers by 16 in the third. Doc Rivers said the Clippers need everyone chipping in.
“It’s got to be a team,” he said. “It’s got to be everybody. I can’t expect Chris to go out and get 40 a night. But our other guys have to play well. It can’t be one guy; it’s not going to be one guy.”
The middle quarters continue to plague the Clippers, who came off a game allowing 38 points in the second and third quarters to the Raptors, as they surrendered 38 points in the second quarter and 35 in the third against the Thunder.
Oklahoma City shot 52.3 from the floor and went 31-of-38 from the free-throw line, while the Clippers shot just 26.1 percent from deep. As long rebounds became available, the Thunder took advantage with 33 fast break points.
“No matter who’s out there, we’ve got to continue to play hard with a sense of urgency,” Barnes said. “We take our foot off the gas too much. Even though we were shorthanded tonight, we were well within the game and they came out in the third quarter and made their run, and I kind of think we closed up shop, which can’t happen.”
The Clippers travel to Dallas to play the Mavericks on Monday for their final matchup of the eight-game road trip.
NOTES: Kendrick Perkins didn’t play for the Thunder, serving a one-game suspension … Jordan extended his streak of shooting 50 percent to an all-time NBA-leading 37 straight games … Jamal Crawford added 21 points off the bench … The Clippers committed 26 fouls, falling to 12-15 when committing more than 20 fouls in a game this season … Reggie Jackson and Mitch McGary combined for 34 points off the bench for the Thunder … The Clippers were outrebounded by 25 …
Dean Smith Remembered
Chris Paul and head coach Doc Rivers shared their condolences after the passing of legendary University of North Carolina head coach Dean Smith.
North Carolina native Chris Paul said it was tough to hear the news.
“I went to Carolina camp when I was a kid, took a picture with Dean Smith, and I got to shoot layups,” Paul remembered. “That’s tough to lose Dean Smith. I’ve got a picture of me and him in my house.”
Rivers shared a story about talking with Smith during one of Michael Jordan’s camps.
“Dean was there, and every morning when he came down, Dean would sit over in the corner,” Rivers said. “A lot of people wouldn’t sit with him, because it was Dean Smith. I just walked over to him, I was a young coach, and sat with him. We start talking and then from that point on he expected me to be there every morning with him to have breakfast. For a week, for three years in a row, I got to sit in the corner with Dean Smith and have breakfast, which doesn’t get much better than that.
“That was pretty cool, and it’s a pretty sad day. But Dean’s been going through a lot…he’s in a better place now.”
