Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – – Chris Paul couldn’t help but get fired up watching Blake Griffin on Sunday, enthusiastically slapping hands and patting the Clippers’ forward on the back and the head near half court as the Clippers started to pull away.
Paul finished with 22 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds, while Griffin continued to look more like himself, scoring 23 points and coming up big down the stretch against the Pelicans (37-33) in a 107-100 win for the Clippers (46-25).
“I started getting that feeling that he’s starting to find himself,” Paul said. “It just felt great to see him be aggressive like that. That’s why he is who he is.”
In an 88-84 game, Griffin scored eight of the Clippers’ next 13 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Clippers snag a late double-digit advantage and win their fourth straight game. Griffin’s recorded double-doubles in three of his five games back, and he had 22 points against the Wizards on Friday.
But after that performance, Griffin said stats can be fickle or misleading. Griffin said he keeps hearing from his teammates to be more aggressive and shoot more often, and on Sunday, Griffin was more aggressive than he’d been in any of his previous four games since returning to the lineup.
“Seeing 32 play like that, us just running like one or two plays down the stretch and just playing through him, that was great,” Paul said.
Griffin agreed that this was his most aggressive game since his return, even if he still felt he rushed a couple shots and forced a couple others he’d like to have back. His teammates didn’t notice those poor plays, and head coach Doc Rivers said it was great for everyone to see Griffin play the way he did, particularly not thinking twice about pulling the trigger on an open 15-foot jumper.
“He played with so much more confidence, especially shooting the ball,” Rivers said. “That’s good. Small steps, tonight was a big step. That was good.”
All five Clippers starters finished with at least 12 points. Both teams led by double digits at different points in the game, and rarely could either team feel comfortable with a lead.
The Clippers started slowly, scoring just five points in the first five minutes, which is a rarity for them.
“Normally we come out of the gates hitting shots, whether they’re hitting shots or not,” Griffin said.
This time, the Clippers couldn’t hit early while the Pelicans hit everything. New Orleans began the game on a 13-2 run, but the Clippers followed soon after by starting to force turnovers and going on a 13-6 run, though the Clippers still trailed after the first quarter.
“I didn’t like the way we started the game,” Rivers said. “It’s amazing if you look at the Washington start and tonight. It was just two different teams.”
The Clippers started out much better one quarter later, going on an 11-0 run from the Clippers. But that run was followed by a 12-2 run from the Pelicans.
That led to a three-point game at halftime, which began to turn in the Clippers’ favor after they went on an 8-0 run early in the third. The Clippers held onto a four-point lead after three quarters and led the rest of the way to vault into fourth place in the Western Conference, getting eight points apiece in the fourth quarter from both J.J. Redick and Griffin.
Redick said he sees Griffin trying to assert himself more and put his imprint on the game and dominate the way he’s capable of doing.
“That was great,” Redick said. “He was physical today. It was a physical game for him, and he stood up to it. It was great.”
NOTES: DeAndre Jordan finished with 16 rebounds, notching his 19th straight game with at least 14 boards … Jordan has at least 15 rebounds in 17 of his last 19 games … Redick finished his fourth straight game with at least 20 points, scoring 15 of his 20 points in the second half … The Pelicans shot 50.7 percent from the floor, but the Clippers forced 18 turnovers and had 18 more points in the paint … A four-game winning streak has the Clippers in fourth place prior to a three-game road trip, beginning Wednesday in New York against the Knicks …
