Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – The Clippers earned their franchise-record 25th road win of the season while handing the Lakers their franchise-leading 56th loss of the year Sunday night.
As the Clippers (52-26) ran away with a 106-78 victory as the visitors at STAPLES Center, they made themselves right at home, flummoxing a Lakers team (20-56) that had never before scored fewer than 81 points in a regular season game against the Clippers.
“We’ve been good on the road,” said Blake Griffin. “Guys really accept that challenge. We were talking about it on the bus last night or on the plane, it’s kind of cool playing on the road because you know everybody’s against you for the most part. It’s fun to have that mentality, and I’m glad we’ve taken on that mentality.”
While it may be strange to be the visitors at STAPLES Center, Sunday’s win was just another example of the Clippers’ ability to win in hostile territory.
“At home, you try to feed off the positive energy,” Griffin said. “On the road, you try to feed off the negative energy. I’m glad we’re doing that.”
It also requires mental toughness, as J.J. Redick pointed out. He said most games have an ebb and flow where both teams will make runs, and he thought the comeback win in Portland was a big step for the group.
But unlike most of those road wins, the Clippers didn’t need to weather much Sunday.
The Clippers never trailed against the Lakers, building on their 13-point halftime lead to quickly put the game away. The Clippers outscored the Lakers by 16 points in the third quarter and would go on to lead by as many as 43 points, as the starters watched from the bench in the fourth quarter after putting on a show in the third.
Defense led to fast breaks. Fast breaks led to dunks. Dunks turned into lobs, including an off-the-backboard lob from Chris Paul to Griffin late in the third quarter, at which point the game was out of reach.
“I thought he was going to bounce it,” Griffin said. “He thought he was going to bounce it. When he threw it off, it skimmed the rim. I was just thinking to myself, ‘Don’t mess this up.’”
He didn’t.
Griffin finished that alley-oop and ended the game with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. Paul was content to facilitate, only taking seven shots while showcasing his ball-handling and passing, dishing out 15 assists.
“He can sense how a game is going and sense what the team needs and kind of play to that,” Redick said. “I thought he played great. I didn’t know he took seven shots. I thought CP was CP tonight.”
The Clippers improved to 15-4 in the second game of back-to-backs this year and have now won 10 of their last 11 games overall and 10 of their last 11 games specifically against the Lakers.
“I go back to the first time we played them last year,” Redick said. “We lost the game, and (head coach Doc Rivers) kept saying we came out to entertain instead of compete. He said that to us every time we played them since. I think we haven’t lost since that game against them.”
The Lakers didn’t cross the 60-point mark until five minutes remained in the game, as the Clippers held the Lakers to 38.7 percent shooting and have now won each of their last seven road games.
“We’ve been pretty good on the road,” Paul said. “It takes poise, confidence and I think when we go on the road, we just understand it’s just us. This is our favorite road game of the year – we don’t have to take a bus.”
NOTES: The Clippers shot 53.3 percent, made 15 3-pointers and never trailed in the game… Hedo Turkoglu and Austin Rivers both scored in double digits off the bench … The Clippers have crossed the 100-point mark in each of their last 10 games … The Clippers play the Lakers again on Tuesday, this time as the home team … Doc Rivers described Jamal Crawford (calf) as probable for that game … Crawford hasn’t played since March 2 …
