Rowan Kavner
HOUSTON – Winning a playoff game without Chris Paul is an achievement.
But head coach Doc Rivers put that shorthanded win in perspective Tuesday, as the Clippers try to repeat the results in Houston on Wednesday with a chance to take a 2-0 series lead heading back to Los Angeles.
“I hope it doesn’t make them let their guard down,” Rivers said. “I don’t know what it does. It just tells you that you won a game. I don’t try to go much past that. We won one game, and we won a game without Chris, and that’s great, but we just won one game.”
It’s a possibility that Paul, who’s dealing with a strained hamstring from the Game 7 win against the Spurs, returns to the court Wednesday, but Rivers put that chance at around 50/50. Rivers said if Paul gets cleared to play, he’ll play. But he’ll leave that up to the trainers, and if he’s not ready, he’ll hold him out.
The result from Game 1 doesn’t play into his decision making, as Rivers just wants his star point guard back when he’s healthy enough to return. The Clippers demonstrated Monday they’re capable of finding a way to win when a star goes down.
“This team is a mentally tough team,” Rivers said. “They just believe in each other, they play together and they trust each other.”
6:30pm PT
LAST TIME OUT
Clippers 117, Rockets 101 – Blake Griffin recorded his third triple-double of the postseason, as the Clippers found a way to win without Chris Paul (hamstring) after a tiring seven-game series against the Spurs, stealing Game 1 in Houston. Each team committed at least 23 turnovers, but the Clippers hit 11 second-half 3-pointers and had all five starters score in double figures, as well as Jamal Crawford’s 21 points off the bench.
NOTEWORTHY MATCHUP
James Harden vs. Clippers’ SGs – A 20-point, 12-assist night is a solid performance for anyone, but the Clippers should be fine if they can limit the Rockets’ MVP candidate to what he did in Game 1. Harden went 6-for-13 on a night that four other Rockets players also shot at least 12 shots. Harden’s 6-of-13 mark from the floor equaled his Clippers’ counterpart, J.J. Redick. The Clippers’ other shooting guard, Jamal Crawford, added 21 points off the bench. The Clippers had to be thrilled with how they matched the Rockets at shooting guard.
TWO THINGS TO WATCH
Clean-Up – The Rockets were prone to coughing the ball up during the regular season, but that wasn’t a problem for the Clippers. Neither team, though, is accustomed to turning it over the way they did in Game 1 Monday, with the Clippers committing 23 turnovers and the Rockets turning it over 24 times. The Clippers took better advantage of those mistakes, turning Houston’s turnovers into 34 points. Game 1 can sometimes be a feel-out game, leading to numerous changes, so both teams will try to tweak what they can to make Game 2 cleaner.
Long Range – The 3-point line hadn’t been kind to the Clippers in their first-round series, but Game 7 might’ve jumpstarted the deep shooting. The Clippers hit 14 3-pointers in Game 7 and followed that up by drilling 13 3-pointers in Game 1, hitting two more long-range shots than a Rockets group that led the league in made 3-pointers during the regular season. If the Clippers can hit more 3-pointers and at a better percentage than the Rockets, Houston has a problem.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Blake Griffin – “We try to keep the exact same edge. We haven’t accomplished anything yet. We won the first game last series and went to seven games. I don’t think we’ll be complacent at all. We shouldn’t be. I know they’re going to come out and play extremely hard. They might change some things up, but we have to come out with the same mindset we came out with in Game 1.”
JJ Redick – “If we can improve anywhere, we’ve got to improve our taking care of the ball and our transition defense. We were a little better in the second half, but still not great.”
Doc Rivers – “Our next task is tomorrow having great focus. You know they’re going to have it. You know they’re going to play harder. That’s all the things that Kevin (McHale) and their whole team echoed yesterday, that they’ve got to do a lot of things harder and better, and you have to expect that.”
NOTES: The Clippers lead the series, 1-0 … Blake Griffin is coming off back-to-back triple-doubles … Matt Barnes has at least 17 points in each of his last two playoff games … Both the Clippers and Rockets will look to cut down on turnovers, as both teams had more than 20 in Game 1 … The Clippers hadn’t committed more than 14 turnovers in a game in the first-round series … Griffin and DeAndre Jordan each are averaging 13.3 rebounds per game in the playoffs to lead the NBA …