Nets-Clippers Preview

By KATE HEDLIN
Posted Jan 16 2012 1:12AM

No longer in the Western Conference, Deron Williams won't get as many opportunities to face off against Chris Paul. Now, a hamstring injury could keep Paul out of one of the two scheduled meetings between the two top point guards this season.

Paul's status is questionable for the Los Angeles Clippers' home game against Williams and the New Jersey Nets on Monday afternoon.

Selected with the third and fourth picks, respectively, in the 2005 draft, Williams and Paul quickly developed a rivalry as members of Western Conference teams - Williams for Utah and Paul for New Orleans. That changed last season after the Jazz traded Williams to the Nets.

Paul, traded himself from the Hornets to the Clippers before the 2011-12 opener, has gotten off to good start alongside second-year star Blake Griffin, averaging 18.0 points, 8.4 assists and 2.8 steals in 37.2 minutes per game.

However, the Clippers' new point guard strained his left hamstring in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 102-94 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers - the Clippers' fifth victory in six games overall and their fifth straight home win. He had a season-high 33 points and six assists before departing.

An MRI done Sunday was negative, and Paul is now considered day to day.

"Chris is a fighter," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "He's competitive. I think if he can get out there he will, but we'll be smart about it. We have a lot of games left."

The injury comes at an inopportune time as the Clippers (6-3) are opening a stretch of three games in three nights. The back-to-back-to-back will continue with a visit to Utah, then conclude Wednesday with a home game against Dallas. Paul isn't the only injury hampering Los Angeles. Backup guard Mo Williams (foot) missed Saturday's win, while Chauncey Billups played despite back spasms.

"You've got to deal with (injuries)," coach Del Negro said of the effects of a compact schedule. "Every team is. ... We've just got to stay positive."

While Paul nurses his balky hamstring, Williams has been struggling with his shot.

Williams returned to Salt Lake City to face the Jazz on Saturday. He finished with 16 points and five assists, but shot 3 of 15 from the field and had five turnovers in New Jersey's 107-94 loss. The Nets (3-10) trailed by as many as 23 points.

"It wasn't a very good one for me," said Williams, who is averaging 18.3 points but shooting just 36.6 percent.

Of bigger concern for the Nets than Williams' shooting is their defense. New Jersey has dropped four of five, giving up an average of 108.0 points during that stretch.

The Nets have won their last three meetings with the Clippers.

Griffin, Clippers beat Nets 101-91 without Paul

Posted Jan 17 2012 1:28AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) With floor general Chris Paul nowhere in sight, the Los Angeles Clippers turned to Chauncey Billups for his veteran leadership. And they got exactly what coach Vinny Del Negro was hoping for when the team obtained the 35-year-old point guard in a waiver auction from the New York Knicks in December.

Billups scored nine of his 20 points in the final 4:23 after the Clippers blew an 18-point lead, Blake Griffin had 23 points and 14 rebounds, and Los Angeles held off the New Jersey Nets 101-91 on Monday while Paul sat out with a strained left hamstring.

"We did a good job of pulling it out," Griffin said. "I mean, we shouldn't have let it get to that point in the first place. We'd much rather have kept that lead and rested a little bit, but we did a good job of grinding and getting it done when we needed to. A win's a win, and we'll take it any way we can get it."

Trailing by 13 after a three-point play by Reggie Evans with 10 minutes remaining, the Nets tied it at 81 with a 15-2 run capped by Deron Williams' 3-pointer with 6:46 to play. But the Clippers outscored them 20-10 the rest of the way, as Billups drained a clinching 3-pointer with 1:09 left and added a pair of free throws.

Billups made all seven free throws and is 47 for 50 from the line this season. His career free throw percentage of 89.4 is the fourth-highest in NBA history behind Steve Nash, Mark Price and Peja Stojakovic.

"As you know, I love those moments," said Billups, a five-time Al-Star who was MVP of the 2004 NBA finals with Detroit. "They kind of had the momentum swung in their favor, and during the timeout, Vinny drew up a great play - kind of a misdirection pick-and-roll play - and my defender kind of got caught up in a shuffle down there and it gave me time to set my feet."

It was the third straight victory for the Clippers, who never trailed en route to their sixth win in seven games following a pair of ego-inflating wins against the Miami Heat and the Lakers. All the starters scored in double figures, including Randy Foye, who made his second start of the season in Paul's place and had 13 points and 10 assists.

"Randy Foye came in and just played an unbelievable game," Billups said. "He had a tough defensive assignment, chasing Deron the whole game, and we depended on him to score the ball for us and make plays. And he just came through, man. I'm really happy for him because he's been needing to get that opportunity. He's always ready and he's a true professional."

Griffin was 9 for 15 from the field and missed eight of 13 free throws. He has had 53 games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds since the start of last season, the most in the league during that stretch. Orlando's Dwight Howard and Minnesota's Kevin Love each had 51 entering Monday.

MarShon Brooks led New Jersey with 19 points and eight rebounds. Williams was coming off an emotional homecoming against his former team, Utah, in which he shot only 3 for 15 in a 107-94 loss. He finished with 14 points and six assists.

"I don't want to take anything away from them. They came out and played hard, and we weren't able to turn the corner," Nets forward Kris Humphries said. "They have gotten a lot better as a team."

Humphries had 14 points and seven rebounds. In the previous meeting on March 11, he had 20 rebounds in a 102-98 overtime win after the Nets erased a 20-point deficit.

"We dug ourselves such a big hole today," coach Avery Johnson said. "Then we finally got our offense together and played hard-nosed defense and were able to minimize our errors. I liked the way our guys battled. Those guys are pretty good. They've really turned their roster around, and there's a lot of excitement surrounding that franchise now. Blake Griffin is just a handful in so many ways."

Paul's injury occurred during the fourth quarter against the Lakers on Saturday. Backup point guard Mo Williams missed his second straight game because of a sore right foot and reserve forward Brian Cook did not dress because of a sprained left ankle. Eric Bledsoe, recovering from offseason surgery on his right knee, is still 2-3 weeks away.

Reserve guard Courtney Fortson made his NBA debut, playing nine scoreless minutes with two assists after signing with the Clippers earlier in the day. The 5-foot-11 guard, who was with the club during their brief training camp, averaged 15.9 points and 5.2 assists in 17 games this season with the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA's D-League.

Paul, in his seventh NBA season, is averaging 18.6 points and 9.9 assists over his career. Only three players in league history finished their careers averaging at least 18 points and eight assists - Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas.

NOTES: Paul missed his first game as a Clipper on the 22nd anniversary of Ron Harper's season-ending knee injury against the then-Charlotte Hornets at the L.A. Sports Arena. ... Foye was born in Newark and played his high school ball there. ... Nets F DeShawn Stevenson was charged with a flagrant 1 foul for pushing Griffin from behind as he went up for an alley-oop pass by Foye with 3:22 left in the second quarter and the Nets trailing 44-35. ... The Nets are exactly 100 games under .500 (39-139) since the beginning of the 2009-10 season, when they got off to an NBA record-worst 0-18 start. ... Nets coach Avery Johnson, who helped the San Antonio Spurs capture an NBA title in 1998-99, is one of seven current coaches in the league who won championship rings as players. The others are Charlotte's Paul Silas (Boston and Seattle), Memphis' Lionel Hollins (Portland), Houston's Kevin McHale (Boston), Cleveland's Byron Scott (Lakers), Dallas' Rick Carlisle (Boston) and Oklahoma City's Scott Brooks (Houston). ... Caron Butler scored 15 of his 20 points in the first quarter for the Clippers.

Notebook: Clippers 101, Nets 91

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com
Posted Monday January 16, 2012 7:34PM

THE FACTS: Despite the absence of their top two point guards, Chris Paul and Mo Williams, the Clippers were still long, tall and talented enough to defeat the struggling Nets, 101-91, on Monday afternoon at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "With us having a couple of our key guys out, there's no question this is an important one."
-- Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro.

THE STAT: For the second consecutive game, the Clippers never trailed. They beat the Lakers on Saturday night without ever falling behind, and haven't been chasing an opponent since the final minutes of the fourth quarter of an overtime victory Wednesday against the visiting Heat.

TURNING POINT: The Clippers used a 16-0 first-quarter run to take a double-digit lead, then extended their advantage to as many as 18 before the Nets rallied to tie the score, 81-81, with 6:46 remaining in the fourth quarter. Kris Humphries had a chance to give the Nets their first lead but he missed a 17-foot jumper and Clippers guard Randy Foye scored on back-to-back fast-break layups. New Jersey never got back within three points the rest of the way.

HOT: Clippers forward Caron Butler made three of four 3-point attempts in the opening quarter and scored 15 points, the highest-scoring quarter by a player on the Clippers this season. Unfortunately, he only scored five points the rest of the way, leaving him stuck on a season-high 20 points for the fourth time in the last five games.

NOT: If the Clippers blew this game they would've blamed the loss squarely on their free-throw shooting. The second-worst free-throw shooting team in the league coming into the game (68.4 percent), the Clippers shot 19-for-35 from the stripe (54.3 percent). Chauncey Billups was 7-for-7 or the numbers would have been a lot worse. The Nets weren't much better (17-26).

QUOTABLE II: "We have to do a better job there. It's not from lack of practice. We just have to concentrate and knock those down and make teams pay for fouling us."
-- Del Negro on his team's poor free-throw shooting.

GOOD MOVE: Clippers forward Blake Griffin probably earned a few floor burns during the game. At the start of the 16-0 run, he catapulted over some courtside seats to save a loose ball and passed it ahead to Butler, who scored on a dunk for a 15-10 lead. Griffin finished with a team-high 23 points and 14 rebounds but was just 5-for-13 from the line.

BAD MOVE: New Jersey small forward DeShawn Stevenson received a rare opportunity to start against the Clippers, helping form the ninth different starting lineup for the Nets this season. He'll probably only be remembered for the flagrant foul he committed on Griffin as he went up for a lob with 3:22 remaining in the first half and the Clippers holding a nine-point lead. Griffin made the first free throw and missed the second, then scored on a slam dunk on the ensuing possession for a 12-point lead.

NOTABLE: Paul sat out with a strained left hamstring suffered in the closing minutes of the victory against the Lakers. He's listed as day-to-day, but will travel to Utah for Tuesday night's game against the Jazz, the middle game of L.A.'s first back-to-back-to-back. Williams missed his second straight game with a sore right foot. Billups moved over to point guard and Foye started in Billups' spot at shooting guard ... The Clippers collected 15 offensive rebounds, including four by reserve forward Reggie Evans during his first five minutes on the floor ... For the second time this season, all five starters for the Clippers scored in double figures ... DeAndre Jordan, who came into the game ranked second in the league in blocked shots at 3.00 a game, had three of his four blocks in the opening quarter.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Tuesday @ Utah, Wednesday vs. Dallas, Friday vs. Minnesota. For the Nets, Wednesday vs. Golden State, Saturday vs. Oklahoma City, Sunday vs. Charlotte.

• Nets: James, Lopez
• Clippers: Bledsoe, Cook

• Nets: Johnson
• Clippers: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #27 Dick Bavetta, #56 Mark Ayotte, #52 Scott Twardoski
• Attendance: 19060
• Duration: 2:32