Pistons-Clippers Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Mar 17 2012 8:21PM

A successful comeback in their latest contest might provide the spark the Los Angeles Clippers need to string some wins together.

The Clippers look to win consecutive games for the first time in a little more than a month when they host the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.

Los Angeles (25-18) had dropped three of the first four on its six-game home stretch before overcoming a six-point deficit with less than 3 minutes to play to beat Houston 95-91 on Saturday. Chris Paul scored 12 of his 23 points in the final 2:42 to help the Clippers win for the third time in eight games.

"It's a win, a grind out win. We'll take it," said coach Vinny Del Negro, whose team moved within 2 1/2 games of the Pacific Division-leading Lakers. "It's obviously a step in the right direction, but we have to be consistent. We've got to get our energy up, play hard and continue to grind it out."

Despite shooting 40.7 percent, Del Negro's club responded after holding a team meeting following Thursday's 91-87 loss to Phoenix. However, the key for the Clippers is to build on their latest victory while trying to win back-to-back games for the first time since Feb. 15-16.

"Our confidence is high, we can't panic," said forward DeAndre Jordan, who pulled down 11 rebounds Saturday. "Our standing is still pretty good (in the Western Conference) and we're trying to win games and move up."

The Clippers hope the acquisition of fifth-year swingman and Los Angeles area native Nick Young (16.6 points per game) from Washington at the trade deadline will help. Though there is a chance Young could make his Clippers debut in this contest, it's likely not to come until Tuesday at Indiana.

"We just felt it was the right thing to do right now," Del Negro told the Clippers' official website. "How it's all going to come together with the chemistry of the team and everything time will tell."

Young is excited to play with Paul, who broke out Saturday after totaling 37 points in the previous three games. Blake Griffin had 18 points before fouling out against the Rockets.

Griffin has totaled 42 points and 35 rebounds in two career games versus Detroit.

Though the Clippers have won three of four versus Detroit following a 13-game series skid, the Pistons won 113-107 in overtime in the last meeting at Staples Center on Nov. 12, 2010.

Detroit's Rodney Stuckey had 17 points with six assists in that contest, and has averaged 26.8 on 35-of-60 shooting (58.3 percent) and 7.3 assists in the last four games overall. He had 23 points and eight assists as the Pistons (16-28) fell to 1-2 on a five-game western trip with a 109-101 loss to Phoenix on Friday.

Detroit lost for the second time in six games despite shooting 51.3 percent. The Pistons, 12-8 since a season-high seven skid, have shot 53.3 percent over the last five contests.

However, the Pistons need to improve on the defensive end after the first three opponents on this trip have averaged 105.0 points and made 51.7 percent of their shots.

"The good thing is we're in (games now)," coach Lawrence Frank told the Pistons' official website. "It's the maturity of getting stops. That will determine, at the end of the day, who wins and loses."

Paul leads Clippers past Pistons in OT

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Mar 18 2012 7:59PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) The grueling NBA schedule is really starting to wear on the Los Angeles Clippers, who needed a late rally and a gritty overtime effort in their sixth home game in eight days just to hold off the Detroit Pistons.

Although Chris Paul is just as tired as his teammates, he's keeping the Clippers competitive while they're on the grind.

Paul scored nine of his 19 points in overtime and added a season-high 15 assists, carrying Los Angeles to an 87-83 victory over Detroit on Sunday.

Blake Griffin had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and he tipped in Paul's missed layup with 19 seconds left in regulation before Paul swiped the ball from Tayshaun Prince to send it to overtime.

After hitting two long jumpers early in overtime, Paul capped his dominant performance in what he called "winning time" by hitting the go-ahead jumper with 22 seconds left and then grabbing control of a jump-ball tip moments later, getting it to Randy Foye for a layup.

Paul added two free throws with 3.4 seconds left as Los Angeles finished its six-game homestand - part of a preposterous nine games in 12 days - at 3-3. That's hardly ideal, but better than it looked before Paul shepherded the Clips' back-to-back late comebacks against Houston and Detroit.

"We only like close games," Paul said with a grin. "We don't believe in blowouts. You don't get to work on as many things in blowouts."

Greg Monroe scored six of his 23 points in overtime and added 15 rebounds for Detroit, which dropped to 1-3 on its five-game Western Conference road trip. Prince scored 20 points for the Pistons, who went 3 for 16 in the fourth quarter while blowing a late nine-point lead.

Los Angeles jumped to a five-point overtime lead on two long jumpers by Paul, but Monroe's two free throws put Detroit ahead 82-81 with 31.8 seconds left. Paul nailed an elbow jumper to put the Clippers back in the lead before hitting Foye for a fast-break layup off a jump ball on Los Angeles' end.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a better guy with the ball late in the game than Chris in this league," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said.

After Ben Gordon hit one of two free throws, Paul coolly made two free throws to seal it. The Clippers realize what they've got in the All-Star point guard, who is 14th in the NBA in scoring and fourth in assists.

"It's not surprising anymore," Griffin said. "It's sad, because it's almost expected. He's already won a lot of games for us."

New acquisition Nick Young scored nine points and played most of the late minutes in his debut with Los Angeles, which hadn't won consecutive games since Feb. 15-16.

Jonas Jerebko had 14 points for the Pistons, who nursed a small lead throughout the fourth quarter of the teams' only meeting this season. Detroit managed just one field goal in the final 7:03 of regulation, allowing the Clippers' rally.

Detroit still played uncommonly aggressive defense, frustrating Griffin and largely eliminating Los Angeles' favored lob passes, while playing a small lineup that forced Del Negro to sit center DeAndre Jordan for much of the game after halftime.

"We needed to make it a grind-it-out type of game, and we did that," Detroit coach Lawrence Frank said. "We got into the moment of truth, and similar things happen that we just have to continue to get better at. We're putting ourselves in position, and the next step is learning how to finish out games."

Prince failed to score on two chances in the final 26 seconds of regulation, while Rodney Stuckey scored seven points on 1-of-8 shooting and appeared visibly frustrated, sitting out most of the overtime period. He failed to lead the Pistons in scoring for just the second time in their last nine games.

"There are some plays we could have made," Monroe said. "Everyone feels like we should have won this game, because we played hard for four quarters. A couple of loose balls, a couple of missed assignments, a missed block-out, and that's the difference."

Young, a Los Angeles native and USC product, wore No. 11 in his first game since arriving in a trade with Washington. The Clippers could use offense after losing Chauncey Billups for the season to a torn Achilles' tendon, and Young immediately got started on his new job by making an off-balance 20-footer shortly after checking in to start the second quarter.

"I didn't think I was going to play until right after shootaround," Young said. "I had to adjust my mindset, and I had to get my mom to come on down here."

NOTES: The Clippers don't get consecutive days off again until April 20-21, less than a week before the regular season ends. They leave town Monday for three road games in three nights at Indiana, Oklahoma City and Paul's homecoming in New Orleans before returning for yet another home game Saturday. ... Detroit gets the next two days off before concluding its road trip at Denver.

Notebook: Clippers 87, Pistons 83

Posted Sunday March 18, 2012 7:59PM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: A day after putting the Clippers on his shoulders late in a comeback victory against the Rockets, four-time All Star point guard Chris Paul did the heavy lifting again Sunday afternoon against the Pistons, bringing his team back from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit and continuing his stellar play in overtime, leading to an 87-83 victory at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "[Paul] is a great player. We need him to control the end of games by making plays and that's exactly what he does. He made plays and he has won these last two games for us."
-- Clippers forward Blake Griffin

THE STAT: Heading into this weekend, the Clippers owned one of the worst records in the league in close games. With their second consecutive four-point victory, the Clippers improved to 10-9 in games decided by five points or less.

TURNING POINT: Both teams squandered 10-point leads during the game, the Clippers in the first quarter and the Pistons in the third. Detroit still led by nine points with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth when Paul got busy, getting four points, three assists and a key steal on the final possession by Detroit to get the game into overtime. His pull-up jumper early in the five-minute overtime gave the Clippers a four-point lead and his 3-pointer over rookie Brandon Knight stretched it to five with 2:22 left. Detroit made one final push to take a one-point lead on two free throws by Greg Monroe with 31.8 seconds left, but Paul calmly sank a 16-footer on the other end to put the Clippers ahead for good, 83-82. He converted two more free throws -- his only two of the game -- with 3.4 seconds left to secure the win.

HOT: Paul just missed his first triple-double with the Clippers, finishing with 19 points, including six in the fourth and nine in overtime, a season-high 15 assists, nine rebounds and four steals. Monroe proved to be a handful for the Clippers, scoring 23 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. The second-year center from Georgetown came into the game averaging 16.4 points, a seven-point increase over his rookie season, equaling the biggest improvement of any player in the NBA.

NOT: The Pistons let the Clippers back in the game by getting outscored, 17-9, in the fourth quarter, the lowest-scoring quarter of any L.A. opponent this season. The starting backcourt of Knight and Rodney Stuckey combined to shoot 4-for-22 from the floor and score 13 points, and back-up guard Ben Gordon was 3-for-11 with seven points. For the Clippers, starting small forward Caron Butler shot 3-for-16 from the floor, including 0-for-5 in the fourth quarter and overtime. He was coming off a 4-for-15 performance against the Rockets. The Clippers lost their early 10-point lead by missing 17 of 20 field-goal attempts from late in the first quarter to midway through the second.

GOOD MOVE: For the second straight day, the Clippers won a key jump ball late in the game, despite giving up a lot of size. Monroe, at 6-11, was up against the 6-7 Butler with 12.1 seconds left in overtime and the Clippers leading by one. Butler managed to get the ball to Paul, who got it ahead to Randy Foye for a layup and a three-point lead with seven seconds left. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro then elected to foul Gordon and send him to the free-throw line. He made one of two, allowing Paul to secure to win with his two free throws on the other end.

BAD MOVE: Just before the jump ball, Monroe had another chance to give the Pistons the lead as he was matched up against the much older and somewhat shorter Kenyon Martin, who was in the game because Griffin had five fouls and has been shaky at the free-throw line. Monroe went right at Martin but threw up a wild shot, resulting in a mad scramble that led to the jump ball.

QUOTABLE II: "Everyone feels like we should have won this game, because we came out and played hard for four quarters. A couple loose balls, a couple missed assignments, a missed block-out and that's the difference in this game."
-- Monroe

NOTABLE: Nick Young made his debut with the Clippers after coming over from the Wizards in a trade Thursday. He made his first shot attempt but missed the next five. He did get to the free-throw line eight times and converted seven to finish with nine points. The Clippers played the fourth game of seven in nine days.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Tuesday @ Indiana, Wednesday @ Oklahoma City, Thursday @ New Orleans. For the Pistons, Wednesday @ Denver, Friday vs. Miami, Saturday @ New York.

• Pistons: Macklin
• Clippers: Billups, Leslie

• Pistons: Jerebko
• Clippers: Paul

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 7

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #55 Bill Kennedy, #16 David Guthrie, #58 Josh Tiven
• Attendance: 19060
• Duration: 2:54