Thunder-Clippers Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Apr 15 2012 4:36PM

The Los Angeles Clippers are rolling toward their first playoff berth in six seasons, but they're seeking a loftier goal.

The surging Clippers, in contention for the first division title in franchise history, will try for their second win over the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder in less than week Monday night.

Los Angeles (37-23) has won 11 of 13, including a 100-98 victory at Oklahoma City on Wednesday. The Clippers kept rolling Saturday, beating Golden State 112-104 for their third straight win.

Chris Paul scored 12 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and had 13 assists against the Warriors.

"It's all about locking up a playoff spot. You got to get in," Paul said. "Anything can happen when you get to the playoffs. The sky's the limit. When we play the way we're capable of playing, we've already beaten some of the best teams in the league."

The Clippers point guard secured one of those victories by making a go-ahead layup with 8.8 seconds left and scoring 31 points against the Thunder (44-16) on Wednesday. That win started Los Angeles' current streak as the club looks to overtake the Lakers in the Pacific Division.

"We would love to win the division," Paul said. "In order to do that, we would need to win out."

In the first of its final two home games, the Clippers will try to clinch a playoff berth by taking the season series with Oklahoma City. Los Angeles can also wrap up its first trip to the postseason since 2005-06 if Phoenix loses to Portland on Monday.

Paul will try to help with another strong performance against the Thunder. He had a team-best 26 points and 14 assists in a 112-100 victory at Staples Center on Jan. 30, though he struggled in a 114-91 loss at Oklahoma City on March 21, going 3 for 12 from the field and scoring 13 points.

Blake Griffin and Caron Butler chipped in 22 points apiece in that game, and Griffin's nine baskets included a much-replayed dunk over Kendrick Perkins.

Thunder star Kevin Durant scored 36 points in the contest and Russell Westbrook had 31, but Daequan Cook was the only other Oklahoma City player in double figures with 12 points.

The high-scoring duo of Durant and Westbrook didn't need much help Saturday during a 115-110 victory in Minnesota, the Thunder's fourth in five games. Durant had 43 points and Westbrook added 35, with Nick Collison as their only teammate in double figures with 10 points.

The victory kept the Thunder one game ahead of San Antonio in the West.

"We want to win as much games as we can going down to the stretch of the season," Durant said. "Hopefully we get (the No. 1 seed). If not, we've just got to keep playing. We can't worry about that. We've just got to worry about how we can get better every single game."

Durant went 7 of 21 and scored 22 points against the Clippers on Wednesday while Westbrook was 3 of 14. Durant had topped 30 points in each of his last two games against Los Angeles.

Griffin was held to a career-low seven points in that game and has totaled 23 in the past two matchups with Oklahoma City. The All-Star forward, however, has scored 48 points over the past two home meetings.

Playoff-bound Clippers beat Thunder 92-77

By BETH HARRIS
Posted Apr 17 2012 2:41AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) With some help, the Los Angeles Clippers had already clinched their first playoff berth in five years before they tipped off against Oklahoma City. Then they went out and earned it.

Nick Young scored 19 points off the bench, Blake Griffin added 17 and Randy Foye 13 to beat the Thunder 92-77 on Monday night.

"It is something that we're happy about, but by no means is that all we want," said Griffin, who like a lot of his teammates will be in the postseason for the first time. "That was one of our goals coming in, but it goes farther than that."

Houston lost to Denver by three points earlier Monday night, ensuring the Clippers would end the second-longest active postseason drought in the league.

"I'm happy we can get Blake on TV in May," DeAndre Jordan said.

Griffin had 11 rebounds and Jordan grabbed 12 in the Clippers' fourth straight victory and 12th in their last 14 games. Their 38 wins are the most since the franchise had 40 in 2006-07.

"This is a great feeling," said Paul, whose acquisition shortly before the lockout ended has played a key role in the Clippers' changing fortunes. "We can celebrate it, be excited about it tonight but tomorrow we're back at work."

Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 24 points, Serge Ibaka and James Harden added 12 points each, and Russell Westbrook was held to nine as the Thunder's two-game winning streak ended. San Antonio beat Golden State to move percentage points ahead of the Thunder in the race for the No. 1 seed in the West.

"There's no time to panic right now," Durant said. "We have to win the next game in order to get our momentum back."

The Clippers didn't need the victory to achieve their immediate goal, but they played like they wanted it in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Thunder 26-11.

"We got good looks, but we were missing shots and they picked their intensity up," Durant said. "It was just one of those tough ones for us. I missed a few 3s, Russell missed a few elbow jump shots, which he normally makes, and Serge missed some that went in and out. That's how the game is, man."

Mo Williams hit a 3-pointer for the Clippers' first lead since they scored the game's first basket. Eric Bledsoe came in for Paul and calmly ran the offense, feeding Williams and Young, who combined for 10 of their first 14 points.

"We're one of the best second units in the league," said Young, who joined the Clippers a month ago in a trade from Washington. "I'm excited. I was waiting for one of these type of games. To get it tonight against one of the league's top teams was great."

Griffin scored on back-to-back rim-rattling dunks that had the Clippers' 32nd sellout crowd of the season on its feet roaring. Paul briefly came back in, but Williams and Foye made consecutive 3s to stretch their lead to 90-77, so the All-Star guard sat down again with the game in hand.

"We have enough offensive power to play with anybody, but our defense is what triggers us," Paul said. "When we defend, we're tough to guard."

Foye dribbled out the final seconds with a smile on his face, although at the buzzer the Clippers did little more than smile and hug each other.

"We know that's not the only thing we want," Jordan said. "We still have a goal for this team, and this is just one of the steps towards it."

The Clippers won the season series, 3-1.

"They're really good, but I don't think they're a better team than us," Durant said. "It's not like we're afraid of them or that we're scared to see those guys later on. But you have to give them credit. They beat us."

The Clippers dominated the third, outscoring the Thunder 23-14. Durant and Westbrook were shut out, while Ibaka scored 12, including nine in a row. Young scored eight straight, hitting two consecutive 3s, to draw Los Angeles within one. Durant banged into Griffin on the perimeter for the foul. Griffin made both shots, but the second was disallowed when Jordan committed a lane violation, leaving the game tied at 66.

"We picked up the defensive intensity to start the third quarter," Paul said. "We got some steals, got out in transition, guys hit some big buckets and we were able to sustain that momentum."

The Thunder led by 11 points in the second quarter. The Clippers closed within four three times, the last time on a 10-3 run including four in a row by Griffin. But the Thunder ran off the final five points to go up 52-43 at halftime. Ibaka had three fouls in the first half when he had no rebounds and no points.

NOTES: Paul took his 2-year-old son to a Dodgers game on Sunday. They were both wearing Dodgers caps and his son waved at the crowd. "They booed me bad," he said. "I was just happy that my son didn't know what was going on." ... The Clippers play four of their final five games on the road, where they will try to finish with a .500 or better record for the first time since moving to Los Angeles in 1984. ... They are 15-14 away from home, one of just three Western Conference teams with a winning road mark. ... The Thunder fell to 19-11 on the road, still tops in the West. ... The Thunder came in averaging 103.1 points. ... Durant made 10 of 12 free throws, but the Thunder was just 62 percent from the line, well below their league-leading 80.3 percent.

Notebook: Clippers 92, Thunder 77

Posted Tuesday April 17, 2012 2:11AM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Clippers clinched their first playoff berth is six years just before the opening tip Monday night against the visiting Thunder. For the first two quarters, they played like a team just happy to be headed to the postseason. But they came alive in the second half as Oklahoma City lost its feel and its star players disappeared, adding up to a 92-77 victory at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "It's going to be fun and exciting, regardless, when it comes to the West. There's so much battling and jockeying for position right now. I think, for us, we just want to keep winning games and see how high we can move up the standings."
-- Clippers point guard Chris Paul on qualifying for the postseason

THE STAT: The Clippers finished 3-1 against the Thunder this season, the only team to beat them three times. The Spurs and Rockets defeated Oklahoma City twice, but don't play the Thunder again this season.

TURNING POINT: After shooting 37.2 percent from the floor in the first half, the Clippers went into intermission trailing by nine points. They scored the first six points of the third quarter to pull within reach, and the Thunder did their part by missing their first seven shots. On the first possession of the fourth quarter, the Clippers took their first lead since the first basket of the game, 69-66, on a 3-point basket by Mo Williams. They never trailed again, outscoring Oklahoma City, 15-8, over the next seven minutes to push their lead to double digits and the rout was on.

HOT: Clippers shooting guard/small forward Nick Young had his best game since getting traded to L.A. last month. He scored a team-high 19 points off the bench on 7-for-10 shooting. He scored seven straight for the Clippers late in the third quarter to help them pull even heading into the fourth. Serge Ibaka turned out to be a handful for the Clippers, but only in the third quarter. He scored all 12 of his points in the third and grabbed seven of his eight rebounds. Meanwhile, his superstar teammates, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, got shut out.

NOT: Westbrook, a Southern California native, came in shooting 11-for-34 in his last two games against L.A. and his percentage certainly didn't improve, as he shot 4-for-16 and scored just nine points, 15 off his season average. He missed all five shots in the second half while going scoreless, part of the reason the Thunder shot a season-low 37.5 percentage from the floor and scored their fewest points in a game this season. The other major eyesore for the Thunder was their free-throw shooting. They came in No. 1 in the league at 80.3 percent, but shot 18-for-29 from the line (62.1 percent), including 7-for-15 in the second half. That helped add up to a 25-point second half by the Thunder, their lower-scoring half by nine points.

GOOD MOVE: After the Clippers got beat down on the boards by Ibaka in the third quarter, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro made the rare move of inserting rebounding specialist Reggie Evans late in the third quarter. Evans went to work, getting a steal and three rebounds in a little more than four minutes. That move seemed to silence Ibaka and shut down Oklahoma City long enough for Blake Griffin to check back in and score six points down the stretch, helping put the finishing touches on the Thunder.

BAD MOVE: Ibaka likely had fresh legs in the third quarter because he missed so much floor time in the first half while on the bench with foul trouble. He committed two fouls on Griffin in the first 1:19 of the game and sat for all but 5:19 of the opening half.

QUOTABLE II: "It's easy, we didn't make our shots in the second half. Give them credit. They did a good job of defending. They got hot from the 3-point line and we missed some shots and free throws."
-- Thunder coach Scott Brooks.

NOTABLE: For the first time since Staples Center opened in 1999, all three of its tenants, the Clippers, Lakers and Kings of the NHL, qualified for the postseason ... Griffin finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and tied his career high with four blocked shots ... Chance Lavitch of Cheviot Hills banked in a half-court shot during a timeout to win new Jeep Cherokee on his 21st birthday. His family has been season ticket holders with the Clippers since 1987.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Wednesday @ Denver, Thursday @ Phoenix, Sunday vs. New Orleans. For the Thunder, Wednesday @ Phoenix, Friday @ Sacramento, Sunday @ L.A. Lakers.

• Thunder: Jackson, Maynor
• Clippers: Billups, Leslie

• Thunder: Durant, Harden
• Clippers: Williams

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #17 Joe Crawford, #36 David Jones, #29 Mark Lindsay
• Attendance: 19516
• Duration: 2:20