Bulls-Clippers Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Nov 16 2012 10:39AM

While the Los Angeles Clippers are off to their best start in six seasons, the Chicago Bulls have been rather inconsistent while playing without their injured star.

The Clippers look to end their recent home struggles against the Bulls while trying for a fifth straight win Saturday night.

Los Angeles is 6-2 for the first time since 2006-07 thanks to some strong play against a few of the league's top teams. Blake Griffin had 20 points with 14 rebounds while Chris Paul added 16 and 10 assists as the Clippers ran their home winning streak to three games Wednesday with a 107-100 victory over Miami.

They also have wins over the rival Lakers, San Antonio and Memphis - all at Staples Center, where they've played seven of their first eight.

"These wins are good, but we're playing at home and we expect to win," said coach Vinny Del Negro, whose team had two winning streaks of at least five games last season.

Echoing their coach's sentiments, Los Angeles' players won't make too much of the early success even though they are shooting an NBA-high 49.5 percent and averaging 102.8 points.

"It's early, very early," Paul said. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Just keep playing the right way every night."

Los Angeles outscored Miami 33-20 in the third quarter thanks in large part to Paul, who scored the Clippers' final 13 points of the period during a 13-4 surge.

"He makes things happen and that's why I've always felt that he's the best point guard in the game," LeBron James said.

The Clippers may need Paul and Griffin to be at their best as they try to avoid a third consecutive home loss to Chicago. Griffin has totaled 66 points, 26 rebounds and 10 assists in the last two home meetings with the Bulls, who won both by a combined 31 points. Paul had 15 points and 14 assists as the Clippers lost for the fourth time in five home tries against Chicago, 114-101 on Dec. 30.

Chicago (5-3) had star Derrick Rose for four of those meetings, but continues to play without the former MVP as he recovers from a torn ACL. After opening with back-to-back victories, the Bulls have alternated losses and wins in their last six contests.

Carlos Boozer had 28 points with 14 rebounds while Joakim Noah and Luol Deng each scored 21 as Chicago opened a five-game trip with a 112-106 overtime victory at Phoenix on Wednesday. The Bulls' 2-0 road start is their best since winning their first six away from home in 1996-97.

"I think it's good for us to get on the road and be together," Deng said. "It's good that we got a win. Now we'll try to get the next one."

The Bulls hope to play better and keep focused after blowing an 18-point third-quarter lead and being outscored 31-17 in the fourth Wednesday.

"The lesson we have to learn is we have to play tough with the lead," coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Noah has been tough to stop while averaging a career-high 16.0 points and pulling down 9.8 boards per game. He scored 19 at Los Angeles in December.

Deng has averaged 21.8 points on 51.6 percent shooting in his last four against the Clippers at Staples Center.

Griffin, Crawford lead Clippers over Bulls 101-80

By JOE RESNICK
Posted Nov 18 2012 1:02AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) The Chicago Bulls had a difficult time running with the Los Angeles Clippers, who had plenty left in reserve for the fourth quarter - particularly Blake Griffin.

Griffin scored 12 of his 26 points in the final six minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds, helping the Clippers rout the Bulls 101-80 on Saturday night for their fifth straight victory.

"It's just about getting the ball in the right spot and doing what we work on," said Griffin, who was 11 for 18 from the field. "I missed a lot of them, but my teammates gave me the confidence to keep shooting. Thankfully, some of them dropped."

Reserve Jamal Crawford scored 17 of his 22 points in the second quarter for the Clippers, who lead the Pacific Division with a 7-2 mark. It's their best record after nine games since 2005-06, when they won nine of their first 11, finished 47-35 and came within one victory of the Western Conference finals.

Five of the Clippers' six wins have come against teams that were in the playoffs last season, including the Lakers, Spurs and world champion Miami Heat on Wednesday. Both of their losses came against clubs which failed to make the postseason - Golden State and Cleveland.

"We'd be in really good shape right now if it was a 10-game season," said Chris Paul, who had 10 assists and eight points. "We couldn't ask for more out of ourselves, but we just have to keep remembering that it's a long season. We have a big road trip coming up that starts in San Antonio, which is a tough place to play"

The Clippers' reserves outscored the starters 35-18 in the first half and 53-48 for the game. Crawford, who signed with Los Angeles as a free agent in July after spending last season with Portland, leads the team with 20.7 points per game and has scored 20 or more in six of his first nine contests.

Crawford was traded to the Bulls on draft day in June 2000 by Cleveland in exchange for Chris Mihm and cash. The 13-year veteran spent his first four NBA seasons in Chicago and went through two coaching transitions, playing for Tim Floyd, Bill Cartwright and Scott Skiles - but never making the playoffs during that stretch. The Clippers are his sixth pro team.

"It was a tough time, especially since a couple of years before that they had the 1998 team with Michael Jordan and those guys. So to follow that up was impossible," Crawford said. "My first year there we didn't have many veterans and were the youngest team in the league. But those years were important for me. It was a learning experience and something I'll always cherish because they gave me my start in the NBA. I'll always have a love for the Chicago Bulls."

The Bulls, who blew an 18-point lead in their previous game on Wednesday at Phoenix before beating the Suns 112-106 in overtime, got 22 points and 12 rebounds from Carlos Boozer on the second leg of their annual circus road trip. Luol Deng and Richard Hamilton each had 14 points.

"I think we took a couple of steps back tonight. We got outscrapped and we got out-competed," Joakim Noah said. "They're too athletic. And when they get out on the break, that's their strength. They were denying everything with their switching and we didn't finish well around the rim."

Noah, who has been urged by Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau to take more shots, was 0 for 6 from the field and finished with four points in 30 minutes. It was the 6-foot-11 center's worst shooting effort in 339 NBA regular-season games, including six occasions when he was 0 for 4.

"Holding Noah scoreless from the field, we did a great job as a team," Griffin said. "Our rotations were good, and we made sure everyone was accounted for. We gave Carlos Boozer too many easy ones, especially on offensive rebound putbacks and stuff like that. But as long as Boozer has 22 and we're up by 20, we'll live with that."

Crawford led Los Angeles to a 53-40 halftime lead with 17 points, including three free throws with 1:31 left in the second quarter after Kirk Hinrich fouled him on a fadeaway 3-point attempt near the Clippers' bench.

Los Angeles opened the second half with a 7-0 run and extended its lead to 71-48 on Griffin's 21-footer with 5:04 left in the third quarter. The Bulls narrowed the gap to 87-74 with two baskets off offensive rebounds and a 3-pointer by Marco Belinelli with 6:14 left in the game.

But Griffin put the Clippers back in control with two free throws, a fast-break layup and another layup - all in a 58-second span. For good measure, the two-time All-Star connected three straight times on perimeter jumpers from 18 feet and out during a 70-second stretch to make it 99-80 with 2:07 to play.

"This one's hard to let go," Boozer said. "We didn't have enough juice. They're a very good team and they protect the rim very well. And they got their hands on a lot of loose balls."

NOTES: The Clippers came in with an average of 40.9 points from their bench. ... The victory put Vinny Del Negro one game over .500 in the regular season for the first time since he took over as Clippers head coach at the start of the 2010-11 campaign. He is 79-78 with Los Angeles, after guiding Chicago to back-to-back .500 seasons and two playoff berths. The Bulls are 117-40 since firing Del Negro and replacing him with Thibodeau.

Notebook: Clippers 101, Bulls 80

Dan Arritt, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Nov 18, 2012 2:52 AM - Updated Sun Nov 18, 2012 2:52 AM

THE FACTS: Another victory by the Clippers, another exceptional night for their bench. Behind Blake Griffin's game-high 26, Jamal Crawford led the way with 22 points from the reserves, which also included Matt Barnes(13) and Eric Bledsoe (10) scoring in double figures, making the difference in a 101-80 victory against the visiting Bulls at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "We feel like we're one of the top teams."

--Clippers' Jamal Crawford

THE STAT: The Clippers came into the game leading the league in steals at 10.3 a game and swiped 10 more against the Bulls. In the seven victories by L.A. this season, they've had at least nine steals in every game.

TURNING POINT: Leading by three points at the start of the second quarter, the bench scored the first six points for the Clippers and 15 of the first 19 to give L.A. a 33-19 lead and Chicago never got back within single digits.

HOT: Crawford came into the game 10th in the league in scoring at 20.5 points on 13.1 shots per game, and led the Clippers in scoring in five of the previous eight games. Not bad for a reserve. He maintained that efficiency against the Bulls, scoring his 22 points on 10 shots.

NOT: Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich signed a two-year contract to return to Chicago over the summer, but so far he's not looking like the same player the organization had for seven seasons from 2003-10. Hinrich, whose deal was worth approximately $6 million, was averaging just 5.3 points through his first seven games, well off his 12.5 career average. He missed all five field-goal attempts against the Clippers and scored one point. He also committed five turnovers, three in the game's first seven minutes.

GOOD MOVE: Clippers forward Griffin was the only starter in double figures with his 26 points, while also pulling down 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season. The Bulls had cut a 20-point deficit with eight minutes remaining to 13 with 6:13 left. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro reinserted Griffin and Chris Paul, and Griffin scored 14 consecutive points to put the game on ice. As usual, Paul did most of the orchestrating and finished with eight points and 10 assists.

QUOTABLE II: "My job as the point guard is to make the defense thing I'm trying to score."

--Chris Paul

BAD MOVE: Bulls center Joakim Noah was making defenses take notice of his scoring ability this season. After never averaging more than 11.7 points in his first five seasons in the league, he bumped up his scoring average to 16 points through the first eight games. He never accomplished much against the Clippers in his career, however, averaging 8.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in seven games, and that was the trend that continued. He missed all six field-goal attempts and finished with four points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes.

NOTABLE: The Clippers are 6-0 against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season, including wins against the Heat, Grizzlies and Spurs. The Clippers four opponents on their upcoming road trip have a combined record of 24-11. ... Bulls reserve forward Vladimir Radmanovic, who has played for the Clippers and Lakers in his 12-year career, appeared in his fourth game this season, finishing with two points and two rebounds in a season-high 10 minutes.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers: Monday @ San Antonio, Wednesday @ Oklahoma City, Friday @ Brooklyn. For the Bulls: Sunday @ Portland, Wednesday @ Houston, Saturday @ Milwaukee.

• Bulls: Rose
• Clippers: Billups, Hill, Thompkins

• Bulls: Noah
• Clippers: --

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #10 Ron Garretson, #33 Sean Corbin, #44 Eli Roe
• Attendance: 19060
• Duration: 2:14