Clippers-Grizzlies Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Jan 13 2013 4:06PM

The Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Clippers probably don't want to think much about their last game.

They have much better memories of their last trip to Memphis.

Los Angeles opens a road-heavy portion of its schedule on Monday night in its first game at FedExForum since a series-clinching victory last postseason.

Trying to extend their franchise-record 13-game home winning streak, the Clippers (28-9) were outscored 29-18 in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 104-101 loss to Orlando, which had dropped 10 straight.

Los Angeles took care of the ball with just nine turnovers, but it matched a season low with six free-throw attempts and allowed 11 3-pointers.

"An embarrassing performance for us," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We got what we deserved."

The Clippers will now try to avoid a season high-tying third straight road loss - they dropped their last two outside Los Angeles by 14 and 21 points, respectively, as they begin a stretch of 15 of 19 as the visitors.

Los Angeles' first stop on its three-game, four-day trip is FedExForum, where it last played May 13 in an 82-72 Game 7 win in the Western Conference quarterfinals. That victory gave the Clippers their third postseason series win in 41 years and second since relocating to Los Angeles.

These teams last met on Oct. 31, when Los Angeles won 101-92 to extend the Grizzlies' NBA-record losing streak on opening night to 12.

Memphis (24-11), though, won a season-best eight in a row following that setback and has established itself as one of the top teams in the conference. The Grizzlies moved with 1 1/2 games of the Southwest Division lead with Friday's 101-98 overtime home win over division-leading San Antonio, but they fell flat in Saturday's 104-83 loss at Dallas.

Memphis shot 38.1 percent and failed to force 10 turnovers - it finished with nine - for the first time in 139 games.

"We didn't have maybe one, maybe one-and-a-half starter that could bring it," coach Lionel Hollins said after Rudy Gay (12) was the only starter in double figures. "Our focus and concentration wasn't there."

That just can't happen since the Grizzlies rely so much on their starters - 72.5 percent of their scoring and 72.8 percent of their rebounding coming from that group.

The Clippers enjoy much better balance, as their bench contributes 40.2 percent of their scoring and 43.5 percent of their boards.

Jamal Crawford - the NBA's second-leading scorer off the bench with 16.2 points per game - scored a team- and season-high 29 in his Clippers debut in the season-opening win over Memphis.

Matt Barnes, who missed that contest due to a one-game league suspension, is averaging 13.3 points and 6.7 boards off the Clippers' bench in the last three games.

Blake Griffin, the team leader with 17.4 points per game and 8.6 rebounds, could use all the help he can get on the glass against former Clipper Zach Randolph.

The Memphis forward - the NBA double-double leader with 24 - posted season lows with six points and four boards on Saturday, but he's averaging 15.3 points and 13.5 boards in the last four games between these clubs, including the 2012 playoffs.

Memphis became the first team to lose Games 1 and 7 at home in a first-round series, but it has won six of eight at home in the regular season versus Los Angeles following a 94-85 victory on April 9.

Clippers win without CP3, beat Grizzlies 99-73

By TERESA M. WALKER
Posted Jan 14 2013 11:46PM

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Playing without Chris Paul proved no problem for the Clippers. Not having Rudy Gay was a much bigger issue for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Reserves Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes each scored 16 points, and the Clippers easily routed the Grizzlies 99-73 Monday night with Paul missing his first game this season because of a bruised right kneecap.

"Missing the best point guard in the world in Chris Paul, we all had to play collectively and step it up, and I thought we did a good job of that," Crawford said.

The matchup between two of the best teams in the West wasn't close after the first quarter. While Paul watched from the bench, the Grizzlies were without their leading scorer: Gay was excused for his grandmother's funeral in Baltimore.

This also was the Clippers' first trip to Memphis since they won Game 7 of their opening-round playoff series last May. All they did was match their largest margin of victory on the road this season while holding the Grizzles to a season-low in points and their worst field goal shooting percentage on their home court in franchise history.

"That's why I said before the game that they're the best team in the West, maybe the best team in the league right now," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said of the Clippers.

Eric Bledsoe, starting for Paul, had 14 points, and Blake Griffin scored 10. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro was able to give nine players at least 17 minutes each before heading to Houston for the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday night.

"We want to be the best team we can, and that's our goal as the season moves on," Del Negro said. "I thought we were lacking a lot, but I thought we played well."

Zach Randolph had 15 for Memphis, which lost its second straight blowout, after losing 104-83 at Dallas on Saturday night. Wayne Ellington added 11 in a rare start in place of Gay, and Darrell Arthur had 10 as the Grizzlies shot just 30.3 percent (27 of 89), a franchise-low at home. Randolph said they really missed Gay's ability to drive and relieve pressure.

"They clogged up the paint on us, make us shoot from outside, make us pass the ball up because they're doubling as soon as we catch it," Randolph said. "They're coming from every direction, and that makes us pass out to the perimeter."

The Clippers had a 40-36 scoring edge in the paint as DeAndre Jordan and Griffin helped limit Randolph to 5-of-16 shooting and Marc Gasol to 4 of 13.

"That's where most of their points were coming from since Rudy wasn't playing," Bledsoe said. "I think DJ and Blake, in taking Zach Randolph out of the game, that kind of stopped their offensive game."

Both teams were coming off losses, but the Clippers responded much better to being without their point guard on the first night of back-to-back road games. The Clippers scored the first five points of the game and went on a 17-2 run in grabbing a 32-19 lead. When Memphis pulled to 36-30, the Clippers answered with a 17-4 spurt and led 53-34 at halftime.

Los Angeles got a big boost from its bench, which outscored Memphis 28-4 in the first half and finished with a 54-26 edge. The Clippers' advantage was so big Griffin played only 25 minutes. The Grizzlies knew how good the Clippers have been on the bench and had their production written on the board in their locker room.

Memphis couldn't match the Clippers' intensity, and Hollins pointed out his Grizzlies couldn't hit teammates for layups on the fast break or down in the post.

"That whole game summed up just that we weren't competing on a high level," Hollins said. "They came in here and wanted to show us, and they did."

The Grizzlies brought back rookie Tony Wroten from Reno in the NBA D-League for depth. Hollins even joked before the game that he was unsure who he'd be subbing in since he started Ellington and Quincy Pondexter was out with an injured knee.

Memphis had its lowest scoring half this season in what was just part of an ugly night all around. The Grizzlies passed 20 points only in the fourth quarter (21) and were so sloppy that at one point in the first half Mike Conley stole the ball off Griffin's pass only to hit Tony Allen in the face with a pass on the other end.

The Clippers didn't ease up in the second half either, opening the third quarter with a 15-6 run. They pushed their lead to 16 points, 68-42, on a pair of free throws by Bledsoe with 4:03 left in the third, and Ryan Hollins' alley-oop dunk with 2:41 gave the Clippers their biggest lead of the night, 95-68.

NOTES: After missing this game, Paul is day to day. ... The Clippers also won by 26 Dec. 15 at Milwaukee. ... The Clippers are 22-6 when their reserves outscore the opponent's bench. ... The Clippers now are 23-2 when leading after the first quarter. They came in second-best in the NBA in that category. ... The Clippers' largest road victory was by 28 on Nov. 6, 2009, at Golden State. ... The Grizzlies' previous low first half was 37 points Dec. 29 against Denver, and they had just 36 against Atlanta on Dec. 8 in the second half. ... Memphis scored 80 twice previously this season, winning Dec. 17 against Chicago the last time.

Notebook: Clippers 99, Grizzlies 73

Marlon W. Morgan, for NBA.com
Posted Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:52 PM - Updated Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:52 PM

THE FACTS: Eric Bledsoe may not have put up Chris Paul-like numbers, but he ran the Los Angeles Clippers offense effectively in the absence of Paul, who was out with a bruised right knee cap. Bledsoe scored 14 points and had four assists, but controlled the tempo of the game as the Clippers held the Grizzlies to a season-low point total in a 99-73 victory Monday night at FedExForum. The Clippers, who improved to 29-9, also got 16 points each from Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes. They now lead the season series, 2-0 against the Grizzlies, who were playing without forward Rudy Gay, who was attending his grandmother's funeral in Baltimore.

QUOTABLE: "It's hard to stop a team when you don't know who's going to be the focal point. Some nights we have some of our main guys scoring and some nights we have guys off our bench scoring. That makes us tough."
-- Clippers forward Blake Griffin.

THE STAT: The Clippers showed what the biggest difference between the two teams are -- their bench. Led by Crawford and Barnes, the Clippers got 54 points from their bench. Their bench entered the game second in the NBA in scoring at 41 ppg. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies bench only managed 26, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter when the game had long since been decided.

TURNING POINT: The Grizzlies held a 17-14 lead with less than four minutes left in the first quarter. From there, the Clippers closed out the quarter on an 11-2 run, then started the second quarter with nine unanswered points to build a 34-19 lead.

HOT: The Clippers continue to have the Grizzlies number. They have now won six of the last nine regular season meetings between the two teams, as well as winning their first round playoff series a year ago in seven games.

NOT: The Grizzlies started the game making five of their first eight shots. From there, they made just one of their next 15, including nine misses in a row, that allowed the Clippers to blow the game open early. They finished the night shooting 30.3 percent (27 of 89), a franchise-record low for a home game. The fourth quarter was the only period they scored at least 20 points, finishing with 21.

QUOTABLE II: "What got us beat was our lack of intensity, effort, competitiveness and not being able to finish the easy stuff around the basket. We throw the ball to a guy on the fast break, he misses a layup. We throw the ball to a guy in the post, he misses a layup. Those are the things that you can't coach. I just think that for me, that whole game summed up just that we weren't competing on a high level. They came in here and wanted to show us, and they did."
-- Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins.

NOTABLE: The Grizzlies have now lost two in a row after winning four straight. In those two losses, they have been outscored by an average of 25.5 points. ... The Clippers 26-point win was their eighth win of 20 or more points this season and sixth by at least 22 since Dec. 1. ... Clippers' coach Vinny Del Negro said Paul's playing status will be a game-time decision for their game Tuesday at Houston. For the Grizzlies, Gay is expected to join the team in San Antonio on Wednesday.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Tuesday @ Houston, Thursday @ Minnesota, Saturday vs. Washington. For the Grizzlies, Wednesday @ San Antonio, Friday vs. Sacramento, Saturday @ Chicago.

• Clippers: Billups, Thompkins
• Grizzlies: Pondexter

• Clippers: --
• Grizzlies: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: FedExForum, Memphis, TN
• Officials: #19 James Capers, #18 Matt Boland, #26 Pat Fraher
• Attendance: 15837
• Duration: 2:09