SACRAMENTO – Head coach Doc Rivers never worries about J.J. Redick’s shooting, nor does Redick, particularly in small sample sizes.
As Redick’s jumper fell through on the Clippers’ first shot attempt in Tuesday’s season finale, and he followed with an assist to DeAndre Jordan for a dunk and an assist to Blake Griffin for a jumper, and he suddenly tallied seven points and three assists in the first seven minutes of a 92-89 win against the Kings that was more of a rout than the final score indicated, it was clear why there was little reason to worry about Redick or the Clippers’ shooting.
“I’ve been in this league a long time,” Rivers said before the game. “J.J. Redick keeps getting wide open shots, I’m sure they’re going to eventually go in.”
Eventually meant about two hours later.
Redick was coming off a 2-for-10 night in Utah, and the Clippers as a team entered the final preseason game hitting 41.5 percent of their shots through five preseason games.
Not that Redick was losing any sleep over it.
His 29 percent mark entering Tuesday night came on only 31 shots, and the Clippers’ sharpshooter knew that didn’t mean much.
“I’m kind of indifferent toward it,” Redick said. “It’s just like, what’d I take, 40 shots this preseason? Forty-five? Fifty? It’s a small sample size. I shoot hundreds of shots a day, so it’s not something I ever really worry about.”
He showed why Tuesday.
In those efficient first seven minutes of the game, Redick already equaled the number of made baskets he had in any previous game this preseason, and he went on to finish with a team-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and a 3-for-6 mark behind the arc.
“I just believe with the way I prepare and the way I work, the ball’s going to eventually go in,” Redick said.
It went in a variety of ways for the Clippers, who had the Chris Paul-DeAndre Jordan pick-and-roll working to perfection and Blake Griffin finding open teammates everywhere, including Jordan on an alley-oop finish.
“When he gets the ball, you should run away from him not toward him,” Rivers said of Griffin, “because he’s going to find you.”
The Clippers moved the ball as well as they had all preseason, recording assists on 17 of their 22 made shots in the first half, at which point they’d already forced 13 Sacramento turnovers and turned them into athletic displays at the other end.
Much of that ball movement came from Griffin, who finished with four assists but could’ve had a few more as a couple open jumpers from teammates didn’t go down. That was rare, though, as the Clippers’ starters combined to shoot 51 percent on the night, while Marreese Speights once again provided an offensive boost off the bench going 4-for-5 with 10 points.
Any offensive struggles from earlier in the preseason vanished, and with their defense holding the Kings to 35 combined points in the second and third quarters, the Clippers found their rhythm on both ends at the right time, with their last tune-up before tipping off the regular season Oct. 27 in Portland.
“I don’t care how many years you’ve been in this league, how many games you’ve played, it’s always good to get a little rhythm going into the first regular season game,” Paul said. “We wanted to try some things, and it worked pretty well.”