Crawford’s Big Night Not Enough Against Shorthanded Bulls In 105-89 Loss

Rowan Kavner

LOS ANGELES - A third quarter that led the Clippers to victory Saturday proved to be their demise Monday against a Bulls team without Derrick Rose or Pau Gasol.

The Clippers (5-4) watched their 50-48 halftime lead slip away, getting outscored, 31-14, in the third quarter in a 105-89 loss at home to the Bulls (8-3).

“I thought the way we ended at halftime is what changed the game,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “It gave them hope. They felt like they had a shot to win the game, and quite honestly after that they were the tougher team. They were just tough.”

Guard Jamal Crawford played his part in trying to keep the Clippers close, pouring in a team-high 24 points, but it wasn’t enough. The Clippers let the Bulls shoot 48 percent from the floor and were outscored, 36-24, in the paint.

“When you can’t make a shot or the ball’s not going through the net, you rely on your defense,” said guard Chris Paul, who finished with 12 points and seven assists. “That’s what type of team we were last year, and we’ve got to find that. We’ve got to be hungry on defense. We’ve got to want to stop teams just as much as we want to score.”

After trailing by three points at the end of the first quarter, Crawford and Hawes scored 18 of the Clippers’ first 20 points of the second quarter to give the Clippers a 40-30 lead. The Clippers got out to a 46-32 lead with fewer than four minutes remaining in the second quarter, sparked by Crawford and Hawes, who combined for 20 points in 19 minutes in the first half.

But the Bulls closed out the first half on a 16-4 run and never let up.

A two-point halftime deficit for the Clippers turned into a 15-point deficit after three quarters, as the Clippers shot just 29 percent and let the Bulls shoot 57 percent in the third. The Clippers also went 1-of-5 from the free-throw line in the quarter and finished the game 10-of-22 from the line.

Crawford described the first and second halves as “night and day.”

“First half, we were the aggressors,” he said. “We were going to come after them…I think we had a 12 or 14 point lead. Second half, they kind of hit a switch.”

Those third-quarter struggles came one game after outscoring the Suns, 42-20, in the third quarter Saturday. There would be no such luck for the Clippers on Monday, as the Bulls made up for the lack of scoring with Gasol and Rose out by having six players score in double digits.

Paul and the Clippers said the result wasn’t because of a lack of respect for the opposition with their two stars out.

“The other guys that played tonight, they get paid just like we do,” Paul said. “That’s not their first time playing without their guys. They’re NBA players, Jimmy Butler’s their leading scorer and has been playing amazing. He continued it tonight.”

The Clippers cut the deficit to single digits in the fourth quarter, but failed to make enough stops defensively to surmount the deficit.

“We couldn’t get over that hump,” Crawford said. “That’s tough. That’s really tough, because you exert so much energy just to get back to that point. Then you have to play perfect at that point.”

Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan both finished with double-doubles in the loss. Griffin had 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Jordan had 10 points and 17 rebounds.

Notes: Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan both finished with double-doubles for the Clippers, while Joakim Noah had a double-double for the Bulls … The Clippers’ bench outscored the Bulls’ bench, 36-19, in the loss… The Bulls are now 6-0 on the road this year … The Clippers’ 12 turnovers led to 16 points for the Bulls, while the Bulls’ nine turnovers only led to seven points … The Bulls outscored the Clippers in the paint, 36-24

RELATED CONTENT