CHARLOTTE - Blake Griffin drove the lane, threw down a one-handed slam to give the Clippers a 5-2 lead and made one thing very clear early on Monday against the Hornets.
This would not be a repeat of the night before.
Griffin overcame a 12-point, four-rebound, three-assist night in Memphis to finish an assist short of a triple-double, putting up 22 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists in a 113-92 win against the Hornets.
It was nothing new for Griffin when it came to playing Charlotte, where he put up 27 points, seven rebounds and six assists in one game last year and 31 points and 12 rebounds in the other. He helped the Clippers move to 4-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this year and move to 7-1 in their last eight games against Charlotte.
Griffin featured the jump shot more in the second half, but it was his interior scoring and ability to attack early that defined his game. He scored his first basket on the massive dunk and his next on an and-1 drive to the lane. His next two field goals also came from the paint, as he helped the Clippers score 42 points in the paint in the game.
The Clippers shot 51.1 percent from the floor and 46.9 percent from deep. Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan all recorded double-doubles in the win.
Paul and Griffin have talked to each other about being more aggressive going forward, and they showed that Monday.
“This is our fourth year together and obviously we both, you know, your game changes and evolves and stuff like that, but we both realized that our bread and butter used to be when I would attack downhill and he was rolling to the basket,” Paul said. “So we’re trying to mix that in as well as some of the short rolls, and then just trying to be aggressive early.”
Griffin took that a step further.
“Especially, I think offensively, it kind of goes as far as we go,” Griffin said. “We have to be aggressive and we have to get things going, especially when things aren’t going well.”
Paul scored 22 points and dished out a season-high 15 assists, passing Jerry West for No. 25 all-time in assists in the process, while Jordan added 11 points and 12 rebounds. Griffin’s 16 rebounds were also a season-high.
When Paul and Griffin operate the way they did Monday, head coach Doc Rivers said the Clippers are probably going to win.
“We made open shots, but I thought Blake and Chris set the tone for us on both ends,” Rivers said. “I thought that was the difference.”
Despite the end score, it wasn’t always going well for the Clippers on Monday. The lead went back and forth in the second quarter and the Clippers took a 56-53 lead to halftime. The starters opened up the lead to double digits early in the third quarter, but it went back down to six points in the fourth with the bench players on the floor.
The starters returned to the court and helped open up the elad again, turning a 77-83 lead into a 93-82 lead they’d hold on to the rest of the way.
Jamal Crawford went 5-of-8 from 3-point range, moving into the top-10 all-time in 3-pointers made, while scoring 22 points. J.J. Redick went 4-of-9 from deep and added 17 points. Meanwhile, the Hornets went 2-for-20 from long range.
The Clippers have now started the road trip 3-1.
NOTES
-
Both Rivers and Paul sounded enthused about Charlotte’s name change back to the Hornets.
Rivers before the game: “I think it’s great. I think what they’re doing is great. They’ve got the beehive out there. The energy opening night was phenomenal…They had an amazing energy. Somehow it got lost, and it looks like it’s ready to come back. I think it’s great, really cool.”
Paul after the game: “I love it. Being born and raised in North Carolina, I was excited about it. Man, I couldn’t wait. I’m happy they call it Charlotte Hornets again. That’s huge…This was actually my first time playing against the Charlotte Hornets. As a kid, I would get those seats in the nosebleeds and come watch Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson and all them, so I think when the team went back to the Charlotte Hornets, a lot of fans are coming back too.”
- Paul ‘s 13-and-under AAU team became back-to-back national champions, and he brought them to the game and got them rings to surprise them. “It was really cool because they’re a great group of kids,” Paul said. “That’s one thing I do, I’m very involved in my AAU program. Reggie Bullock used to play on our team and P.J. Hairston, who plays for Charlotte, was on my very first AAU team.”
- Hedo Turkoglu finished with 10 points in 13 minutes of playing time.
- The Clippers won the rebound battle, 43-33, and had 13 more second-chance points than the Hornets.
- Bullock started at small forward for Matt Barnes, who was out with a sore calf.
RELATED CONTENT
