Rowan Kavner
INDIANAPOLIS – On a nine-game winning streak, some games won’t be pretty. That was the case Wednesday night in Indiana.
But on the road and with the Western Conference so stacked at the top, the end result is all that matters. The Clippers (16-5) escaped with the win against the Pacers (7-15), despite 12 turnovers and few standout performances, in a 103-96 victory.
“You’ve just got to win games,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “They put a number, or they’ll put a win or an L, but we’ve still got to get better each night. I want to win every game that we play well, I want to win every game we don’t play well. This was a game we played well half the game, when our starters were in.”
Every lead the Clippers built, the Pacers chipped into it. A 15-point first quarter lead got down to eight after the first quarter. It didn’t take long as the reserves took the floor in the second quarter for the Clippers’ lead to vanish entirely, as the Clippers fell behind, 46-45.
The Clippers then got the lead back up to five points at the half and dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Pacers, 28-16, to take an 82-65 lead after three quarters.
Once again, the Clippers watched the lead start to slip, as the Pacers went on an 18-6 run to start the fourth.
“The key is pulling it out,” Rivers said. “Basically a replay of the first half. Starters come in, get a big lead. Second unit comes in, loses it, starters got to hold on. Fortunately we were able to do that.”
That’s when the majority of the Clippers’ starters returned to the court and managed to hold off the Pacers, helped out by a couple big shots late from Jamal Crawford, who finished with a team-high 18 points in the first game back from the first ejection of his career.
Crawford was one of six Clippers to score in double figures, along with the entire starting unit. DeAndre Jordan finished with 12 points and 19 rebounds. Chris Paul also had a double-double, adding 15 points and 15 rebounds, as well as Blake Griffin with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“I think for us, we have professionals,” Crawford said. “With us, we don’t care about who scores. It can be a certain guy’s night and we’ll ride that. But if not, we’ll have great balance.”
While the starters played well, the rest of the bench other than Crawford had just five combined points. C.J. Miles scored 30 points off the bench for the Pacers, who cut the Clippers’ lead to 98-96 in the waning minutes.
But the Clippers held on and will head to Washington, D.C., looking to stretch their win streak to double digits.
“We’ve just got to get more consistent with it,” Paul said. “Keep our foot on the gas.”
Photos: Clippers vs. Pacers | 12/10/14 →
RELATED CONTENT