The LA Clippers ended their six-game road trip with a comfortable 114-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, led by a well rounded effort from the whole team.
Blake Griffin had the hot hand, scoring a game-high 27 points while adding 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks to help the LA Clippers (16-5) end their six-game road trip with a win against the improved New Orleans Pelicans (7-13).
Chris Paul added 17 points with 13 dimes, Jamal Crawford scored 21 points and Luc Mbah a Moute was at his offensive best to make matters even better, scoring 15 and shooting 3-of-4 from deep. DeAndre Jordan had only six points, but grabbed 13 rebounds and had two blocks on the game.
After crushing the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-94 on Thursday night, the Clippers have ended their road trip 3-3.
The Clippers looked a little flat to begin the game and ended up being behind after the first quarter 30-25. They went down in the middle of the second by nine, but went on a 9-0 run to tie it and took a three-point lead by half time.
L.A. poured it on in the third to take a 15-point lead, with Griffin scoring 11 for the quarter and shooting 5-of-8 from the field. He scored on four consecutive shots and fouled on the next one to slow him down as he drove to the basket.
New Orleans never got closer than 10 with 7:14 left in the game. The Clippers then rebuilt their lead to 20 before winning the game by 18.
Anthony Davis, the NBA’s leading scorer, chipped in 21 points for New Orleans and was contained to 8-of-17 shooting, which is going to be key to stopping him in any matchup. E’Twaun Moore scored 15 points and Terrence Jones had 14 for the Pelicans.
The Clippers made 10 three-pointers for the game, shooting 41.7% from deep while also controlling the boards 46-41 (Paul was close to another triple-double with eight).
Not overlooking opponents
The Clippers could have overlooked this second game of a back-to-back against a weaker team, but like Griffin said to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register, everyone needs to be treated the same:
"“It’s important to get this type of win. But we can’t just be up for games like this. I think that’s the big thing. You have to treat Brooklyn like we treated the Cavs. We have to treat every team like we treat the Cavs or Warriors or whoever it might be.”"
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The Clippers have had a problem playing down to their opponents or by taking their foot off the gas and letting teams back into the game. The three losses this road trip where teams that were at .500 or below, with the Detroit Pistons (no Reggie Jackson) and Indiana Pacers (no Paul George) missing their best players. They have to treat every team as if it’s a playoff game if they are to steal the number one seed away from the Golden State Warriors.
Notes
The Clippers have more losses on this road trip to .500 teams and under than the earlier 15 games combined.
Anthony Davis played through a shoulder injury in the first half. He missed about five minutes of the quarter back in the locker room.
Next: The gravity of Blake's deadly post play
Up next for the Clippers
The LA Clippers play the Indiana Pacers at home on Sunday, and will try to even the season series after falling to the Pacers on this road trip with their worst loss of the year 91-70 (also the franchise’s lowest scoring output since 2003, when Chris Paul was a college freshman). The Pacers look to have Paul George in the lineup again, whom they were missing in the previous game.