The Morning After: Blake Griffin, LA Clippers Win over Dallas Mavericks 112-101

Behind another great performance from the starters, specifically Blake Griffin, the LA Clippers defeated the Dallas Mavericks 112-101.

The Starters

Last night was another spectacle by the LA Clippers’ starting ~~five~~ four (Luc Mbah A Moute didn’t have his best game) and another dud by the bench. Simply put, all the starters were at least +15 in plus/minus, while the highest from a bench player was just -1.

Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin scored 32 points in the victory which marked three straight games he has scored over 31 points. He did it from all over the floor, knocking down 2 three pointers and hitting 8 of his 10 free throws. Blaked looked dominant from the start and Dallas could not handle his aggressiveness in the post. Several times, he outran the defense after a missed shot and was hit with a perfect entry pass which was easily converted. CP3 was quoted after the game saying:

"”He’s just been crazy aggressive, crazy efficient,. He’s just been our beast, that’s what we call him and stuff like that, so we are going to keep feeding him.”"

The Other Guys

Meanwhile, J.J. Redick, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan each had big games. J.J. scored 25 points on a scorching hot shooting night where he knocked down 5 threes. DJ pulled down 20 rebounds and also added 11 points. CP3 had 11 assists to go with his 22 points and managed the game great, despite an uncharacteristic 5 turnovers.

The starters have been great lately and are starting to flow together at just the right time.

Broken Bench

Meanwhile, the bench did not look good yet again. Mo Speights was the leading scorer off the bench with 7 points, but that came on 3 of 9 shooting. He did add 9 rebounds though. Jamal Crawford somehow managed to be scoreless, but did only take 2 shots from the field.

The bench has looked very vulnerable the past few games. It cannot be a coincidence that this has happened since the injury of Austin Rivers. Rivers is out with a hamstring strain and could be sidelined through the start of the playoffs. However, the team remains hopeful they will have him back for the first game.

RELATED STORY: The LA Clippers need Austin Rivers Healthy

The good news? With playoffs around the quarter, expect the bench to get less minutes. You may not have noticed, but last night, Doc Rivers started to stagger the lineups more akin to what we would see in the playoffs. More often than not, there was at least 1 starter on the court with bench members. The dominance by the starters and weakness of the bench won’t be as much of an issue when the first round hits.

Up Next

The LA Clippers are now only a half game back from 4th place, but do not control their own destiny. They need to win out and hope that the Jazz slip up, so they can gain home court advantage in the first round. The Clippers travel to San Antonio on Saturday for their last road game of the regular season.