LA Clippers defeat Memphis in a tough matchup without Paul, Blake- January 2017
The LA Clippers took on the tough Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center without leaders Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, both out with injuries. LA got off to a slow start and had to make up a big deficit with a big third quarter. JJ Reddick was very quiet in the first half but Coach Doc Rivers changed strategy and kept feeding him as he got hot. Memphis couldn’t figure it out and never put defensive wiz Tony Allen on Reddick. The Clippers hung in while it was a big team effort to defeat The Grizzlies. Leading the way was Austin Rivers with 28 points and 7 assists, Jordan with 18 points and 20 rebounds, Crawford with 22 points and Reddick with 19 points.
Marc Gasol (23 points but only 4 rebounds), Zach Randolph (13 points) and $150+ million dollar point guard Mike Conley (17 points/12 assists and 7 rebounds) led the way for the visitors but they fell short for the second straight night at Staples getting blown out the night before by the Lakers. They looked like they had some fatigue late. Their big off season acquisition Chandler Parsons didn’t play and has been a big disappointment playing in only 14 games averaging 5 points per game and shooting only 33% from the field. LA and Memphis are battling for the 4 and 5 spots in the conference at this time so this was a big win.
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