LA Clippers beat the short-handed Brooklyn Nets as they are off to a pretty good start this season- November 2013
The LA Clippers came into the game vs. the wounded Brooklyn Nets looking like it would be a cakewalk. With ex-all stars Kevin Garnett (ankle), Deron Williams (ankle injury the night before) , Paul Pierce(groin) and Brook Lopez (ankle) all sitting out with injuries, it looked dim for the 3-5 Nets under first year coach Jason Kidd.
The Nets had high expectations but age, injuries and lack of chemistry has hurt them so far this season while the Clippers were unbeaten at home and had a 6-3 overall record. They made it to 7-3 hanging on after a tight game through the first 3 quarters winning 110-103. Blake Griffin led the team scoring 30 points while new shooting guard JJ Reddick had 26 and was on fire from the field including 5-7 on three point shooting. Chris Paul had his 10th straight double-double even though he had an off shooting night ending with 12 points and 13 assists. Jamal Crawford added 13 points and Byron Mullens had 10 points with 4-4 shooting including 2-2 from 3-point range.
Griffin had some highlight reel dunks and moves including a fantastic block shot on one end and then a driving layup and foul. This was after a scare when Griffin came down awkward on his leg and left the court. He came back strong and with no serious injury as everyone was holding their breath.
Andray Blatch and good-looking rookie Mason Plumlee tallied 19 points each with the rest of the squad helping with balanced scoring. Their lone usual starter Joe Johnson was 5-17, which didn’t help. Garnett has not looked good averaging only 5.8 points per game while Williams is only averaging 10 points. The Nets made the big blockbuster trade with the Celtics taking over big salaries to get Garnett, Pierce and Jason Terry but so far, they are not playing to their usual high levels especially to compete with Miami, Indiana and Chicago- the three top teams in the East.
Next up is a home game vs. Memphis before hitting the road vs. Minnesota and Oklahoma City and then returning for a 3 game home stand with day games vs. Sacramento and Chicago on Nov. 23rd and 24th followed by the Knicks on November 27th for a night game. The Clippers are deep and for real this year. Rumor was that the team was about to sign Lamar Odom, who was on the team last year. New Coach Doc Rivers has brought a fire and will to win for the team this year. More info, schedule, tickets at www.clippers.com