Chris Paul’s 41 points, 17 assists help Clippers to big comeback over Blazers
The Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers entered Wednesday’s night’s game with similar stakes — the potential to be passed up by the San Antonio Spurs in the standings and a potential first-round playoff matchup between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds, the chance to lose or fall further behind in the fight for homecourt advantage in that series, and a general dip in momentum in an ultra-competitive conference that could come down to which teams get hot at the right time. The game stood out as one of the biggest games on the schedule on a very busy night in the NBA, and it figures that both squads approached the contest with the same level of intensity.
[DraftKings: FREE entry to huge cash Fantasy Basketball Contest with first deposit]
Like many games of such importance, the final result was decided largely by the best player on the court. After falling behind by 19 points midway through the second quarter, the Clippers bounced back to avoid a second-straight crushing loss. With a 41-30 advantage in the fourth quarter, L.A. topped Portland 126-122 to grab back homecourt advantage after a one-day layoff. Chris Paul was the star, scoring a season-high 41 points and dishing out 17 assists to lead his team to victory. He is just the third player to reach those totals in the same game over the past 30 seasons.
It was a quintessential CP3 performance in more ways than one. In the final minute of the third quarter, Paul bopped Blazers center Chris Kaman below the belt (perhaps intentionally, perhaps not) during a skirmish for the ball, which compelled the trebuchet enthusiast to push the All-World point guard in retaliation. Glen “Big Baby” Davis then tried to defend his teammate’s honor by going after Kaman but ended up flopping after a light push from LaMarcus Aldridge. Watch the entire spectacle here:
Kaman earned the only punishment of the episode with a flagrant-1, but the game remained chippy throughout. That style tends to benefit the Clippers, and they thrived in the fourth quarter and beyond in a reversal of their late struggles in Tuesday’s frustrating home loss to the Golden State Warriors. Blake Griffin (25 points, eight assists, and six rebounds) and J.J. Redick (25 points on 5-of-9 3FG) also came up big for the Clips.
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
The win allowed the Clippers to maintain their half-game lead over the also-victorious San Antonio Spurs for the No. 5 seed and broke a virtual tie with the Blazers for homecourt advantage in their prospective first-round series. (Under NBA rules, the Blazers will clinch no worse than the No. 4 seed whenever they lock down the Northwest Division but can still functionally serve as the lower seed if they finish with a worse record than their playoff opponents.) Meanwhile, Portland now has a worse record than both teams and at 48-26 sits two wins behind 50-26 Los Angeles. The final seeding is still far from finished, but these few head-to-head matchups will go a long way towards deciding those spots.
– – – – – – –
Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
