NBA trade rumors are nothing new to New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony and Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin. More
OKLAHOMA CITY — It can easily be said that this year is all about the triple-double for Russell Westbrook. Every night the Oklahoma City point guard takes the court, the league is on triple-double alert. More
A 113-94 beatdown of the defending champion Cavaliers was certainly one way for the Los Angeles Clippers to bounce back from a double-overtime loss to the lowly Brooklyn Nets. And in the same way that defeat exposed the Clippers at their very worst, Thursday night’s win in Cleveland showed this team at its very best — a real threat to a seemingly inevitable Warriors-Cavs Finals rematch.
The blowout win wasn’t always pretty, unfortunately. If you tuned in for tip-off, you know the first quarter brought with it a cacophony of whistles from the officials. For that, we can largely blame Blake Griffin, who’s playing the very best basketball of his life.
Over a sixty-second stretch in the opening frame, Griffin drew three fouls against the Cavs, earning two trips to the free-throw line. That’s kind of been his thing this season, with the Clippers forward averaging the second-most FTAs per 36 minutes in his career. For good measure, Griffin is making a career-best 77.4 percent of his free throws.
The better he gets, the more he’s forcing opponents to choose between practically tackling him on his way to the rim or giving up a demoralizing dunk. Want to hang back and dare him to make plays for others? No problem; Griffin is an outstanding (yet underrated) passer, as he demonstrated against Cleveland with 11 assists to go along with 13 points and five rebounds.
Maybe pump the brakes on those 3-pointers, though, Blake. Griffin’s taking one 3 per game but making just 22 percent of them. Meanwhile, J.J. Redick continues to get buckets from deep, knocking down 4-of-6 triples for 23 points in Thursday’s win, bringing his season average to over 45 percent…
CLEVELAND (AP) Upon arriving at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavaliers received commemorative watches, the latest gifts to celebrate their NBA championship.
The Los Angeles Clippers then handed them a second straight loss.
J.J. Redick scored 23 points, Blake Griffin matched a career high with 11 assists and the Clippers bounced back from a brutal loss with a 113-94 victory on Thursday night over the Cavs, who have lost two straight for the first time since winning their title.
Afterward, there was no panic inside Cleveland’s locker room, but rather a measured response to the first real adversity this season. The Cavs also lost in Milwaukee on Tuesday, but LeBron James isn’t worried – yet.
”Two pretty poor games for sure,” said James, who scored 16 but had five turnovers. ”You’re hoping they’re not back-to-back, but it happens. Now, three games in a row? That’s something to talk about. We need to figure it out. It’s different from football where you have to wait a whole week to redeem yourself.
”We get right back at it tomorrow night so we’ll be all right.”
Chris Paul shook off some early foul trouble and scored 16 and DeAndre Jordan had 15 rebounds for the Clippers, who came in hungry after blowing an 18-point lead and falling in double overtime at Brooklyn on Tuesday.
”It’s who we are, I really believe that,” said Clippers coach Doc Rivers. ”We actually played to our potential. We had some adversity, which is great. Chris got in foul trouble and we extend the lead. It was a team win.”
Los Angeles took control with a 13-2 run to open the third quarter.
Kyrie Irving scored 28 and Kevin Love 16 for the Cavs, who were outplayed for the second game in a row. During Tuesday’s loss, coach Tyronn Lue pulled his starters in the second half and J.R. Smith wandered off the floor during play and gave…
