Rowan Kavner
HOUSTON – The taste J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford got playing together when Chris Paul went down last year is paying dividends for the Clippers this year with Blake Griffin out.
Two late comebacks fell just short following three straight wins, but Redick and Crawford continue to thrive together as head coach Doc Rivers utilizes some smaller lineups, with the duo holding the best plus-minus per game (6.2) for any two-player combination on the Clippers the last seven games.
“I enjoy playing with Jamal,” Redick said. “We got to play a little bit together last year when CP was hurt and Jamal was kind of the de facto backup point guard. I didn’t get to play as much as I wanted to last year because of injuries, but I enjoyed that stretch. I’m always looking forward to just sharing the court with him. We play well off each other, we look for each other. We get each other’s game.”
As a five-man lineup the last seven games, the one with Redick, Crawford, Paul, DeAndre Jordan and Glen Davis has the best plus-minus on the team at 17.
Meanwhile, the five-man lineup Crawford and Redick have been featured in the most, joining Jordan, Paul and Matt Barnes on the court, has compiled the highest plus-minus among combinations that have played together at least 30 minutes the last seven games since Griffin went out. That lineup is outscoring its opponent by 14 points and shooting 54.2 percent from the floor in 36 minutes the last seven games.
“I think it was just a matter of time between me and J.J.,” Crawford said. “We’ve talked about it, and we feel like we’re the best shooting guard tandem in the league, and we both play well together usually. It’s a good outcome for us.
“We talked about that even way before the beginning of the season. One of us would have a good game and then one of us wouldn’t. Now we’ve kind of got it going together, and I think we’re dangerous in that way.”
Crawford just finished a stretch of six straight games scoring at least 20 points, which was the most 20-plus point games in a row for any NBA reserve this season. On Wednesday, he scored 24 points against the Rockets, giving him his 21st game with at least 20 points off the bench this year leads the NBA.
As for Redick, he’s scored at least 15 points in five of his last six games and scored at least 20 points in two of them.
DeAndre Jordan said the success for the two guards doesn’t surprise him, and Crawford said the tandem works well because both players want to see each other thrive.
“An extra pass to him, it’s not like I don’t want him to make it,” Crawford said. “I want him to be successful and he wants me to be successful and we help each other out. We cover for each other. I think we have a great relationship. We talked about it last year at the end of the season; I think that’s one of the good things that came out of last year, is our relationship and how it developed.”
It hasn’t been typical this year to see Redick and Crawford together. In fact, there are 15 other two-man combinations this season who’ve played more minutes together than the shooting guard duo. But with Griffin out, changes needed to be made.
Both Crawford and Redick said the chemistry began to build last season when Paul went out and the Clippers needed a boost from the remaining guards. The Clippers went 12-6 when Paul dealt with his shoulder injury last year.
“I’d always played against Jamal for years, didn’t know what to expect going into last year,” Redick said. “Playing with him was a nice little surprise. He’s a guy who understands the game, who gets the game and is fun to play with.”
The Clippers hope they can take some of the enhanced individual performances they’ve had without Griffin and apply any experience from that when Griffin returns. As for now, Rivers and the Clippers are just happy to see their shooting guards going off together.
“It’s awfully nice,” Rivers said. “It is. When they’re both scoring, that means they’re both shooting the ball well from the outside, that means we’re going to get to the paint.”
