Late Stops Give Clippers A 93-90 Win, Holding Off The Thunder

Rowan Kavner

LOS ANGELES – The Clippers don’t care much for style points when it comes to snagging an opening night win.

A Clippers team known for its athletic and powerful offensive displays needed its defense to hold onto a 93-90 win in a victory head coach Doc Rivers isn’t sure would have happened in past seasons.

“We didn’t play well,” Rivers said. “I think everybody missed wide open shots. We’d like to get those same wide open shots every single night, and they didn’t go in. But what I was proud of is they kept fighting defensively. I don’t know if we win this game last year, definitely not early in the season.”

After taking a 57-56 lead in the third quarter, the Clippers led the rest of the way. But it was far from easy, as an 89-82 lead with 3:34 left in the game shrunk to a one-point lead with 1:44 left in the game, despite the Thunder playing without Kevin Durant and losing Russell Westbrook to a hand injury in the second quarter.

The Clippers struggled from the floor and shot just 23.3 percent from deep, so they relied on some late defensive steals and stops and a couple crucial free throws to ice the victory.

After the Thunder cut the Clippers lead to 89-88, both Jamal Crawford and DeAndre Jordan came up with steals.

“Jamal made a huge play,” Rivers said. “They ran a great play out of a timeout and slipped a guy and the guy was wide open. Jamal comes from the opposite corner to get that steal. So, yeah, some pretty good defensive plays.”

That same 89-88 score stayed the same for a minute and 31 seconds late in the game before the Clippers came up with another stop and Blake Griffin sank both free throws to put the Clippers up three points.

The Clippers then fouled to put Nick Collison on the line, and after the Thunder forward sank both free throws, J.J. Redick answered with two of his own. A Serge Ibaka heave from three-point range then fell short to seal the win.

Despite shooting 39.1 percent from the floor, including 7-of-30 from deep, the Clippers secured the opening night victory.

“We got stops when we needed to,” Rivers said. “We held them to 90 points, and our offense just wasn’t working tonight. But I liked the shots that we got.”

Griffin led the way with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. Chris Paul finished with 22 points, seven assists, four rebounds, three steals and a block. Crawford was the only other Clippers player in double digits, finishing with 16 points.

With Westbrook out, that left forward Perry Jones, who finished with 32 points, to carry the offensive load for Oklahoma City. Jones’ nine fourth-quarter points kept the Thunder close before the Clippers sneaked away with the win.

“This was the first game of the season, so there were a lot of jitters,” Paul said. “We were talking in the third quarter about this being one of those scary games. The other team can make a few shots and be back in the game, and that’s what happened. At the end of the day, it’s a win and we’ll take it.”

The Clippers will return to STAPLES Center tomorrow night as the visiting team against the Lakers.

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