Paul Pierce and the Los Angeles Clippers cruised by the New York Knicks, 116-88, on Friday, but found themselves on the opposite side of the box score, falling 112-94 to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
The Truth totaled 13 points with three triples and four rebounds, as one of three starters to score in double digits Friday. DeAndre Jordan had 20 points and eight rebounds, while Chris Paul finished with 16 points, 13 assists and five rebounds.
The Knicks never led, as The Truth wasted no time scoring all eight of his first-period points within the first five minutes. He buried a triple to open the game and had a second within the first two minutes. No. 34 dropped in a layup a couple minutes later and later extended the Clips’ lead to nine, 14-5. NYK got within two possessions once, but LAC ended the quarter with a 31-24 advantage.
The Knicks improved their shooting in the second stanza (53 percent on 9-of-17 shooting), but the Clippers edged them from deep, 12 points to zero. One of those game-changing triples was drained by No. 34, who gave the Clippers their largest lead of the half, 55-41, with less than a minute to play.
The Clippers carried a 55-45 edge into the locker room and continued their hot scoring, as tempers boiled over in the third quarter.
Things had already been chippy before Chris Paul and Robin Lopez reached for the same rebound. Lopez smacked CP3 in the mouth, prompting the officials to eject him after taking a long look at the replay system.
Jordan also earned a technical after jumping in to defend his point guard, who was nursing a busted lip.
“I was just upset,” Jordan said. “Chris is the smallest dude on the floor, you know what I’m saying? So we’ve got to protect him.”
The second-half scuffle led to a total meltdown for the Knicks, as they were outscored 31-19 in the third quarter. Once the fiasco finished, Paul’s step-back jumper sparked a 24-12 surge to end the quarter.
All LAC starters sat the entirety of the fourth quarter, as the bench took care of business and outscored NYK, 30-24.
The Clippers shot 56.6 percent from the floor and 56.5 from deep with 13 triples, while holding the Knicks to 39 percent from the floor and just four three-pointers. The Knicks struggled to take care of the ball, as the Clips scored 25 points off their 17 giveaways.
TROUBLE IN TORONTO
LAC carried Friday’s momentum into the first quarter Sunday, but Toronto’s bench proved to be too powerful down the stretch.
The Raptor reserves outscored their Clipper counterparts, 51-29, as four scored in double figures.
“It’s rare that you lose by 18 and your starters all have a plus,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “That doesn’t happen very often. Our bench has been good, but tonight, they were awful.”
Pierce totaled four points in 16 minutes, while the rest of the starters combined for 61 points. CP3 had 23 points and 11 assists, J.J. Redick added 11 points and Jordan finished with 15.
Paul was held scoreless in the five minutes he played in the first quarter, but the rest of the team shot 54 percent to the Raptors’ 41 percent to outscore them 34-27 in the frame. The Clippers quickly turned cold, as the Raptor reserves found their flow for 22 points in the second quarter.
“It’s tough,” CP3 said “To get off to the start that we got off to and to let those guys back into the game, we just never recovered.”
The Raptors turned what once was a 13-point deficit in the first frame into a 14-point advantage, as they outscored the Clippers 35-15 in the second stanza and took a 62-49 lead into the break.
Toronto increased its lead to 16 before LAC began to chip away again. Paul drained a triple and dished to Jordan on the next possession to cut the margin to four, 68-64. The Clippers got within four once more with 4:36 left in the period, but the Raptors pulled away for an 83-71 lead into the fourth quarter.
No. 34 didn’t play in the final frame, as the Raptors eventually extended their lead to 23 points.
“We couldn’t stop them as a group from scoring,” said Jamal Crawford, who had three points off the bench. “That falls on us. It’s nothing that the coaching staff did; the first unit did their job. That’s the second unit. We’ve got to be better.”
LAC shot 45 percent with eight treys, while Toronto shot 49 percent with 12, seven of which came off the bench.
NEXT UP
The Clippers will wrap up their Eastern Conference road swing against the Indiana Pacers (23-21) and Atlanta Hawks (26-19).
LAC is 0-1 this season versus Indiana after Paul George dropped 31 points in a 103-91 win Dec. 2. The Pacers have lost six of their past eight games, with their lone wins coming against the Phoenix Suns (14-31) in that span.
Both teams will be looking to get back in the win column Tuesday, with game time set for 4 p.m. CT.
Leave A Comment