Clippers Win Sixth Straight, Pummel Rockets

By Connor Aylward
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: April 10, 2017

Sometimes it’s easy to see which team wants the win more. In a game where the Houston Rockets had nothing on the line and the Los Angeles Clippers were fighting for home court in the playoffs, the Clippers did what they had to.

It was easy to see early on that Los Angeles had their sights set on this victory as a player that usually doesn’t have much impact on the offensive end was feeling his shot. Luc Mbah a Moute finished the first quarter with 10 points and was able to close out this game tied with his season high 15 points.

Mbah a Moute stood out early and he wasn’t alone. 5 Clippers players scored in double-digits in the first half of this contest. Jamal Crawford led the team in points after the opening half with 13 and finished the night with 19, including 2 that came off this impressive move.

“They don’t call him J Crossover for nothing!” pic.twitter.com/xvfuq4JQh9

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 11, 2017

The first half didn’t show much separation between the teams however. James Harden continued to force his way to the free throw line and create opportunities for his team. Harden did struggle at the line in this one though, the 85% free throw shooter on the season went 9 of 14 from the line. Credit to his struggle might be thanks to some clever Clippers fans.

Clippers fans started a “Russ-ell West-brook!” chant while James Harden was at the free throw line. Harden missed the first free throw.

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 11, 2017

Harden’s frustration became very clear as the game wore on and the MVP candidate was called for his 5th foul early on in the third quarter.

Leading by just 4 at the half Los Angeles decided to use that third quarter as their springboard.

Chris Paul and Blake Griffin got the team rolling as James Harden wallowed in foul trouble. Griffin used his strength to back down the smaller Rockets defenders and punish them on the block. Griffin would end up with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Meanwhile Paul was making any Rocket across from him look silly on both sides of the court. He had 19 points, 9 assists and 4 massive steals for his defense.

Going on a 27-3 run and winning the third 36-12 allowed the Clippers to pull away and get a lead the Rockets would never recover from.

Los Angeles would go on to win 125-96. This was the Clippers sixth consecutive victory and this run couldn’t have come at a better time for this team.

With just one game remaining against Pacific Division foe the Sacramento Kings the Clippers will need to win the final game to get that home court advantage in their first round matchup with the Utah Jazz.

Thanks for reading along Clipper Nation. Here’s to getting home court on the final game of the regular season.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Clippers and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, all the time!