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Crawford, Rivers Almost Will Clippers To Win

Rivers

Locked into the fourth position in the Western Conference Playoffs at 47-27 the Los Angeles Clippers came into this one against an Oklahoma City Thunder team that is just as locked into the third position with a record of 52-23. With the Clippers being locked in to that spot for the most part, Head Coach Doc Rivers decided it was best to rest his key stable of players. Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick rested for this one while Blake Griffin finished off the last game of his four game suspension. Apparently nobody told the Clippers backups they weren’t supposed to win this one.


Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers were the story all game long but in the first half they were really on fire. These two looked liked one of the best scoring duos in the NBA Thursday night as they just couldn’t miss from deep. The pair shot 8 for 8 from long range in the first half while Crawford would have 23 points and Rivers 17. Thunder fans sat in silence as the game entered halftime with a depleted Clippers team leading their Thunder 69-65.

Defense was nowhere in sight through the first two quarters as Los Angeles shot 63.2% from the field and an astounding 69.2% from three point range.

The same trend continued in the second half as this Clipper “practice” didn’t involve a defensive session from either team,

Maybe Doc needs to remind the bench about this “practice” come playoff time.

Crawford and Rivers continued to shoot well while Jeff Green had a good performance himself coming off the bench with 19 points of his own by the time the night was over. This Clipper team continued to defy expectations as they were knocking down three balls like they were going out of style from all over the court. 

They were hitting their shots so well as a matter of fact that they would lead heading into the fourth quarter. However, with just a minute remaining the talent of the Thunder would finally catch up to the weakened Clipper lineup and get the Thunder the slim 119-117 win.

Crawford ended the night with 32 points going 5-8 from three, while the other star for Los Angeles tonight Rivers would get 32 points of his own on 7-9 from deep.

I don’t think anybody expected this game to be as close as it was when it was announced the Clippers were resting the majority of their starters. Overall this has to be an encouraging game for Los Angeles as the bench seems to be coming together just in time for the playoffs.

Next our Clippers will take on the Washington Wizards Sunday at 12:30 PM PST in what will be the return of superstar Blake Griffin to the lineup for the first time since Christmas! Let’s get excited Clipper fans as we make this last push into the playoffs! Thanks for reading along Clipper Nation.

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!

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