Drama At The Garden Ends In Clippers Win

By Connor Aylward
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Updated: February 8, 2017

The Clippers weren’t exactly riding a hot streak coming into Madison Square Garden Wednesday night having dropped their last 3 and 7 of their last 9. In a back and forth contest the team was able to turn things around and get back in the win column with a 119-115 victory on the road.

Before the game there was a lot of buzz for two teams that have been struggling to find much success as of late. The trade rumors about Carmelo Anthony and his interest in the Clippers drew some attention, as did Anthony’s rocky relationship with Knicks President and basketball legend Phil Jackson.

However it was another former Knick that took much of the attention in this game, and it had nothing to do with the game. Charles Oakley did Knicks fans everywhere a solid and went to go let the team’s owner James Dolan his opinion on the struggling franchise. It didn’t go well for Oakley or the Knicks.

Charles Oakley shoves Madison Square Garden security and is escorted out of the building in strange scene pic.twitter.com/lTphvnSzFV

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 9, 2017

Oakley was escorted out and the Knicks had a former player and fan favorite arrested as he exited the arena. Quite the way to endear yourself to a fan base struggling to find anything to cheer for.

Back to what happened on the court, Blake Griffin definitely gave Clippers fans plenty to cheer for. Following a triple-double against the Raptors Monday he responded with a solid 32 points to go with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Griffin also stepped outside the arc in what is becoming a trend going 2 of 3 from downtown.

Griffin wasn’t the only Clipper Big-man to take advantage of the young Knicks front court. DeAndre Jordan put up a double-double with 28 points and 15 rebounds. Defensively though he didn’t show the same effort Clipper fans have gotten used to as Kyle O’Quinn finished with 18 and Porzingis 27.

Defensive effort has been a constant struggle for Los Angeles since the injury to Chris Paul. Head Coach Doc Rivers will have to do something to get his team back on track on that end of the floor because allowing 115 points to a Knicks team that lacks identity is hardly a winning formula.

A much-needed win for Los Angeles on what has been a very rough stretch and it won’t get much easier moving forward. With the Charlotte Hornets and Utah Jazz both coming up to closeout the road trip.

Thanks for reading along Clipper Nation. Here’s to taking some momentum from this win into Charlotte.

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