Love, Cavs Overwhelm Clippers

By Connor Aylward
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Updated: January 21, 2016

The night started with no Clippers being named to the Western Conference All-Star starters lineup for the first time in a while and it did not get much better for Los Angeles fans. Lebron James and Kevin Love showed up and played excellently for the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night. The loss in this one certainly cannot be attributed to the play of Chris Paul or J.J. Redick, let’s review what went wrong for the Clippers at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

The first quarter started off with a bang for Los Angeles as this was how the team hammered home the first two points of the contest.

Lob City 👀https://t.co/rNUGODcUie

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 22, 2016

Redick also got off to a hot start in this one as he knocked down 6 of the team’s first 10 points on some very difficult shot attempts. The Cavaliers would jump out to a six point lead but Chris Paul wasn’t having any of it and went on a run of his own. Scoring the next 12 points for his club, Paul helped give his team a narrow lead, but it wouldn’t hold for long. This was a back and forth game early on and it remained as such until Jamal Crawford came in and drained a rainbow three ball at the buzzer to give the Clippers a 31-28 lead to end the first quarter.

The back and forth affair continued into the second quarter as Lebron James and Kevin Love stepped up for their team and put in some very important shots.

A side note for this quarter was a pre-game interview shown by TNT of DeAndre Jordan. When asked if Jordan had ever considered shooting his free throws underhanded like the great Rick Barry in an attempt to improve his percentage at the line Jordan replied saying he had never tried it and had no intention to but if it was his last resort down the line so be it.

Do with that what you will Clipper fans, anyway back to the action in the second quarter as Lebron and Love again overpowered and helped Cleveland stretch their lead to seven with just over three minutes to go in the second. A few poor possessions in a row led to turnovers for Los Angeles and allowed the Cavs lead to grow to eleven points. The Clippers would trim that lead slightly before the halftime break, trailing the Cavs 59-50.

Clipper players halftime stats:

Chris Paul 16 points 6 assists, J.J. Redick 12 points, Jamal Crawford 8 points, DeAndre Jordan 2 points 8 rebounds #Clippers

— CaliSports News (@CaliSportsnews) January 22, 2016

Poor scoring in the low post did not help the Clippers in half number one and that category did not get much better in the third quarter. It seemed that every time Los Angeles would get some momentum heading in their direction Cleveland would hit a big shot to switch it back to them. The majority of the quarter had the Cavs leading by about ten but it got worse for Clipper fans. A well executed Hack-A-DJ strategy grew the lead for Cleveland to as many as 16 and they would lead going into the final quarter 88-72.

Paul and the Clippers came into the fourth trying to cut into the lead early and it worked. Paul and Redick were able to knock in some key shots that would cut the lead down to as little as six. Eventually they went cold and momentum went swinging back towards the Cavs. A few more Hack-A-DJ possessions and an 11-1 run for Cleveland led to Doc Rivers benching the starters and planning for the clubs next game a they would win it 115-102.

Chris Paul and J.J. Redick as mentioned were certainly not to blame for the loss in this one as they would put in 30 and 17 points respectively. DeAndre Jordan would put a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Jamal Crawford led the bench with 16 points. Meanwhile Kevin Love had an excellent night for the Cavs with 18 points and 16 rebounds while Lebron James had 22 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds.

This one did not go the Clippers way but against a team like Cleveland you really have to have it all clicking and Los Angeles definitely did not on Thursday.

The Clippers next game will be at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night as now 27-15 Los Angeles will take on the 22-22 New York Knicks.

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!