Aminu’s shooting and Griffin’s inside play have tied the game at 66 with 4:45 left in the third.
…..Now a turnover and Griffin just tried a huge dunk but missed it. He was parallel to the ground and fortunately didn’t get hurt with a jump halfway in the paint.
He gets two foul shots though..
Right at the halftime break, the Clippers are down 57-47
Eric Gordon is back in the lineup after a shoulder injury has kept out of action and, coincidentally, the Clippers have lost four in a row in his absence. In his first game back, he has seven points at half (as does Eric Bledsoe) but Blake Griffin leads the team with 11 and six boards.
One of the things that is bogging down LA is Detroit’s three-point shooting. The Pistons are 7 of 10 from behind the arc and they have consistently hit the threes at key times – many of the times after the Clippers got as close as three or five.
Charlie Villanueva has three of the three-pointers for Detroit and leads the team with 14 points. Ben Gordon has another two treys and has six.
The Clippers are trying to bounce back from a 0-4 road trip and they not only have to deal with Gordon’s injury, but the loss of Chris Kaman – who is out for a couple of weeks with a sprained ankle.
Eric Gordon is back from his shoulder injury, although the Clippers have fallen to the early deficit.
According to Coach Vinny Del Negro, Gordon’s condition is considered day-to-day and his playing Friday depends on how he feels around game time.
He did some light shooting and drills today at practice.
Chris Kaman is another story – out two to three weeks with a sprained ankle.
LA had a furious comeback and almost took the lead, but ultimately let it get away and suffered the 12-point-loss.
The Clippers (1-7) had six players score in double figures, led by Rasual Butler, who had 18. Craig Smith followed with 15 off the bench and Eric Bledsoe, Blake Griffin and Ryan Gomes tossed in 11 each and Al-Farouq Aminu hit doubles figures in his second consecutive game with 10.
(photo by AP)
LA shot 46% from the field for the second straight game and only had 14 turnovers and grabbed 33 rebounds, but couldn’t outlast the Spurs, who had three players score above 20 (Richard Jefferson with 22 and Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili each had 21.)
Certainly a spot that the team will look at is their free throw percentage, which was barely above 50% (57%) while shot San Antonio went 26-30 from the line.
Even though they came were within three points of tying just a minute ago, the Clippers have to hustle to get close again.
Nice alley oop from Bledsoe to Griffin a couple of possessions ago though.