The Clippers destroyed the Charlotte Bobcats, 111-86, in Chris Paul’s North Carolina homecoming.
Not much of a game, to say the least. Paul was brilliant with 18 points, five rebounds, 14 assists and two steals.
Blake Griffin has 21 points and 10 rebounds while handing the Bobcats their 14th straight loss.
The Clips are back in action Monday in Dallas.
Here are some quotes from after the game:
Clippers forward Blake Griffin
(On playing with Chris Paul)
“He’s a great player. You see the way he passes the ball and how he manages the ball, manages the time, manages the whole game, and at any given point he can score if he needs to. Having a point guard be that kind of player is huge.”
(On whether the alley-oops are set plays or ‘eye contact’ in the flow of the game plays)
“Any time we draw up an alley-oop play it seems to not work, and any time we’re just out there and there’s eye contact that’s normally when it works. I think that’s the way we like to play, freely and everybody moving around the screens, and that’s what worked for us tonight.”
Clippers guard Chris Paul
(On tonight’s game)
“We knew how important this game was. It has been a long road trip. We gave one away in Cleveland – they played well but we felt like we gave one away – and this was one of those games where we knew that if we came in and made a difference early that we could put them away. There’s no reason to let a team like that stick around and then in the fourth quarter let them find a way to beat you.”
(On the mindset playing against a struggling team)
“It’s one of those things where it’s about us, and I think it’s like that for us every night. Right now we feel like as the second place team in the West we have a target on our back coming into every game so we have to approach it with the right mindset.”
Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro
(On tonight’s game)
“There were three things I felt were good: the field goal percentage was good, our rebounding was pretty good and our assist to turnover ratio was good. We controlled the tempo even though we put them on the line too much with 40-plus free throws. We got into the penalty early in the fourth quarter, but overall we controlled the tempo.”
(On the second unit)
“I wanted the bench guys to get more minutes, but when they (the Bobcats) went on a run the way they did, I had to control the game by bringing back in Chris (Paul) and Blake (Griffin). After a few minutes I brought back in the second unit to finish it off.”
(On Eric Bledsoe)
“I didn’t want to play him, but we had a good enough lead. He has been out for a while, so it is going to be a process. When we have a lead like we had tonight I want to put him in and get his confidence level up and see how he feels condition-wise. He has great athleticism. He fought a lot. He is still a very young player and he is trying to get back to the level he was last year.”