Blake Griffin had 22 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists in Monday’s victory at Charlotte/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com
– It was good to see Blake Griffin come back with a terrific game after stinking up the joint a night earlier in Memphis when he scored just 12 points on 5 of 17 shooting and grabbed just four rebounds. Against Charlotte, he came back with 22 points, a season-high 16 rebounds and nine assists. He was nearly the ferocious player Clippers fans have come to know.
– Good shooting is contagious, and vice versa. The Clippers shot 51.1 percent (45 of 88) from the field overall, 46.9 percent (15 of 32) from 3-point range. To top it off, the Clippers were 8 of 10 from the free-throw line, an 80-percent clip.
– What do you know? The Clippers won the battle of the boards, too. They had 43 rebounds to just 33 for Charlotte. Even with that, the Clippers ranked 29th in the league in rebounding at 37.4 per game. Only Miami (36.4) is worse.
– We don’t want to take anything away from this victory. But just to be real, the Hornets (4-11) have now lost six consecutive games, so a victory over them was expected as much as anything. The same can be said for Wednesday’s game at Detroit (3-10). Of the three games the Clippers have won on this trip – Orlando, Miami and Charlotte – chances are only Miami (8-6) will make the playoffs. The one loss so far on the seven-game trip was to Western Conference-leading Memphis (12-2).
– Jamal Crawford continues to be that ultimate weapon off the bench. The two-time Sixth Man of the Year scored 21 points. He made 8 of 13 from the field, 5 of 8 from 3-point range as he moved into 10th-place all-time in made 3-pointers with 1,723. Crawford is averaging 17.6 points, third on the team behind Griffin (22.2) and Chris Paul (18.6).