J.J. Redick: Clippers need to take advantage of this homestand

J.J. Redick

J.J. Redick/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

The Clippers on Friday night emerged with a 111-90 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Staples Center. Even though New Orleans came in 4-11, it had won three in a row. The Pelicans were also missing their best player – Anthony Davis – for the last quarter-plus after he knocked knees with Chris Paul.

All that said, it was still a nice win for the Clippers (8-8), who have struggled mightily at the outset of this campaign. But they need to run off several more before they can start to feel good about themselves, and now is the time to do it.

That was the sentiment of J.J. Redick, who scored 20 points in the victory.

“We can’t look at this as something where we can ease into things or that we eventually will start winning,” he said. “It has to be now. That seems to be the atmosphere in the locker room. We have to take advantage of this homestand. The biggest thing for us is winning these games at home and setting ourselves up because when you go on a five-game East Coast swing, things happen and those games are always tough, so we have to take care of business this week.”

The Clippers are 1-1 on this six-game homestand. They will play four more – against Minnesota (Sunday), Portland (Monday), Indiana (Wednesday) and Orlando (next Saturday).

The Clippers then hit the road for five games – at Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Brooklyn and Detroit.