Five things to take from Clippers’ 89-85 loss to San Antonio Spurs

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Chris Paul

Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

– The Spurs are the defending NBA champions, but the Clippers were leading the entire game until a 12-0 run that began with 5:18 left in the game and culminated with 32.8 seconds remaining sealed their fate. San Antonio took its first lead at 83-82 with 1:44 left in the game, and by then it was obvious the Clippers were deflated. This is not the makings of a Clippers team picked by many experts to get to at least the Western Conference Finals.

– The 15 turnovers the Clippers had were their most so far this season. Previously they had committed 11, 14, 8, 10, 14, 7 turnovers, respectively. It didn’t help that their two best players – Chris Paul and Blake Griffin – combined for seven of those turnovers. Paul had four, Griffin three. Each had a pivotal turnover in the waning moments, though the one Griffin had was perpetuated by a pass into the paint from Jamal Crawford that seemed to surprise Griffin.

– Perhaps lost in the defeat was a fine defensive game from DeAndre Jordan. He blocked five shots and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Jordan had 14 rebounds in Saturday’s victory over Portland, and his season average is up to 11.0; he led the league at 13.6 a season ago.

– Even though Paul had the ball stolen from him by Kawhi Leonard with under a minute to play, Paul nearly had his second triple-double of the young campaign. He scored 13 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and doled out nine assists.

– One thing is certain, this game tells us that the Clippers have a lot of work to do. Sure, the Spurs are the defending champions, but they did not play well all night and then somehow emerged victorious over a Clippers team that couldn’t get out of its own way in the second half of the fourth quarter. The Clippers got a layup from Paul with 5:49 to play, then got only three more points on free throws from Jamal Crawford the rest of the way.

 

Chris Paul has fourth most triple-doubles in NBA since 2005-06

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Chris Paul

Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

The triple-double point guard Chris Paul achieved in the Clippers’ 107-101 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night at Staples Center was Paul’s first as a member of the Clippers, and 12th of his fine career. Paul is in his 10th season, fourth with the Clippers.

Moreover, Paul’s 12 triple-doubles are the fourth most in the NBA since Paul’s rookie season in 2005-06.

Coach Doc Rivers is impressed.

“He has the greatest hands that I’ve ever seen around the ball,” Rivers said. “It’s just amazing what he can do.”

Paul had 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds against Utah. He also had two steals and a block for good measure, and had just two turnovers in 36 minutes.

 

Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke watches and learns from Chris Paul

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Chris Paul

Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

Trey Burke

Trey Burke/Photo courtesy of Utah Jazz, NBA.com

 

Trey Burke, the second-year point guard for the Utah Jazz, did not have a good game Monday when the Clippers defeated Utah 107-101 at Staples Center. Burke scored six points on 1 of 5 shooting with four assists, four rebounds and four turnovers.

Burke, who will be 22 on Nov. 12, did pay close attention as Clippers point guard Chris Paul recorded a triple-double – 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

“He was aggressive and he was definitely a factor in tonight’s win for them,” Burke said post-game. “He got in the paint and made plays for them. It wasn’t like he was just scoring; he pretty much did everything else – rebounding, getting the open guys the ball. I can always learn playing against guys like him.”

Five things to take from Clippers’ 107-101 victory over Utah Jazz

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DeAndre Jordan

DeAndre Jordan/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

– DeAndre Jordan played 38 minutes in this game, and he had five measly rebounds. How does that happen? He is 6-foot-11 and this past season he led the league in rebounding with a 13.6 average. He is averaging 9.3 this season through four games. Only one of Jordan’s five rebounds came on the defensive boards.

– If Reggie Bullock can come in and continue to hit bit 3-point baskets off the bench, that will be quite a coup for the Clippers. He scored 12 points – all on 3-pointers – and two of the baskets were in crucial moments.

– Not that anyone ever doubted the toughness of Chris Paul, but to have a triple-double with a mildly sprained left foot is truly amazing. That a 6-foot guard would get 10 rebounds under those circumstances, is even more so.

– It was good to see Blake Griffin follow a poor game against Sacramento with another stellar game. He had 31 points on 14 of 21 shooting. He also had nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

– The Clippers are still allowing their opponents too many open looks, but they seemed to cut down on them in this one. The Jazz shot 46.8 percent from the field, 37 percent (10 of 27) from 3-point range. One Jazz player not guarded closely enough was Gordon Hayward, who scored 27 points on 10 of 19 shooting, 5 of 12 from 3-point range.

Chris Paul passes John Havlicek on all-time assists leader board

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Chris Paul

Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

Point guard Chris Paul had seven assists in Thursday’s season-opening 93-90 victory over Oklahoma City at Staples Center. That moved him past the Boston Celtics’ John Havlicek into 28th place on the all-time list; Havlicek had 6,114.

Paul, 29, is in his 10th season. He now has 6,119 assists. Next at No. 27 is Clyde Drexler (Portland/Houston). He has 6,125.

Chris Paul and wife Jada pumped up about season bell-ringer

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Chris Paul

Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

Chris Paul told reporters at the morning shootaround ahead of tonight’s (Thursday) season-opener against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder that he is fired up about the 2014-15 bell-ringer. Apparently, so is his wife Jada.

“I woke up and rolled over and my wife said, ‘Congratulations on the opening day,’ ” Paul said. “That was the first thing I heard. She sounded as excited as I was, so that got me excited. Now, they count.”