Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan doles out high praise to Chris Paul

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Chris Paul, left, takes a shot to the face from San Antonio’s Patty Mills during the first half of the Clippers’ 105-86 victory over the Spurs on Thursday at Staples Center/AP photo by Mark J. Terrill

 

Chris Paul had yet another fine effort in Thursday’s 105-86 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center. Paul scored 28 points, shooting 9 of 18 and making all seven of his free throws. He also grabbed five rebounds, doled out 12 assists, made a steal and blocked a shot. He had just two turnovers in 37 grueling minutes.

Center DeAndre Jordan has taken notice.

“Chris has been great all season, especially since Blake (Griffin) went down,” Jordan said. “He has picked it up even more offensively and defensively for us. (He is) being more of a scorer and a playmaker for us. He is doing his job every night and it is great to watch.”

Paul averaged 17.7points, 8.9 assists and 3.3 rebounds before Griffin went down. Paul has averaged 21.1 points, 10.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds in the 24 games Griffin has missed, the Clippers winning 19 of them.

 

Five things to take from Clippers’ 105-86 victory over the Spurs

Chris Paul, left, gets up a shot over San Antonio’s David West during the Clippers’ 105-86 victory over San Antonio on Thursday/AP photo by Mark J. Terrill

 

– The Clippers (36-18) entered this game without a victory over a truly elite team. They were a collective 0-4 against the top three teams in the West – Golden State, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. So to beat the Spurs by 19 – even if it was the first game right out of the All-Star break – was a big deal. Yes, the Spurs (45-9) were without Kawhi Leonard and Manu Ginobili. But the Clippers were minus Blake Griffin, Austin Rivers and Pablo Prigioni. That’s not to mention that Lance Stephenson was on his way to Memphis after being traded there for Jeff Green, who also was not available to the Clippers for this one.

Chris Paul has been a beast, and was again. He scored a game-high 28 points, doled out 12 assists, grabbed five rebounds, made a steal and blocked a shot in 37 hard minutes. He had just two of the team’s 18 turnovers. Paul shot 9 of 18 and made all seven of his free throws.

– With Rivers and Prigioni both out, Jamal Crawford played some backup point guard. The results were a mixed bag. He came through with six assists to go along with his 19 points on 7 of 15 shooting. But he committed seven turnovers in 30 minutes.

– When LaMarcus Aldridge (3 of 12) and Tim Duncan (1 of 6) shoot a combined 4 of 18, it’s going to be difficult for the Spurs to beat a good team. Part of that was Clippers defense, part of it was just poor shooting.

Cole Aldrich played 20 tough and successful minutes for the Clippers. The backup post scored eight points on 4 of 5 shooting, pulled down eight rebounds, doled out two assists and blocked three shots. Seriously, this young man plays hard. He doesn’t back down.

BONUS TAKE: How do you not acknowledge DeAndre Jordan? He scored just nine points. But he also grabbed 17 rebounds, made three steals and blocked two shots in 37 minutes.

Jamal Crawford scores nine points to help Clippers to 42-34 halftime lead over Spurs at Staples Center

Jamal Crawford

Jamal Crawford/:Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

Jamal Crawford scored nine points off the bench and Paul Pierce scored eight to help the Clippers take a lead of 42-34 over the San Antonio Spurs into the halftime break Thursday night at Staples Center.

Patty Mills scored seven off the bench for San Antonio and LaMarcus Aldridge scored six.

The short-handed Clippers are without Blake Griffin (hand), Austin Rivers (hand), Pablo Prigioni (illness) and newly acquired Jeff Green.

 

Chris Paul looks forward to playing against Tony Parker

Tony Parker

Chris Paul

Chris Paul                                                                 Tony Parker

The Clippers will play host to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night at 7:30 at Staples Center (on TNT). That means another matchup between point guards Chris Paul of the Clippers and Tony Parker of the Spurs.

Paul is looking forward to that.

“It’s cool,” Paul said. “Used to it. Tony’s a great player, a good friend of mine. We’ve had some memorable games against each other.”

The Spurs (45-8) defeated the Clippers (35-18) by a 115-107 score on Dec. 18 in San Antonio. Paul scored 27 points, doled out 10 assists and made three steals. Parker had 21 points with three assists and a steal.

Blake Griffin says team as a whole has been ‘so helpful’ to him

Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

 

Blake Griffin unexpectedly addressed reporters at Tuesday’s Clippers practice in Playa Vista. He answered several questions about the Jan. 23 incident in Toronto when he fractured his right hand when he punched team assistant equipment manager Matias Testi.

One reporter asked Griffin how he goes about fixing what happened. He suggested that will come with help from all involved with the Clippers.

“All of my teammates and everybody that I have talked to in the organization have been so positive and so helpful for me,” Griffin said. “Talking to each one, and apologizing to them, the theme has been that everybody makes mistakes. We have all done things we regret. Everybody has just said, ‘Get back healthy and come back and join us.’ That is my goal, to get back healthy and come join us and keep doing the things that I was doing before.”

The Clippers (35-18) have gone 18-5 without Griffin, who first became unavailable when he sustained a partially torn left quad tendon on Christmas night.

The Clippers on Thursday will host the San Antonio Spurs.

Clippers’ J.J. Redick would like to be part of the 50-40-90 club

J.J. Redick

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

 

J.J. Redick is a terrific shooter, but he has never been in the 50-40-90 club. That’s shooting at least 50 percent overall from the field, at least 40 percent from 3-point range and at least 90 percent from the free-throw line.

Redick has shot at least 90 percent from the free-throw line five times during his career, which is in its 10th season. He has shot at least 40 percent from beyond the arc three times, but he’s never shot 50 percent overall.

Redick has been ultra-hot from 3-point range this year, shooting an incredible 49.1 percent (81 of 165). He’s shooting 48.5 percent overall and 87.6 percent from the free-throw line.

Redick admitted at practice Tuesday that he would like to join this club before he retires.He knows it won’t be easy.

“That’s always like a goal every season,” Redick said. “It’s hard because I don’t shoot a lot of layups. It’s hard because most of my shots are 3s and then long 2-point jumpers, so it’s hard to get to 50 (percent overall). I don’t want to say it’s a dream of mine to accomplish it, but it’s definitely something from an individual standpoint as a shooter that you kind of earmark and you would hope that if things work out in a certain season you could accomplish it at least once.”

Heading into Wednesday’s games, only Kawhi Leonard of San Antonio had a higher percentage from 3-point range than Redick. He was shooting 50 percent (67 of 134). The Clippers play Wednesday night at Portland, San Antonio will host Utah.