Clippers at Grizzlies
Chris Paul and Blake Griffin don’t often play poorly on the same night and both players will be in bounce-back mode when the Los Angeles Clippers visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday. Paul and Griffin were a combined 11-of-32 shooting as Los Angeles’ offensive shortcomings sabotaged a fine defensive effort in Wednesday’s 85-83 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While Griffin said the outcome “falls directly on my shoulders,” Paul was upset about committing three of his five turnovers in the fourth quarter. “The most frustrating part for me (is) the turnovers especially,” Paul told reporters. “My job is to orchestrate the offense, and I had some terrible turnovers down the stretch.” Memphis opened a four-game homestand with an 89-83 overtime victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, prevailing despite scoring just nine fourth-quarter points and shooting 35.1 percent from the field. “Boy, that was ugly,” first-year Grizzlies coach David Fizdale said afterward, “but I’ll take it.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FSN Southeast (Memphis)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (3-1): Los Angeles scored fewer than 90 points in two of its four contests and the shooting percentages were poor against the Thunder – 39.1 from the field, 31.8 from 3-point range and 44.4 percent from the free-throw line. “It was awful,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of the performance. “We were not very good offensively. I thought we really didn’t trust our stuff as a group.” Shooting guard J.J. Redick was 3-for-12 from the field and scored eight points, marking the third time he’s been in single digits.
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (3-2): Third-year power forward JaMychal Green delivered a superb performance against the Pelicans by matching his career high of 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting and holding superstar Anthony Davis to 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting. Green started 15 games last season while Memphis battled injury issues but is a full-fledged starter this time around and is averaging 11.2 points and 5.8 rebounds. "I'm still trying to get more comfortable on the perimeter than in the paint," Green told reporters. "I feel this game is going to be a big confidence booster for me."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Clippers have won four of the past five meetings.
2. Memphis C Marc Gasol had a season-worst eight points on 3-of-18 shooting against New Orleans.
3. Los Angeles backup SG Jamal Crawford is shooting 35.7 percent from the field after going 3-for-11 against the Thunder.