Clippers 110, Grizzlies 103
Blake Griffin scored 31 points and Eric Gordon added 24, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 110-103 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
The loss dropped Memphis (46-36) into the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, which means the Grizzlies will play San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs. Even though his team had a chance to secure the No. 7 seed after New Orleans lost to Dallas, Memphis coach Lionel Hollins chose to rest Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and Tony Allen.
Sam Young led Memphis with 22 points, while Greivis Vasquez added 17. The Grizzlies split their four regular-season games against the Spurs, winning the final two games last month, both in Memphis.
Griffin scored the first nine points of the game and Los Angeles (32-50) took an 11-0 lead. The lead reached 18 points early in the second quarter and Los Angeles was ahead 66-37 at halftime.
The Clippers pushed the margin to 30 early in the third and were still ahead 96-76 with 9:11 to play in the game before Memphis rallied. Vasquez's 3-pointer with 33.5 seconds left cut the lead to 107-103, but the Grizzlies got not closer.