Apri 10, 2017

Chris Paul led the way with 19 points, and Blake Griffin had 18 as the Clippers hammered the Rockets 125-96.  It was the Clippers 6th straight win and kept them tied with Utah in the race for 4th place in the West.

The Rockets were led by Eric Gordon, who scored 19 points.  James Harden had 14 points on just 2-9 shooting.

The Jazz and the Clippers each have one game left.  Utah won on Monday night at Golden State, and they’ll host the Spurs on Wednesday night, while the Clippers will face Sacramento at Staples Center.

After an even 1st quarter, the Clippers managed to take a 4 point lead into halftime.  Jamal Crawford would score the final 5 points of the 1st half.

By the 3rd quarter, they would break it open, outscoring the Rockets 36-12 in the period.  The quarter was highlighted by a 24-3 run, which included a DeAndre Jordan dunk off an alley-oop from Chris Paul, and a steal and a 3-pointer from J.J. Redick.  Griffin had 8 points in the quarter.

The 4th quarter was highlighted by Paul Pierce scoring 10 points in the game’s final five minutes.  He moved into 15th on the NBA career scoring list with 26,397 points, which fired up all of his teammates on the bench.

If the Clippers win on Wednesday night at home against the Kings, they will earn home court advantage in the 1st round against Utah.  They own the tie-breaker with the Jazz, after winning the season series 3-1.