On a Sunday 12:30 matinee game at Staples Center against the visiting Toronto Raptors, the Los Angeles aimed to redeem themselves after a buzzer beating loss on Friday night. The home team licked their wounds and had an extended practice session on Saturday to go over footage and correct their mistakes.
The Clippers attacked strong from the opening tip lead by center DeAndre Jordan who muscled in dunks for 16 points and ripped down 16 rebounds for the first time in his career. Forward Blake Griffin continued with his jaw dropping dunks and power moves to rack up 18 points and 9 rebounds to help the Clippers increase their lead to 22-6 before ex-Clipper Rasual Butler hit a 3 pointer with 2:30 left in the first quarter. The smother defense and clicking offense had the home team up 27-11 by the end of the first frame and the crowd of 19,060 up on their feet cheering.
Clippers Dunk Party
The Clippers injury list is slowly decreasing as they wait for the return of Chris Paul. Just back in the starting lineup was forward Caron Butler who sat out one game because of a hyper extended knee. Butler proved that a little rest isn’t a bad thing as he went back to his scoring ways and tallied up 15 points. Off the bench was guard Mo Williams once again scoring over 25 points in his 3rd straight game and shooting the lights out from every spot on the hardwood.
The Clippers had control the entire game and grew the lead to 22 points early in the 2nd half after a huge 11-1 scoring run. With Andrea Bargnani sitting out for the Raptors, they looked for other scoring options and found them in LA native DeMar Derozan and Brazilian Leandro Barbosa who fought to keep their team afloat.
It wasn’t nearly enough as the Clippers dominated to a 103-91 victory after clearing out the bench midway through 4th quarter garbage time. Their defense held the Raptors to 36% shooting while connecting on 48% of their own buckets.
Next game up for the Clippers is round 2 of the Battle for LA where Kobe Bryant and the Lakers play host at Staples Center on Wednesday night January 25, 2012. Tip-off is 7:30pm.
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