NBA PLAYOFF PICTURE

Clippers wallop Rockets behind Griffin’s triple-double

The Sports Xchange

May 04, 2015 at 9:38 pm.

Blake Griffin was lights out in the Clippers win over the Rockets. (Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports)

HOUSTON — Blake Griffin recorded a triple-double and received plenty of support in the absence of Chris Paul, as the Los Angeles Clippers claimed a 117-101 victory over the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of a Western Conference semifinal on Monday night at Toyota Center.

With Paul, the Clippers’ point guard, sidelined by a strained left hamstring, the Clippers rode balanced scoring and the Rockets’ benevolence to a 1-0 series lead.

Griffin, the Clippers’ star power forward, finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists. Guard Jamal Crawford scored 21 points off the bench, and forward Matt Barnes added 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

The Paul-less starting backcourt of J.J. Redick and Austin Rivers combined for 34 points.

The Rockets committed 23 turnovers, resulting in 34 points for the Clippers. Center Dwight Howard posted 22 points and 10 rebounds while guard James Harden tallied 20 points and 12 assists. But Harden also had a game-high nine turnovers.

Houston forward Trevor Ariza scored 11 of his 17 points by the midpoint of the first quarter. Otherwise, Houston did little offensively.

What the Clippers missed in the first half they found in abundance in the third quarter, erasing a 50-46 halftime deficit by hitting all six of their 3-pointers in the period en route to an 83-77 lead entering the fourth.

Treys enabled the Clippers to apply pressure whenever the Rockets attempted to pull away, with Rivers and Barnes closing the deficit to one with 3-pointers. When Rivers drilled a trey with 3:56 left in the period, the Clippers led 69-68, their first lead since midway through the first.

The final six seconds of the third were damaging for the Rockets, with Crawford banking in a 3-pointer before Harden pushed Redick in the back battling for a rebound. Redick hit two free throws with 0.4 seconds left.

With eight turnovers in the third quarter, the Rockets continued a trend they established from the opening tip. The Clippers scored their first eight points off four turnovers and, even after Houston pushed to a 37-24 lead on a 3-pointer from guard Pablo Prigioni, the Rockets could not secure the ball well enough to maintain momentum.

By intermission, the Clippers had 17 points off 14 turnovers, kick-starting their comeback with a transition dunk from Griffin at the 6:39 mark of the second. Griffin added a three-point play five minutes later to slice the deficit to four, and that was all the Clippers needed to keep it close, particularly given the Rockets’ sloppiness.

NOTES: Clippers G Chris Paul sat out of Game 1 and Clippers coach Doc Rivers offered no guarantee that Paul would be available Wednesday night. Paul suffered a strained left hamstring early in Game 7 of the Clippers’ first-round series victory over the San Antonio Spurs yet finished that contest. Paul had improved by Monday, but Rivers did not want to put Paul in position to miss the entire series by aggravating the injury. “I just don’t think he was healthy enough to play,” Rivers said. “I just don’t think the risk was worth it.” … Rockets C Dwight Howard qualifies as a wild card in this series after having missed all four regular-season meetings between the teams. “To us, it’s like playing a new team,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of the inclusion of Howard. … Rockets G James Harden finished second to Warriors G Stephen Curry in MVP voting, earning 25 first-place votes and 936 points. Curry amassed 100 first-place votes and 1,198 points.

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