SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forward Blake Griffin scored 33 points, and guard Chris Paul hit a crucial shot from inside the key with under a minute left to help the Los Angeles Clippers hold off the Sacramento Kings 111-104 Wednesday at Sleep Train Arena in the season opener for both teams.
The Clippers scored six consecutive points after the Kings overcame a 15-point deficit to forge a 102-102 tie late in the fourth quarter.
Sacramento briefly took a pair of one-point leads in the final period after spending much of the contest playing catch-up. Guard J.J. Reddick’s outside jumper broke the tie, and Paul’s short shot made it a two-possession margin that the Kings could not overcome.
Paul finished with 18 points and 11 assists.
Center DeMarcus Cousins finished with 32 points and 13 rebounds in Sacramento’s final regular-season opener at Sleep Train Arena. The team is slated to move into the Golden 1 Arena in downtown Sacramento next season.
Cousins also tied his career-high for 3-pointers in a season by canning four shots from beyond the arc (on five attempts). Cousins made only 11 3-pointers in the first five seasons of his career and was just 2-for-8 from 3-point distance a season ago.
Reddick scored 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting. Center DeAndre Jordan, who nearly defected to the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent during the summer, finished with eight points and 12 rebounds for Los Angeles.
Forward Paul Pierce finished with 12 points in his Clippers debut, and guard Jamal Crawford added 11 points.
Forward Rudy Gay, a late arrival to the arena before the contest, scored 16 points for Sacramento. Guard Darren Collison added 13 points, and center Kosta Koufos had 10 points. Guard Rajon Rondo tallied four points, four assists and seven rebounds in 25 minutes in his Sacramento debut.
The Kings trailed for much of the night until a spirited fourth-quarter run highlighted by 3-pointers from forward Marco Belinelli, Collison and forward Omri Casspi brought Sacramento within 92-91 with 7:12 left. Gay’s drive into the lane gave Sacramento its first lead at 98-97 with just under seven minutes left, capping a 15-1 run that put the Kings ahead.
Griffin nailed a 23-foot jumper on his first shot of the season, vaulting the Clippers to an 11-2 run out of the gate.
NOTES: Nine of Sacramento’s first 12 games are against playoff teams from last season. The Kings play the Clippers twice in the first three games and face seven straight against playoff teams, including defending champion Golden State, from Nov. 6 to Nov. 18. … F Paul Pierce began his 18th season but his first with Los Angeles. Pierce is playing for his third team in three years after one-year stints in Brooklyn and Washington. He spent his first 15 seasons with the Celtics. … The Kings opened the season at home for the third consecutive season. From 2004 to 2013, they opened on the road in eight of nine seasons. … The Clippers and Kings opened their seasons against each other four previous times. … Clippers F DeAndre Jordan played his 323rd consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NBA.