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 Guard Chris Paul scored 22 points including a career-high six
3-pointers as the Clippers rolled into the playoffs with their
seventh straight win, an easy 112-101 win over the Phoenix Suns on
Tuesday. With seven players scoring in double figures, the Clippers
won for the 14th time in 15 games and are ready for the real season
to begin.
"We're as ready as we can be," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.
"We're healthy, we finished the season on a nice run. (Winning 14 of
the last 15) is (darn) good. But I know, like everyone else knows,
even though we ended that way Game 1 (of the playoffs) is new. It's
starts all over again and you have to be ready for that season."
Forward Blake Griffin collected 13 of his 20 points in the first
quarter and the Clippers outscored the Suns 37-17 in the second
quarter to blow the game open. The Clippers have won at least 56
games in each of the last three seasons, but have higher
aspirations.
"There's no more preseason. It's time to go," Paul said. "I felt
like this whole regular season was just a preseason for the
playoffs. The regular season is a process, but this is what you play
for. I don't care about the regular season anymore."
The Clippers (56-26) pushed a half-game ahead of the San Antonio
Spurs (55-26) and the Houston Rockets (55-26) in the race for the
second seed in the Western Conference. Now, Los Angeles waits to see
whether it will be the second or third seed when the playoffs open.
If the Spurs win, they will earn the No. 2 seed by virtue of a
tiebreaker (as the Southwest Division champion). In that case, San
Antonio would face the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the
playoffs and the Clippers would open against the Memphis Grizzlies.
If the Spurs lose and the Rockets win, Houston, as Southwest
Division champs, would get the No. 2 seed and meet the Mavericks,
while the Clippers would face Memphis. The Spurs would fall to the
No. 5 seed and would draw the fourth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers.
If both the Spurs and Rockets lose, the Clippers finish second and
get the Mavericks, the Spurs finish third and face the Grizzlies and
the Rockets end up fifth and play the Blazers.
"I think it's a great spot to be in," Griffin said. "But you always
look back and say 'What if we had won this game or that game?' We
could have solidified No. 2. But it's better than (finishing) sixth
I guess. Now we've just got to focus on winning a playoff series."
Rivers said he was going to take the team out to dinner to get away
from things Wednesday, but the players want a TV nearby so they can
see how it all shakes out.
Center DeAndre Jordan had his 47th double-double of the season with
13 points and 14 rebounds for the Clippers -- surpassing Swen Nater
(1979-80) for the highest single-season rebounding total in
franchise history with 1,226. He collected 10 or more rebounds in 75
of 82 games this season and extended his ironman streak to 322
games.
Guard Archie Goodwin had 18 points for the Suns, who trailed by as
many as 30 and missed the playoffs for the fifth straight year,
tying the longest drought in franchise history (1970-75).
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Phoenix (39-43) finished the season with five straight losses and
lost 10 of the final 11 games since being 38-33 and in the hunt for
the playoffs in late March. Only eight players dressed for the Suns,
and those who did couldn't muster much of a fight until the outcome
was no longer in doubt.
"When you look at how young our guys are ... I think they all got
better and that's a positive step," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.
"I'm sure we'll add a few pieces and get back at it again. We lost a
lot of close games early and some games to teams under .500 that you
can't lose if you want to be in the playoffs."
Griffin was the star of the Clippers' 32-point first quarter,
hitting his first six shots from the field. Paul added the first two
of his six 3-pointers of the night, including a 25-footer to give
Los Angeles a 32-24 lead.
The Clippers turned up the offense even more in the second period,
hitting 13 of 21 shots and taking total control. Center Spencer
Hawks capped an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer to push Los Angeles' lead
to 48-34. Paul had eight points as the Clippers closed the first
half on a 14-2 run, with three free throws from Griffin just before
halftime pushing the margin to 69-43.
The Clippers led 89-59 after a 3-pointer from guard Jamal Crawford
with 2:25 left in the third quarter before the Suns used a flurry of
3-points to cut the deficit to 109-98 on two free throws by Goodwin.
Phoenix had six players score in double figures, including forward
P.J. Tucker, who finished with 17 points.
NOTES: The Clippers became the first team in NBA history to have
three players shoot at least 90 percent from the free-throw line: G
Jamal Crawford (.901), G J.J. Redick (.901) and G Chris Paul (.900).
Only two teams -- the 1990-91 Seattle SuperSonics (Ricky Pierce and
Eddie Johnson) and the 1978-79 Houston Rockets (Rick Barry and
Calvin Murphy) had two players shoot 90 percent or better. ... The
Suns end the season with 2,099 wins in franchise history. Since
Phoenix joined the NBA in 1968-69, only the Los Angeles Lakers
(2,394) and Boston Celtics (2,173) have more regular-season
victories. ... Clippers coach Doc Rivers said entering the playoffs
on a good note really isn't important. "My team in Boston lost going
into the playoffs and made it to the (NBA) Finals," he said. ... The
Suns played without F Brandan Wright (foot), F Marcus Morris (flu),
G Brandon Knight (ankle) and C Alex Len (nose).
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