117 points. 48.8 percent shooting. 13-of-31 from beyond the arc. And 31 assists on 41 made baskets.
Those are the Los Angeles Clippers’ numbers in their 117-101 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday. Most impressive? Doc Rivers’ team did it all with Chris Paul watching from the bench.
The Clippers’ point guard missed the Western Conference Semifinals’ opener after straining his left hamstring in Saturday’s instant classic Game 7 triumph over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. It speaks even louder volumes of Paul’s performance last weekend, naturally, that he was unfit to play 48 hours later. Muscles tighten and adrenaline wanes once competition ceases, but that hardly means the extra legend his 27-point, six-assist masterpiece now carries as a result of Monday’s absence is any less warranted.
And based on Blake Griffin’s play without his superstar running mate in Game 1, Paul might be afforded even more of it. Championships, after all, have a way of magnifying drama endured on the road to getting them.
The 6’10, 251 pounder notched his third triple-double of the postseason against Houston, scoring 26 points, grabbing 14 rebounds, and dishing 13 assists while playing Los Angeles’ closest thing to a point guard as Paul barked instructions from the sideline. Griffin set the table for his team all game long in the varied and nuanced manner normally reserved for the game’s elite playmakers.
He took outlets on a run and attacked a scrambled defense with the abandon of Russell Westbrook:
[protected-iframe id=”b4592d80239e45ca55665b814a0608d1-60970621-45855480″ info=”https://gfycat.com/ifr/CautiousOpenDingo” width=”650″ height=”355″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
Exhibited creative flare a la Stephen Curry:
[protected-iframe id=”6e6aab3735c52f13485f7e286d745e0a-60970621-45855480″ info=”https://gfycat.com/ifr/SmartMelodicBelugawhale” width=”650″ height=”320″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
And manipulated defenders from the block like LeBron James:
[protected-iframe id=”367a5ee536edf18d5f20171881301959-60970621-45855480″ info=”https://gfycat.com/ifr/CheerySillyAnemone” width=”650″ height=”355″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
But just as important as the highlight-worthy plays were the many that aren’t.
Doing his best Paul impression in guiding the Clippers to a dominant second half, Griffin had 10 points, eight rebounds, and an almost unfathomable 10 assists throughout the game’s final 24 minutes. After the win, a glowing Rivers explained that the 26 year-old executed Los Angeles’ adjusted game plan to perfection – almost too well, in fact.
“We said it before the game: Without Chris on the floor, Blake’s our point guard, you know?” Rivers said. “Everybody else is just guards. One of the things we told all the guards today is to be aggressive, score, and let Blake be the facilitator.”
“Blake was sensational,” he continued. “Funny, I got on him because he started doing the Chris thing – he stopped looking to score at one point. And I told him, ‘We need you to do everything.’ And he did.”
Many wrote the Clippers off for Game 1 when it was announced just two hours before tip-off that Paul would rest his sore hamstring. Makes sense, right? The Point God owns that distinction for a reason, and his team is devoid of consistent perimeter playmaking options without him – especially against a defense as good as Houston’s.
What those people must have missed during Los Angeles’ epic first-round, though, was Griffin becoming the all-encompassing, all-court force we thought he’d be before the season began in late October. He averaged 7.1 assists against the Spurs, garnering games of 10 and 11 dimes while never failing to earn fewer than five assists in a single contest. Though Griffin’s added aggression compared to the regular season was obvious, it mostly amounted to scoring – and frankly, dunking – for those paying merely passing attention.
But where his offensive impact loomed largest versus San Antonio was as a shot-creator overall – for himself and his teammates, in no particular order. It takes incessant effort and energy to play that role, though, and Griffin opted for a different approach to managing his wind during the regular season as a result. He basically wrote as much in a piece titled “Why Ain’t He Dunkin’?” for The Players’ Tribune published three months ago.
My first few years in the league, I was relying on my athleticism to get me by, because that’s what got me to the NBA. The problem with that is, you end up getting really, really tired by February.
Griffin was hardly a slouch during the regular season. He averaged 21.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and a career-high 5.3 assists in 2014-2015, becoming the first full-time frontcourt player to reach those points and assists thresholds in over a decade. He’ll surely be rewarded with All-NBA honors when the teams are announced, and rightfully so.
But there was still something missing about Griffin’s game for most of the year. We know now that his prudent mindset with regard to regular season “rest” accounted for it, and are seeing the fruits of that strategy pay off with aplomb when it matters most.
Assuming Griffin’s ultra-aggressive and opportunistic offensive mentality is here to stay, Los Angeles has a new problem to ponder when Paul returns: How can it best utilize the fully realized talents of its superstars? If Rivers and company find a way to do it, the Clippers could do far more in the postseason than just eliminate the reigning champions.
All eventual title-winners experience an unexpected bump on their run to the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and Griffin’s renewed playmaking vigor just could be the Clippers’. Unlike the rest of us, though, he’ll have known it was coming all along.
