LOS ANGELES — With home court advantage for the first round matchup
against the Utah Jazz in the NBA playoffs hanging in the balance, the Los
Angeles Clippers defeated the Sacramento Kings 115-95 in front of a raucous Staples
Center crowd in its final regular season game.
“I wanted to win the game,” said Doc Rivers. “I thought it
was good for our guys to win, but honestly home court is still more important
and we got that, so that’s nice to get for us.
That’s a bonus.”
DeAndre Jordan led the Clippers with 18 points, 17 rebounds,
and four blocked shots. Chris Paul
scored 17 points with nine assists. J.J. Redick contributed 18 points,
including three from downtown, breaking his own Clippers’ single season
three-point record with his 201st make from behind the arc this
season.
Chris Paul’s midrange jumper halfway through the first
period gave the Clippers a 17-15 lead, which they would never relinquish. Los
Angeles led Utah 30-23 after the first quarter.
“We played all of these games to get to this position,” said
Paul. “We had our ups and downs [this season], but all that’s over now, and it
all means nothing anymore.”
Most people would have expected the Clippers to pull away
from the Kings early in this game considering what was on the line but there
they were, only leading the Kings 41-39 with 5:58 remaining in the second
quarter. The lead grew to as large as 10
points after that but Sacramento kept fighting and only trailed by six with a
53-47 halftime score.
The Kings made the first basket of the third quarter, and it
appeared the Clippers wouldn’t be handed the fourth seed in the West. The game
was played within a six-point margin for the first portion of the third.
However, the fight turned into a sparring match for the Clippers, as the Kings
started to run out of gas, which was signified by Kings’ guard Ben McLemore
missing a breakaway dunk. The lead would be stretched to 14 by the end of the
third.
The Clippers finish
the season strong by winning their seventh consecutive game, which is the
longest active streak in the NBA.
The focus now turns to preparing for the playoff matchup
with Jazz, which begins Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Staples Center.
“We have to clean up our mistakes,” said Griffin. “This is
what we played 82 games for.”
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