HOUSTON – Playing without superstar point guard Chris Paul, the Clippers went into Houston less than 48 hours after their emotional game seven victory of the Spurs and shocked the Rockets 117-101 to steal game one of their best-of-seven series.
Paul, the savior of game seven against San Antonio did not play in the game with a strained left hamstring. Paul suffered the injury in the first quarter of Saturday's game against the Spurs, but returned in the second quarter to lead his team to victory.
"They came off a dogfight series against the Spurs, and they had more energy than we did," said Rockets coach Kevin McHale. "They wanted it more and the kicked our ass. Bottom line."
The shorthanded Clips stood their ground against the Rockets, outscoring them in quarters two, three and four as they won the field goal, free throw, rebound, assists, and turnover battles.
Blake Griffin led the team in Paul's absence with a triple-double. Griffin scored 26 points, 14 rebounds and had 13 assists, it was Griffin's second consecutive triple-double and third of the playoffs.
"Without Chris, everybody has to step up," Griffin said. "But it's not one person's job, it's everybody's job. And if you look at the stat sheet tonight, it was everybody."
Even without Paul, the Clippers still had six players in double-figures including his backup, Austin Rivers who scored 17. Rivers is the son of Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, and the game marked the first time in NBA history a father coached his son in an NBA playoff game that his heir started.
Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes stepped up in Paul's absence as the veterans had 21 and 20 points respectively.
"He's incredible. He gets in the middle of the field and kind of just picks people apart like Tom Brady," Barnes said of Griffin. "That's like a grown man triple-double right there."
MVP runner-up James Harden struggled for most of the game but still finished with 20 points, 12 assists and four steals.
"I don't think we took them lightly," Harden said. "I just don't think we had energy."
Trevor Ariza had 15 points for the Rockets.
The most intriguing matchup of the game was at the center position as Dwight Howard banged down low DeAndre Jordan. Howard outplayed his counterpart scoring 22 points with 10 rebounds and five blocks to Jordan's 10 points with 13 rebounds and four blocks.
The two big men got tangled and were pushing and shoving late as the team's each fouled the poor free-throw shooting big man during the three-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
Game Notes:
The Clippers and Rockets tied their regular season series 2-2. Howard did not play in any of the four games.
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