The Los Angeles Clippers stormed back from a 27-point second-half deficit to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 99-98 in the first game of their NBA Western Conference first-round series.
Chris Paul’s two free throws with 23.7 seconds left gave the Clippers the one-point lead, and Rudy Gay missed a jump shot as time expired that would have salvaged victory for the Grizzlies on their home court.
The Clippers’ remarkable rally, after they trailed by 24 points with nine minutes remaining, followed emphatic victories for the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs and perennial contenders the Los Angeles Lakers in their first-round openers.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the guys,” said Clippers coach Vinny del Negro. “The guys just gutted it out.”
Nick Young scored 19 points off the bench, including three three-pointers that were part of the Clippers’ storming finish. Paul finished with 14 points, Blake Griffin added 17 and Caron Butler scored 12 before suffering a broken left hand in the second half.
Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said his players became complacent as their lead hovered around 20 points for much of the contest. “We just got careless,” he said.
“We lost a little bit of our discipline from a defensive perspective. Offensively, we started just walking it up and trying to throw the ball in the post instead of running. We were in transition early and we just stopped doing that. [We] got conservative – and it cost us.”
With the Clippers on the road, the Lakers held court in Los Angeles, where All-Star centre Andrew Bynum delivered a dazzling defensive display in their 103-88 victory over the Denver Nuggets. He matched the NBA play-off record for blocked shots in a game with 10, part of a triple-double that included 13 rebounds and 10 points.
Bynum had the Lakers’ first post-season triple-double since Magic Johnson managed the feat in the 1991 NBA Finals. Although he was pleased to follow in the footsteps of one of the league’s greats, the 24-year-old said the victory was the most important thing. “We’re out here now trying to win games,” he said. “If I’m aggressive defensively, I think we have the best chance to do it.”
Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant scored 31 points and Spanish import Pau Gasol added 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. But Lakers coach Mike Brown said he had no doubt it was Bynum who was the key. “To me the difference in the game is Andrew Bynum,” Brown said. “He can control the game without shooting a shot. He was phenomenal.”
In San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 28 points and Tim Duncan added 17 to lead the Spurs over the Utah Jazz 106-91. Duncan grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while Parker contributed a game-high eight assists and Stephen Jackson added 14 points for San Antonio, who had not won a play-off series opener in six attempts over the past four years.
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