5 things to take from the Paul-less Clippers beating Rockets

In the absence of Chris Paul, the Clippers are showing that they can still hold down the fort without their floor general. At least for a while. Today the Clippers defeated the Houston Rockets 117-109.

Jamal Crawford has the answer

This season, Jamal Crawford has been leading the Clippers in scoring. And he’s coming off the bench in the games. Interestingly, the Clippers are now 11-1 this season when Jamal Crawford has had the highest points for this team. While he is the leading scorer for the Clippers, their team is so versatile that they have multiple guys who chip in with 20 point games, and Crawford, even though he has been the leading scorer, hasn’t led the team every single game. Today he did lead them though, in a season high 30 point performance. These were clutch points too, as he scored 12 straight to start off the fourth quarter starting off with a three when the score was 90-77. He absolutely lit up Jeremy Lin. Last season, the Clippers depended on Randy Foye to provide the spark from the shooting guard position; this time they have one of the best scorers in the league at that spot, one of only three active players to have three 50 point games, besides LeBron and Kobe. There’s no secret that one of the keys to shutting the Clippers down is trying to contain Jamal Crawford.

No Paul, no problem

“I’ll be right there on the bench just like Chauncey Billups, just like when I missed a couple of games last year. There for vocal support and tell guys what I see. I think it will be huge for me and Chauncey to be there for Bledsoe.”- Chris Paul.

Paul is quite indispensable for the Clippers no doubt. Paul leads the NBA with 386 assists, and is averaging 9.7 assists per game, which is the second best in the league. You would think that without him the Clippers are going to have a tough time, but Bledsoe begs to differ. He’s probably the only guy who is a tiny bit excited at Paul’s absence, because it gives him a chance to shine. Bledsoe is severely underrated, only a 66 overall in NBA 2K13, ignoring team morale. While Chris Paul had been lighting up opponents, his backup off the bench had been doing his part to pummel opponents very effectively. Eric Bledsoe, or ‘Mini LeBron’ as he’s called, would probably be a starter in the NBA if he were on a team which did not have a guy who is arguably the best point guard in the NBA in Chris Paul. Eric Bledsoe had 14 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds when the Clippers routed Memphis Grizzles a day ago, in his first start of the season. Today he was no less instrumental, as he gave the Clippers 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals. One of the steals came in the first quarter, as he picked off an errant pass from Jeremy Lin and tossed an alley oop to DeAndre Jordan. Almost looked like Chris Paul right then. “I did what I do,” Bledsoe said. “Come in, get blocks and get my team-mates going and play my type of game.”

Balance

Five of the Clippers finished with more than 15 points. Crawford led the way with 30, Bledsoe and Griffin added 19 apiece, Matt Barnes had 18 with 3-6 shooting from 3 point range, and Willie Green gave them 15. This team distributes the ball all around, and utilizes its bench to the full effect. That’s a major reason why they have been winning.

All he does is dunk, not!

All Blake Griffin does is dunk, they say. We may have propagated that a little by putting him as the best dunker in the NBA today on our Top 10 list here. But Griffin does more. He may have had a tomahawk here, but there were some up and under and baseline reverse moves here too, among other things. Griffin has some of the best handles I’ve seen for a power forward. And his court vision is nothing to frown at as well. Proof positive, he had 8 assists to go with his 19 points today. And his free-throw shooting is getting better too, as he went 5-5 from the charity stripe.

Live by the three ball

The LA Clippers got hot from down town today. They shot 11-19 as a team from three point range for 57.9% shooting. Their 2-point field goal percentage was 53.8% – maybe they ought to have just gone for threes. The man who led the way was, you guessed it, Jamal Crawford, with 5-7 shooting. Matt Barnes gave 3-6 and Willie Green 2-3. Bledsoe made his only attempt. The Clippers are 55.5 % this season in true shooting percentage, good enough for 4th best in the league behind OKC Thunder, Miami Heat and the New York Knicks. Their opponents today weren’t so lucky, as they shot 13-37, only 35.1% from three point range. Live by the three ball and die by it too.

Here are the Clippers’ highlights from today’s game.