LA Clippers defeat the New York Knicks 102-88

“This team is very talented,” Knicks coach Mike Woodson said of the Clippers before the game. “They have offensive weapons all over the floor. I don’t think you can just key in on one guy.”

Heading in to this game, I didn’t like the chances of the Clippers. They just got Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups back last game and got trashed by the Miami Heat by 22 points. There was some concern that the Clippers wouldn’t be ready as their players would need some time to gel after coming back from injury. But all concerns were laid to rest as they went to New York and defeated the Knicks 102-88.

With Chris Paul and Blake Griffin back, the floor was spaced well for the other players to exploit gaps. Jamal Crawford had a great game as he scored 27 points in the game, including 11 in the fourth. He shot 12 of 22 from the field. 40-year-old Grant Hill stepped up his defense on Carmelo Anthony in the fourth. and although Melo finished with 42 points, Hill held him to only 4 points in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a great player, and I have so much respect for him,” Grant Hill said of Anthony, adding, “He’s a challenge, but I was trying to make him work and not let him get anything easy.” Hill certainly clamped down on Melo when it counted the most. “I think it was a great team win for us tonight. And I think the game ball goes to Grant Hill,” said Chris Paul. Paul himself bounced back well after he had just 3 points versus the Heat in their last game.

Chris Paul had 25 points on 10 of 17 shooting with 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals who played only 29 minutes. He played a crucial role in the fourth quarter. In the final three minutes, Paul had 5 points and one steal to stave off the Knicks. “At the end of the day, I thrive for those situations — to be the closer and win games. At the end of the day, we just want to win,” Paul said.

Carmelo Anthony is playing like a MVP. He had 36 points in their last game versus the Wolves, which the Knicks won. Melo brought it tonight as well with 42 points but the Clippers pulled away. “We had our spurts today but we didn’t put a complete game together. We made it a close game, and then those guys made some hustle plays, got some offensive rebounds and made some tough shots to open the game up,” Anthony said.”There are four other guys out there on the basketball court. We’ve just got to make plays. We’ve been doing that all season long. Today we just didn’t make plays in the fourth quarter.”

Credit the Clippers’ team defense for that. Griffin played well on defense, covering his mark and not giving up anything easy. Blake Griffin had 17 points with 12 rebounds as he shot 7 for 12 from the field.

“I think the thing that was the best part about the game for us is we stuck to our game plan,” Paul said. “We had a few lapses here and there, but we stuck to our game plan.” I don’t think the gameplan included letting Carmelo blow up for 42 but they did win this one.

Eric Bledsoe was perfect from the field, shooting 6 for 6 for 13 points with 4 rebounds, 3 assists. The Clippers shot 51.2% from the field to 44.6% of the Knicks. The Knicks did not move the ball around well. They had 11 assists to 21 of the Clippers.

The Knicks got 42 from Melo and Raymond Felton added 20 on 9 for 18 shooting with 5 assists, but no other Knick scored in double figures. Chandler did grab 11 rebounds with his 6 points and Amar’e Stoudemire added 9 points. JR Smith shot a paltry 1 for 9 from the field for 3 points. But he did try to throw Chris Paul off his game:

To no avail. The Clippers won this one and improved to 36-17 while dropping the Knicks to 32-17. Here are the Clippers’ highlights from this game: