The Chicago Bulls were in STAPLES Center Saturday night to take on the LA Clippers – and with the Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back, the Bulls jumped on them early, leading by as many as 19 points mid-2nd quarter. They were up 51-39 with 2:00 left in the 2nd quarter when this happened:
ALL OF THE CAPS. #BlakeDoingBlakeThings pic.twitter.com/TMAJ88VVY3
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 20, 2016
From that point on, including the top-five POSTERIZATION, the Clippers outscored the Bulls by 19 points to complete a comeback and retain the belt for best record in the NBA for another couple of days.
The Bulls had a 33-23 lead over the Clippers at the end of the 1st quarter, with Bulls PF Taj Gibson making all 4 FG attempts in the opening period. Bulls SG Dwyane Wade, who already has made more threes this season than all of last season, scorched the Clippers early by making his first 4 threes of the game. Wade had 18 of his game-high 28 points by 7:19 left in the 2nd quarter with the Bulls leading 45-26.
Over the last 31 minutes of the game, though, the Clippers outscored the Bulls 76-50, holding the Bulls to 29.2 percent shooting from the field. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and Marreese Speights scored 50 of those 76 points on 15-of-25 FGs (60 percent) over that extended stretch.
When Wade made his 5th three of the game with 6:31 left in the 4th quarter, the Bulls had an 85-84 lead. It would be their last lead of the night. Doc Rivers went with Speights, Austin Rivers, and Jamal Crawford for most of the 4th quarter instead of starters DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick, and Luc Mbah a Moute. The result was the Clippers outscoring the Bulls 13-7 between 6:30 and :50 left in the 4th quarter, a stretch that saw the Bulls go 0-for-7 from the field.
A controversial moment in this game came after Bulls backup SG Isaiah Canaan made a three to close the Clippers lead to 97-95 with :44 left. Out of a timeout, the Clippers managed to get Bulls SF Jimmy Butler switched onto Griffin, who was jammed up late in the clock. Just as the shot clock expired, Griffin drew a foul on Butler and made his 9th and 10th FTs of the game without a miss. Griffin finished with a team-high 26 points on 8-of-15 FGs (53.3 percent) and 10-of-10 from the line, marking only the 2nd time in his career that Griffin attempted at least 10 FTs and made them all.
After Wade missed a three on Chicago’s last possession of the night, Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg was ejected, allowing Redick to ice the game with 3 more FTs. No team in the league has played more games than the Clippers have since October 30 (13), but no team has won more games either (11). As previously mentioned, the Clippers won’t have two days off until December 5-6.
““Mentally it’s not hard, because you are never turned off,” Redick said after the game. “Sometimes when you have those long breaks in the middle of the season, you may turn yourself off. Physically, it’s a little tougher. Last night, I looked at my phone at the end of the game and it was 10:33. I was expecting to be home in my bed by midnight, but we didn’t land until well after one in the morning. Those are the type of things that make it hard on us.”
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Hey what are the chances you guys bring back ‘Last Call’ after every game?
Those were a great read!
Doc put a bunch of bench players that can’t play defense together and somehow they’re doing well. I suppose this is what Doc Rivers is supposed to bring.
Most of the Clippers success is due to Blake Griffin and his health/improvement, but the bench is doing it’s part for now. I’m not sure how,
You are forgetting that with Felton, Rivers and Johnson we have a nice wall to hide Crawford and Speights (also Bass and Anderson in the mix) . This group is in the same level (or better) than the 2nd. groups of Warriors, San Antonio and Cleveland that is what it matters. I don’t care about the rest of the league.
Diamond Stone put up 31 and 9 in his D-League debut for Santa Cruz.
Still no word on when Brice Johnson will be healthy enough to play in the D-League.
We’ve been given a gift this year. This team is special and has a real shot at winning it this year. For the first time we’ve carved out an identity in the first month of the season and the rest of the league has taken notice. I’d love to see this end with a Blake Griffin regular and Playoff MVP.
I’m probably jinxing things, but man, it feels like I’m watching history this year.
Oh, so now you don’t think the Clippers should trade Blake Griffin?
I have never, ever said we should trade Blake. In fact, I’ve stated he should be untradeable. He’s the franchise.
I did say we should try and flip CP3 for Westbrook in the aftermath of the Durant signing.
I’m still waiting to read Jake’s expert opinion on what happened to the Mavericks.
Jake had them finishing ahead of the Clippers because Bogut is so much better than DJ.
They’re 2-11 and Wes Matthews isn’t the same player after tearing his Achilles. Who could have guessed that? But I’m sure Mario Chalmers will be fine after tearing his Achilles, right Bboy?
BG has been great and like I’ve said in previous posts is healthy. Can CP3 and BG maintain this level of play as time goes on in the playoffs remains to be seen this year.
The somehow is playing well, I don’t know how, but that’s what Doc is supposed to come in and do.
A. Rivers FG: 39.8% 3PT: 21.2%
Speights just chucking up 3s and somehow things work. Ok
Austin is inconsistent. I’m all for calling out a player when he’s playing like shit and it’s hurting the team. You, on the other hand, are obsessed.
Where were you last year when he shot 46% from the field and 40% from 3 after the All-Star break? Were you on here doing a breakdown of his weekly shooting splits then? Nah.
isn’t being consistent part of being a good player? I suppose he’s the best defender on the bench, that’s not saying much though.
Glad to see the Clippers playing a sustainable brand of basketball. Great offense, great defense. Nice how Blake and CP closed out the Raptors, with JJ adding some FT’s down the stretch.
Maybe this is the year the Basketball Gods smile down on the Clippers. Maybe its our turn to have all our stars healthy through-out the Playoffs. It would be nice to see if that happens, what could happen.
Austin Rivers continues to be terrible and continues to be the worst player on the team. He was 1-5 from the field last night, and he didn’t even shoot anything from three range. He had 1 free throw, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
In the last six games, he’s only had one game where he’s made more than one field goal. In the other five of the last six games he’s 1-4, 1-6, 1-4, 1-2 and 1-5.
In five of the six games before that. he’s 2-8, 2-9, 3-10, 3-10 and 2-5.
It is completely incorrect to say Austin Rivers is inconsistent. In the ;last 12 games, he’s had only two that were not bad shooting performances. That’s not inconsistent. That’s very consistently bad.
This is big problem for the Clippers, and it will be a bigger problem in the playoffs.
Blake Griffin continues to be great, and he’s more than making up for the problems with Austin Rivers, for now.