Los Angeles Clippers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Chris Paul scored 33 points, DeAndre Jordan had 18 points with 17 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers hammered the Oklahoma City Thunder, 120-108, at Chesapeake Energy Arena Wednesday night.
The Clippers blitzed the Thunder right from the start, jumping out to a 34-19 lead. However, Oklahoma City quickly recovered, trimming the lead to six by the end of the first quarter. The Thunder then tied the game at 47 in the second quarter, but Los Angeles finished the half well and took a 65-57 lead into the locker room.
The Clippers continued their strong play in the third quarter, stretching their lead to 22 and effectively putting Oklahoma City away.
Los Angeles shot 46.1 percent from the floor and made 15 of its 30 three-point attempts. The team also went 35-of-47 from the free-throw line.
Russell Westbrook led the Thunder with 24 points, but he shot just 5-of-14 and committed 10 turnovers. Head coach Scott Brooks says it's just a blip on the radar, per Carson Cunningham of KOCO 5:
With the loss, Oklahoma City dropped to ninth in the playoff picture, per ESPN's Royce Young:
It's a shame, but injuries or not, OKC cannot afford many more losses.
| Chris Paul | A+ |
| DeAndre Jordan | A- |
| J.J. Redick | A |
| Matt Barnes | A |
| Spencer Hawes | D- |
| Rest of Team | B |
| Russell Westbrook | D+ |
| Serge Ibaka | C |
| Enes Kanter | B |
| Dion Waiters | C- |
| Steven Adams | C |
| Rest of Team | B+ |
Los Angeles Clippers
Chris Paul: A+
Chris Paul was sensational.
With all of the talk about Westbrook lately, Paul was clearly up for this game. He abused Westbrook throughout most of the night, blowing by him for layups, fooling him off of high screens and also playing some mighty fine defense on the Thunder guard.
ESPN Stats & Info confirms:
Paul stroked jumper after jumper, going 11-of-19 from the floor and making five of his eight three-pointers. He also drew some contact and went 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.
CP3 recorded 33 points, nine assists and four rebounds.
DeAndre Jordan: A-
DeAndre Jordan had a wacky stat line.
The big man only took seven shots, making three of them. However, thanks much in part to some Hack-a-Jordan in the fourth quarter, Jordan took 22 free throws, connecting on 12 of them. For Jordan, that's actually good efficiency.
He ended up with 18 points and 17 rebounds, nine of those coming on the offensive end. His length and athleticism gave the Thunder huge problems on the glass all night.
J.J. Redick: A
You could say that J.J. Redick was pretty efficient Wednesday night.
The guard scored 25 points, and while his 6-of-14 shooting clip may not look terrific, he went 3-of-6 from downtown and a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.
What I liked most about Redick's performance was how often he put the ball on the floor and attacked, using pump fakes to deke defenders on the perimeter and get to the basket.
Redick also added seven assists and five boards. It was a pretty awesome outing.
Matt Barnes: A
Matt Barnes was absolutely awesome.
The fiery wing scored 22 points on 6-of-8 shooting, all six of those makes coming from three-point range. Most of his three-point makes were so smooth that they didn't even draw iron.
Barnes also made all four of his free throws and contributed three steals.
Spencer Hawes: D-
Spencer Hawes did not have the best of nights.
The big man shot only 1-of-7 from the floor, misfiring on three of his four three-point attempts. He also made a minimal impact on the boards, grabbing just three rebounds.
Hawes spent much of his time in foul trouble, too, racking up five fouls in 27 minutes.
The one thing he did do a solid job of was bringing help defense on Westbrook. For that, he avoids a failing grade.
Rest of Team: B
Glen Davis was terrific off the bench.
The big man scored 12 points in 21 minutes, displaying good hands as well as finishing in traffic and above length at the rim. He utilized his body to shield the basketball on layups and also to ward off defenders on drives.
Davis shot 5-of-9.
Austin Rivers played 21 minutes, scoring six points on 3-of-8 shooting. He made one very nice drive to the basket, where he made a nifty contested layup.
Nate Robinson saw 11 minutes of action, but he went 0-of-4.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Russell Westbrook: D+
Well, he is human after all.
Westbrook put forth one of his worst outings in a while against the Clippers. While he tallied 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, he went only 5-of-14 from the field and ended up with 10 turnovers.
Los Angeles head coach Doc Rivers knows the superstar floor general is not invincible, per Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:
Credit absolutely has to go to the Clippers defense, but there is no way around it: Westbrook was simply sloppy in this one.
He had a ton of trouble on defense, as well, going underneath screens for Paul instead of over the top and having some late closeouts on his counterpart.
Westbrook may have been the best player on the planet over the past few weeks, but CP3 took him to school Wednesday night.
Serge Ibaka: C
I wasn't crazy about the way Serge Ibaka played in the loss.
He was decent offensively, scoring 15 points on a 6-of-13 clip, but his impact was minimal elsewhere. He only pulled down three rebounds and was non-existent in rim protection, failing to block a shot and hardly altering any, either.
The ugliest part of Ibaka's stat line? He was a minus-38. Sheesh.
Enes Kanter: B
Enes Kanter had a decent showing.
The recently added big man scored 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, using his body to create space inside and draw fouls (he went 6-of-9 from the stripe).
Kanter played with an energy that most of the Thunder players seemed to lack in the defeat. He showed some emotion, as well, which was good to see.
Still, his defense leaves much to be desired. Kanter isn't known for his D, but there was virtually no resistance for Paul on his drives. A lot of that responsibility falls on Kanter.
Dion Waiters: C-
Dion Waiters was largely invisible.
In 25 minutes, he scored nine points and never truly impacted the game. Not surprisingly, he took a couple of wild shots, and as a result, he shot only 3-of-8 from the floor.
Waiters did add three rebounds and three assists, but he just did not leave his fingerprints on this contest.
Steven Adams: C
Steven Adams brought some positives and negatives in this one.
He recorded five rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes, doing a great job of battling for loose balls (as always). However, he was sometimes a little overaggressive, and as a result, he ended up committing five fouls.
Adams made one field goal for two points.
Rest of Team: B+
Anthony Morrow was outstanding off the pine.
The sharpshooting 2-guard was on fire from beyond the arc, going 6-of-9 from distance. Five of those threes came in the first half, which helped Oklahoma City get back into the game early on.
In total, Morrow scored 26 points, also hitting on all four of his free throws.
Outside of Morrow, there wasn't much going for the rest of OKC's role players.
D.J. Augustin was ineffective, scoring two points and failing to register a field goal.
What's Next?
The Clippers will head just a bit further south to take on the struggling Dallas Mavericks Friday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, the Thunder will get a great chance to rebound from this loss Friday night, as they will host the Minnesota Timberwolves at 8 p.m. ET.
