By Kyle Soppe
A balanced Clippers team overcame a slow start, and beat the visiting Rockets by a final count of 95-91. The Rockets won the first two quarters, and led by eight at the half, but Chris Paul responded from a slow start, scoring 91.3% of his points in the second half.
Four LA starters tallied double digit point totals, as did Mo Williams off of the bench. Paul totaled 23 points, his most in more than a week, but only handed out 5 assists, his fewest in over a month. In fact, the entire Clippers team didn’t distribute the ball efficiently, as they assisted on only 51.4% of baskets (Houston assisted on 71.4%).
Paul matched a season high with five steals and even blocked a shot.
DeAndre Jordan only took 5 shots, but did manage to grab a game high 11 rebounds. It was the eighth time this month in which the Clippers big man grabbed at least twice as many boards as field goals attempted.
Caron Butler struggled from the field once again, going 4/15. He is now shooting 31.7% over his last 13 games, with the Clippers only winning six of those games.
Blake Griffin was the most efficient shooter for the home team, something that has become a theme of late. The second year man has shot at least 50% in each of his last nine games. His decreasing rebounding rate is an odd trend, grabbing 10+ rebounds in only two of his past seven games.
Mo Williams comes off the bench, and he has a simple role: score the basketball. Williams has attempted 10+ shots in 20 of his last 22 games.
For the Rockets, it was Courtney Lee (25 points) that picked up the scoring slack for the injured Kevin Martin. The Western Kentucky product buried all five two pointers he attempted, and cashed in 4/9 from distance. His 1.79 points per shot was the highest total in the game. With the hot hand, he handled the ball often, but did not record a single turnover. He also tied a season high with five rebounds.
Goran Dragic handed out a game high 14 dimes to go with 11 points, his second consecutive double double. He doesn’t get the attention of Jeremy Lin, but he appears to be a very similar player, just without the historic 14 day stretch.
Luis Scola scored 10 points and snagged 11 rebounds, his first double double in nearly two weeks. It was his first game in two months in which his rebound total met or surpassed his point total.
Patrick Patterson recorded a season high 31 minutes and responded with a season high 14 points.
After playing 25+ minutes only seven times previously, Chase Budinger has notched at least 25 minutes in his last four contests.
The 91 points scored by the Rockets rank as their lowest total of the month, they have scored at least 100 points in two out of every three games in March.
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