All things considered-the quality of the opponent, the Clippers’ struggles in big games this year, the streak, the 14-point margin of victory and the unprecedented dual absences of Jordan and Griffin-it would be fair to call this the signature win of the Clippers’ season.
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Several of those assists were to back-up center Cole Aldrich who started in the place of the ill Jordan.
Blake Griffin was supposed to miss two weeks with a partially torn tendon in his left quadriceps.
Reserve guard Gerald Green led the Heat with 19 points and Dwyane Wade added 16 points and eight assists.
The Heat were sans point guard Goran Dragic (strained left calf).
A 9-3 run to close the half allowed the Clippers to pull within 52-45 at the break. DeAndre Jordan sat out Wednesday for the first time in almost five years because of pneumonia, the same illness that had sidelined the Clippers center the last time he had sat out a game.
Prior to the victory over the Heat, the last time Los Angeles played without Griffin and Jordan was February 9, 2010.
Aldrich scored 13 of his points in the third quarter, when the Clippers took over by outscoring the Heat 34-17 to take a 79-69 lead into the fourth, where the Clippers built their lead to as many as 20 points. But he is staying within himself and having the time of his life during this 10-game Clippers winning streak. “I thought even the thought of it was ludicrous, but not him.”…
Pablo Prigioni had just two points for the Clippers, but made a whopping eight steals in not quite 15 minutes; the team had 18.
Some of the key factors in the defeat stemmed from the Heat committing 23 turnovers and slow starts to open up three of the four quarters. “I’m telling you, we’re going to win this game”‘. On that occasion, the Clippers beat Washington 127-119 in double overtime at Los Angeles after Jordan was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia.
The winning streak is at nine straight for the Los Angeles Clippers, who are still not at full strength and don’t plan to have star forward Blake Griffin back very soon.
Aldrich, stepping in for the sickly DeAndre Jordan, couldn’t have done a better DJ impression, though what the world really needed in all of this was Cole putting someone on a poster.
No other player in Basketball Reference’s game archives (back to 1985-86) has ever finished a game with that many steals in so few minutes.
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One bright spot was Miami’s Hassan Whiteside being able to play just under 27 minutes of action off the bench, despite reports that he had been scratched from the lineup due to knee trouble. Los Angeles hosts the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
