Randolph was 10 of 19 from the floor, while Tony Allen added 22 points.
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The league announced a few hours before tipoff that Barnes had to serve a one-game suspension for his actions Thursday night at the end of a road loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Barnes used obscenities and subsequently attemptted to enter Milwaukee’s locker room for a confrontation with Bucks John Henson. The Grizzlies were headed towards a 5-game losing streak, and needed to win one or two more games this year to make sure they stayed in the playoffs.
Zach Randolph healed after a sore knee kept him out for seven games and emphatically carried the hurting Grizzlies to another improbable win.
“I thought they were the tougher team”, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said on Fox Sports PrimeTicket. “TA and me came up with something and he got me that assist”. The teams have met twice in the first round of the playoffs, with the Clippers winning 4-3 in 2012 and the Grizzlies 4-2 in 2013. Marc Gasol is out for the rest of the season after fracturing his foot.
Griz coach Dave Joerger shook up the starting lineup given the team’s recent struggles to score.
Chris Paul had 25 points and six assists for the Clippers, while DeAndre Jordan added 16 points and seven rebounds. The performance was certainly encouraging to a point from a fantasy perspective, but the extent of Green’s injury will be the strongest determinant of whether Pierce receives sufficient playing time so as to have a chance to return similiar results in coming games.
Much like they did in the back-to-back in San Antonio and Houston, the Clippers hope to shake off Saturday’s defeat in Memphis as they get ready for the Pelicans in New Orleans a night later. The Clippers countered with 3-point shooting, including a pair from Wesley Johnson and a third from Jamal Crawford. Ray McCallum guarded Chris Paul without fear, did a good job of it, and hit a couple of big jumpers right on the Clippers’ heads. The Grizzlies responded by scoring 19 of the game’s next 21 points.
Last night, however, Jordan had some choice words for former teammate Lance Stephenson, who spent all of 3-and-a-half months with the Clippers before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies at the trading deadline last month.
Grizzlies Star:Zach Randolph – His ability to stretch the floor created problems, and that was evident as he didn’t waste any time making his mark coming back from injury, leading all players in points (28), rebounds (11) and assists (10) for his first ever triple-double.
Someday they’re going to put a big #50 in the rafters at FedExForum, and when they do, this is going to be one of the games that people are murmuring to each other about.
Forward Jeff Green left the game near the midway point of the third quarter with a cut on his head and did not return.
“We deserved to lose”, Rivers said.
Clippers: Los Angeles is 12-6 when Pierce has multiple 3s.
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“Caught an elbow and saw all the blood”, Green said.
