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The Los Angeles Clippers will try to knot their Western Conference playoff series with the Golden State Warriors on Monday night when the two teams collide at Staples Center. Gerald McCoy Buccaneers Jersey . The Warriors stole home-court advantage with a 109-105 victory Saturday afternoon. Klay Thompson tallied 22 points and seven rebounds, while David Lee had 20 points and 13 rebounds. Harrison Barnes scored 14 with eight boards off the bench for Golden State, while leading scorer Stephen Curry was limited to 14 points with seven assists and seven turnovers. "I am proud of my guys," said Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. "Were not going to quit. We had a tremendous will. This series is far from over." Chris Paul flirted with a triple-double for Los Angeles, depositing 28 points with eight assists and seven rebounds in the disappointing setback. He helped bring the Clippers back into the contest, but made some critical mistakes late. J.J. Redick added a playoff career-high 22 points and DeAndre Jordan scored 11 and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Blake Griffin, an MVP candidate this season, was plagued by foul trouble for most of the game. He managed 16 points before he fouled out after just 19:14 of action. "I kept putting myself in a bad situation by fouling," Griffin said. "I have to do a better job. I have to play smarter. I think some of us, including myself, wanted it too much. We have to relax." The Warriors were in front through most of the second half, but Paul buried a pair of 3-pointers to tie the contest. It was knotted at 105-105 when Golden States Draymond Green worked his way to the free throw line with 24 seconds left and made both. The Clippers used their final timeout and put the ball in their All-Star Pauls hands, but a hard double team forced Paul to lose it out-of-bounds, although a foul couldve been called. After initially ruling Clippers ball, officials went to the monitors and quickly overturned the call, handing it back to Golden State. It appeared to be a classic case of the referees electing not to call a foul, instead, letting the team retain possession. While the replay was used correctly by the officials, the NBA acknowledged a foul shouldve been called. "Just prior to the ball going out-of-bounds, Paul was fouled by Green and Paul should have been granted two free throws. Contact preceding out-of-bounds calls is not a reviewable matter," Rod Thorn, NBA President, Basketball Operations said in a statement. Barnes then made 1-of-2 from the stripe, leaving the door open for Los Angeles, but Paul was intentionally fouled and the 86 percent career foul shooter missed both. Green could have put the game away, but he too missed two free throws with 6.8 seconds to play. On the second miss, the Clippers Darren Collison chased down the rebound and stepped out of bounds. Thompson then took his turn at the stripe and made 1-of-2, sealing the outcome. "We didnt play very well," said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. "We were in foul trouble most of the game. We played hard but a lot of times I think we lost our trust." There were no fireworks that marred three of the four regular-season meetings between the teams. For the Warriors, who pulled off an upset of the Denver Nuggets in the first round last postseason, it was a great win as they were not immune from foul trouble. Andre Iguodala, a stout defender, fouled out in the fourth quarter after around 20 minutes of action. Golden State is already without its defensive anchor, center Andrew Bogut, who fractured a rib and is out indefinitely. "Maybe being short-handed focused on that a little bit more," said Lee. "We feel like this is two very good basketball teams, were a little bit short- handed so our goal tonight was to come out aggressive and to come out and hit first. That didnt mean get down 10 to one or whatever happened, but thats the way it worked but we feel like we have enough players to win this series and just try to be aggressive." This series shifts to Oracle Arena for Game 3 on Thursday night. Michael Johnson Black Friday Jersey . The Blue Jackets entered this series against the Metropolitan Division champions as heavy underdogs, but they sit tied with the Penguins at two wins apiece. Columbus has arrived at this point with a pair of overtime victories, including a 4-3 triumph in Wednesdays Game 4 clash at Nationwide Arena that gave the franchise its first home playoff win. William Gholston Buccaneers Jersey . Johns IceCaps dominated the Portland Pirates 5-1 on Wednesday in American Hockey League play. OKLAHOMA CITY -- The NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder got their first three-day break of the season, and the Utah Jazz were playing their third road game in as many nights. The outcome was almost too predictable. James Harden scored 22 points, Kevin Durant added 21 and the Thunder beat Utah 111-85 on Tuesday night for their second win against the Jazz in five days. "Knowing we were on the third game of a back-to-back and they were rested, they wanted to create a tempo that was favourable to them and not allow us to get back in the game," Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said. "They did a great job of just keeping the tempo up, attacking us at every moment they could and not allowing us to rest." The well-rested Thunder (22-6) never trailed and led by at least 12 throughout the second half on their way to an eighth straight win at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, extending the teams longest home winning streak since moving from Seattle in 2008. Russell Westbrook chipped in 16 points for Oklahoma City, and Serge Ibaka also scored 16 to go with 10 rebounds and six blocks. "Serge was all over the floor, rebounding the ball, blocking shots. Hes getting better every game," coach Scott Brooks said. "His growth, his development is encouraging. "Every day he works, and you can see the work that he puts in on the floor paying off for him." Al Jefferson led the Jazz with 15 points and rookie Derrick Favours scored 13. Utah started its three-game trip with a win at Memphis but followed it by allowing New Orleans to snap an eight-game losing streak. The Jazz (14-14) then fell back to .500 for the first time since they were 3-3 on Jan. 3. "Im not going to blame fatigue," said forward Gordon Hayward, who was held scoreless. "Thats just not acceptable. "Whatever the reason was were professionals, so back-to-back-to-back, thats our job. Weve got to be prepared and weve got to be able to play." Utah missed a window of opportunity to cut into a 16-point lead when Westbrook headed to the bench after picking up his fourth foul -- and a technical, too -- with 8:03 left in the third quarter. Counterpart Devin Harris picked up his fifth foul 40 seconds later and also came out, and the Thunder ended up adding to their lead without their all-star point guard. Durant drove for a right-handed slam to start a spurt of seven straight Oklahoma City points, and Harden nailed a three-pointer from the right side to make it 77-56 with 1:46 remaining in the third. Durant and Westbrook made brief appearances in the fourth quarter, and the starters were ppulled with a little under four minutes remaining and the Thunder leading 101-76. Mike Alstott Black Friday Jersey. Oklahoma City won 101-87 on Friday night in Salt Lake City before getting three days off in a row for the first time all season, a reward after finishing a five-game road trip and a stretch with eight of nine away from home. "It was great to get a chance to actually practice some of our fundamentals. When youre playing as many games as we play, sometimes you get away from fundamentals and youre just trying to get through the games," Nazr Mohammed said. "We got a chance to go back to basics and practice some of the things that we need to do in games." Utah allowed Oklahoma City to shoot 55 per cent, made only 36 per cent of its own shots and suffered its most lopsided defeat of the season. "We knew it was going to be a tough task, being a back-to-back-to-back game and against a team here who was going to be rested for three days. We knew they would come out and try to jump on us," Corbin said. "We lost the game in New Orleans and it may have knocked us off our stride a little bit. But you know what? Guys fought hard tonight. We just didnt have enough in the tank." The weary Jazz missed 15 of their first 16 shots while falling behind 16-4, with Durant completing a string of 10 straight points by hitting a free throw. Jefferson finally hit a series of shots to get Utahs offence going, and the Jazz climbed back within 31-28 after Enes Kanters three-point play off of an offensive rebound about four minutes into the second quarter. Harden drove for a layup and hit a three-pointer as Oklahoma City reeled off the next nine points, and the Thunder built the lead as big as 51-35 late in the first half when Durant followed a post-up move with a pair of free throws. It was never close again. Notes: Haywards first scoreless outing of the season came after Brooks mentioned him in pregame as a candidate to be the NBAs Most Improved Player. He missed all six of his shots and committed three turnovers in 17 minutes. ... Corbin said he needs to re-think his rotation to find more playing time for first-round pick Alec Burks, who didnt play during a recent four-game stretch and then got to the foul line 10 times in a loss at New Orleans on Monday. "Thats going to be a good thing for us going forward, and we were going to need it from him. Thats why I think he deserves more time on the floor," Corbin said. ... Thunder G Thabo Sefolosha missed his ninth straight game with a sore right foot. Daequan Cook started in his place for the seventh straight time. ' ' ' |
