By Kenneth Cruz
Eagle News Service, EBC Sports
(Eagle News) — It was like deja vu for the Los Angeles Clippers (21-8) who found themselves in the same spot as last season by playing without their All Star Power Forward, Blake Griffin. Griffin missed significant time in the 2015-2016 season with a quad injury and then right (shooting) hand injury he sustained from an off-court incident. In his absence last season, the Clippers went 30-15.
Griffin, who is averaging 21.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, underwent successful minor arthroscopic right knee surgery. He’s expected to miss three to six weeks of action, equating to 12-20 games.
Visiting LA in the Staples Center were the Denver Nuggets (12-17), coming off 117-107 win last night versus the Mavericks in Dallas. The Clippers have gone 6-6 in their past 12 games and desperately needed a win after losing to the Wizards in Washington DC this past Sunday.
The home team didn’t seem to miss their star as they beat the Nuggets 119-102. LA was white hot from beyond the arc, and had 16 3-pointers as a team. JJ Redick had 5 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game with 7 long range buckets and a game-high 27 points.
Chris Paul was aggressive in setting up his teammates and finished with 15 assists. CP3 had an efficient 16 points and 8 rebounds to go along with his 15 dimes in 3 quarters of play. Clippers athletic Center, DeAndre Jordan, also only played 3 quarters and had a dominant 13 points and 13 rebounds.
The Nuggets looked sluggish from the start. They were down by 10 points after the first quarter and had a half time deficit of 53-68. Nikola Jokic had a rough night and finished with only 9 points and 6 rebounds. Danilo Gallinari led the team in scoring with 17 points. Will Barton added 22 points from the bench.
The Clippers host two Texas teams, San Antonio and Dallas, on Thursday and Friday. They’ll have to prove once again they can consistently win without Blake Griffin. LA will need to rely on their depth and veteran leadership from Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan while their All Star Power Forward recovers.
