NEW YORK CITY – Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers came into the Garden Wednesday night, and proved why they have been nicknamed “Lob City”. The amount of dunks and alley oop dunks that the Clippers did to the Knicks was completely disheartening. DeAndre Jordan dunked all night long, including a couple highlight reel dunks on top of opposing Knick players. Los Angeles exposed the Knicks lack of an interior defender and in turn, the Clippers scored 42 points in the paint. New York desperately needs to find someone that can be a solid rim protector in the off season.
Another problem the Knicks faced Wednesday night was scoring the basketball. New York had a tough time beating defenders off the dribble. They also shot a lot of bad shots, which led to the Knicks shooting just 35% from the field. At halftime, the Knicks had only scored 33 points which is embarrassing. They would eventually lose the game 80-111, and were losing by as many as 40.
The Clippers had all of their starters score in double figures. Los Angeles was led in scoring by Austin Rivers, who had 21 points off of the bench. Chris Paul had a monster night, dropping 11 points and 16 assists. Jordan was a perfect 7-7 from the floor, and finished with a double double (14 points, 10 rebounds). J.J. Redick also had a nice game adding 17 points of his own. Griffin had 14 points, with 8 of them coming from the charity stripe.
New York was led in scoring by Cleanthony Early with 18 points off the bench. Lance Thomas was next in scoring with 14 points, but no Knick shot the ball particularly well.
New York has now dropped its last 5 straight games, and has a 14-58 record. The Knicks will miss the postseason for the 2nd straight year, and the season can not end fast enough for them. Their next opponent will be the Boston Celtics at home Friday night.
Barry Holmes/Pure Sports NY