8 takeaways from the Clippers 112-91 defeat of the Grizzlies

Chris Paul #3 of the Los Angeles Clippers celebrates his three pointer with Chauncey Billups #1 during a 112-91 win in Game One of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Staples Center on April 20, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

One of the most entertaining playoff series got underway as the LA Clippers hosted the Memphis Grizzlies and defeated them 112-91. Here are the 8 takeaways from this game:

Physical battle

This one may just be the most physical playoff series we have on our hands. With the way the bigs on both teams wrestle, they seem to be advocating for the reinstatement of wrestling as an Olympic sport. There is no holding back from either side and neither team expects the referees to bail them out on ticky-tack contact. Not that they were not eyeballing the referees with wide-googly-eyed disbelief at every contact, but each side knew that this series was going to be a grinding battle.

Basketball is supposedly a non-contact sport; you wouldn’t know it by observing the bloodied paint in this series. Both teams pretty much wear out each other’s front court. In this contest the difference was made by the backcourt of the Clippers. The Grizzlies finished with 29 fouls and the Clippers had 28.

Lob city? What lob city?

Much has been made of the high-flying act of the Clippers. Blake Griffin led the league in dunks this season and his mate DeAndre Jordan wasn’t far behind. But in this game, the Clippers were without a dunk through the first three quarters all the way to 6:02 in the fourth when Jordan broke the dunk drought with a one hand jam. It wasn’t since back in 2010 that the Clippers went a game without a dunk, and they came awfully close today. This shows that this team is about more than just flashy dunks. There is substance to go along with the style here.

Speaking of style, Jamal Crawford has his own brand of it. There are few perimeter scorers in the NBA who are as entertaining and effective as he is. He had a four point play today and finished with 13 points.

Power forwards neutralize each other

With 5:02 remaining in the game, both power forwards, Griffin and Zach Randolph picked up their 5th fouls on a double foul call. Soon after Blake fouled out when he tried to draw a charge. Even though his feet were well outside the restricted area, the referees still thought he was not in position to draw a charge. He finished with 10 points and Randolph had 13. There is no stat keeping track of the shoves these two exchanged.

Chris Paul is the X-factor

The game was put away by Chris Paul with a three pointer which made it 102-87 in favour of the Clippers. Paul took control at the start of the third when he had the first 7 points of the Clippers. He only had one assist in the second half as he looked to assert himself offensively. Paul finished with 23 points and 7 assists.

Zach Randolph #50 of the Memphis Grizzlies is consoled by Mike Conley #11 and Jerryd Bayless #7 of the Memphis Grizzlies during a 112-91 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers during Game One of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Staples Center on April 20, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

Grizzlies’ starters disappoint

No starter for the Grizzlies finished with more than 6 field goals. There was some symmetry here as Randolph had 6, Mike Conley 5, Marc Gasol 4, Tony Allen 3 and Tayshaun Prince 1. Gasol led the starters with 16 points, Randolph had 13 and Conley rounded up the double figure scoring for the Grizzlies starters with 12. Each of the Clippers’ starters except Jordan finished with double figures in scoring. Chauncey Billups was a pleasant surprise with 14 points and a couple of threes.

Second chance points

The offensive rebounding of the Clippers was a major factor in allowing them to pull away with this win. They had a 14-4 advantage on the offensive glass.

Battle of the boards

The LA Clippers out-rebounded the Memphis Grizzlies 47-23. Five of the Clippers had five rebounds or more and ten of them had two rebounds or more.

Bench scoring

The Grizzlies got 19 points from Jerryd Bayless and 6 points on two threes from Keyon Dooling. But they were no match for the bench of the Clippers, which can be almost as good as the starters of some teams in the league. Eric Bledsoe finished with 15 points on 7-7 shooting and had 4 assists and 6 rebounds in just 18 minutes of action. Matt Barnes added 10 points with 4 rebounds.

The next game in this series is on 23rd April at 8 AM. My money is on the Clippers winning this series, and taking three series after that as well.