![]() ![]() Harris has been impressive for the Pistons this season, shooting a career-best 41 per cent from 3-point range. Detroit acquired Bradley in a trade with Boston last off-season, but he's in the final season of his contract. The addition of Griffin gives Detroit's frontcourt another standout alongside Andre Drummond, but it also represents a clear change in course from the roster the Pistons had assembled. The deal didn't include a no-trade clause. He told his teammates, coach Doc Rivers and owner Steve Ballmer, "I want my legacy to be a Clipper." eDYz5tIto8- 28-year-old Griffin has been the face of the Clippers, and last July, he agreed to a $171 million, five-year deal, ending a brief flirtation with free agency. That was his moment to bolt down the path of redemption in this game, especially after he’d made up for Paul’s missed fast-break chance by nailing both free throws from an O’Neal foul.Pretty awkward to re-read this from on the Clippers free agency pitch to Blake Griffin from just last summer. Griffin got a perfect deep seal in the post, Paul bounced the ball to him in perfect time and space, and Griffin missed. Griffin got the ball on the Clippers’ first five possessions of the second half as Rivers tried to get his go-to guy into a rhythm, but ultimately Griffin rushed his two-foot flip shot with 50.8 seconds left in a 105-105 game. O’Neal backed up his mind games and tough talk with 13 points and a critical paint presence for a Golden State team missing injured center Andrew Bogut. It’s why Warriors assistant coach Lindsey Hunter was congratulating O’Neal on the bench with a smile on his face and a gentle fist to O’Neal’s chest with 13.9 seconds left, telling O’Neal that no matter how the score turns out, he did his job. If it sounds like O’Neal played this all pretty masterfully, he did. The refs, however, were geared up not to let the bad blood get spilled. The oft-criticized Griffin clearly was geared up to assert himself physically in the playoff opener for all watching the ABC telecast to see. Griffin played 42 minutes that night, scored a game-high 30 points, and the Clippers won before O’Neal went after him. Remember that O’Neal stirred it up with Griffin in the teams’ last meeting, barking at Griffin for a semi-flop and barking even louder in the Staples corridor postgame into Griffin’s face before ending it with a handshake. You know who was smarter? Jermaine O’Neal, playing his 91st playoff game in his 18th NBA season. But like I said, I have to be smarter in that area and not put us in that situation.” “So it’s kind of hard to know what you can get away with and what you can’t. “The series we played last year and the year before that were way, way, way more physical,” Griffin said. Yet Griffin went into this 18th career playoff game with it predetermined in his mind that he could be hands-on without a lot of whistles, as he’d experienced before in the playoffs. It’s a convenient excuse to blame the touchy officiating, and Griffin’s fifth foul was particularly one that should’ve been let go. “We need 32, though,” said Paul, referring to Griffin’s number and adding the adverb to show he was indeed introducing the different topic all on his own. But Paul certainly didn’t close well either. Meanwhile, every basketball junkie watching the other end could see how the Warriors’ traps led by rangy Klay Thompson were making it hard for Paul to attack, one reason Paul wound up hitting five of nine three-point shots in his 28-point game. ![]() I need you.” He was unabashed in admitting his own energy was draining from being the primary defender in the Clippers’ traps against Stephen Curry. Paul was telling Griffin during the game: “I need you. With that title comes the obligation to take care of more than just your own business. Paul will hold the latter title for as long as the NBA’s not allowing trades for him to become Kobe Bryant’s teammate. When he only plays 19 minutes, that’s tough.”īeing a team’s go-to guy should never be confused with being a team’s alpha male. “Blake is our go-to guy, contrary to what people might think. “It was tough it was huge,” Paul soon said about Griffin’s limited presence, which included fouling out with 48 seconds left in a tie game. ![]()
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