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LAst Night's Action: Clippers Epic Playoff Comeback
Photo by Paul!!! via Flickr
LA Clippers defeat Memphis Grizzlies 99-98. Did anyone let the Clippers know that they were in the playoffs? The last time we saw this team in the playoffs, we saw them lose by 20 points in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns in 2006.
Six years later, it was more of the same in Memphis as the Grizzlies took a 27 point lead late in the third quarter. Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo had 14 points each through three quarters while Mike Conley had 16 point thanks to hitting all five three-point attempts. Meanwhile the Clippers turned the ball over 11 times with Blake Griffin scoring only nine points. And worst of all Caron Butler left the game with a broken left hand.
But then it wasn't more of the same for the Clippers.
Trailing 95-71 with 9:13 left, the Clippers went on a comeback for the ages. Fuelled by Reggie Evans' eight rebounds and a renewed defensive vigor, the Clippers went on a 26-1 run over the next 8:44 to take a 97-96 lead with 28.4 seconds left.
Rudy Gay made a jumper to retake the lead, but after Paul hit two free throws Gay missed a jumper as the final buzzer sounded completing the epic comeback.
So the question should be: did anyone let the Grizzlies know that they were in the playoffs?
In one quarter this series went from irrelevant to must-see. These two lace it up again on Wednesday.
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LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 103-88. Andrew Bynum's triple-double (10 points, 13 rebounds, 10 blocks) combined with Kobe Bryant's 31 points and Jordan Hill's 10-point, 10-rebound effort off the bench made minced meat of the Nuggets.
LA Dodgers defeat Washington Nationals 2-0. James Loney got the winning hit in the sixth inning to bolster Chris Capuano's 6 2/3 inning outing in the Dodger sweep.
Cleveland Indians defeat LA Angels 4-0. It wasn't the starting pitching. It wasn't the bullpen. This time it was the defense or lack thereof. Two errors by the Angels directly led to three runs being scored. Of course the still stale offense doesn't help things either. Mike Trout is still hitless but did get a walk in this game. Albert Pujols went 0-for-4 with a strikeout dropping his batting average to .216.
TONIGHT'S ACTION
LA Kings at St. Louis Blues. Game 2 of Second Round. Kings lead series 1-0. 6:00 p.m. CNBC, AM 1150 KTLK.
LA Dodgers at Colorado Rockies. 5:40 p.m. KCAL9, AM 570 KLAC.
Minnesota Twins at LA Angels. 7:05 p.m. FSWest, AM 830 KLAA.
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