They played with the kind of energy and determination that allowed the Clippers to overwhelm the Dallas Mavericks, 112-90, on Wednesday night at Staples Center.
It was the kind of attitude veteran guard Chauncey Billups had implored his fellow starters to play with even if he was sitting out the game because of tendinitis in his left foot.
But with four of the five starters scoring in double figures, the Clippers didn’t miss Billups in building a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Though none of the starters played more than Chris Paul‘s 28 minutes 57 seconds, they accounted for 65 of the team’s points.
“We definitely want to get off to a good start,” Paul said. “Like I said, it does no good if the starters get off to a bad start and the bench always lifts us up. Or we get off to a good start and the bench doesn’t play as well.”
Blake Griffin led the starters with 19 points and 13 rebounds. He also had five assists and one blocked shot.
Paul ran the show, also getting a double-double with 14 points, 13 assists and five steals.
Caron Butler had 16 points on five-for-nine shooting, including two for four on three-pointers.
DeAndre Jordan had 12 points on five-for-seven shooting, and four rebounds.
Willie Green, who was back starting at shooting guard in place of Billups, had four points.
But it wasn’t as if the reserves didn’t play their customary role in the victory.
As usual, Jamal Crawford led the Clippers in scoring with 20 points on seven-for-12 shooting, three for six on three-pointers.
One of Crawford’s three-pointers turned into a four-point play after he was fouled by O.J. Mayo.
Lamar Odom, playing against the Mavericks for the first time since Dallas let him go in April, had 11 rebounds off the bench.
Eric Bledsoe provided the highlights, catching a lob from Crawford and throwing down a reverse dunk and catching another lob from Crawford for a two-handed dunk. Bledsoe finished with eight points.
“There’s no point in having all this depth if we don’t use it the right way,” Paul said. “And I think our biggest thing is we have to get off to a better start. I think a lot of that has to do with me too. A lot of guys are telling me I need to be more aggressive.”
The Clippers’ starters started strong, building an 11-point lead in the first quarter and extending it to 20 in the second.
The starters were the main reason why the Clippers scored a season-high 60 points in the first half.
They played with energy and focus from the beginning, something all the starters said they had to do after playing so poorly as a group against the Utah Jazz on Monday night.
“I thought our starters got us off to a good start tonight,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “I thought they were locked in. They did a nice job in the first quarter getting us a lead.”
Twitter: @BA_Turner
