Blake Griffin returned to the Staples center for the first time against his former team. Griffin dropped 44 points in a dominate Detroit Pistons win over the LA Clippers.
Blake Griffin did not let his team down today with his return back to the Staples Center. He helped guide the Detroit Pistons to a 109-104 victory over a good Clippers team in arguably his best game of the season.
Griffin finished with 44 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Andre Drummond finished with 20 points and 21 rebounds, Reggie Bullock finished with 17 points and Reggie Jackson with 10 points.
Detroit ends their four game losing streak and the win could not come at a better time.
Though Griffin dominated the entire game, the big play of the game was made by rookie guard Bruce Brown who made a big steal in crunch time in the fourth quarter to help seal the Pistons win.
You knew that Griffin was going to come back to his old team and put on a show and he did not disappoint one bit. The Clippers had no answer for him.
This win means a lot for Detroit, this brings that energy back that they have been missing for a while.
Hopefully this win will ignite the Pistons and they can continue to have success.
Let’s breakdown how Detroit secured the win over the Clippers.
Second Half
The Clippers really turned it up in the fourth. Before you knew it, it was a two point game as the Pistons led 92-90. This Clippers team is very scrappy with players like Patrick Beverly.
Griffin was just money from the field today. He was carrying the Pistons as his point total now increased to 42 as the Pistons took a 97-90 lead with 8:10 left to play. Griffin had all seven points to start the fourth for Detroit.
Griffin could not seem to get any help from his teammates in the fourth.
But that didn’t stop him from making plays for his team. Detroit called a timeout leading 97-92 with five minutes left to play.
Right after the timeout the Pistons could not convert on the offensive end and Harrell made a big play for the Clippers to cut into Detroit’s lead, then on the Clippers next drive, Lou Williams came through with a deep three. The score was tied at 97.
But Bullock stepped up and made a big three to give Detroit the lead at 100-97.
There was a short spurt where Detroit and Los Angeles were trading baskets until Bullock hit another three to give Detroit a 105-99 lead and Doc Rivers had to call timeout with 3:22 left to play.
It was a five point game with 1:30 to play, Pistons were leading 107-102.
Danilo Gallinari hit two big free throws for the Clipper to trim their lead to three at 107-104.
The Clippers had a chance to bring the Pistons lead to one or tie the game but Rookie Brown comes up big on the defensive end to make a steal with 20.1 seconds left to play.
He then comes down and makes to big free throws to extend the lead to five.
The Clippers made a push in the third quarter, but Detroit was able to maintain the lead. Griffin already surpassed 30 points in the third as his nine points put him at a total of 35 on the game.
The third quarter was more of a back and forth type of quarter as both teams were exchanging buckets. Drummond started to pick it up offensively as he was able to get position down low on his defender and convert.
The Clippers were not going to go away easy, Williams was doing what he does best as he was scoring from mid range and at the rim.
Detroit took a 90-80 lead headed into the final quarter.
First Half
Detroit took a 37-24 into the second quarter after a red hot first. The Pistons have struggled in the second quarter in recent games, but they looked to change that against the Clippers.
But the Clippers started the second quarter on a 6-0 run sparked by the bench play of Montrezl Harrell. The Clippers trimmed their deficit to seven at 39-32.
Griffin and Jackson came back into the game with about eight minutes left in the quarter and Griffin picked up where he left off in the first. Griffin showed his explosiveness on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
There was a big play made by Detroit when Griffin stuffed Harrell at the rim and that ignited the Detroit Pistons bench. Griffin had 24 points with four minutes to play in the second.
He was having his way with the Clippers defenders getting to the rim with ease and knocking down three point shots. The ball movement was a lot better for Detroit as well. The Pistons were being patient in finding the open man instead of being stagnant.
Detroit had a 65-54 lead at the half. Griffin had 26 points and Bullock with 11 points at the half for the Detroit Pistons. Gallinari was starting to heat up for the Clippers as he had 16 points and Harrell stepped up big off the bench with 12 points.
First Quarter
Detroit looked like a completely different team this afternoon as they came out connecting on their first three three pointers. This is what you wanted to see if your Dwane Casey, because the performance against Sacramento was pretty bad.
Griffin was wasting no time as he got out to seven points in the first with five minutes to play. You can tell Griffin was well rested and that was a smart move by the coaching staff.
The Detroit Pistons were feeding off Griffin’s energy as they were shooting 7-12 from the field with about five minutes to play. Jackson played well in the first as he finished with eight points and Luke Kennard came off the bench launching from behind the arc.
Kennard connected on two three’s as he finished with six. But the big story was the play of Griffin as he looked to be in his zone early. He was not hesitant to pull from long range or drive to the basket.
He finished the first with 14 points.