With Paul in Lead, Clippers Regain Edge - New York Times

LOS ANGELES â€" Lob City, the rebirth.

That is what the Clippers christened their home floor in their halcyon days early this season when they took over the town from the Lakers, however briefly.

Eclipsed by the Lakers, their crosstown scourge, dominated by Memphis in this series and seemingly about to slip beneath the waves like Atlantis, the Clippers saw their Chris Paul come to their rescue once again. On Saturday, Paul had a team-high 24 points, including a 19-foot jumper that put the Clippers ahead to stay with 2 minutes 1 second left in an 87-86 victory over the Grizzlies. The victory gave the Clippers a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference first-round series, with Game 4 here Monday night.

This rally was only from 6 points behind in the last 4:11, compared with the 27-point gap Paul helped close in a Game 1 victory in Memphis.

Nevertheless, the comeback gave the Clippers a 2-1 lead in a series the Grizzlies have dominated.

Blake Griffin called the Clippers’ court Lob City during one of the early season highight-reel performances that punctuated the team’s 19-9 start as the Lakers opened the season 10-8 and had their fans casting longing looks at the young Clippers.

Even Kobe Bryant conceded that the Clippers were the more exciting team.

“Blake Griffin’s got like a 60-inch vertical,” Bryant said at the time.“They’re a team with a high motor, run up and down the floor, this that and the other.”

He added, “I’d definitely go to see them.”

The Clippers’ hot start cooled some and they finished with the No. 5 seed in the West, despite a 14-3 stretch run. When it ended with losses at Atlanta and New York, they had to start this series in Memphis, with Paul coming off a groin pull that forced him to sit out the loss to the Knicks.

Trailing by 27 points late in the third quarter of Game 1, the Clippers came back to win after Paul begged Coach Vinny Del Negro to put him back in.

“I kept telling people it was just one game,” Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins said before Saturday’s game.

He added: “I just told them, Don’t hang your heads. You should be mad at yourself and if you’re mad at yourself you’ve got a chance to come back and do something about it.”

The Grizzlies won Game 2, asserting their power under the basket against the smaller Clippers, and set out to do it again Saturday in a duel of power forwards, the Grizzlies’ Zach Randolph versus the Clippers’ Griffin.

Randolph scored 13 points in the first half but most of them on perimeter jump shots as the Grizzlies drifted away from their plan to pound the ball inside.

With the game opening up, Paul took over, scoring 14 points with 7 assists in the first half as the Clippers went up by as many as 13. Paul finished with 11 assists

However, the Grizzlies began grinding their way back into it. The Clippers led only by 50-46 at halftime, after Griffin’s spectacular dunk over Maurice Speights as time ran out, after stealing Speights’s inbounds pass.

With the pace to their liking, the Grizzlies took over in the second half, moving into a 7-point lead in the third quarter.

Paul re-entered the game back into the game with 6:16 left and the Clippers trailing by 5, leading the latest rally.

With 3:16 Randy Foye tied it, 80-80, with a 3-pointer.

With 2:01 left, Paul went to his right against the Grizzlies’ Mike Conley, stepped back and hit the 19-footer than put the Clippers ahead to stay.