Paul, Clippers crush Thunder 122-105

Chris Paul emerged from the Clippers' first-round series with the Warriors physically beaten and emotionally drained. But that didn't stop him from imposing his will on the Thunder on Monday night.


The Clippers marched into OKC and stomped all over the Thunder, winning 122-105 in game one of their Western Conference semifinal series. Paul finished with 32 points and 10 assists as Los Angeles ripped home-court advantage from the second-seeded Thunder. Paul was completely unstoppable, hitting 12 of his 14 shot attempts, including eight of nine shots from three-point range.

LAC matched a franchise record by scoring 39 points in the first quarter, and took a healthy 14-point lead into the second frame. The Clippers also scored 39 points in the fourth quarter in Saturday's game seven win over Golden State.

Oklahoma City came out of the gates with guns blazing, taking a 16-10 lead with over seven minutes to go in the first before Doc Rivers called timeout. From then on, however, the momentum swung big time, as the Clips finished the period on a 29-8 run and took a lead they'd never relinquish.

Kevin Durant, named Tuesday as the league's regular season MVP, was never really able to get on track and was "held" to 25 points. Russell Westbrook led the team with 29, but no other Thunder player scored more than 12 as the team shot about 46 percent from the floor. Shooting 46 percent is good enough to get it done on some nights, but, unfortunately for the Thunder, the Clippers hit on nearly 55 percent of their shots from the field, including an amazing 15-29 from three.

Paul showed no signs of having a sore hamstring or thumb at all in this game, and was confounding the Thunder's defense left-and-right all night long. When he's looking to score himself he's always been incredibly dangerous, and it was never more evident than it was in game one. His eight three-balls in the game easily topped his previous career-high of five. He had five in the first quarter alone.

Photo Credit - Verse Photography/Wikimedia Commons

The Thunder were obviously not prepared for Paul to look to score so aggressively, and were unable to make any necessary adjustments. While head coach Scott Brooks isn't exactly a wizard with adjustments in the first place, one would imagine they'll take a different approach to defending the Clipper point guard in game two on Wednesday.

The Clippers' defense was also phenomenal, forcing the Thunder into 17 turnovers, 11 of which came in the first half. OKC was one of the most turnover-prone teams in the league during the regular season, which is something the Clippers clearly wanted to try and exploit. Los Angeles, in contrast, coughed it up just eight times.

The lead ballooned to nearly 30 at a few points in the third quarter before the Thunder oustcored L.A. 27-18 in the final frame. The outcome, of course, was already well in-hand by that point.

If there's one thing the Clippers know, it's that one game does not a series make. Oklahoma City played in two elimination games in their first-round series against the Grizzlies, so they have some resiliency and won't be hanging their heads for long after just one game.

Blake Griffin, who finished third in the MVP voting, chipped-in with 23 points, five boards and five assists for the Clippers.