Griffin out at least 2 weeks with quad

Los Angeles cut the deficit to four points, making it 36-32 on three free throws from guard Jamal Crawford.

Lakers’ Kobe Bryant scored 12 points in his league-record 16th and final Christmas Day game. Utah pushed that margin to 10 points three times during the quarter, the final time on a jumper from center Jeff Withey that gave the Jazz a 26-16 lead.

Griffin suffered the tear in the first quarter Friday night against the Lakers. The Clippers won the game 94 to 84.

With Smith sitting, Pierce played with the starters in the second half, igniting the Clippers’ comeback on a night when they very easily could’ve packed it up.

Playing without an injured Blake Griffin, J.J. Redick scored 25 points and Paul Pierce had 20 to lead the Los Angeles Clippers over the Utah Jaz 109-104 Saturday night. Redick and Pierce combined for 10-for-12 shooting from the perimeter.

In the first half, Larry Nance Jr. went for a rebound after a Clippers miss and ended up knocking the ball right into the basket, giving the Clippers 2 points.

“Their defense was really good in the first half in terms of limiting our 3s”, Redick said. “We were all kind of Grinch-like”.

The average audience for the Oklahoma City Thunder-Chicago Bulls game on ABC also was up from a year ago, averaging almost 6 million viewers.

Many fans and analysts have not agreed with Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott’s changes to the starting lineup which moved prized draft picks D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle to the bench. The switch worked to perfection. Bryant himself said it would “be great to play in it. If I’m not in it, I’m not going to beat myself up over that either”. We just didn’t have space with him and Luc (Mbah a Moute).

“We have got to be better”, Hayward said. He played 26 minutes and sat out the entire fourth quarter while the Lakers outscored the Clippers 27-9. Chris Paul leads in assists with 9.0 and in steals with 2.0 per game.

“It wasn’t anything magical”, Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.

You can skip to the end and leave a response.

Chris Paul was superb, going for 23 points on 11-of-19 shooting to go along with six assists and five boards. Los Angeles has won 14 times in its last 15 games against the Jazz.

Nothing has been easy for the Clippers this season, as they have grinded their way through wins and struggled to close games against the NBA’s elite. Jordan recorded his 16th double-double of the season.

In Favors’ case, back spasms are keeping him out of action tonight and leaving a Jazz team already missing center Rudy Gobert desperately thin in the front court.

And while he’s not having a stellar season, he wouldn’t be the worst player to start an All-Star Game. He threw a lob for Jordan that deflected off the rim on the Clippers’ second possession, missed two shots and was pulled after playing only five minutes in the first quarter.