Clippers Win Match Up Of The Defenseless

Clipper play-by-play legend Ralph Lawler has “Lawler’s Law” — first team to 100 points will win the game.

But what happens when both teams have at least 100 points with more than nine minutes left in the contest? The law doesn’t hold up — the Knicks were the first to 100 but the Clippers won the game in overtime 140-135.

It was an entertaining game for everyone but defensive coaches — both teams shot better than 60% in the first half, better than 55% for the game. New York shot 47.4% from three, the Clippers 52.6%. The reason was not hot shooting so much as open looks for both teams, and lots of easy fast break baskets because nobody got back on defense.

The Knicks Al Harrington went from hero to goat with 27 seconds left. He got free along the baseline for a slam dunk that put the Knicks up by three, and he celebrated by hanging on the rim for a couple seconds. That drew a technical foul that Eric Gordon knocked down, cutting the lead to two. A few seconds later Zach Randolph was fouled and sank both free throws, tying the game and sending it into overtime.

Randolph reminded Knicks fans (he played in Madison Square Garden last season) that he can do one thing well — score in the post. He put up 33 for the game on 15 of 21 shooting.

But the real star was Mike Taylor, the hustling backup point guard who has been one of the few bright spots for the Clippers of late. He scored a career high 35 points, including six of the team’s 13 overtime points.

This was one of the better Clippers wins of the season, bouncing back from being down 19 points early when they came out flat. Which is not something you can do against a Mike D’Antoni team because they will come out running.

What they were not doing was playing good defense, and that let the Clippers back in it and eventually gave them the win. The loss was the sixth in a row for the Knicks.