Griffin scores 22 to lead Clips over Bucks 92-86
LOS ANGELES (AP)—On a night when point guard Chris Paul didn’t have his usual numbers, Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups were there to help complement Blake Griffin’s usual solid effort.
Griffin had 22 points and 14 rebounds, Butler scored 20 points against the team he suffered a season-ending injury against last January, and the Clippers beat the severely undermanned Milwaukee Bucks 92-86 on Saturday night.
“I love it,” said Billups, who scored 19 points. “I love it because your stars don’t have to be superstars every night. They can lean on other guys when it’s not going so well.”
The chippy game resulted in a combined 54 fouls, including a flagrant 1 against Milwaukee’s Larry Sanders for his hard takedown of Butler on an attempted layup with 1:38 left in the third quarter.
Paul finished with nine points and seven assists.
“We have so many scorers and so many weapons that even if the ball doesn’t go in sometimes, we’ll still be able to score points,” Griffin said. “As good as our new guys are, that’s what makes that transition easier. Guys like Chauncey and Caron, because of how good they are and how hard they work and how much they love the game, it just flows a little bit better than it would otherwise.”
The last time Butler played against the Bucks, on New Year’s Day 2011 with Dallas, he ruptured a tendon in his right knee while going for an offensive rebound at Milwaukee. He underwent surgery and missed the rest of the Mavericks’ championship season, then signed with the Clippers as a free agent.
“He’s highly motivated, coming off that injury, and he’s going to have a great year,” Billups said. “I don’t know if people forgot, but Caron has been one of the best small forwards in the game in the last seven, eight, nine years. He probably flew under the radar because he didn’t play much last year. But we know about him, and he won’t be a secret for long.”
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