The Los Angeles Clippers were not about to let another fourth quarter lead slip away and on Sunday and they made sure of that point when the Clipper’s bench outscored the Memphis reserves 41-11.
After the game MVP Randy Foye said of the victory:
“Our bench was our MVP. They realized what they had to do. We had a lot of guys hurt, so we just continued to grind.”
The Clippers haven’t had the best record during the playoffs, in fact this win is only the teams third postseason series victory for the team in 41 years and its second since heading to Los Angeles. The teams last postseason series win was in Denver in 2006.
The win almost didn’t happen after the Los Angeles Clippers nearly blew a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Clippers will now go on to face the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.
After the game Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said:
“I want the guys to enjoy this, and then we’ll regroup tomorrow and focus in on that. But obviously another big challenge for us.”
The Clippers victory was a true team effort after started Chris Paul hit just 19 points while playing with a strained right hip flexor. Adding to that total was Nick Young who scored nine of his 13 while coming off the bench in the fourth quarter.
After the game Paul revealed that he was so confident in his teams victory that he bought his wife and son tickets to San Antonio on Saturday.
The Los Angeles Clippers victory comes after the team was trailing 56-55 after three quarters before opening the fourth quarter with a 11-2 run.