LOS ANGELES: Chris Paul made the game-winner with a tenth of a second left yesterday, lifting the Los Angeles Clippers to a 93-91 win over the Memphis Grizzlies that stretched their NBA play-off series lead to 2-0.
The victory followed the Clippers’ 112-91 triumph on Saturday in game one of the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series, which shifts to Memphis for game three on Thursday.
Memphis center Marc Gasol’s slam dunk with 13.9 seconds remaining had knotted the score at 91-91.
After a timeout, Paul drove to the basket and banked in a shot over Tony Allen.
Officials reviewed the play and declared the basket good. Memphis had a chance to inbound the ball, but with just a tenth of a second on the clock the Grizzlies had no time to get the ball in the basket.
“We were on him,” Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said of Paul’s heroics.
“What can you do? The kid made a tough shot. He’s a great player. That’s what great players do -- they win games.”
Paul finished with 24 points, nine assists and four rebounds for the Clippers. Blake Griffin added 21 points and eight rebounds.
“We found a way to win the game,” said Clippers coach Vinny del Negro.
“Blake was aggressive early, set the tone for us, and Chris made the plays down the stretch.”
Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 28 points and nine assists. Gasol added 17 points and seven rebounds for Memphis, who trailed by 12 early in the fourth quarter.
Allen finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but he wasn’t able to stop Paul -- who scored eight straight points for the Clippers in the last four minutes.
“He did a great job of staying on me,” Paul said of Allen’s defense on the crucial last-second play.
“Every time I tried to get a little space to go left he ate the space up. I looked at the clock and it was ‘All right, I’ve got to go.’
“Luckily, I made the shot,” Paul said.
Allen said he felt he let his teammates down, but he believed the Grizzlies -- who fell to the Clippers in seven games in the first round last year -- can turn the series around back home in Memphis.
“I’m not frustrated,” he said. “It’s still a long series. We’ve just got to go home and take care of business -- lay it all on the line.”
Meanwhile, determined defense and a gritty performance from injured Joakim Noah helped the Chicago Bulls notch a 90-82 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday that evened their NBA Eastern Conference play-off series.
The Bulls bounced back from a disappointing game-one defeat to knot the best-of-seven first-round series at one game apiece, with game three back in Chicago on Thursday.
Noah, playing through painful right foot injury, scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, and finished with 10 rebounds, and two blocks as the Bulls bounced back from a 106-89 loss in game one on Saturday.
Bulls forward Luol Deng added 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks, while Carlos Boozer and Kirk Hinrich chipped in 13 points apiece.
Boozer also pulled down 12 rebounds for the Bulls, who connected on 48.1 percent of their shots from the field. AFP
