Rockets 95 - 128 Clippers
Final
  for this game

Clippers try for 3-1 lead vs. Houston

May 10, 2015 - 1:19 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Los Angeles Clippers will shoot for a 3-1 cushion over the Houston Rockets when the two teams collide for Game 4 Sunday night at the Staples Center.

The Clippers welcomed back Chris Paul Friday night in a 124-99 blowout victory in Game 3. He missed the first two games with a hamstring injury, but scored 12 points and handed out seven assists in 23 minutes.

"I got through it," said Paul, who played all 82 games during the regular season for the first time in his 10-year career. "This is the point of the season where nobody's 100 percent. If I could give anything to help the team, I wanted to do it."

It was Paul's replacement in Games 1 and 2 who stole the show.

Sunday is Mother's Day, but the story of Game 3 was a young man and his father.

Austin Rivers, coach Doc Rivers' son, scored 25 points, most coming in a game- clinching run in the second half. Rivers netted 18 points during a 23-0 surge which began late in the third quarter and bled into the fourth. It began with a Rivers 3-pointer after Corey Brewer hit a 3 to pull the Rockets within 81-76 at the 3:50 mark of the third. Rivers tallied a pair of three-point plays to close the frame, with DeAndre Jordan splitting two free throws in the waning seconds to make it a 99-76 game heading into the final frame.

"If Lester (Hudson) or Matt (Barnes) did the same thing, I would've been proud," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of his son.

Rivers capped the burst with another triple to stake the Clippers to a healthy 104-76 cushion, and the hosts cruised to the easy triumph from there for a 2-1 series lead.

LA managed a split in Houston due to the heroics of Blake Griffin, who posted a triple-double of 26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists in its 117-101 Game 1 victory Monday. Griffin had 22 points and 14 boards in this one.

J.J. Redick netted a game-high 31 points and Jordan snatched 15 rebounds for the third-seeded Clippers, who led by as many as 32.

James Harden provided 25 points and 11 assists, while Dwight Howard supplied 14 points and 14 boards for second-seeded Houston.

The Clippers shot 55.4 percent (46-of-83) from the field and nailed 13-of-29 from beyond the arc, while Houston shot 39.8 percent (35-of-88) from the floor and made 11-of-33 from long distance.

"You're going to have nights like that unfortunately," said Rockets coach Kevin McHale. "We weren't running, we weren't getting stops. We weren't playing very well. Give them credit, they did play well."

Game 5 will be back in Houston on Tuesday night.






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