Clippers rely on Paul to lead them past Pistons

LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul stuck his head into the Clippers' huddle at the end of the third quarter and, as is his habit, reminded his teammates, who were trailing once again, that it was now winning time.

In truth, though, it was Paul time.

For the second day in a row, and seemingly the umpteenth time this season, the Clippers were pushed, prodded and pulled to a victory by their All-Star point guard on Sunday, going overtime for an 87-83 win over the Detroit Pistons that had few other redeeming qualities.
 
Paul had 19 points, 15 assists, nine rebounds and four steals, yet the numbers don't explain how he took over the game late in regulation and overtime.

"It's sad, but it's almost expected," said Blake Griffin, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. "You kind of expect him to come down and do this and do that."

Doing this and doing that on Sunday meant poking the ball away from Detroit's Tayshaun Prince in the waning seconds of regulation, then scoring nine points in overtime, including the decisive jumper, a fadeaway 16-footer with 22.1 seconds left.

And yet his biggest play may have come with 12.1 seconds left, when he gave a subtle shove to Ben Gordon, beating him to the jump ball that Pistons center Greg Monroe had seemingly won. Paul then fed the ball to Randy Foye for a layup that gave the Clippers an 85-82 lead with 7 seconds left.

That all but sealed the Clippers' comeback from a nine-point deficit with 7:01 to play in the fourth, which followed Saturday's rally from a late six-point deficit against Houston and gave L.A. its first back-to-back victories in more than a month.

"I tell you all the time, we only like close games," said Paul, who scored 10 consecutive points against Houston, including the game-winner. "We don't believe in blowouts. You don't get to work on things when you blow teams out. We're going to stick to this."

Paul spoke with his tongue firmly in cheek, the Clippers having let eight of their past 11 games play out to the final possession or two. But chuckles aside, Paul's late-game heroics are keeping the Clippers afloat in the Western Conference. They are fourth, just three games ahead of eighth-place Houston, as they prepare for back-to-back-to-back games at Indiana, Oklahoma City and New Orleans.

The Clippers went about trying to integrate another new addition Sunday, with swingman Nick Young scoring nine points in 29 minutes after being cleared to play sooner than expected when everyone else in the three-team trade passed their physicals.

Young, Bobby Simmons, Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans all have joined the team in the past two months, and Paul, Caron Butler and the injured Chauncey Billups arrived shortly before the truncated training camp. So many new faces and so little practice time — the Clippers have not had a full practice since they began play after the All-Star break – have made it difficult to find continuity.

"It feels like we add a new piece every month," Griffin said. "I don't want to say it disrupts things, but it definitely changes things. We're not used to playing with a guy like Nick, who's been in L.A. for two days. If we come in and play hard, we can erase or make up for some of those mistakes that we have by being a little bit new."

That's all that Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro really asked of Young, who arrived at the arena three hours before tip-off and planned to get in a workout before the game. When he found out he was cleared to play, Young called his parents and they hustled downtown to watch him.

"I'm a little nervous," said Young, who was 1 of 6 off the bench. "I can't believe I'm really playing for the Clippers."

Young was not the only who appeared to have jitters. Other than Foye's clutch 3-pointers down the stretch in regulation, the Clippers struggled to make shots. Butler continued his shooting woes, making 3 of 16 shots. And Mo Williams, who made 2 of 10, found himself on the bench in favor of Young in overtime.

So after spending much of the game creating and kicking out to shooters, Paul drove to the basket with just over 20 seconds left in regulation. He layup rolled off the rim, but Griffin tipped it in to tie the score, sending the game into overtime. Then Paul sank all three jumpers he took after the Clippers spread the court for him.

There was little doubt the ball was staying in his hands.

"Just being around this league for a while, at some point it's just winning time," Paul said. "You can't sit back and watch somebody else do it or worry about what the refs are doing and stuff like that. You've just got to be aggressive on both ends of the court."