Chauncey Billups Says Blake Griffin Needs to Play Tough

Andy Lyons/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Free agent point guard Chauncey Billups says Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin is too much of a Mr. Nice Guy.

Billups spent this past season with the Clippers, and while appearing on ESPN's First Take, Billups talked about Griffin's mentality on the court.

"I don't agree that Blake Griffin is soft. But what I will say about Blake is that he's maybe too nice of a guy," Billups said. "Because there's been times in games where people take shots at Blake. And I tell him, 'If that's me, you're going to have to take this two-or-three game suspension, and I'm going to punish somebody.'"

In his third NBA season, Griffin averaged 18 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Despite his production, his points and rebounds per game have gone down each year since his rookie season in 2010-2011.

The Clippers won a franchise-record 56 games this past season, but were still eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies.

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Grizzlies Stuff Clippers for 3-2 Series Lead

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) --  With the series tied 2-2, the Memphis Grizzlies knew they needed a win in Los Angeles if they wanted to win the series.

Zach Randolphs and Marc Gasol combined to score 46 points and grab 19 rebounds as the Grizzlies crushed the Clippers 103-93 to take a 3-2 series lead in their first-round playoff series.

"It certainly feels better than going home down 2-3," coach Lionel Hollins said.

Randolph scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to help the Grizzlies withstand a late rally by the Clippers.  

Chris Paul scored 35 points for the Clippers, who dealt with a Blake Griffin ankle injury for the entire game.  The All-Star forward rolled his ankle during practice on Monday and had a tough time getting up and down the floor.  He finished with just four points and five rebounds.

Game six will be played Friday night in Memphis, where the Grizzlies will look to wrap up the series.

"We're not going to lay down and we're never going to give up," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We're going to play hard, play together and try to do what we can to make it work. We've got to regroup and see how healthy we can get between now and then."

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Grizzlies Power Past Clippers To Even Series

Andy Lyons/Getty Images(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) --  Marc Gasol scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 104-83 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

Zach Randolph added 24 points and nine rebounds as the Grizzlies evened their first-round playoff series at two games each.

"Their synergy is pretty amazing, you know what I mean," Clippers guard Chris Paul said. "Z-Bo on the inside and big fella Marc, that's another guard the way he passes the ball and shoots the ball. You just got to run them. You got to run them. You got to try to get them tired. You can't just leave them in a rocking chair.

The Grizzlies controlled the majority of the game, never letting the Clippers lead by more than two points.  They took the lead for good on a Randolph layup with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

The Clippers were led with 19 points from both Paul and Blake Griffin

"Now we got to go out there and try to get a win," Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said, referring to Tuesday's Game 5 in Los Angeles.

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Randolph Leads Grizzlies Past Clippers

Andy Lyons/Getty Images(MEMPHIS) -- The Memphis Grizzlies have crawled back into their first round playoff series.

Zach Randolph scored 27 points and pulled down 11 boards as the Grizzlies devoured the Los Angeles Clippers 94-82 Thursday night. The Grizzlies now trail the Clippers 2-1 in the best-of-seven-series.

Randolph scored 13 of his points in the first 9:13 minutes of the game.

"I definitely wanted to come out and be aggressive," Randolph said when asked about his big first quarter. "They've been double teaming me, triple teaming me so just go fast hit a couple of jump shots and open it up."

The game was never in doubt for the Grizzlies, who didn't relinquish the lead from the 5:33 mark in the first quarter on. Memphis also outrebounded the Clippers 45-33.

Blake Griffin led Los Angeles with 16 points in the loss.

Game 4 is set for Saturday in Memphis. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 PM eastern time.

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Chris Paul Floater Leads Clippers Over Grizzlies

Jeff Gross/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) --  Chris Paul banked in a floater with one tenth of a second remaining to give the Los Angeles Clippers a 93-91 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.

The victory also gave the Clippers a 2-0 series lead as play now shifts to Memphis for Games 3 and 4.

"Tony played as good as defense as you can," Paul said, referring to Grizzlies guard Tony Allen. "I looked up at the clock and thought I better get a shot off."

Paul finished with 24 points and nine assists well fellow All-Star Blake Grififn chipped in 21 points.

Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 28 points and nine assists.  "It hurts," he said. "We wanted to come here and steal one."

Marc Gasol tied the game at 91 with 13 seconds left, but after a timeout Paul took the game into his own hands and carried the Clippers to victory.

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Clippers Pop Lakers, 109-95, Win Pacific Title

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- The Los Angeles Clippers (51-26) cruised past the Los Angeles Lakers (40-37), 109-95 on Sunday to claim their first Pacific Division title in franchise history.

Chris Paul led the way for the Clippers with 24 points and 12 assists and Blake Griffin chipped in with 24 points and 12 rebounds of his own in the win.

"It just feels like something we were supposed to do," said Pau.  "It means we're headed in the right direction. We're not satisfied. We understand this is something small compared to the big picture."

The last time the Clippers swept the season series with the Lakers was when the team was known as the Buffalo Braves during the 1974-75 season.

"It's always good to sweep a team in your division, in the West," said Griffin.  "I'm proud of how we won the game a little bit differently. We kept up a nice tempo the whole game."

Kobe Bryant scored 25 points and 10 assists in the loss.  The Lakers are now in a tie with the Utah Jazz for the final spot in the West.

"We've got a bigger challenge than worrying about beating the Clippers in one game," Bryant said. "They obviously performed extremely well against us all four times. Our concern is playing well in order to get into the playoffs, get guys healthy, and go in there and see what we can do."

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Serge Ibaka Fined for Hitting Blake Griffin

Oklahoma City Thunder/NBA(NEW YORK) -- Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka was fined $25,000 by the NBA Tuesday for hitting Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin in the groin region during the Thunders 108-104 win over the Clippers Sunday.

With 1:52 remaining in the fourth quarter Ibaka and Griffin were battling for a rebound. Griffin had the inside position and Ibaka took his right fist and hit Griffin in the groin. Griffin immediately fell to the floor in pain.

Ibaka was originally called for a flagrant 1 foul but Tuesday the NBA upgraded the foul to a flagrant 2. If the original call was a flagrant 2, Ibaka would have been immediately ejected from the game. Instead he continued to play scoring three key points and blocking a Matt Barnes layup in final :59 of the game helping the Thunder win.

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Clippers Throttle Knicks

Al Bello/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The Los Angeles Clippers righted the ship on the road in a big way.

Chris Paul had 26 points and six assists to lead the Clippers to a 102-88 win over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Crawford had 27 points for Los Angeles (36-17), who overcame 42 points from New York's Carmelo Anthony. 

"Jamal, Chris, Blake, I mean everybody, it was a team effort. Everybody stepped up at some point," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. Los Angeles made 10 three-pointers in the win.

Forty-year-old Grant Hill defended Anthony in the fourth quarter and held him to only one basket to stop a Knicks comeback effort. "I think that Grant Hill sitting on the bench the whole time, he came in and provided a great presence out there on Melo. I don't think we win that game without him," Crawford said.

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Wizards Top Clippers Without Paul, Griffin

NBA Via Washington Wizards(WASHINGTON) -- John Wall scored 13 points and dished out eight assists as the Washington Wizards took down the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers 98-90 on Monday night.

The Clippers (34-16) were playing without All-Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin who sat out the game with injuries.  Paul missed his eighth-straight game with a bruised right kneecap while Griffin saw his streak of 197 consecutive games played come to an end due to a sore left hamstring.

"It's frustrating because we're giving back a lot of what we had built up earlier in the season," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "But you can't control the injuries, you can't control the schedule, you can't control so many guys being out."

Wall was one of five players who scored in double figures for the Wizards (12-35), who were led with Martell Webster's 21 points.

Guard Jamal Crawford led the Clippers in defeat with 28 points.

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Clippers Stop Losing Skid, Beat Portland

Harry How/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- The Los Angeles Clippers still didn't have Chris Paul back in the lineup, but they had enough to stop their losing streak.

The Clippers busted out of a four-game slide by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 96-83 on Sunday at the Staples Center.

Paul missed his fourth straight game with a knee cap injury, but his replacement Eric Bledsoe had 10 points, five assists and five rebounds.

Los Angeles (33-13) lost a tight game to the Blazers the night before, but were able to pull away late in this one thanks to a 23-12 advantage in the third quarter.

Blake Griffin had 23 points and nine assists for the Clippers, despite not playing the entire fourth quarter.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 points and 11 assists for Portland (22-22).

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