Column: DeAndre Jordan dominant in Clippers’ victory over the Lakers
Clippers center DeAndre Jordan puts down a dunk against the Lakers during the first half.
Austin Rivers laughed as he scanned teammate DeAndre Jordan’s line on the scoresheet of the Clippers’ 113-97 victory over the Lakers on Saturday, the numbers seeming too absurd for Rivers’ mind to grasp what his eyes were telling him.
“He was pretty much unguardable. Twelve for 13 from the field. Twenty-one rebounds,” Rivers said, pausing to laugh at that second number. “He was unstoppable tonight. He dominated the game. When he plays like that he’s the best big in the league.”
The Lakers’ lack of resistance against the 6-foot-11 center helped Jordan set an aggressive tone in a convincing performance by the Clippers, who avenged a Christmas Day loss to the Lakers and extended their winning streak to six with a wire-to-wire victory.
Jordan recorded the seventh 20-point, 20-rebound game of his career, tying Elton Brand for the most in the Clippers’ history. It also was the 37th 20-plus rebound game of his career, tying him for eighth-most in the NBA since the 1983-84 season. He moved into second in the NBA with an average of 13.9 rebounds per game, second only to Miami’s Hassan Whiteside (14.3).
Clippers Coach Doc Rivers called Jordan “as dominant of a force as you could have in the NBA,” and meant it. “I thought he disrupted everything,” the coach said. “He makes you not want to drive and not want to be near the basket. And I thought it allowed our guards to really get into the ball and pressure. It was fantastic.”
The Lakers held Jordan to four shots in that Christmas Day upset, in no small part because Chris Paul missed the game because of a hamstring injury. The Clippers are getting healthier — Paul has played the last four games and contributed 20 points and 13 assists Saturday — and the Lakers aren’t getting any better at defending opponents’ big men.
Lakers Coach Luke Walton, who made a point of saying before the game that he expected his team to come out “ready to fight” after its 40-point loss at San Antonio on Thursday, saw little combativeness from his players and almost no fight against Jordan.
“It’d be nice to foul him once in a while,” Walton said. “DeAndre’s a hell of a player and he gets stuff done out there. His weakness is shooting free throws. Instead of letting him go 12 for 13, and only shooting one free throw, and on that one free throw it was an and-one anyway, so it didn’t even really matter.
“It’d be nice to wrap him up a couple times and make him earn it from the line.”
They didn’t do that on Saturday against Jordan, who distributed his points and rebounds almost evenly by collecting 12 points and 10 rebounds in the first half and 12 points and 11 rebounds in the second half.
Two of those second-half rebounds were potential momentum-stoppers in the fourth quarter. The Lakers had cut what had been a 22-point Clippers lead to 12, at 97-85, when Jordan rebounded a missed free throw by Tarik Black and soon after rebounded a missed floater by Lou Williams to give the Clippers possession. A bank shot by Raymond Felton extended the Clippers’ lead to 14, and they never looked back. “I expect that from DJ,” Paul said of Jordan’s excellence. “I’m not surprised by it at all.”
Maybe he wasn’t, but Jordan called it “awesome,” and emphasized that his primary goal is to limit opponents to one shot and minimize their second-chance points.
“I felt like our defense really got us going,” he said. “We had a couple letups, but I felt for the most part we did a pretty good job controlling what we could control and our energy was really good on the defensive end to start the game and things came easy when we do stuff like that.”
For Jordan, it’s all about defense and closing out games. “I feel like every game that we play we’re starting to come out more with a defensive mind-set and then our offense is going to take care of itself,” he said. “We can score points. We’ve got a lot of guys who can fill it up and put it in the basket. Defensively, if we can come out with that effort and that energy then we’re really good.”
On Saturday, he — and they — were very good and played like the mature, experienced team they’re supposed to be, not the whiners they too often have been. “His calm has been good,” Doc Rivers said. “Even on the one call that excited me today, DJ was the one telling me to calm down, which had to be a first. But that’s where he’s at right now. It allows him to focus on playing basketball, and I think that gives him energy, too.”
Jordan was asked whether Saturday’s performance was impressive or what he should be doing all the time. “I see myself getting better throughout the season,” he said.
Which means Austin Rivers and everyone else might have to get accustomed to seeing more ridiculous numbers on Clippers scoresheets.
Follow Helene Elliott on Twitter @helenenothelen
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