Clipper C DeAndre Jordan was sent to the FT line a record 28 times in the first half, but had the game-sealing slam dunk in the third quarter.
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The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Houston Rockets 128-95 despite a brutal first half filled with intentional fouls of Clippers C DeAndre Jordan.
In a thoroughly agonizing first half of the game, the Rockets tried to intentionally foul DeAndre Jordan take advantage of his extremely poor accuracy from the free throw line (14 of 34 on the day to be exact) to keep the Clippers grounded and prevent them from gaining any momentum. But all the Rockets did was allow Jordan to set a record for most free throws in a half and enrage social media with the slow pace of the game. Meanwhile, the Clippers were still able to put up a scoring frenzy and dominate every other facet of the game.
Houston was able to take advantage of some early mistakes by the Clippers to take a seven-point edge over the Los Angeles home team:
But the lead wouldn’t last long as Chris Paul recorded a perfect three-point shot to overcome the deficit and eventually give the Clippers a 60-54 halftime lead.
Despite the Rockets consistent decision to send Jordan to the free throw line, they were unable to overcome their own mistakes and over-aggressiveness, and Corey Brewer’s failed slam dunk was just one of many lowlights by the Rockets on the day.
In the third quarter the Clipper blew the game open for good and outscored the Rockets an other-worldly 43-25 in that quarter.
First it was J. J. Redick with one of his team-best 4 three-point shots to give the Clippers a 19-point lead – but it wouldn’t be 19 points for long.
And then it was, ironically enough, DeAndre Jordan to seal the win with a devastating slam dunk to extend the Clippers lead well into the 20+ point range, and from there LA was able to put the game into cruise control and sail to a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals.
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