Clippers 2012 Playoffs Round 1 Game 1 AT Memphis

[LOJ]

The comeback had to start as soon as I walked away from the comp. I was some minutes into the 4th, Conley hit another 3 to push it even further.

I was like UGH, let me go talk to my boy and just deal with it in the morning.

Little did I know.................

Try to find a replay whenever you can. It does not get old. I'm still fist pumping whenever I see any footage from the close of the game.

I've watched the comeback replay about 7 times now.

[illastrate]

The comeback had to start as soon as I walked away from the comp. I was some minutes into the 4th, Conley hit another 3 to push it even further.

I was like UGH, let me go talk to my boy and just deal with it in the morning.

Little did I know.................

Try to find a replay whenever you can. It does not get old. I'm still fist pumping whenever I see any footage from the close of the game.

I've watched the comeback replay about 7 times now.

LOL, I've watched it about 10 times. Never gets old.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

[apet8945]

^ Lol at CP3's face and stance in that picture. It's like he knew they were going to comeback and win all along.

[kombayn]

I actually think that CP3 was staring over at the Grizzlies bench and basically giving them a look of, "We came to go to war, you're welcome." I really can't wait for Game 2, we can crush their spirit with a convincing win on Wednesday then coming back home to the Staples Center for 2 more games.

[azncorruptedo17]

i hope we play for 48 mins and not the last 7 =P

[mkwest]

Chauncey Billups' take on the Clippers' 'Miracle in Memphis'

Those first three quarters, some of our guys just didn’t know what playoff basketball was all about. It really took us three quarters to realize how hard you have to play in the playoffs.

And, honestly, when we started coming back, I was just happy that we had started coming back. And I was happy that probably the next day, we would be able to show some things on tape that we could say, "This is how hard you’ve got to play."

But at the time, I wasn’t thinking we were going to win the game. I wasn’t thinking that we were going to come all the way back with seven minutes left. That was incredible.

And everybody on our team just started going crazy. The bench almost got a technical foul because we couldn't sit down. We were going crazy. That’s what a team is all about, man.

We know it’s not going to be like that every game. And can we do that again in another game? Well, probably not. But if we don’t get down by 20-something points, we’ll be OK.

Chauncey Billups, LA Times

[mkwest]

Chris Paul gave Clippers reason to believe in historic comeback over Grizzlies

"Here's a guy nursing a groin injury that’s limited him in practice time, and he's not going back into the game to get his numbers or make it look like a more-palatable loss," Olshey told Yahoo! Sports late Sunday. "Chris doesn't go back into that game unless he thinks we can win.

"What it proves to everyone else: If Chris Paul still thinks we can win this game, then we still have a chance."

"If we had gotten down like this at home, it could've killed us for the series," Olshey said. "Sixty percent of our lineup has never been in the playoffs before, and if you're down on the road, you don't have anyone giving up on you in the crowd. You're in a hostile environment anyway. But now we’ve demystified the playoff process for Blake [Griffin] and DeAndre Jordan and Nick Young. We've sped up the process a little bit."

For the Clippers, this game meant so much. They spared themselves a 1-0 hole, the embarrassment of a blowout loss and the inner doubts that exist when a young team's never done anything in the playoffs. Well, they did something. They made one of the great comebacks in NBA history, and they did it because Chris Paul's greatness, his will, declared it possible. That's why Neil Olshey always knew he had to make that trade with New Orleans for Paul, why it was destined to transform the franchise.

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports

[mkwest]

Anatomy of a comeback — and collapse

What made the Clippers’ massive comeback Sunday night even more amazing was how slowly it came at first, how impossible it seemed with about four minutes to go, and then how fast it actually happened. The Clippers were still down by 24 with eight minutes remaining, and they turned the ball over three straight times between the 4:20 mark and the 3:16 mark of the fourth quarter, seemingly blowing whatever chance they had of completing the rally.

To pull off a comeback while playing such imperfect ball requires just about everything else to go exactly right, pretty darn quickly. A dozen little things added up to one historic comeback. The Grizzlies’ offense collapsed, in part because Lionel Hollins sat Zach Randolph for nearly four minutes down the stretch, an understandable move (Randolph is still trying to get back into game condition and he looked shaky for much of the game) that nonetheless allowed Blake Griffin to guard Marreese Speights while Reggie Evans battled Marc Gasol for every inch of territory. Speights, never a “plus” defender, couldn’t handle Griffin down low on the other end. Tony Allen missed a put-back and was improbably exposed on defense when finally given the go-ahead to take Chris Paul. Other horrible things happened for Memphis.

The aftermath of this disaster will focus on the Grizzlies’ sputtering offense, and especially the game’s final stagnant possession. But a collapse of this level requires a pile of mistakes on both ends of the floor, and the Grizzlies’ obliged. The blame here, too, will focus on Gay, and especially his inattention to transition defense. But it also reveals a dozen other little things — a nice play design from Del Negro, a well-executed shove from Evans, a brilliant push or two from Paul, a decent shot challenge from Griffin, a bit of confusion between Gay and Conley and some interesting lineup choices from both sides.

Zach Lowe, Sports Illustrated

He breaks down a few of the sequences with videos and pics. Hit the link for all of that.