The confetti may have dropped prematurely, but the home fans in New Orleans got to celebrate for just the fifth time all season as the Los Angeles Clippers fell to the New Orleans Hornets 97-90. The Clippers went 0-3 on this road trip, the first time all season the Clips have lost three straight. LA scored 35 points in the first quarter and led by as much as 13, but only scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to a team that only has 12 wins.
Chris Kaman, who was one of the players traded by the Clippers to get Chris Paul before the season began, went for 20 points and 10 rebounds tonight. He was bested by the Clippers' Blake Griffin who put down 21 and 11, but Griffin was let down by his teammates. The Clippers only shot 39% from the field, and allowed New Orleans to shoot 58%.
Chris Paul, in his first game back in New Orleans against his former team, had a fairly good night in his homecoming with 16 points and nine assists. The only other LA player in double digit scoring was DeAndre Jordan. The Hornets had five shooters in double digits.
Late in the game, the Hornets Jason Smith was tossed from the game from an extremely hard foul on Blake Griffin. Smith hip checked Griffin hard to the floor, and the foul resulted in a bit of a melee between the two teams. Griffin was fine, but Mo Williams didn't make it out of the game so lucky. He had to be helped into the locker room with an injured left big toe. The X-rays were negative.
The Clippers now get to come back to Staples Center, where hopefully they can get things back on track. How this game affects Vinny Del Negro's job security is another question.