Blake Griffin Returns To Court, Lou Williams Drops 30 Points in Clippers' 121-15 Win Over Kings

Sacramento Kings point guard George Hill dribbles around Low Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden 1 Center. . Publicity Agents photo art by T. Ray Harvey. Jan. 11, 2018.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Sacramento, Calif. —After dropping 50 points in the Los Angeles Clippers’ 125-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors the night before, Lou Williams made sure his performance was not a fluke against the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.

Williams had 30 points, six assists, two steals and one blocked shots as the Clippers defeated the Kings 121-115 at Golden 1 Center in a game that saw one Los Angeles player returning to the lineup and another leaving with an injury in the first half of the game.

Williams made 10 of 24 shots from the field, 5 of 12 from beyond the 3-point line, and knocked down all five attempts at the free throw line. It was the second game of a back-to-back and Williams was not phased at all. He played nearly 35 minutes in the victory.

“Lou is a professional,” said Montrezl Harrell, who had 25 points, six rebounds, and one steal off the bench for the Clippers (20-21). “It doesn’t matter if he’s in Houston, L.A., or Atlanta. It doesn’t matter where he’s at. Him scoring 50 points the other night, and then him coming out and having another big night on the offensive floor is nothing new. I’ve seen him do it in various ways.”

Publicity Agents OpticalVision. Footage by T. Ray Harvey

Blake Griffin returned to action after dealing with a concussion. Griffin had 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and one steal for the Clippers. Center DeAndre Jordan suffered a left ankle sprain as the the second half was winding down and did not return for the final 24 minutes. Wesley Johnson added 13 points, including three 3-pointers for the Clippers.

The Clippers own 11-straight road victories in Sacramento and have not lost to the Kings since suffering a 116-101 defeat on Mar. 19, 2013 at Sleep Train Arena. In the last 20 games, the Clippers have won 17 of 20 contests over Sacramento.

The Kings have lost six of the last seven games and have only one recorded victory at G1C early in 2018. George Hill returned to the lineup after a three-game absence for personal reasons. Hill had 21 points, three rebounds, three rebounds, and two steals for the Kings (13-28).

Bogdan Bogdanovic had 22 points, four rebounds, and two assists off the bench while Zach Randolph contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, one assists, and one steal for the Kings. Buddy Hield had 14 points, five assists, and four rebounds.

Williams had 21 points in the first to lead the Clippers to a 72-60 halftime margin. The Kings trailed by 16 points in the third quarter before staging a 21-7 run to get with in two points on an alley-oop dunk by Willie Cauley Stein.

After the Clippers came back to extend their lead to 14 in the fourth quarter, the Kings mounted a 20-5 run to take the lead 109-108 with 4:14 left to play.

The Clippers outscored the Kings 13-6 to seal the victory. But the game was basically decided when the Williams made an errant pass for a turnover to Kostas Koufos with 15.2 second left. Los Angeles was leading 117-115. Koufos indirectly returned the favor with a bad pass of his own to Tyrone Wallace, who turned into a fastbreak dunk.

Koufos had 14 points, 14 rebounds, and two steals for the Kings.

“Kostas has had five terrific games in a row, three in a row for sure,” said Kings head coach Dave Joerger. “Sometimes those things happen at the end of the game and you have to wrap your arms around your teammate. But he was one of the guys to put us in a position to keep it close.”

The Kings play the Clippers again, this time in Los Angeles on Jan. 13.

PUBLIC INFORMATION:

Sacramento Kings:

Frank missed his fourth-consecutive game, but this time his diagnosis has been changed to 4-to-6 six weeks away from basketball activities for a partial tear right plantar fascia.

Los Angeles Clippers:

Should Lou Williams Be An All Star?

Williams lead the NBA in bench scoring this season at 21.8 points per game, which is the highest single-season average for a reserve among active players. In his 13th season in the NBA, Williams, overall, is averaging career highs in points (22.2), assists (4.9), minutes (31.4), 3-point percentage (40.7), and free throw percentage (90.3).

“The thing I keep saying about Lou is that I didn’t know how efficient he is. I always thought, from afar, that he’s a volume scorer. But really, he’s an efficient scorer. He shoots high percentages and he makes great passes. He’s just so much more efficient than I ever realized. When you get a guy like...you really enjoy coaching him.”

— Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers head coach, Jan. 11, 2018. Sacramento, Calif.

DeAndre Jordan continues to donate $100 towards Hurricane Harvey relief in Houston for each rebound he secures this season. The second-leading rebounder in the league at 15.1 per game, a career high, Jordan has pulled down a total of 609 rebounds for 2017-2018.

By T. Ray Harvey | PA Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist

Twitter: Tony Ray Harvey @PublicityAgents

Email: infopublicityagents@gmail.com

T. Ray (Antonio) Harvey is a Public Information Officer and Photographic Artist for Publicity Agents. Harvey is also the author of The HOMICIDAL HANDYMAN OF OAK PARK: MORRIS SOLOMON JR.