Blake Griffin Gets by at MSG With Help From His Clippers Friends

NEW YORK -- The press room at Madison Square Garden was running out of chicken before Wednesday's New York Knicks-Los Angeles Clippers game. One of the servers said they didn't expect this many people.

When Clippers star forward Blake Griffin comes to town, any number of media folk should be expected. What shouldn't be expected, though, is a high-scoring output from Griffin's amigos, the rest of the Clippers' team.

But on the game's biggest stage, it was the Clippers, not Griffin alone, who bloomed in the Garden, staving off the Knicks, 116-108, Wednesday night.

"The top players on each team, the different cities you go to, that's what you are going to talk about," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said before Wednesday's game, in regards to Griffin receiving most of the attention for his team on the road. "But it's not one player; it takes a team to win. We have a very nice core of guys."

Nice indeed. Despite being without the team's top scorer, Eric Gordon, who is still out with a wrist injury, the Clippers had six players in double figures Wednesday. They shot 54.7 percent from the field. They answered every comeback the Knicks made with clutch shots of their own. They also got big production from Eric Bledsoe (24 points) and Randy Foye (16).

The Clippers played their fourth game of their 11-game Grammy road trip Wednesday. In the first three games, they scored 100, 79, and 85 and lost each one. They're 16th in the league in scoring at a little over 98.0 ppg and everyone not a Lakers fan in Los Angeles has questioned this team's ability to score, outside of Griffin's obvious prowess.

So can the Clippers be relevant, and keep people from talking about more than just the guy who's a dunk away from going viral?

Baron Davis, who had a season-high 16 assists, said it's about his team being assertive on offense.

"Guys just have to be aggressive," Davis said. "I said to the guys before the game, "'Hey were in the Garden, let's have some fun. Let's run and gun. If we can stay aggressive, and guys can take open shots and share the ball, we can be fine."

Griffin was a little less optimistic about whether or not he will continue to be the only consistent scorer on his team.

"Yeah, it's possible," Griffin said. "It's one of those things not every guy is going to have a great night every night. So we have to figure out when guys are struggling ways to lock down on defense and find other ways to win the game."

The rookie is pretty much a rock star on the road these days, as media and fans gush at his every play. The Garden oohed and aahed at every one of Griffin's monster dunks. His last was a parting shot, an alley-oop jam with 1:36 left that put his team up 112-102. Griffin finished with a modest 21 points and six rebounds.

" (The Clippers) have guys in the league that are good. You gotta give them credit. That's what happens when you give them hope. "
-- Mike D'Antoni "It was cool ... the energy is always exciting," Griffin said about playing in his first professional game in the Garden.

The Knicks, on the other hand, admitted they didn't play with enough effort.

"We did not come out with enough focus," said Amar'e Stoudemire, who chipped in 23 points.

Perhaps the Knicks were putting too much attention on Griffin. In the past, it's been common for teams to downplay a game against the Clippers. And even with Griffin, the other L.A. team isn't the most daunting club to stop offensively -- unless it happened to be this particular night at the Garden.

"No, I wouldn't think so," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said when asked if his team was too busy thinking about Griffin. "They (Clippers) have guys in the league that are good. You gotta give them credit. That's what happens when you give them hope."

Del Negro believes that if teams tend to focus on Griffin, his team should take advantage.

"When you have a guy that gets double teamed and you have a guy who is a willing passer and willing to share, which isn't always the case, guys should be happy about that," Del Negro said. "It makes the game easier and makes guys more effective."

Del Negro is optimistic about his team's future.

"Our core guys are 21-years old," Del Negro said, referring to Griffin, 21, Eric Bledsoe, 21 and Gordon, 22. "That's exciting. How we handle that going forward is going to be the key."

At the end of the game, a faint chant of "L.A. sucks, L.A. sucks" was heard. Safe to say, the Clippers will welcome that chant on the remainder of their road trip.