Lob City lives.
The Los Angeles Clippers tapped into some serious showmanship, flushing several alley-oops in a 98-84 preseason win over the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Game 2 of the Clippers Hawaii Classic went decisively to the event’s namesake team. All-Stars Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan led the way with 32 points combined in the first three quarters before giving way to the reserves.
Thirty-year-old rookie point guard Milos Teodosic again thrilled fans with his creative passing and game-high five assists. With him setting the tone, the Clippers assisted on 23 of their 34 field goals.
The Clippers’ offensive identity — known for the last six seasons as “Lob City” behind superstar point guard Chris Paul — was widely perceived to be in jeopardy following the trade of Paul to Houston in the offseason.
“I don’t think we ever lost that. We got guys who can make passes like that,” Jordan said. “And myself, Blake, Willie (Reed), Montrezl (Harrell), guys like that rolling and able to play above the rim. It’s good that we added guys like Pat (Beverley) and Milos, and Austin (Rivers) is capable of that. We got the young fella, Rook 1 (Jawun Evans), who sees all those things too. So, it’s fun, we all continue to play the way we have been this camp, and we’ll try to keep it going.”
The teams continue their preseasons on the mainland before opening the NBA regular season Oct. 19.
There were few to none of the logistical problems present during the first game between the teams Sunday, when thousands of fans were delayed entry to the arena due to a security bottleneck at the main entrance point.
The Clippers led 62-49 at halftime and boosted their lead to 88-60 going into the fourth quarter. The Raptors’ reserves cut it to 12 down the stretch before the Clippers ended an 18-2 run.
The Raptors elected to rest All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry, starting Delon Wright in his place. Rivers sat with an injury for the Clippers.
Teodosic casually fired a fullcourt pass — underhanded — to Beverley for a layup in the second quarter, energizing the crowd of about 8,000.
“The thing I like about Milos … he just moves it,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.
Griffin hit Sam Dekker for an open dunk an a 43-27 lead.
Midway through the second, Beverley saved the ball out of bounds for an offensive board out to Teodosic. The Serbian flipped a pass behind his back to Beverley in the left corner. Beverley drove and lobbed it up in front of the rim for Jordan, who obliged and flushed it emphatically.
Griffin found Jordan for another lob in the quarter and the Clippers led 62-49 at the break.
Griffin scored on consecutive drives in the third, pushing the lead to 16. His 3 made it 73-54. He followed it up with an isolation fadeaway from the elbow, all net.
Lou Williams and Reed connected on a lob layup late in the third to keep the lead above 20. It grew to 88-60 entering the fourth.
Lowry sat out the game after leading his team with 17 points on Sunday. Guard Norman Powell, who scored 16 in the first matchup, sat with an ankle injury. All-Star DeMar DeRozan paced the Raptors with 15 points through the first three quarters.
“I still consider it part of training camp,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “Whether we’re in Hawaii, Victoria (British Columbia), no matter where we are, it’s still training camp. So, great city, great trip for us, great bonding trip. … The team should still be in work mode. I thought we were in vacation mode tonight, in a lot of spurts. That’s why you gotta keep that mentality for nights like tonight.”
