Chris Paul had 24 points and 11 assists and high-flying Blake Griffin added 17 points for the Los Angeles Clippers, who beat the Memphis Grizzles 87-86 Saturday only after Rudy Gay missed a jumper just before the buzzer.
The Clippers won their first home playoff game in six seasons to take a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference playoffs.
Paul hit a fadeaway jumper with 2:02 left for an 82-80 lead. On the next possession he had a no-look bounce pass to Griffin coming in off the baseline for a monster slam.
Trailing 86-80 after two free throws by Paul, Gay hit a 3-pointer with 12.9 seconds left, Memphis' first field goal since 7:10. After Los Angeles missed three of four free throws, Gay hit another 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds.
Eric Bledsoe missed two more free throws, Gay got a good look but missed. Gay finished with 24 points.
Memphis had seemingly taken the red-clad home crowd out of the game in the third quarter, when it outscored the Clippers 25-14 to take a 71-64 lead.
The Clippers' lull extended into the fourth quarter. Marc Gasol made a field goal with 7:10 left for a 77-71 lead, but that was Memphis' last basket until the first of Gay's two 3-pointers in the closing seconds.
Sports
The Clippers, who rallied from 27 down to win the opener on Sunday night at Memphis, started this comeback with just more than four minutes to go.
Reggie Evans made a strong inside move against Marreese Speights to rebound Bledsoe's missed free throw and score to pull L.A. to 79-77 with 4:08 left. Randy Foye then hit a huge 3-point shot from the left side with 3:13 left to tie it at 80 before Paul and Griffin took over.
Forward Caron Butler started for the Clippers, wearing a splint on his broken left, or non-shooting, hand. He was hurt in Game 1, and missed the next game. He scored four points.
Memphis had another big advantage at the free throw line but couldn't capitalize. The Grizzles made 30 of 39 while the Clippers were just 13 of 30.
The Clippers used an 18-1 run spanning the first and second quarter to take a 36-23 lead, but the Grizzles turned around and dropped a 13-0 run on Los Angeles to tie it.
Griffin put an exclamation point on the first half when he stole the inbounds pass from Speights and swooped in for a dunk at the buzzer to give the Clippers a 50-46 lead.
Zach Randolph scored 17 for Memphis while Gasol and Quincy Pondexter had 11.
Foye had 16 for L.A.
