Chris Paul maintains the Clippers can win in Memphis

By Melissa Rohlin

May 1, 2013 1:49 PM PT

After losing Game 5 of their first-round playoff series to the Grizzlies at home on Tuesday, the Clippers are forced to play at Memphis on Friday in an elimination game.

When Chris Paul was asked whether he thinks the Clippers can win in hostile territory to force a Game 7 at Staples Center on Sunday, he didn’t hesitate.

“No question,” he said. “I’m in the wrong profession if I think otherwise. We’ve got to go there, win there, we’ve shown the ability to do it before.... We knew that Game 6 was going to be a closeout game for somebody -- we were hoping it wasn’t going to be an opportunity for them, but it is, so now we just got to make it work.”

Paul put the Clippers on his back Tuesday evening, scoring a game-high 35 points, nearly twice the combined scoring total of the other starters (18).

When asked about his teammates’ need to step up, Paul blamed himself for their lack of productivity.

“That’s on me,” he said. “I’ve got to figure out a way to be aggressive also and get my teammates involved. it’s not [an] individual thing. It’s my job to get those guys going, get them shots, and we just got to play better.”

The Clippers were playing with a hobbled Blake Griffin, who suffered a sprained ankle during Monday’s practice. Griffin is listed as day-to-day.

Paul said if Griffin is out Friday, the entire team needs to be involved.

“It’s going to be by committee,” he said. “You can’t just replace Blake Griffin with one person. It’s going to be by committee so we may have to go small, open the court up, get those big guys away from the basket and see if we can get Marc Gasol out of the lane.”

Gasol and Zach Randolph combined for 46 points and 19 rebounds on Tuesday in the Grizzlies’ 103-93 win, which put them up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

“It’s tough because right now we’re in the heart of the season and we’re fighting for our lives,” Paul said. Griffin “tried to give it a go out there, we all knew he would, it’s a tough blow but what can you do.”

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