Despite CP3's return, Austin Rivers dominates at the point in Game 3 win 124-99

The Clips were extremely happen to have CP back on the floor for Game 3 against the Houston Rockets but man commonly referred to as 'The Point God' wasn't the best point guard on the floor that night, mainly due to the explosion of Austin Rivers.

Rivers scored 25 points, contributing to a 23-0 run the second half when the Clippers bench dominated a seemingly lost Rockets team. Austin set the Staples Centre on fire with multiple drives to the rack, step back 3s and And-1 layups. Austin was so good that he got the whole staples centre crowd roaring 'AUSTIN RIVERS' after every spectacular play he made. It was the est game of Doc Rivers' sons career but Doc kept things professional.

"If Lester or Matt did the same thing I would've been proud" Doc said of Austin's performance.

"He played very well, he got it going" said Rockets head coach Kevin McHale.

Chris Paul who was slow at times in the game since it was his first back from a hamstring injury was solid chipping in 12 points and 7  assists. He got better and more comfortable as the game progressed and hopefully he'll soon be back at full strength for the Clips.

Although Griffin had struggled with turnovers throughout the contest he did contribute a very solid 22 points and 14 boards in a game where Houston made an extra effort to try and slow him and grind him down. J.J. Redick also exploded with his best ever playoff game with an ultra-efficient 31 points as he was laser accurate from 3.

What was one of the most pleasing things the Clippers can take away from the contest was the fact they played a solid game on Harden, specifically Redick and Rivers.

Harden, who didn't attempt a free throw in the first half, took his first two shots from the charity stripe at the 10:38 mark of the third. He sunk both to whittle the deficit to 64-59.

Five points was as close as the Rockets got in the second half.

With The Clipper bench being dominant in this contest if they can continue this type of play for the rest of the playoffs the Clippers really have a strong chance to go very, very deep this year because when the bench plays like this - they can go toe to toe with anybody in this league.

Game Notes

The Clippers shot 55.4 percent (46-of-83) from the field and nailed 13-of-29 from beyond the arc, while Houston shot 39.8 percent (35-of-88) from the floor and made 11-of-33 from long distance ... Paul started all 82 games during the regular season for the first time in his 10-year NBA career ... The Clippers scored 23 points off 15 Houston turnovers.