For win-starved Mo Williams, Clippers victory is all the sweeter
Some say, in regards to life, that the sweet is never as sweet without the sour.
That helps explains why the Clippers’ 106-103 win Wednesday against Houston was like a barrel of sugar for guard Mo Williams.
No, it had little to do with Williams, newly acquired by the Clippers in a trade from Cleveland, winning and playing well (17 points, 11 assists) in his home debut at Staples Center. That was just the icing.
It was winning in general that took the cake, because Williams hasn’t had much of that this season, given the Cavaliers’ NBA-record 26-game losing streak, which ended against the Clippers last month.
“This season has been a whirlwind for me,†Williams said Thursday.
Williams was a part of Cleveland’s back-to-back 60-plus win seasons before LeBron James scooted to South Beach this past offseason, leaving a gutted team behind.
The Cavaliers won just 10 games this season before Williams was shipped to the Clippers, along with Jamario Moon, for guard Baron Davis.
Williams’ new teammates recognize that wins mean more to him after the tough season in Cleveland.
“He probably doesn’t take it for granted as much, not that we’ve won a whole lot of games either,†forward Blake Griffin said.
And Williams agrees.
“You come from a situation where you win a lot of games and you win all the time and you know how to win, it’s frustrating when you don’t win,†he said.
Moon said he’s not using what happened in Cleveland as extra motivation.
“I just wanted to get the win being in a new city,†said Moon, who scored four points in 17 minutes Wednesday. “I just wanted to let them know that we’re here to work and that this win here means there’s a lot more to come.â€
But for Moon and Williams, the last 20 games coming up are a chance to get something back.
“The good thing about this team,†Williams said, “we have pieces to win basketball games as long as we go out and control the tempo and play our style of basketball and be consistent for as close to 48 minutes as we can.â€
D-League detour
Clippers rookie guard William Warren was reassigned to the NBA Development League’s Bakersfield Jam on Thursday. The second-round pick has played in just 19 games with the Clippers this season, averaging 1.9 points in 7.1 minutes.
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