Clippers beat Lakers 107-102 to stop 2-game skid

By BETH HARRIS

LOS ANGELES (AP) Chris Paul had 30 points and 13 assists, Blake Griffin added 24 points, and the Los Angeles Clippers led all the way in beating the Lakers 107-102 on Friday night.

Kobe Bryant scored 38 points and Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, who lost for the second time this season to their Staples Center co-tenants.

Bryant carried the Lakers in the fourth quarter when they closed to 99-97 on his 23-foot jumper with 1:29 left. But Paul scored the Clippers' final eight points to seal the victory and drop the Lakers two games below .500. The Clippers lead the Lakers by 10 games in the standings.

The Clippers had dropped two consecutive road games earlier in the week, when their 17-game winning streak was snapped.

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POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike D'Antoni:

On the play of Kobe Bryant:
“I‟ve seen a lot of games and on both ends I don‟t think I‟ve seen anyone play better than that. He was phenomenal. He‟s lasered in on the game and trying to get us out of this ditch. We‟ve just got to keep working keep our heads up and try to do it.”

On Chris Paul in the 4th quarter:
“Right in the middle of the floor he is really good at finding the right guy. You can try to bring two defenders, but we had one of the best defenders in the NBA on him and he makes unbelievable shots. After he made it you have to say, „Oh man.‟”

On team chemistry:
“We just have to be consistent we have to learn how to shoot the ball and play on both ends. Look at the difference between our team and theirs. They just play together. They share the ball. Everybody‟s excited when something happens. We have to be like that to be a great team.”

On his free throw shooting:
“I should‟ve hit more. I should‟ve hit more tonight. I was thinking too much and I‟m a little upset at myself for missing those free throws, but I‟ll continue to practice.”

On the 4th quarter:
“I just think at the end of the game bounces can go either way. When you‟re always fighting uphill, so much has to go right to come back twice. There were a couple of calls on Dwight that could‟ve gone either way and didn‟t. A couple of bounces here and there and the game was decided in the last few minutes. But to be fair, the game was probably decided by getting down by 20 points.”

On taking more shots:
“Tonight I didn‟t get many opportunities. I shot the ones I had a passed up one or two. I had about 5 or 6 shots for the game. From night to night you have to read the defense, and they were trying to play my pick and rolls hard and get the ball out of my hands quickly. It would‟ve been a pleasure to take 20 shots tonight, but you know I can‟t start forcing shots. A lot of guys on this team need shots and if you put two people on me during a pick and roll someone will be open to benefit”

Overall thoughts on tonight's game:
“We made it a little bit harder on ourselves than we needed to. But, I thought we battled the whole night, got some good efforts from a lot of people. Our rebounding, we were active there; we did a good job on the glass. Gave them too many points off turnovers, but Chris [Paul] made some big plays, some big free throws and we had a couple of stops at the end to seal it up. A good win for us, especially short-handed. Everyone stepped up when they had to and got us back on track which was great.”

On the play of Chris Paul:
“He‟s as competitive as there is. Missing Jamal [Crawford] out there tonight, obviously not having Chauncey [Billups] or Grant [Hill], I thought Chris and Blake [Griffin] made big plays. Blake got in foul trouble, but he had some big hoops down the stretch for us.”

On team effort:
“Just a good solid effort from us, I thought, from start to finish. Sometimes it wasn‟t efficient, but we battled the whole night which was great.”

On significance of this win:
“To us it‟s about us, about playing well, performing well and improving. I am pleased with the way the guys played together. They played hard, they played together. Now we‟ve just got to continually work on doing a better job finishing games out the way we need to at times. But that will come with some personnel.”

Looking forward to tomorrow vs. Golden State:
“We‟ve got another big tough one tomorrow night, so we have to get our legs under us and get after it.”

On offense without Jamal Crawford:
“Every game is different and every team is different defensively, depending on what they want to do in the post. But Jamal [Crawford] is such a threat from anywhere that teams hang out and relax a little bit. I thought guys did a great job of stepping up and hitting shots. Our movement was pretty good on offense and that helps.‟

On style of Chris Paul:
“He prefers to break somebody down and really get a teammate going. But whether it‟s scoring or passing, he‟s always involved. It‟s always a part of the team game.”

On coming back from losing two in a row
“You never want to have a losing streak and for us to drop those two games. They were tough games and we didn‟t play well. But it‟s great to get a win like this against a team like this and kind of get us going back in the right direction.”

On closing minutes of the game:
“We just made a few timely shots. It was about time we make one. Last four minutes, we had some terrible possessions, pretty much my fault. So, a great credit to our team defense. Caron Butler, Willie Green and Matt Barnes did an outstanding job on Kobe [Bryant].”

On playing aggressive offensively:
“Every time I looked over at the bench, Coach [Del Negro] was yelling at me to shoot the ball. It felt good to be a little bit aggressive tonight, and hopefully I can continue to play like that.”

On facing Golden State tomorrow night:
“We‟ve got to be ready. We‟ve got to get some rest. Those guys [Golden State] have been resting since they played us a few nights ago. So, it‟s our home game, and we‟ve got to take the momentum and beat them.”

On play of Chris Paul:
“He‟s up there with some of the best players I‟ve played with. His ability to lead, make the right play, I‟m fortunate to play with somebody like that, with guys that want to be great.”

On playing against Lakers:
“Right now we‟re just focused on being one of the best teams in the league, not just the city. Focus can‟t be just to be better than one team. Now, we‟re trying to be great.”

On being more physical:
“I think we just didn‟t play well with the lead. We let some things distract us, which gave Kobe [Bryant] an opportunity to make some shots at the end. We can‟t worry about officiating and the small things in the game. If we focus on the next play and the play at hand, we‟ll be alright. Tonight was a mental test, we could‟ve done better at times but the win we‟ll take.”

On Clippers coming together:
“We started off in China playing well and we knew we had something. It‟s been slowly but surely, getting together in practice, talking off the court, developing our chemistry, getting to know each other better and we‟re putting a good product out on the court.”

On team's expectations:
“We have something special over here. We have a great defense now with this team and when the bench is playing well Vinny [Del Negro] sticks with us, and I think that definitely gives us confidence to go out there and compete with anybody.”

Last season in contrast with this season:
“Last season was fun, we added some new players, and we added new players this year. But I feel like this year, we‟re gelling a lot faster than we did last year on the shortened schedule and limited practice time and things like that. But if we continue to play the right way and get some guys back that are injured right, now we‟ll be ok.”

On defensive energy:
“In the first half, I thought we played pretty good defense. We had some let ups early in the 3rd quarter and they kind of got back into it. But we need to buckle down and play the right way and not for the score.”

LAKERS-CLIPPERS PREVIEW

By TAYLOR BECHTOLD

After a franchise-record winning streak, the Los Angeles Clippers hope to rediscover their shooting touch and stop a skid.

The Los Angeles Lakers have also stumbled following their longest win streak of the season.

Having dropped two in a row since taking 17 straight, the Clippers will try to match a franchise record with their 11th straight home victory when they host the Lakers on Friday night.

The Clippers' 17-game run through Sunday is the longest in the NBA since Boston reeled off 19 straight wins in 2008-09. However, they've posted season-low shooting percentages in each of their last two games - both defeats.

The Clippers (25-8) made 38.5 percent in a 92-78 loss at Denver on Tuesday and 36.4 percent in a 115-94 defeat at Golden State on Wednesday.

They also shot a combined 13 for 58 (22.4 percent) from 3-point range and 41 for 68 (60.3) from the foul line in the two games. The Clippers hit 48.5 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from behind the arc during their win streak.

"We just kind of hit a little bit of a wall," forward Blake Griffin said after Wednesday's loss. Griffin certainly appeared to, totaling 22 points and shooting 27.3 percent in the two losses. He shot 58.2 percent during the winning streak.

A return home could give the Clippers a good chance to get back on track. They've outscored opponents by an average of 106.3-88.3 during their 10-game run at Staples, and can match the franchise home mark of 11 wins in a row set Feb. 15-March 18, 1979, when they were based in San Diego.

Chris Paul will try for a third straight outstanding game against the Clippers' intracity rivals. He had 18 points and 15 assists in a 105-95 win over the Lakers on Nov. 2 and has totaled 40 points and 31 assists in the past two meetings.

The Clippers are expected to have forward Caron Butler back after he missed Wednesday's game because of personal reasons. That might not bode well for the Lakers, as Butler has gone 11 for 23 from beyond the arc in the last four matchups.

The Lakers (15-16) appeared to have broken out of a season-long funk with five straight victories, but they've since lost two of three. Los Angeles suffered a 103-99 defeat to visiting Philadelphia on Tuesday, which followed a rant from Kobe Bryant in which he called the Lakers "old" and "slow."

"It's frustrating," guard Steve Nash said. "We're in a tough position and we really have a lot of ground to make up. We're not finding the answers right now."

Nash had 12 points and 10 assists against the 76ers and has averaged 12.2 and 9.6 in five games since returning to the lineup.

Not helping matters is Pau Gasol's sore foot, which the star forward continues to play through. Gasol scored 11 points and shot 2 of 12 on Tuesday, and he's averaged 12.8 points and 40.9 percent from the field in six games after missing eight because of the injury. He's averaging 18.5 points and 51.8 percent from the floor in his career.

Playing small forward in coach Mike D'Antoni's redesigned rotation, Bryant looks for another big game against the Clippers after scoring 40 and shooting 14 of 23 in November. Bryant has averaged 34.8 points and 54.6 percent from the floor in his last five against the Clippers.

After making 10 of 46 (21.7 percent) from 3-point range in their last two games, the Lakers hope to improve their efficiency against a Clippers team that allowed the Warriors to go 12 of 23 from beyond the arc Wednesday.

They're also looking for their fifth win in seven meetings with the Clippers.

The Lakers have won three of four at Staples, but as the home team.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers trail the season series with the Clippers 0-1 after taking last year’s three-game series from the Clippers 2-1. The two teams have met 193 times overall and on 127 occasions since the Clippers moved to Los Angeles. The Lakers lead the all-time series 143-50 (97-30 vs. LAC). Overall, the Lakers have lost just two season series in franchise history (1992-93 & 1974-75) to the Clippers. The Lakers are 6-4 in their last 10 games overall against the Clippers. The Lakers are 21-5 all-time against the Clippers in home games at STAPLES Center but had their 9-game home win streak against the Clippers snapped in their most recent meeting 11/2/12. Despite the loss, the Lakers are still 9-1 in their last 10 home contests. On the road against the Clippers, the Lakers are 6-4 in their last 10 games as a visitor at STAPLES Center. In recent series history, during the 2009-10 season, for the third time in as many years, the Lakers established a new largest margin of victory against the Clippers since they moved from San Diego to Los Angeles prior to the 1984-85 season, defeating the Clippers by 40 points (126-86) on 1/15/10 (previous largest margin of victories were 38 (117-79, 10/29/09) and 37 (119-82, 3/7/08)). In their meeting on January 21, 2009, Bryant posted his 16th career triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. In 61 career games versus the Clippers (53 starts), Bryant is averaging 25.9 points. Additionally, Bryant has posted two 50-point games against the Clippers, most recently 4/12/07 vs. LAC (other: 50 points 1/7/06 @ LAC). Steve Blake posted his first career triple-double (23 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) as a member of the Clippers (4/14/10) in the 2009-10 season finale against the Lakers. Blake averaged 6.8 points and 6.1 assists in 29 games (10 starts) with the Clippers two seasons ago. Clippers forward Matt Barnes played the last two seasons with the Lakers, averaging 7.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 116 games. Clippers forward Lamar Odom played 519 games (382 starts) with the Lakers over seven seasons (2004-2011), posting averages of 13.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists while earning the 2010-11 Sixth Man of the Year Award and helping the Lakers to two NBA Championships. Additionally, Clippers forward Caron Butler played the 2004-05 season with the Lakers after being acquired along with Lamar Odom and Brian Grant from Miami in exchange for Shaquille O’Neal in July of 2004. In 77 games, Butler averaged 15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.43 steals in 35.7 minutes. He was subsequently traded to Washington in August of 2005 in a deal that brought Kwame Brown to Los Angeles, which ultimately led to the acquisition two and a half years later of Pau Gasol when Brown was sent to Memphis.

LAST REGULAR SEASON MEETING
Kobe Bryant’s 113th career 40-point game and franchise record setting 1,725th steal were not enough to get the Lakers past the Clippers as the third quarter again proved to be the difference in the ballgame as the Lakers fell to 0-3 with a 95-105 loss at STAPLES Center. Bryant, who finished 14-of-23 from the field and 10-of-10 from the line, was joined in double-figures by Dwight Howard (13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks), who was in foul trouble all night, and Pau Gasol, who finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. The Lakers again turned the ball over often, surrendering 20 turnovers for 25 Clipper points. The Clippers were led by Jamal Crawford’s 21 points on 5- of-12 shooting and Chris Paul’s 18-point, six-rebound, 15-assist night. Blake Griffin (15 points, 8 rebounds), Caron Butler (14 points) and Eric Bledsoe (10 points) all scored in double-figures in the victory. The Lakers 0-3 start is the team’s fourth in franchise history and first since the 1978-79 season.