Matt Barnes/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

The Clippers led the Phoenix Suns by 12 points late in the third quarter Monday night at Staples Center, then fell behind by five points with 7:23 left in regulation following the ejection of sixth-man Jamal Crawford after he argued a foul called on him and dropped an F-bomb on referee Mark Lindsay a couple of minutes earlier.

At that point, the Suns appeared primed to halt the Clippers’ seven-game winning streak. Phoenix had all the momentum.

But the Clippers regrouped and eventually won the game 121-120 in overtime on Blake Griffin’s 3-point basket at the buzzer.

Forward Matt Barnes liked what he saw.

“We are starting to get an identity; we are a hard-nosed team,” said Barnes, who scored eight points to go along with four assists and four rebounds. “I think we got away from that earlier (in the) season and I think we are back to grinding it out. We can play a lot of different ways and tonight we showed that.”