Austin Rivers/photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

There was a lot of talk about what the second unit did for the Clippers (31-16)  in their 105-93 victory over the Lakers on Friday night at Staples Center.

Austin Rivers scored 17 points in 26-plus minutes on 8 of 14 shooting, Lance Stephenson scored 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting in 22 1/2 minutes. Jamal Crawford’s line was not quite as impressive, but he still scored 15 points on 5 of 13 from the field in 28 1/2 minutes. Stephenson also had five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block; Crawford had four assists.

Afterward, Rivers spoke in prideful tones about the reserves.

“Shout out to the second-unit,” he said. “The first unit has been pushing us and what we have done is not worry about our offense. We just focus on getting stops and when you do that, you just play free as a unit. Jamal (Crawford) and I are being aggressive and scoring. We are also playing defense – Pablo (Prigioni) and Cole (Aldrich) are doing a great job of that. Lance (Stephenson) did an unbelievable job tonight, so our second unit just has to keep it up and get better.”