Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers

There was a lot of talk about Chris Paul following his performance in the Clippers’ 117-107 victory at Sacramento on Friday night. For good reason. He was banged up coming in – forearm bruise, tight calf – and then he got poked in the eye in the second quarter. Yet he scored 40 points, doled out 13 assists and grabbed eight rebounds in 36 marvelous minutes.

But Paul himself was quick to point out that it was third-quarter defense that propelled his team to victory. The Clippers trailed 67-64 at halftime, then outscored the Kings 34-16 in the third, during which the Clippers went on a 20-0 run.

“It was defense,” said Paul, whose team next plays host to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night at 7:30 at Staples center. “It was straight defense. Me and DJ (DeAndre Jordan) talked about it at halftime. We had to set the tone, so I tried to start picking up DC (Darren Collison) earlier, not just letting him be in a rocking chair, picking us apart. I think they started feeling us a little bit more in the third quarter and that sort of fed our offense.”