Denver coach Brian Shaw talks about Jamal Crawford’s 21 points in 4th

Jamal Crawford

Jamal Crawford scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter of Monday’s win over Denver/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

Jamal Crawford had all of two points through three quarters Monday against the Denver Nuggets. He finished with 23 as the Clippers rallied for a 102-98 victory at Staples Center.

Denver coach Brian Shaw afterward talked about his team’s failed attempt to corral Crawford, the two-time Sixth-Man of the Year.

“In the fourth quarter I thought we fell asleep a few times when (Crawford) was off the ball and he was able to get some clean looks coming off of picks shooting the ball,” Shaw said. “We stunted at their lesser shooters a couple of times. We rotated over to Matt Barnes, so instead of making him be the one to shoot the ball and finish, he was able to swing it to Crawford a couple of times. That was one of the points of emphasis for us, to try and control Crawford coming off the bench.”

Denver Nuggets outscore Clippers 31-20 in first quarter at Staples Center

Chris Paul

Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

The Nuggets led the Clippers by as many as 16 points at 31-15 before settling for a 31-20 lead over the Clippers after one quarter.

Hedo Turkoglu hit a 3-point basket with about 20 seconds left in the quarter and then Austin Rivers made a layup with 0.7 seconds left as the Clippers scored the final five points of the quarter.

Chris Paul led the Clippers (30-14) with six points in the quarter, Wilson Chandler had 13 for Denver (18-26).

Clippers can’t get a 3-pointer to fall late, lose 109-106 to Nuggets at Pepsi Center

Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin scored 32 points Friday night at Denver/Photo Courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

 

The Clippers had three chances to tie the game with the final seconds winding down Friday night at Denver, but missed 3-point basket attempts by Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick and Chris Paul resulted in the Clippers losing 109-106 to the Nuggets at Pepsi Center.

The Clippers (18-8) overcame a 16-point halftime deficit of 59-43 to lead 74-71 after three quarters.

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 32 points on 9 of 20 shooting. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. Chris Paul scored 17 points with 15 assists, Crawford scored 20 off the bench, Matt Barnes had 16 points and DeAndre Jordan scored 11 and had 14 rebounds with two blocked shots.

The Clippers shot 45.9 percent from the field, but just 16.7 percent (3 of 18) from 3-point range.

Denver (11-15) received 20 points off the bench from Nate Robinson, 16 from Wilson Chandler and 14 points and seven rebounds from Kenneth Faried. Ty Lawson doled out 14 assists to go with his 10 points.

Probable starting lineups for Clippers and Nuggets in Las Vegas

Here are the probable starting lineups for tonight’s (Saturday) game between the Clippers (1-3) and Denver Nuggets (1-4) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Clippers: PG Chris Paul, SG J.J. Redick, SF Matt Barnes, PF Blake Griffin, C DeAndre Jordan.

Nuggets: PG Ty Lawson, SG Arron Afflalo, SF Danilo Gallinari, PF Kenneth Faried, C Timofey Mozgov.

Clippers so good these days, teams want to beat them more than ever

Years ago no one cared much about the Clippers, whether it be fans or other NBA teams and players. But the Clippers (48-21) are serious contenders these days, meaning they are under much more scrutiny. They have become a team others like to beat.

Such was the case Monday when the Clippers ventured to Denver to try and extend an 11-game winning streak. But just like last season, when the host Nuggets snapped the Clippers’ 17-game winning streak, they did it again with a 110-100 victory at Pepsi Center.

Ty Lawson, the Nuggets’ point guard, had an interesting thought for an ESPN.com reporter after the game.

“Players like to get up for this team,” said Lawson, who scored 19 points. “The energy in the building gets us going.”

According to ESPN.com, it was the fourth time in NBA history a team has halted the same opponent’s double-digit winning streak in back-to-back campaigns. The most recent before Monday was the Spurs ending 11-game Suns winning streaks in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.

 

Blake Griffin lays blame for loss at Denver at his own talented feet

Clippers forward Blake Griffin had just been named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday when he took the floor later that night at Denver. The quest: a 12th consecutive victory.

Griffin scored 26 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and doled out four assists. But he made just 7 of 25 shots from the field, and he seemed to want to take the blame for the defeat.

“Too many missed shots, too many small errors here and there,” Griffin said on the Clippers’ website. “Everybody played hard, but I just put us in a bad position.”

It was the second leg of back-to-back games, but center DeAndre Jordan did not want to use that as an alibi.

“Back-to-backs are always tough, especially because we’ve got guys down,” he said, referring to his team’s injuries. “But that’s no excuse. Every team has back-to-backs and it’s tough. You’ve just got to find a way to win. That’s all.”

The Clippers have been given a couple of days off by coach Doc Rivers and won’t practice again until Thursday. They play host to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday at 7:30  p.m.