Clippers Ride Crawford's Shooting To 102-98 Win Over Nuggets
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jamal Crawford scored 19 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and the Los Angeles Clippers held off the Denver Nuggets, 102-98, Monday night for their fifth straight victory.
Crawford scored their final five points and had a key save that led to a basket in the closing seconds, when the Clippers completed their biggest comeback of the season after being down by 16 earlier in the game.
Matt Barnes added 18 points for Los Angeles, and Blake Griffin had 14 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. Chris Paul scored 15 points.
Ty Lawson led the Nuggets with 19 points and 11 assists. Arron Afflalo scored 18 points, Wilson Chandler had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Jusuf Nurkic had 10 rebounds in Denver's seventh straight loss.
The Clippers trailed by 10 early in the fourth before Crawford found his shooting touch. He hit a tying 3-pointer, and then followed with another basket that made it 94-92 with 2:30 remaining.
Afflalo tied it again before the Clippers' fans exploded on Barnes' go-ahead basket. Paul's pass was on its way out of bounds before Crawford saved it and passed to Barnes as Crawford was running out of bounds on the baseline. Barnes converted for a 96-94 lead.
Crawford converted three free throws to make it 99-94.
Chandler's floater and two free throws by Darrell Arthur drew the Nuggets to 99-98.
Crawford made two trips to the line in the final 5 seconds, hitting 3 of 4 free throws to seal the victory.
Denver led 77-69 going into the fourth, having padded its lead with an 11-0 run in the third.
The Clippers' defense started getting stops with five minutes left in the second quarter, triggering their transition game. They outscored the Nuggets 22-6 to take a 50-47 lead at the break. Griffin scored a layup off an alley-oop pass from Paul after Griffin got the offensive rebound. On the Clippers' next possession, Griffin returned the favor with an alley-oop pass that Jordan dunked on.
The Nuggets came out strongly to start the game, shooting 59 percent and building a 16-point lead in the first quarter. Chandler hit back-to-back 3-pointers while scoring their first 10 points before Kenneth Faried and Afflalo teamed on a 12-0 run.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: They lost their third in a row on the road, where they are 6-15.
Clippers: The previous largest deficit they overcame this season was 14 points against Portland on Nov. 8. ... They evened the season series 1-1.
UP NEXT
Nuggets: At New Orleans on Wednesday.
Clippers: At Utah on Wednesday in the opener of their eight-game Grammy trip.
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