Griffin, Paul Lead Clippers To 116-102 Victory Over Celtics

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Griffin scored 26 points, Chris Paul added 23 and the Los Angeles Clippers rallied to beat the Boston Celtics 116-102 on Monday night.

Jamal Crawford helped lift the Clippers in the second half by scoring 17 of his 19 points after halftime as Los Angeles shot 58 percent over the final two quarters.

DeAndre Jordan added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who won their second in a row and remained 1 1/2 games behind Utah in the race for fourth place in the Western Conference.

Isaiah Thomas scored 31 points and Marcus Smart added 21 for the Celtics, who put up one of their worst shooting performances of the season, shooting just 41 percent from the field after being in the high 30s most of the game.

Boston has shot as poorly as 37 percent twice this season, the last time in a 101-94 home loss to Toronto on Dec. 9.

Boston has lost two in a row and five of its last eight games. The Celtics remained in the second place in the Eastern Conference, three games behind Cleveland.

Down by as many as 13 points and still trailing 71-64, the Clippers ran off the 11 unanswered points in the final 1:41 of the third quarter. Crawford sparked the run with three 3-pointers, the last of which put Los Angeles up 75-71 with 31 seconds left.

Up 75-74 early in the fourth, the Clippers ran off a 24-8 spurt, taking a 99-82 lead on Austin Rivers' 3-pointer.

TIP-INS

Celtics: With his 3-pointer with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter, Thomas eclipsed 8,000 points for his NBA career. ... F Jonas Jerebko sat out the game with the flu.

Clippers: Jordan made his first free throw with 3:03 left in the second quarter, on his eighth attempt. ... For 19-year vet Paul Pierce, who played his first 15 seasons in Boston and was the MVP of the 2008 NBA Finals, this was the final game against his former team. The Clippers ran a tribute video highlighting Pierce's career midway through the first quarter, and the crowd responded with a standing ovation. Pierce plans to retire at the end of the season. He did not play in the game.

HOPEFUL ON HORFORD

Al Horford, who sat out Boston's loss in Phoenix on Sunday, tested his sprained right elbow, sustained blocking a shot against the Lakers on Friday night, with a pregame shooting session.

"First time since (the injury)," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "Feel like sooner rather than later he'll be back, but I don't want to put a specific timetable on him."

ROAD WEARY

For the Clippers, Monday night's game sat sandwiched between a pair of back-to-backs in the Central time zone. Fresh off games in Milwaukee and Chicago on Friday and Saturday night, the Clippers play road games against Minnesota and Memphis on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

"I would have loved to have just gone straight to Minnesota from Chicago," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "That would have made a lot of sense."

NEXT UP

Boston: Visit Golden State on Wednesday night. The Warriors beat the Celtics 104-88 in their only other meeting this season back on Nov. 18.

Los Angeles: The Clippers play the Timberwolves on Wednesday night in Minneapolis, looking to avenge a 104-101 loss on Jan. 19.

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