Clippers 100, Trail Blazers 94
Jamal Crawford scored 25 points and Chris Paul had 23 points and 10 assists as visiting Los Angeles upended Portland.
Blake Griffin scored 18 points and DeAndre Jordan had 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting and grabbed 18 rebounds for the Clippers. Los Angeles was 18-of-19 from the free-throw line and made all 13 fourth-quarter attempts.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 37 points and 12 rebounds and Chris Kaman added 15 points and 11 boards for the Trail Blazers, who lost for only the third time in 16 games. Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter while struggling through a 5-of-16 shooting performance and Meyers Leonard had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Paul hit four consecutive free throws to give the Clippers an 89-88 lead with 4:35 to play and Crawford drained a long 3-pointer to give Los Angeles a three-point lead with 3:58 left. Four more free throws by Paul made it a seven-point margin with 23.6 seconds remaining as the Clippers closed strong.
Los Angeles led by nine midway through the second quarter and held a 50-49 lead at the break. A 3-pointer by J.J. Redick gave the Clippers a seven-point lead with 7:35 left in the third quarter before Portland closed strong to tie it at 72 entering the final stanza.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Portland was 18-of-20 from the free-throw line, but just 6-of-26 from 3-point range. … Los Angeles committed only seven turnovers. … Lillard was 1-of-8 shooting over the first three quarters.