Clippers 102, Nuggets 98
Jamal Crawford scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles held on to beat visiting Denver for its fifth straight victory.
Blake Griffin added 14 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists for the Clippers, who moved into a tie for fourth in the Western Conference with the Houston Rockets. Matt Barnes scored 18 points and Chris Paul contributed 15 points and eight assists for Los Angeles.
Ty Lawson finished with 19 points and 11 assists to lead the Nuggets, who lost a season-high seventh straight game. Wilson Chandler had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Arron Afflalo contributed 18 points and six assists and Kenneth Faried scored 14 points for Denver.
Crawford made the play of the game when he saved a half-court lead pass from Paul while leaping over the baseline and threw it behind his back to a trailing Barnes, who laid it in uncontested for a 96-94 lead with 1:24 left. Crawford was then fouled on a 3-point try and made all three free throw with 49 seconds left to extend the advantage to 99-94 and converted three more free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory
Crawford, who didn’t score his first points until 1:19 remained in the third quarter, sank a 3-pointer to cut a six-point deficit in half and another to tie the score with just over 3 minutes left. His steal led to his jumper on the other end for a 94-92 lead with 2:30 on the clock.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Clippers trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half. … Clippers C DeAndre Jordan, who came in 38-of-43 from the field in the last six games, the NBA's best shooting percentage over that span in the shot-clock era, finished with seven points on 3-for-5 shooting, 12 rebounds and three of his four blocks in a 28-second span during the final minute of the first half. …Griffin came in as the only player in the NBA averaging at least 23 points, 7.5 rebounds, five assists and one steal this season.