With Jamal Crawford's fourth quarter dazzling performance, Los Angeles Clippers beat Phoenix Suns 117-99 to register their fifth straight victory on Saturday.
For the Clippers, top scorer Blake Griffin contributed with 24 points, eight rebounds and a career-best four steals. He also had 10 out of 17 attempts from the field and four assists.
''We owed them a lot,'' The Associated Press quoted Griffin as saying. ''We want to put it away early, but with the way that our team is put together, our second team is just as capable coming in and putting that lead on teams.''
Chris Paul scored 16 points and chipped in 11 assists for Los Angeles.
Reserve Jamal Crawford added 21 points, out of which 13 came in the fourth quarter.
''Thank the bench because the starters were struggling,'' Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. ''They got us off to a bad start again. Our starters get into this energy on the offense and not on the defense. This game easily could have gone the other way.''
It was Phoenix who took an early lead in the game by outscoring the Clippers 31-28, but they could not keep the momentum going and were outclassed in the second quarter by Los Angeles 26-35. They launched a comeback by scoring 26 points against the Clippers' 22 in the third quarter, only to be defeated by the Los Angeles reserves' surge in the fourth quarter.
The Clippers had a 17-4 run in the fourth quarter, in which Crawford contributed with 11 points. He hit a 3-pointer and two free throws.
''They've got a hell of a basketball team,'' said Suns coach Alvin Gentry. ''When the starters get 61 and the bench gets 56, that's a well-balanced team. They do a good job of passing the basketball.''
Two other Clippers reserves, Matt Barnes and Eric Bledsoe, scored 13 and 10 points respectively. They extended Los Angeles' lead to 110-93 with 4:04 minutes remaining in the game by a couple of dunks.
''It started with defense,'' Griffin said. ''We got five stops in a row and got into an 11-point lead.''
For the Suns, the top scorer Michael Beasley added 21 points, while Shannon Brown scored 19, but they could not save their team from losing the sixth straight game. Luis Scola contributed with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight of 11 from the field.
''If we're going to get out of this, we've got to work our own way out and do it collectively as a group,'' Gentry said. ''In this league, no one's going to help us and no one feels sorry for you. It's not a pity league.''
The Clippers were leading 85-83 at the end of the third quarter. With their reserves at their best, they scored 32 and limited the opponents at 16 to win the game by 18 points.
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