Goran Dragic scored 24 points to guide the Phoenix Suns past the Los Angeles Clippers 93-88 to give interim coach Lindsey Hunter his second straight victory in two days.
For the Suns, Marcin Gortat added 15 points, Luis Scola and Markieff Morris scored 14 apiece and Michael Beasley finished with eight points and five rebounds.
For the Clippers, Jamal Crawford was the top scorer with 21 points. Eric Bledsoe added 15, Blake Griffin, who played in the game despite an ankle injury, scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
"Our offense was stagnant," Griffin said. "Our defense wasn't great. We did a poor job and it starts with me. I have to do a better job of setting the tone early and being a leader out there, especially with Chris not out there."
The Suns shot better in the game as they made 30 out of 71 attempts from the floor, but the Clippers could made only 33-of-83.
"Our focus is to create a defensive mentality, to create a defensive presence," Hunter said. "Our guys are working hard to do it. It's a difficult thing to just change like that.
"To see every last guy really buying into it and realizing that regardless of how you shoot the ball, if you can defend you always have a chance to win a game, and our guys have been phenomenal in that area."
The Suns improved their record to 15-28 and now are ahead of the New Orleans Hornets in the Western Conference.
"When you change a coach, you always get a little bit of a reaction from everybody," Scola said. "Everybody wants to play a little bit harder and everybody wants to do a little bit more.
"This is just a critical situation and everybody gives a little bit more of themselves. Our challenge is to maintain this."
The Suns outscored the Clippers 24-20 in the first quarter, while both the teams scored 26 points apiece in the second.
Phoenix entered the second half with a four-point lead, but was outscored in the third quarter by the Clippers 20-18.
The Suns scored 25 points and stopped the Clippers, who usually play better in the final quarter, at 22 to win the game by five points.
"We are very comfortable in the fourth quarter," Crawford said. "There has been a little bit of slippage but we have to know exactly where we want to go in the fourth quarter and what we want to do. I think that is where we were at previously and I think we will be able to get back to that."
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