PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Chris Paul was back in fine form, finishing with 21 points, 11 assists and five steals as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated Philadelphia 107-90 in a wire-to-wire victory yesterday.
Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford bagged 20 points each for the Clippers, who have won two of three since Paul returned to the line-up Friday.
“Their defence was tremendous,” Sixers head coach Doug Collins said. “Their bigs are so active and quick. They were impressive.”
Paul had missed 12 of the Clippers’ past 14 National Basketball Association games because of a bone bruise on his right knee.
Griffin provided the dynamic moment of the game when he dunked over top of 76ers Spencer Hawes.
Driving the left side, Griffin rose with the ball in both hands and switched to his left before slamming it home.
“That was nasty,” Paul said.
Nick Young led the 76ers with 29 points against his former team. Philadelphia has lost two of their last three.
The Clippers got off to a 10-1 start and never looked back, leading by as many as 32 points at one stage.
They led 30-22 after the first quarter, 56-33 at halftime and 88-59 heading into the fourth.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs took to the court without three of their top scorers to face Chicago but still had too much fire power for the Bulls, pulling out a 103-89 victory to pick up their 13th win in 14 games this season.
Tony Parker (knee), Tim Duncan (knee) and Manu Ginobili (hamstring) all sat out for San Antonio, who own the best record in the NBA at 41-12, but a career-best 26 points from Kawhi Leonard and 18 from Danny Green kept the Spurs machine rolling.
“All of us are basketball players here, we’re competitive,” Leonard told reporters of the Spurs, who were also without Stephen Jackson for personal reasons.
“That’s why we play the game. If we go in doubting ourselves, we’re already beat.”
San Antonio clung to a 76-75 lead in the fourth quarter before a 19-5 run closed the door on Chicago.
“One would hope you could play with anybody in our system, but it was a tough challenge tonight,” said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” he told reporters after yesterday’s match.
Nate Robinson scored 20 points to pace the Bulls while Joakim Noah added seven and 15 rebounds for the home team, who faded down the stretch.
The Bulls had dominated inside and outrebounded the visitors 49-26 but it did not seem to matter.
San Antonio grabbed a nine-point advantage at halftime and stretched it to 14 in the third before the Bulls closed the quarter strongly to make a game of it.
Chicago (30-21) have now lost three of four. REUTERS
