Blake Griffin scored 31 points, Chris Paul added 29 points and 10 assists and the Los Angeles Clippers held on to hand the Phoenix Suns their 10th loss in a row, 124-118 on Thursday night.
The Clippers could look at the glass half full or half empty after their victory in the Valley of the Sun. L.A. has won 6 of their last 8 games overall, but could easily have won all eight of those games after late-game collapses to the Mavericks and Kings, respectively.
The Clippers (46-31), coming off a home win over Washington on Wednesday night, pulled within a game of Utah (46-29) for the No. 4 playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Despite the two back-to-back victories, the Clippers defense has been suspect, allowing 125.5 points per game over that span. The finger can be pointed at the Clippers bench, which has the ability to score in bunches, but has coughed up leads late in games.
On Thursday, the Clippers bench was a combined -11 on the court, less than 24 hours after posting a -27 in their win over the Wizards.
Jamal Crawford was the only player with a postive number off the bench, the Clippers' shooting guard was a +4 in the game and scored 19 points off the bench.
Jamal can Ball �� pic.twitter.com/wWN6ASm2AU — NBA (@NBA) March 31, 2017
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The Clippers led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, but Suns' star Devin Booker was on fire from beyond-the-arc, closing the gap to just one-point heading into the fourth quarter.
Booker fouled out with 4:45 left in the game, but finished with 33 points, and a season-high nine assists in front of his former college coah, Kentucky's John Calipari.
70 point range. #WeArePHX pic.twitter.com/UchkJO91Pd — NBA (@NBA) March 31, 2017
Booker was just three games removed from his 70-point outburst in Boston, was back in the lineup after missing Tuesday's game in Atlanta with a sore right ankle.
Without Booker, the Suns kept the game close, trailing by just six points before Paul drained a jumper with 48 seconds left, to send Phoenix off into the sunset.
�� pic.twitter.com/s2Tei6vgVp — LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 31, 2017
Up Next:
The Clippers will host their co-tenants, the Los Angeles Lakers, on Saturday afternoon at Staples Center.
