Barnes, Clippers down Suns
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Phoenix, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Barnes had 28 points and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Phoenix Suns, 104-96, on Tuesday night.
Blake Griffin provided 22 points, six assists and five rebounds, Chris Paul added 14 points and nine assists and DeAndre Jordan snatched 17 rebounds for the Clippers, who won four straight.
"Matt Barnes kept us in the game the way he was shooting the ball and we got stops and that's when we really got back in the game. It was intense." said Griffin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gerald Green supplied 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while P.J. Tucker gave 18 points and 10 boards for Phoenix, which has dropped four of its last six.
"I thought we played pretty good defense for three of the quarters, just one quarter killed us. At least it is better than the last five games because I am not sure we had many quarters that were good defensively. We battled," said Suns coach Jeff Hornacek.
Willie Green's 3-pointer and Jared Dudley's layup staked Los Angeles to a 90-75 margin with 8:51 left, but Markieff Morris capped an 11-0 run with a dunk and triple on back-to-back possessions to get the Suns within 90-86.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gerald Green got a friendly bounce on a pull-up jumper from the right elbow with 2:37 remaining to cut the gap to 97-94, but the Suns never got within three again.
Griffin banked in a tough turnaround and after Goran Dragic missed a layup, the Clippers went 5-of-6 from the foul line to seal the outcome.
Earlier, the Suns led 25-24 after a quarter of play and 55-44 at the break.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Clippers, though, outscored Phoenix 37-18 in the third.
LA closed the third on a 13-5 flurry and headed into the fourth with an 81-73 advantage.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Clippers shot 51.3 percent (40-of-78) from the floor, while Phoenix finished 45.3 percent (39-of-86) from the field ... The Suns held a 23-10 advantage in second-chance points.