Cavs slip past Clippers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Tristan Thompson recorded his 10th double- double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds to help lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 88-82 win over the Los Angeles Clippers from Quicken Loans Arena.
Kyrie Irving also scored 20 with six assists, while Andrew Bynum deposited 18 points with six boards for the Cavs, who have won three of their last four.
Los Angeles had trouble putting the ball in the hoop all night as the Clippers shot 28-of-87 (32.2 percent) from the field.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jamal Crawford paced all Clippers with 19 points on 5-of-18 shooting, while Chris Paul added 13 points and 15 helpers.
DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin each posted a double-double as Jordan netted 12 points with 13 rebounds, while Griffin finished with 10 points to go along with 10 boards.
"I thought it was a good physical game," said Cleveland head coach Mike Brown. "I thought our guys brought their hard hats tonight."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Offense was at a premium in the early going of the second half for both teams as Cleveland came out of the break on an 8-2 run in the first 5:40 of the stanza. Bynum opened the quarter with a hook shot and closed the run with a dunk off a nice feed from Thompson.
Los Angeles' only bucket came via a long two-point jumper from Willie Green 3:04 into the quarter.
The next bucket for the Clippers came almost six minutes later as Jordan converted an alley-oop. Paul then buried a 3 with 2:37 to go in the third to cut the deficit to 60-57.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Clippers would retake the lead late after back-to-back treys from Darren Collison and Crawford.
Crawford's 3 came with 1.9 seconds left on the clock, but that was plenty of time for Jarrett Jack to have the final say. Jack quickly rushed the ball up the far sideline and heaved a shot from halfcourt that hit nothing but net to give the Cavs a 67-66 lead heading to the fourth.
The Los Angeles offense continued to sputter early on in the final frame.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cleveland outscored the Clippers 9-2 in the opening 4:41 as Los Angeles started 1-for-9 from the field.
Collison and Crawford scored back-to-back layups midway through the quarter to pull the visitors within four, 76-72. The Cavs responded with an 8-1 run capped by a Waiters layup to take an 11-point advantage with 4:25 to play.
Late in the fourth, coming out of a timeout, Griffin whipped a pass baseline to the near corner and Crawford nailed a triple to make it an 85-82 deficit with 26.8 seconds left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Waiters went to the line and split a pair, but followed his miss on the second attempt and corralled the offensive rebound which sealed it for Cleveland.
"We didn't move the ball," said Los Angeles head coach Doc Rivers. "Give them credit, I thought they trapped Chris (Paul) aggressively on all the pick-and- rolls, they showed pretty well."
Cleveland led 29-23 after one quarter of play and brought a slim 50-49 advantage into the locker room at half.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
Cleveland has now won 11-of-12 against Los Angeles at Quicken Loans Arena ... LA shot 7-for-35 (20 percent) from beyond the arc ... The Cavs beat up the Clips in the paint, outscoring the visitors 42-32 ... LA outscored Cleveland 20-7 on the fastbreak ... The Clippers continue their road trip on Monday in Philadelphia ... Cleveland hosts New York on Tuesday.