Sixers Lose To Clippers 119-98
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Chris Paul scored 25 points, DeAndre Jordan had 17 points and 20 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers cruised to a 119-98 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.
J.J. Redick added 19 points for the Clippers, who won their sixth consecutive game to help their chances for home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Los Angeles began the day in fifth place — one game behind Portland, which played at Phoenix later.
Rookie Nerlens Noel had career-high 30 points and 14 rebounds for Philadelphia. The 76ers, in rebuilding mode, have the third-worst record in the NBA and own six picks — including two first-rounders — in the upcoming NBA Draft.
Los Angeles put all five starters in double-figures in an offensive performance that showed why the Clippers are contenders in the talented West. Matt Barnes scored 15 points and Blake Griffin tallied 10, but they and the rest of the starters just watched in the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles led by 19 points in the first half but entered the third quarter up just eight, 62-54. But the Clippers scored the first eight points of the second half to double the lead with just under 9 minutes left in the period, and extended the advantage to 92-66 on Jordan's alley-oop dunk with 1:58 to go.
Philadelphia misses its last 10 shots of the third quarter and the Clippers led by as many as 32 in the fourth quarter.
About the only thing that went wrong for the Clippers was Jordan's free-throw shooting. Jordan, who entered hitting 39.9 percent from the line, was 5 for 17 against Philadelphia. He missed 9 of 12 free-throw attempts in the opening 24 minutes and drew loud boos when he airballed one try.
Other than that, it was a breezy night for the Clippers.
Jordan ended his string of 19 consecutive games with at least 14 rebounds when he grabbed 10 boards in the Clippers' 111-80 victory in New York on Wednesday night. He was 7 for 7 from the field in that game, raising his NBA-leading field-goal percentage to 71.3 percent. That's the highest mark since Philadelphia native Wilt Chamberlain shot 72.7 percent in 1972-73.
Jordan was 6 for 10 from the field Friday.
After tying career-highs with 25 points and six 3-pointers in Philadelphia's 99-85 win at Denver, Robert Covington had two points while missing all four of his 3-point attempts.
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