LOS ANGELES _ Blake Griffin took matters into his own hands in the third quarter Monday night, lifting a struggling Los Angeles Clippers team onto his shoulders and carrying them toward a 123-115 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Staples Center.
The power forward scored his team's first 10 points of the second half and tallied 12 of his 26 points in the game by making five of six shots in the third period. Griffin then helped the Clippers fend off several late Raptors threats while improving their NBA-best record to 13-2.
"He's doing everything for us," coach Doc Rivers said of Griffin. "The fact that he can bring the ball up floor, make decisions, pass on the break, pass in traffic ... it gives us another dimension. He's just been great for us. I love him."
Point guard Chris Paul added 26 points and 12 assists, and four other Clippers scored in double figures _ J.J. Redick (20), DeAndre Jordan (17), Jamal Crawford (12) and Luc Mbah a Moute (10) _ to offset Toronto's Kyle Lowry (27 points) and DeMar DeRozan (25).
Griffin scored only five points in the first half but opened the second half with three driving baskets, one with a free throw tacked on, and a jumper from the left elbow that put the Clippers up by 11 with 9 minutes 15 seconds left.
The Clippers built a 17-point lead late in the third quarter when Toronto's strategy of intentionally fouling the notoriously poor-shooting Jordan backfired. Jordan, a 44.3 percent free-throw shooter entering the game, sank five of six free throws to give the Clippers an 82-65 lead with 3:35 left in the period.
But the Raptors closed the quarter with a 7-0 run, capped by DeRozan's 16-foot jumper, to trim their deficit to 88-79 entering the fourth.
Toronto continued to chip away at the lead in the final quarter behind the play of DeRozan and point guard Lowry, pulling to within four points twice, including a Patrick Patterson three-pointer that made it 100-96 with 5:55 left.
But Griffin made a pair of free throws and Paul hit a jumper for a 105-96 lead, and Jordan's slam off a Griffin miss made it 107-97. Griffin's most impressive basket, when he drove the lane with the ball in his right hand, switched it to his left hand and banked it in, gave the Clippers a 110-101 lead with 3:06 left.
In the final three minutes, Griffin found Paul in the left corner for a three-pointer, and Paul drove the length of the court for a layup and free throw that made it 113-104 with 2:20 left.
The Raptors would not go quietly, cutting the Clippers' lead to 119-115 on Lowry's three-pointer with 21 seconds left, but Redick made four free throws down the stretch, and the Clippers held on.
The Clippers were playing their 14th game in 23 days, Toronto was playing the second game of a back-to-back after Sunday's last-second loss in Sacramento, and it showed during a ragged first half in which both teams struggled to find any flow or rhythm on offense.
Six minutes in, the teams had combined to score just 16 points, make six of 20 shots from the field and turn the ball over seven times.
The Clippers seemed to grab a slice of momentum at the end of the first quarter when Crawford's high-arching three-pointer swished through the net at the buzzer for a 23-19 lead. Crawford's fifth point of the game gave him 17,233 points in his career and moved him past Jeff Malone for 85th on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
The Clippers appeared to begin pulling away in the second quarter when a Paul three-pointer made it 38-29 with 4:05 left before halftime, but Toronto went on a 10-0 run to take a 39-38 lead with 3:40 left.
