Griffin, Clips run away from Bulls down stretch

LOS ANGELES - The Chicago Bulls had a difficult time staying with the Los Angeles Clippers, particularly Blake Griffin, who had plenty left in reserve for the fourth quarter.

Griffin scored 12 of his 26 points in the final six minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds, helping the Clippers rout the Bulls 101-80 Saturday night for their fifth straight victory.

“It’s just about getting the ball in the right spot and doing what we work on,” said Griffin, who was 11 for 18 from the field. “I missed a lot of them, but my teammates gave me the confidence to keep shooting. Thankfully, some of them dropped.”

Reserve Jamal Crawford scored 17 of his 22 points in the second quarter for the Clippers, who lead the Pacific Division with a 7-2 mark. It’s their best record after nine games since 2005-06, when they won nine of their first 11, finished 47-35 and came within one victory of the Western Conference finals.

“We’d be in really good shape right now if it was a 10-game season,” said Chris Paul, who had 10 assists and eight points.

Clippers’ reserves outscored the starters 35-18 in the first half and 53-48 for the game. Crawford, who signed with Los Angeles as a free agent in July after spending last season with Portland, leads the team with 20.7 points per game and has scored 20 or more in six of his first nine contests.

Crawford was traded to the Bulls on draft day in June 2000 by Cleveland in exchange for Chris Mihm and cash.

The 13-year veteran spent his first four NBA seasons in Chicago and went through two coaching transitions, but never made the playoffs. The Clippers are his sixth pro team.

“It was a tough time, especially since a couple of years before that they had the 1998 team with Michael Jordan and those guys. So to follow that up was impossible,” Crawford said.

The Bulls, who blew an 18-point lead in their previous game on Wednesday at Phoenix before beating the Suns 112-106 in overtime, got 22 points and 12 rebounds from Carlos Boozer. Luol Deng and Richard Hamilton each added 14 points.

“I think we took a couple of steps back tonight. We got outscrapped and we got out-competed,” Joakim Noah said. “They’re too athletic. And when they get out on the break, that’s their strength. They were denying everything with their switching and we didn’t finish well around the rim.”

Noah, who has been urged by Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau to take more shots, was 0 for 6 from the field and finished with four points in 30 minutes.

AP