NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant marveled at what Jamal Crawford did to his team.
Crawford scored 36 points to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 125-117 on Sunday afternoon.
Durant scored 42 points, but such performances are almost expected from him. Crawford, on the other hand, averages about 19 points.
He’s known to be streaky, and in this game, he was on. He made 5 of 8 3-pointers, many of which were launched from well beyond the line.
”Jamal Crawford comes across halfcourt shooting,” Durant said. ”You’ve got confidence once you start seeing the ball go in the rim.”
Matt Barnes scored 24 points, Chris Paul had 18 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, Blake Griffin scored 20 points and DeAndre Jordan added 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who snapped a two-game skid and beat the team with the league’s best record.
”We were on the plane yesterday flying here and we were just talking about how we hadn’t beaten any good teams on the road, any really good teams, and this would be a perfect time to start,” Paul said.
”Doc (Clippers coach Doc Rivers) was on us, telling us that in the playoffs, you’re going to lose a home game at some point and you’ve got to be able to win on the road. Hopefully this is a win for us that gets us moving.”
Durant also had 10 assists, and Serge Ibaka added 20 points for the Thunder, who lost their second straight. It was the most points the Thunder have allowed this season, and it came on the heels of a 103-81 home loss to Miami on Thursday.
”We’ve just got to get over this little slow stretch that we’re in,” Durant said. ”We’d better. We’ve got to play defense. That’s the thing. We can’t just let teams come in here and do whatever they want offensively.”
Oklahoma City overcame a 15-point deficit late in the third quarter to take a 115-112 lead on a 3-pointer by Durant with 2:43 to play, but the Clippers controlled the game from there.
A 3-pointer by Crawford with 1:30 remaining gave Los Angeles a 119-115 lead. Crawford scored again on a floating jumper in the final minute to push the lead to 121-117.
”Jamal made timely shots,” Paul said. ”Every time they made a run and we just needed a bucket, Jamal was our guy.”
JD
MY NIGGA