National Basketball Association

Griffin scores 39 as Clippers keep Lakers winless

Published Nov. 1, 2014 1:31 a.m. ET

foxsports

LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin used a banking analogy to describe his dominant performance against the Lakers Friday night. And most of the time the Clippers got the ball to him, he was money in the bank.

Griffin scored 39 points and went 11 for 12 from the free throw line, powering the Clippers to a gritty 118-111 victory over the winless Lakers in the first meeting of the season between the Staples Center co-tenants.

"Just carrying over from last year, and all the work I put in this summer, it's confidence-building," Griffin said. "I mean, when you've deposited a lot of money, you feel good about writing checks. And that's kind of what I'm doing now. I've put the time in on this, but I still have to do the same things that make us successful.

"It feels good that my teammates make plays time in and time out for our team, and it just feels good to contribute to that. Tonight it just happened to be my time."

DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 13 rebounds during a foul-plagued 39 minutes. The two-time defending Pacific Division champions have won eight of nine against the Lakers (0-3) since the start of the 2012-13 campaign, including victories by margins of 36, 48 and 23 points in the final three meetings last season.

Chris Paul had 12 points, 10 assists and two steals for the Clippers.

Jordan Hill scored 13 of his 21 points in the third quarter and Kobe Bryant had 21, but cost the Lakers down the stretch with his cold shooting.

"I just tried to make it as tough as possible on him," Paul said. "If you can't get excited about trying to defend against him, then you're in the wrong business. That shot he hit on the baseline was a tough shot. I mean, Kobe's made all those shots a thousand times. To guard him, that's tough. He's one of the best to ever play the game, so I just tried to mix it up a little bit."

After stumbling out of the blocks with an 18-point loss to Houston and a 20-point defeat at Phoenix, the injury-riddled Lakers are 0-3 for the fourth time since the franchise left Minneapolis. They also lost their first three games last season, as well as 1978-79 and 1960-61, their first season in Los Angeles.

Jordan picked up his fifth foul with 6:23 remaining and the Clippers trailing 101-99. Griffin's two free throws tied it for the third time in the quarter at 103 before Jeremy Lin beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer over Paul from the right sideline to give Lakers their last lead.

Lin finished with 17 points and nine assists.

Jamal Crawford, last season's Sixth Man of the Year, had 22 points off the bench, including a 3-pointer that gave the Clippers the lead for good at 112-109 with 1:37 left. J.J. Redick put it away with four free throws in the final 15 seconds.

Starting forward Wesley Johnson, 0 for 5 in the first half, made a 3 on his first shot of the third quarter and Hill put the Lakers ahead 62-61 on a layup with 10:01 left in the period after they trailed by 15 with less than 4 minutes to go in the first.

"It was just a lack of effort on our part, I thought," Griffin said. "We just got complacent — myself, everybody. We didn't have a sense of urgency and then had to push that `go' button, so to speak. We let our guard down, and we just can't do that."

Griffin led the Clippers to a 62-56 halftime lead with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting, after missing his first six shots in Thursday's 93-90 win over Oklahoma City. His first 3-pointer of the season gave them a 25-12 lead with 4:34 left in the first. The Lakers sliced a 13-point deficit to 45-42 with an 11-1 spurt capped by Bryant's 3-pointer with 4:31 left in the half.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"It's just another game. I don't consider Lakers and Clippers a true rivalry yet," Scott said less than 90 minutes before tipoff. "Obviously, our biggest rivalry has always been the Celtics. They've got 17 banners, we've got 16 banners. That's a rivalry."

TWIST OF FATE

Scott hasn't wasted much time thinking about the path his career might have taken had the Clippers not traded his signing rights out of college to the Lakers in October 1983 for Norm Nixon as part of a multiplayer deal, after Scott was drafted fourth overall. "I try by best not to conjure up bad thoughts," said Scott, who won three NBA titles with the Lakers. "But to be honest, being drafted by the Clippers at that time was great for me because I was an L.A. kid. And at that time, they were in San Diego, so It wasn't that far from home and my family was going to be able to watch me play on a regular basis. But anytime you get a call from Jerry West, saying: `We're going to make a trade for you,' of course you're excited."

TIP-INS

Clippers: Griffin was 12 for 44 from 3-point range last season. ... Jordan slammed home a rebound of Paul's missed 3-pointer, increasing the Clippers' lead to 55-48 with 2:21 left in the half. ... Paul had 42 points, 15 rebounds and six assists against Golden State last Halloween.

Lakers: Bryant helped Paul to his feet after knocking him down in the second quarter. ... The Lakers Band made a rare appearance on the court to play the national anthem. Team president Jeanie Buss high-fived each member as they walked off. ... Johnson had five points in 30 minutes before fouling out with 4:22 remaining.

UP NEXT

Clippers: Host Sacramento on Sunday.

Lakers: Play at Golden State on Saturday night.