NBA

Trio of reserves spark Clippers

— Blake Griffin and Chris Paul can rest a little easier when they get a breather these days. The Los Angeles Clippers have a strong group of reserves ready to pick up the slack.

Jamal Crawford, Eric Bledsoe and Matt Barnes engineered a big fourth-quarter run to help the Clippers beat the Atlanta Hawks 89-76 on Sunday.

Griffin scored 16 points and Paul had 15 points and eight assists. But it was the backups who played a key role in the pivotal 15-1 surge in the final period.

“It’s fun to watch, and it’s exciting for our team,” Paul said. “We really feed off their energy, and it’s a huge advantage for us. Guys like Matt Barnes, Ryan Hollins and Ronny Turiaf, they know who they are in this league. And that’s the key to everything. They’re not going to try to do anything outside of themselves or be something they’re not. And that’s why we have confidence in them.”

The Clippers’ reserves outscored their counterparts 35-32, marking the first time in five games this season the Hawks were outscored in thebattle of the benches. Atlanta had a 47-28 advantage against Houston, a 47-32 margin over Oklahoma City, and entered this game with a 41.8 scoring average by the reserves.

Crawford, who won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2010 while playing for Atlanta, had 11 points. De-Andre Jordan finished with eight points.

Sports, Pages 17 on 11/12/2012

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