Clippers continue dominance of Wizards

Basketball Betting Lines

02/16/2012 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin had 23 points and 15 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Washington Wizards for the seventh time in a row, 102-84, on Wednesday night.

Caron Butler added 21 points and Chris Paul scored 16 with nine assists in the win, including an alley-oop pass to DeAndre Jordan for a one-handed dunk that punctuated LA's ninth victory in 12 games overall.

John Wall had 18 points and 12 assists to lead Washington while JaVale McGee also scored 18, but the Wizards had a two-game winning streak snapped -- their first of the season.

Washington was trying to win three in a row for the first time since April 1-5 last season, but shot under 40 percent and trailed by as many as 20 points.

It was a lot closer early on, and LA needed to pull away in the fourth quarter for the win.

The Clippers clung to a 23-20 lead after the first quarter and a 50-47 edge at halftime despite playing a Wizards team in the midst of a five-game road trip.

"We didn't play well at the start and they did," said Paul. "We need to come out with more energy and that starts with me."

Griffin had two dunks to spark and 8-0 run at the end of the third quarter, including an alley-oop from Paul. The burst snapped a tie and gave LA a 74-66 lead going into the fourth.

The Wizards scored six of the first seven points in the final quarter, capped by a Wall jumper that drew them within three.

"Then, we couldn't hit a shot," said Wizards coach Randy Wittman. "This wasn't an 18-point game, we just ran out of gas."

Clippers guard Randy Foye scored all 10 of his points during a 13-4 run that put the game away, including a pair of three-pointers. It gave LA an 88-76 lead with under seven minutes remaining and it was never closer than nine the rest of the way.

"We knew they won two in a row and it was going to be a tough game," said Foye. "We had to come out and play as hard as we could."

Game Notes

The Wizards fell to 3-11 on the road this season...LA was coming off a 4-2 road trip and plays at Portland on Thursday night...The Clippers shot 42.2 percent and Washington shot 39.5 percent.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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