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NEW ORLEANS -- Clippers forward Blake Griffin praised the way Los Angeles finished off a 10-day trip that closed with games on the shores of lakes Erie and Pontchartrain on back-to-back nights.Griffin had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Chris Paul had 17 points and 13 assists, and the Clippers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 114-96 on Friday night.The dominant effort came one night after an equally convincing 113-94 triumph at Cleveland on Thursday night -- with a flight from the United States northern border to the Gulf Coast in between, touching down in the Big Easy around 2 a.m. local time.Its tough, but the end of a road trip can go one of two ways, Griffin said. You can either be like, `All right, lets finish this out on a good note and get home and get this over with, or you can completely lose focus and come in and not play the way you want, and I thought we did the first.Jamal Crawford scored 21 points and Luc Mbah a Moute had 15 points for Los Angeles.Anthony Davis hurt his right shoulder late in the first quarter but played through it, scoring 21 points for New Orleans. ETwaun Moore scored 15 points and Terrence Jones had 14 for the Pelicans, who have lost three of four and saw their home winning streak snapped at five.The Clippers were making the right plays, Davis said. We were living with Blake and Mbah a Moute taking jumpers and they made them.The Clippers made 10 3-pointers, with Mbah a Moute hitting three, Crawford hitting two and even Griffin hitting one from the left corner. The Pelicans, by contrast, were 5 of 20 from long range.TIP-INSClippers: Los Angeles wound up 3-3 on its road swing that began in Dallas on Nov. 23. ... Coach Doc Rivers gave starting shooting guard J.J. Redick, the teams third-leading scorer (16 points per game), the night off. Rivers has been periodically resting starters this season. Griffin had sat out Tuesday night at Brooklyn. Its kind of a scientific thing were doing, Griffin said. ... Austin Rivers, who was drafted 10th overall by New Orleans in 2012 and traded in January 2015, missed eight of nine shots and finished with two points. ... Paul was called for a Flagrant-1 foul when he grabbed Jones shoulder from behind to stop a breakaway layup.Pelicans: Center Alexis Ajinca played 11 minutes, his most in eight games. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry had not played Ajinca in six of New Orleans previous seven games, and the 7-footer saw only 4 minutes last Sunday at Dallas. Against the Clippers, Ajinca had two points and three rebounds. ... First-round draft choice Buddy Hield played just the final 3 minutes, hitting both shots he attempted for four points.DEFENSIVE EFFORTAfter a Pelicans shot-clock violation, the Clippers bench was on its feet, roaring in approval of their teammates defensive effort.A lot of times you see guys up cheering for big plays on the offensive end, Griffin said. Its nice when your team is excited about those little things.In addition to holding Davis about 10 points below his scoring average, the Clippers combined for to block seven shots, including two each by Griffin, Mbah a Moute and DeAndre Jordan. Los Angeles had seven steals and outrebounded New Orleans 46-41.It started on defense, and I feel like we always say that when we have a big win but its so true, Griffin said.PIVOTAL RUNLos Angeles opened a 15-point lead in the third quarter, when Griffin scored 11 points. Griffin hit three 19-foot jumpers, another from 17 feet and a finger roll during a pivotal 17-5 surge. Paul assisted on three of those baskets.Paul pretty much controlled the whole game after halftime, Gentry said. They were kind of running freely and shooting the ball freely and taking it wherever they wanted to.Paul said he noticed Griffin was in rhythm early, and if hes shooting it like that, the other team is in trouble.Indeed, New Orleans struggled to recover after that, getting no closer than 10 points on Davis short basket as he was fouled by Brandon Bass with 7:14 left. Los Angeles, which shot 51.1 percent (45 of 88), then rebuilt its lead to 20 in the late stages of the game.UP NEXTClippers: Host Indiana on Sunday.Pelicans: Visit Oklahoma City on Sunday.Stitched NBA Jerseys . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Clearance NBA Jerseys . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/ . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. NBA Jerseys Store . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. Wholesale NBA Jerseys . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization.The path to the 2016 Breeders Cup is a road with plenty of ups and downs as talented racehorses vie for a spot in one of 13 championship races. This blog provides a capsule look at three horses who are heating up on the Road to the Breeders Cup World Championships and three horses whose Breeders Cup chances are not quite as strong as they were a week or two ago.For this weeks edition, the two major races were restricted to 3-year-olds and thats where the results took us for each of the names below. I think we can say at least one sophomore emerged as a probable favorite for a race on the Breeders Cup World Championships card, while quite a few other 3-year-olds came up empty.Heating up1. Songbird Originally, I planned to make Songbird an honorable mention. She was already the dominant leader of the 3-year-old filly division and one of the clear favorites for the Longines Breeders Cup Distaff, so she had no room to move up significantly. But ultimately, Songbird is without question the most likely Breeders Cup winner to come out of the racing action last weekend. In the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes, she defeated a couple of highly regarded opponents in Carina Mia and Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia and also recorded a new career-top 122 Equibase Speed Figure, a 10-point jump from her previous career best earned while winning the 2015 14 Hands Winery Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies. Sure, three-time champion Beholder would present Songbird her toughest challenge to date in the Distaff, but this is an absolute superstar at the pinnacle of her game.2. Connect While many of the other elite 3-year-olds are heading in the wrong direction, lightly raced Connect just seems to be finding his best stride. He had won three of his first four starts, including a stakes win at Saratoga Race Course, before a troubled sixth-place finish in the Travers Stakes. But Connect bounced back in a big way on Sept. 24 in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby, outfinishing Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and Travers Stakes third-place finisher Gun Runner and beating both Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and Preakness Stakes victor Exaggerator. By two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, Connect seems to be improving as his 3-year-old season progresses, much like his sire did in 2007, and he earned a new career-best 108 Equibase Speed Figure for the Pennsylvania Derby victory. Connect has consistently been fast since his debut and, while hell face a tall task in the Breeders Cup Classic, he is in terrific form.3. Noholdingback Bear Before a third-place finish in August at Saratoga Race Course in the Grade 1 Ketel One Kings Bishop Stakes, Noholdingback Bears best races had come on synthetic surfaces. But after pairing a strong Kings Bishop with a 1-1/4-length win in the Grade 3 Gallant Bob Stakes on Sept. 24, this Put It Back colt looks like a legit threat for the Twinspires.com Breeders Cup Sprint. Three-year-olds historically can compete with older runners in the Sprint -- Runhappy last year and Trinniberg in 2012 won the race at 3 -- and, while there are some talented Sprint contenders, there are no true standouts. With 111 and 113 Equibase Speed Figures in his last two starts, Noholdingback Bear could pack a nice surprise on Breeders Cup Saturday.ddddddddddddHonorable MentionTexas Chrome It was a tough call for the third spot between Noholdingback Bear and Texas Chrome, but I felt like Texas Chrome certainly warranted a mention after winning the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby for his third straight victory. Looking back even further, hes actually been strong all year. Texas Chrome has not finished worse than third in seven races this season and has four stakes wins. Hes recorded Equibase Speed Figures between 101 and 106 (the career-top he earned Saturday) in his last five races, so hes also very consistent. He reportedly will target the Breeders Cup Las Vegas Dirt Mile, a race in which he figures to fit well. Sure, Runhappy would be a heavy favorite should he make the Dirt Mile, but he has not yet raced once in 2015. Take Runhappy out of the mix, and the Dirt Mile is wide open.Cooling down1. Exaggerator Its easy to forgive one bad performance, but back-to-back duds indicate to me that Exaggerator has either gone off form or hit a wall this season. One race after he finished 11th, beaten by 33 lengths, in the Travers Stakes, Exaggerator never fired in the Pennsylvania Derby and ran a nonthreatening seventh. Beaten by 12 lengths by Connect on Saturday, this is not the same horse who won the Preakness Stakes in May during a stretch of 10 straight races in which he either won or finished within three lengths of the winner. Theres no doubt Exaggerator is a gifted racehorse. Lets hope trainer Keith Desormeaux can find the key to get him back to his best.2. Cupid Hall of Famer Bob Baffert is as good as any trainer in bringing a 3-year-old back after the Triple Crown trail for a great second half of the season. After Cupid won the Grade 2 Indiana Derby, I had great confidence he was poised for a huge second half. His four-length runaway in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby reinforced that confidence, but in the Pennsylvania Derby he came up empty when eighth, beaten by more than 14 lengths. It feels like Cupid is just a cut below the best of his division. Hes a very nice racehorse, no doubt, but at this point it would be tough to see him being competitive in the Breeders Cup World Championships when hes struggled against the best of his generation in the 3-year-old division.3. Nyquist Seeing a trend here? The romance is over for this years class of 3-year-olds. Nyquist didnt run a terrible race in the Pennsylvania Derby, but he wasnt the gutsy, powerhouse racehorse who opened his career with eight straight wins, capped by a clear win in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. Hes now lost three straight starts and, even though he hasnt been beaten by more than five lengths in any of his defeats, he doesnt resemble the beast who took Mohaymens lunch money at the top of the Florida Derby stretch. Nyquist reportedly came out of the Pennsylvania Derby in good order, and trainer Doug ONeill and owner Paul Reddam will meet to discuss whats next for the 2015 champion 2-year-old male.For more stories like this check out Americas Best Racing. ' ' '