Shabazz Napier of the Miami Heat drives on Spencer Hawes of the Los Angeles ClippersMike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Late in the third quarter, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul found themselves all alone on a fast break, no Miami Heat player even remotely close to them.
Everything wasn't always that easy for the Los Angeles Clippers.
It only seemed that way.
Paul had 26 points and 12 assists, Griffin added 26 points and the Clippers wasted no time in taking control on the way to a 110-93 win over the Heat on Thursday night.
"We're doing what we're supposed to do," Paul said.
DeAndre Jordan scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Clippers (7-4), who led 39-15 after one quarter. Jordan's night: Six shots, all of them dunks, all part of the reason why the Clippers outscored Miami 44-26 in the paint.
"I think that's rare," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of Jordan's all-dunk night. "That might not be for him. ... He's the perfect guy to have on a winning basketball team."
Chris Bosh scored 28 for Miami (6-6), which has dropped three straight home games for the first time since March 3-8, 2011. Rookie reserve Shabazz Napier had a season-high 17 points.
"We didn't have a chance tonight after that first quarter," Bosh said. "Good team like that, down 20, you can't do that. We can't do that. We're not good enough to keep making mistakes. ... It was a clinic they put on us."
Dwyane Wade missed his fourth consecutive game with a strained left hamstring. The Heat are 5-3 when Wade plays this season, 1-3 when he doesn't.
"Not a whole lot to say," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That was a blitz in that first quarter. They absolutely knocked us on our heels and we just could never gain our footing after that."
It was over early. Miami held Los Angeles scoreless on the Clippers' first possession, which ordinarily would be in no way notable in an NBA game. Not in this case – considering the Clippers would score each of the next 11 times they had the basketball, running out to a 34-11 lead and never letting Miami make it a game again. . The Clippers had 39 points with 30 seconds left in the first quarter; the Heat didn't cross the 39-point threshold until 30 seconds remained in the second quarter.
Jamal Crawford had nine assists and J.J. Redick scored 14 points for the Clippers, who shot 56 per cent – and that was after the percentage plummeted once Rivers emptied his bench for good midway through the fourth quarter.
Mario Chalmers and Luol Deng each scored 13 for Miami.
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KINGS 103, BULLS 88
SACRAMENTO – DeMarcus Cousins had 22 points and 14 rebounds and Rudy Gay scored 20 points to help the Sacramento Kings beat Chicago 103-88, snapping the Bulls' six-game road winning streak.
A sellout crowd roared its approval, especially during the final three quarters when the Kings dominated, outscoring the highly-touted Bulls by 22 points. The Kings also own wins against San Antonio, Phoenix, the Clippers and Portland, which were all playoff teams last year.
Sacramento squandered big leads in its last three losses – Dallas (24), Memphis (26) and New Orleans (12) – but outscored the Bulls 23-20 in the fourth.
Although Cousins was dominant in the second half with 16 points, he got plenty of help. Reserve Omri Casspi scored 14 points, Ben McLemore had 11 and seldom-used Derrick Williams added 10 for the Kings, who never trailed after taking the lead in the second quarter.
Jimmy Butler had 23 points and Taj Gibson, Mike Dunleavy and Aaron Brooks had 12 each for Chicago. Joakim Noah had 10 points and 11 rebound despite foul trouble. The Bulls played the second game of a seven-game road trip, their longest of the season.
Chicago was trying to win its first seven road games for the first time in franchise history. Instead they joined the rest of the league with at least one road loss. The last team to start 7-0 on the road was San Antonio, which won its first eight road games in 2010-11.
Chicago played without starters Derrick Rose (strained left hamstring) and Pau Gasol (strained left calf) for the second straight game.