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Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan and guard Jamal Crawford celebrateChris Carlson/The Associated Press

Jamal Crawford never stews over statistics. As a prolific scorer, he knows he's usually one shot away from triggering an offensive outburst.

So it was easy for him to shrug off his 20-of-62 shooting in five previous games and let things fly. Crawford scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and the Los Angeles Clippers held off the struggling Denver Nuggets 102-98 Monday night for their fifth straight victory.

"I wanted to be aggressive and try to open up stuff," said Crawford, last season's Sixth Man of the Year.

Crawford scored Los Angeles' final five points and had a key save that led to a basket in the closing seconds, when the Clippers completed their biggest comeback of the season after trailing by 16 earlier in the game.

During timeouts, Crawford kept telling his teammates they were going to win.

"He was guaranteeing it," coach Doc Rivers said.

The usually soft-spoken Crawford said, "I always have belief."

Ty Lawson led the Nuggets with 19 points and 11 assists. Arron Afflalo scored 18, Wilson Chandler had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Jusuf Nurkic grabbed 10 rebounds in Denver's seventh straight loss.

Matt Barnes added 18 points for Los Angeles, and Blake Griffin had 14 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. Chris Paul scored 15 points.

Griffin and Paul credited Crawford and the rest of the Clippers' bench for bringing them all the way back.

"He was huge," Griffin said about Crawford. "His scoring was unbelievable and it can come in a flash. That's what he does for us."

The Clippers trailed by 10 early in the fourth before Crawford found his shooting touch. He hit a tying 3-pointer, and then followed with another basket that made it 94-92 with 2:30 remaining.

Glen Davis exhorted the crowd, shouting "Let's go" at fans and waving his arms.

"His energy can lift a whole building," Crawford said. "His energy is contagious. That can turn into wins for us."

Afflalo tied it again before Barnes' go-ahead basket. Paul's pass was on its way out of bounds before Crawford saved it and passed to Barnes as Crawford was running out of bounds on the baseline. Barnes converted for a 96-94 lead.

"I knew if I saved it, he'd be right there under the basket," Crawford said.

Crawford converted three free throws to make it 99-94.

Chandler's floater and two free throws by Darrell Arthur drew the Nuggets to 99-98.

Crawford made two trips to the line in the final 5 seconds, going 3 of 4 to seal the victory.

"In the fourth quarter, I thought we fell asleep a few times when he was off the ball, and he was able to get clean looks coming off a pick," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "We rotated over to their lesser shooters a few times, and Matt Barnes was able to swing it over to Crawford a couple of times."

Denver led 77-69 going into the fourth, having padded its lead with an 11-0 run in the third.

"The effort is there, but we've got to develop some killer instinct," Shaw said.

The Clippers' defence started getting stops with 5 minutes left in the second quarter, triggering their transition game. They outscored the Nuggets 22-6 to take a 50-47 lead at the break. Griffin hit a layup off an alley-oop pass from Paul after Griffin got the offensive rebound. On the Clippers' next possession, Griffin returned the favour with an alley-oop pass that DeAndre Jordan dunked.

The Nuggets came out strong to start the game, shooting 59 per cent and building a 16-point lead in the first quarter. Chandler hit back-to-back 3-pointers while scoring their first 10 points before Kenneth Faried and Afflalo teamed on a 12-0 run.

PELICANS 99, 76ERS 74

NEW ORLEANS – Anthony Davis had 32 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, and the Pelicans stretched their season-long winning streak to four games.

Ryan Anderson scored 19 points and Eric Gordon added 13 for New Orleans, while Tyreke Evans tied a season high – set one night earlier – with 12 assists.

K.J. McDaniels scored 16 points for the 76ers, who lost their sixth straight. Henry Sims and Luc Mbah a Moute had 14 points.

Philadelphia played without Michael Carter-Williams, who was sidelined by an upper respiratory infection.

Davis was 12-of-19 shooting, including five layups and five crowd-pleasing dunks, as New Orleans (24-21) went three games above .500 for the first time since coach Monty Williams' first season in 2010-11.

THUNDER 92, TIMBERWOLVES 84

OKLAHOMA CITY – Russell Westbrook scored 18 points, and Oklahoma City got the win while playing without the injured Kevin Durant.

Durant sat out after spraining the big toe on his left foot Sunday against Cleveland. Westbrook shot just 7 for 22 from the field, but was 4 for 6 and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the Thunder remain in control. Serge Ibaka added 13 points and a season-high 19 rebounds.

Andrew Wiggins scored 23 points, Thaddeus Young had 22 and Gorgui Dieng had a season-high 18 rebounds for the league-worst Timberwolves, who shot a season-low 34.1 per cent from the field.

Anthony Morrow and Reggie Jackson each had 14 points to help Oklahoma City's reserves outscore Minnesota's 45-21.

GRIZZLIES 103, MAGIC 94

MEMPHIS – Zach Randolph had 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in Memphis' third straight win, and Marc Gasol added 16 points and 10 boards.

Beno Udrih added 15 points and Jeff Green finished with 12 for the Grizzlies.

Orlando, which dropped its sixth in a row, got 18 points and 12 rebounds from Nikola Vucevic. Victor Oladipo also had 18 points and Elfrid Payton had 12 points and six assists, but shot 5 of 14 from the field. Dewayne Dedmon had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Memphis led by as many as 20 and held a double-digit advantage through much of the game.

CELTICS 99, JAZZ 90

SALT LAKE CITY – Tayshaun Prince scored 19 points, and Boston held on for the road win.

Tyler Zeller had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Celtics, who grabbed control with a big second quarter. Jared Sullinger had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Avery Bradley also scored 12.

Prince, who was acquired from Memphis in a three-team trade on Jan. 12, was 7 for 10 from the field and 3 for 4 at the free-throw line.

Gordon Hayward had 26 points for Utah, and Enes Kanter finished with 20.

Boston outscored Utah 38-14 in the second quarter, shooting 60 per cent from the field in the period.

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