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Clippers take down another elite team in Heat

The Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Bledsoe, top left, swats away a shot by the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade (3) in the first half on Wednesday, November 14, 2012, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

By Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times –

LOS ANGELES — It would be easy to say that Clippers point guards Chris Paul and Eric Bledsoe were the show-stoppers during L.A.’s 107-100 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night at Staples Center.

And that wouldn’t be wrong because they both came up big in the second half, Paul finishing with a double-double of 16 points and 10 assists and Bledsoe contributing 12 points in the game.

But it was also about the Clippers adding to their collection of impressive victories over some of the NBA’s elite teams.

They defeated the defending NBA champion Heat with relative ease, building a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter.

It’s a tough early test for us there’s no question,” coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We just have to keep on studying well to handle these tests. We have to be more consistent in a lot of areas from the execution of our game plan to adjustments.

“It’s an excellent win for us but we have to play better. We have to have the mind-set that we have to play better.”

The Clippers didn’t let LeBron James’ 30 points, seven assists and five rebounds stop them from winning their fourth in a row.

Dwyane Wade, who started for the Heat despite a sprained left foot, had only six points on two-for-10 shooting and Chris Bosh finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Clippers were more than able to overcome Miami’s Big Three because Jamal Crawford had another strong game off the bench with 22 points, Blake Griffin put up big numbers with 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists while Caron Butler had 15 points.

Now the Clippers can say they have taken down another big team in the NBA.

The Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs each have only one loss this season, and those came courtesy of the Clippers.

The Los Angeles Lakers may be a team that’s in disarray and already on its third coach of the season, but they still are considered a good team that the Clippers also defeated in a designated road game.

It became the Chris Paul Show in the third quarter, and it was all about him scoring this time instead of distributing.

Paul scored the Clippers’ final 13 points in the third quarter, helping them turn a two-point lead into an 85-74 advantage entering the fourth.

He began his personal assault on the Heat with two free throws, then hit back-to-back three-pointers and added five more free throws.

Before Paul went off in the third, he seemed to be struggling with his offense.

He had just three points on one-for-four shooting in the first half. Paul did have seven assists in the first half, but his game still didn’t look like it was on point.

Bledsoe took over in the fourth, scoring the first eight points for the Clippers, helping to increase their lead to 93-76.

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