NBA scores 2017: Jamal Crawford scored 25 points in 25 minutes in win over Bulls

The Los Angeles Clippers are still finding their groove. Between Chris Paul’s thumb injury and Blake Griffin’s minor knee procedure, the team has missed one of its perennial All-Stars for a combined 41 of their 62 games played this season.

On a normal night, Griffin and Paul putting up 33 combined points wouldn’t be enough to power the Clippers past the weakest of opponents. But Los Angeles was able to blow past the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, 101-91, thanks to an explosion from one of the league’s leading bench scorers.

Jamal Crawford scored a game-high 25 points in 25 minutes on 10-of-17 shooting, torturing the Bulls team that traded for him on the night of the 2000 NBA Draft. The three-time reigning Sixth Man of the Year was one of five Clippers players to score in double figures and was the driving force in staving off a Bulls team that stuck around for much of the night.

The Bulls attempted to rally late in the fourth quarter and cut the Clippers’ lead to 11 with under two minutes remaining. But Chicago picked up its 19th turnover of the night on a botched fast break where rookie Denzel Valentine fumbled a pass from Rajon Rondo that could have cut the deficit to single digits.

In 36 minutes, Jimmy Butler took just seven shots, making four of them for 16 points. Dwyane Wade scored just 10 points on a poor 2-of-11 shooting night, and Robin Lopez and Bobby Portis combined for 23 points.

But the Bulls did not have an answer for the 36-year-old Crawford, who scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to advance the Clippers to a 37-25 record, just one game behind the Utah Jazz for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.

What was a close game after two quarters turned into a track meet in the second half as Houston ran away with a 123-108 win over Memphis on Saturday.

James Harden poured in 33 points and 11 assists as the Rockets built a lead as big as 20 on the “Grit and Grind” Grizzlies. He had help from his two big men, Clint Capela and Nene, who combined for 35 points, as well as Eric Gordon’s hot 6-of-9 three-point shooting for 18 points.

Houston’s won eight of its last 10 games. It is one of only three Western Conference teams, including the Spurs and Warriors, with more than 40 wins. Shining through the team’s success, Harden (28.8 PPG, 11.3 APG, 8.0 RPG) has built a legitimate case for MVP honors over Russell Westbrook.

”He’s got so much talent,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said, according ESPN.com’s Calvin Watkins. “He’s probably the guy that I get mad at the most because 24 and 11, to me he could have 35 and 20.

“But that’s just how good he is. It’s not that he’s not producing. He’s producing a lot, and he’ll keep getting better.”

The Grizzlies’ respectable 36-27 record sits sixth in the West, but Chandler Parsons is averaging just six points per game as he attempts to comeback from a second surgery on his right knee.

He signed a four-year, $94 million deal with Memphis over the summer and posted just two points on one-of-five shooting in the team’s loss to the Rockets.

“I suck right now,” said Parsons, who also grabbed seven rebounds, according to ESPN.com’s Tim MacMahon. “There’s no sugarcoating it. It is what it is. I’m just going to continue to work, continue to grind.”

Memphis and Houston are tied in the season series, but the Rockets’ spread offense has won the last two games. If current playoff standings hold firm, the two teams will scrap it out in the first round.

Parsons averaged 16.6 points for Houston just three years ago but hasn’t returned to form. The Grizzlies will need him if they hope to compete with a Rockets team that nabbed the combustible Lou Williams from the Lakers at the trade deadline.

And if Parsons fails to deliver, Grizzlies fans better hope his first-season woes aren’t a sign of what’s to come in the remaining three years at his contract.

Game notes

The Hornets beat the eighth-seeded Nuggets, 112-102 on Saturday, dropping their record to just 28-34. The No. 9 Trail Blazers, on the other hand, took care of the Nets, 130-116.

Portland is now just 1.5 games behind Denver for the last seed in the Western Conference playoff hunt. And after fleecing the Nuggets out of a first-round pick in their trade for Jusuf Nurkic, the Trail Blazers could make a run at knocking Nikola Jokic and company out of the post-season.

Four Pistons players scored 20 points or more, but Drummond’s impact on both ends was the constant in Detroit’s bludgeoning of the 76ers.

Harden dropped dimes to Clint Capela all game long and poured on six threes in his 30-and-10 night against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Nuggets lost, but Jokic’s 31 points were the most he’s scored since dropping 40 on the New York Knicks in mid-February.

Crawford’s red-hot scoring night helped pacify a Bulls team attempting to make a fourth-quarter comeback.

Antetokounmpo’s double-double helped Milwaukee take out a Toronto Raptors team severely hurting without its All-Star point guard, Kyle Lowry.

Pistons 136, 76ers 106 [Detroit Bad Boys recap | Liberty Ballers recap]

Bucks 101, Raptors 94 [Brew Hoop recap | Raptors HQ recap]

Heat 120, Cavaliers 92 [Hot Hot Hoops recap | Fear the Sword recap]

Clippers 101, Bulls 91 [Clips Nation recap | Blog a Bull recap]

Hornets 112, Nuggets 102 [At the Hive recap | Denver Stiffs recap]

Rockets 123, Grizzlies 108 [The Dream Shake recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap]

Spurs 97, Timberwolves 90 (OT) [Pounding the Rock recap | Canis Hoopus recap]

Trail Blazers 130, Nets 116 [Blazer’s Edge recap | Nets Daily recap]