Griffin helps Clippers fly past Bobcats

LOS ANGELES -- Shorthanded as the Los Angeles Clippers were Tuesday, it hardly mattered with the lowly Charlotte Bobcats in town.

Not with Blake Griffin putting on a dunking exhibition, the Bobcats paying lip service to the concept of defense and the Clippers intent on making quick work of their outmanned opponent before hitting the road for their next two games.

It didn't matter that Jamal Crawford was in Seattle celebrating the birth of his daughter or that Eric Bledsoe was nursing a sore left calf, the Clippers had more than enough to handle the Bobcats, 106-84, at Staples Center.

Thanks mostly to Griffin, who demoralized Charlotte with seven highlight reel dunks to rip the life out of the young Bobcats and send the home crowd into a frenzy.

Griffin finished with 24 points while playing just three quarters, hitting 11 of 14 shots and seemingly always on the verge of a thunderous dunk.

"You can't guard him when he takes off," Clippers guard Chris Paul said. "Blake is the best at diving to the rim and if you're not there before he catches it you have no chance."

Matt Barnes came off the bench to score 17 points, Caron Butler had 16 and DeAndre Jordan had 13 for the Clippers, who took control at the end of the first half and led by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter.

"When we get out in transition and get some easy buckets, it makes you want to keep up that pace," Griffin said. "So when we come back on defense we're aggressive, we're pressuring the ball and that just helps us keep that pace defensively which leads to the offense."

Gerald Henderson scored 24 points for Charlotte and Kemba Walker added 15, but it wasn't nearly enough in the Bobcats fifth straight loss to the Clippers.

"They got a lot of easy buckets and got off in transition off our misses," Henderson said. "We just weren't getting back in transition, picking up guys, and of all the teams in the league they're probably the worst to do that against because they have so many guys who are athletic and run and jump and finish."

Lob City was in full effect during a two-minute spurt to end the first half, turning the game around and igniting sold out Staples Center.

As usual, Griffin played a leading role.

With Chris Paul assisting him at every turn.

With three mighty dunks, one more impressive than the other, he sparked a 7-0 run to give the Clippers a 54-45 lead at halftime.

Take your pick which Griffin dunk was better -- the alley-oop off a Paul half-court pass, the baseline attack and one-handed flush or the feed from Paul at the top of the key and lifting off near the foul line, rising above the Bobcats' defense and throwing down a one-handed tomahawk.

By the time his personal dunk contest was over, the Clippers took control of what had been a close game, the Bobcats realized they were in over the heads -- literally -- and the Clippers were on their way to their second win in a row.

And Paul and Griffin were forging an even tighter bond.

"It just gets better and better," Griffin said. "It's easy to play with a point guard like that."

On the 67-foot pass to Griffin for the alley-oop dunk, Paul was trying to get Griffin the ball thinking he'd gather it and then dribble the rest of the way for a layup or dunk.

"But I guess he saw an opportunity not to have to dribble," Paul joked.

Added Griffin, laughing: "I didn't want to waste time."

He didn't on Tuesday and neither did the Clippers.

NOTES: It's been a struggle all year for the Clippers to field a complete team, and that continued Tuesday as they played Charlotte without Crawford and Bledsoe. Crawford's fiancée gave birth to a baby girl Monday and he was given the night off against the Bobcats. Crawford is expected to join the team on their upcoming three-game road trip. Bledsoe suffered a slight left calf injury two games ago against San Antonio, played through it in a win over Utah on Saturday, but experienced tightness Monday and was held out against Charlotte. He is listed as day to day. ... One of the challenges facing the Bobcats is getting guard Kemba Walker to be more vocally assertive. It's simply not in his nature to be verbally forceful, but for Charlotte and Walker to take that next step, he needs to be. "What we try to say is, for two-and-a-half hours he has to be somebody he's not with his voice. And I think there's a buy in to that the last few weeks and for us that's good," Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap said. "In order for him to punch in to be a top 15 guard in this league that piece has to happen for him. He can't hide behind the fact he's a little more bashful."