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Crawford, Hawes Give Clippers Spark Off Bench For First Preseason Win

Rowan Kavner

LOS ANGELES –Jamal Crawford and Spencer Hawes are used to playing off one another, only this time it happened in an actual game Friday with both players coming off the bench to lead the Clippers to their first preseason win of the season.

Crawford and Hawes, who’ve known each other for years playing together in the summer, started the game from the sideline but finished as the game’s two leading scorers and combined for all 49 of the Clippers’ bench points as they avenged Monday’s loss to the Jazz by beating Utah in the preseason rematch at STAPLES Center, 101-97.

“I’ve known Spence since I was 17,” Crawford said. “Every summer when we’re playing pickup, we’re playing together. We’ve always been on the same team, even when he was with Philadelphia and I was in New York. We have a great synergy, but we’re just trying to complement the guys out there.”

Head coach Doc Rivers made it a focus to get Hawes more minutes following Monday’s loss to the Jazz. Hawes took advantage, pouring in a preseason-high 24 points in 23 minutes on 9-of-15 shooting.

The duo combined for eight of the Clippers’ 11 three-pointers. It was Hawes’ pass on Crawford’s late three that put the Clippers ahead for good in a back-and-forth battle.

“It’s fun playing with Jamal,” Hawes said. “We’ve been playing every summer for, like, the last decade. Finally now on his actual team. It’s fun developing that chemistry and actually getting to put that to use in real games.”

Hawes said it makes the transition to Los Angeles more comfortable knowing Crawford’s on the team. That was on full display Friday night.

“On the court, off the court, a guy that’s really kind of been one of my mentors and looked out for me since I was in high school,” Hawes said. “It definitely makes things easier.”

While Crawford’s three-pointer sealed it, that wasn’t the only go-ahead three the Clippers made in the final minute of the game. With time ticking down in the fourth, Chris Paul pump-faked, got his defender in the air and drilled a three to put the Clippers ahead, 95-94. The Jazz went back down the court, and Utah’s Derrick Favors was fouled and hit one of two free throws.

That’s when Crawford came right back to drill the game-sealing three-pointer and give the Clippers their first win of the preseason.

“Winning’s always better than losing, for sure,” Rivers said. “It was a perfect game. I couldn’t have scripted a better game.”

One of the primary focuses after three losses to start the preseason, particularly on the guards’ part, was better perimeter defense. The Clippers held the Jazz to 6-of-18 from deep and kept the rebounding totals closer than in the first three preseason games. Rivers said that’s all connected.

“I thought we did a sensational job, for the most part, of keeping them out of the paint,” Rivers said. “The first half they had zero offensive rebounds.”

There were 30 lead changes in the game. The regular-season feel was partly the result of a back-and-forth matchup against a Jazz team the Clippers just saw and partly the result of a team looking for its first win of the season.

It was also partly the result of flaring tempers. Blake Griffin, who continued to demonstrated his outside game on 7-of-14 shooting, and Trevor Booker had to be separated after a scuffle. Five individual technical fouls were handed out on the night.

“I never want him to do anything,” Rivers said of Griffin. “I don’t know what it is, but he gets hit with more cheap shots, I think – probably because I’m coaching him – than anybody in the league. I don’t think it’s close, that I know. I’m sure Dwight Howard would probably disagree. But it’s always the powerful guys, Dwight, Shaq, a lot of them. But no one really bothered Shaq.”