N.E.W.S » a beat from the squad in 2010 th

NEW ORLEANS -- Between Jamal Crawfords long-range shooting, Chris Pauls timely playmaking and Blake Griffins presence in the paint, the Los Angeles Clippers have been too much for most teams to handle the past couple days. The struggling New Orleans Pelicans were simply overmatched. Crawford hit seven 3s on his way to 24 points, and the Clippers beat the Pelicans 123-110 on Monday night. "We understand what we do well. If we all do what we do well, well make our team stronger," Crawford said. "My teammates did a good job finding me, Coach was drawing up great plays and I got the easy part, just knocking down the shots." Crawford picked up where he left off in Oklahoma City a day earlier, when he hit five three-pointers and scored 36 points in the Clippers victory over the Thunder. He even converted a four-point play when he hit a three while being fouled by Eric Gordon. Paul, who had 19 points and 13 assists in his latest return to New Orleans, raved about the Clippers recent success shooting from outside. "Its been great and its just our ball movement," Paul said. "Were getting great looks and at times where playing at the right tempo, but we got to figure out how to keep putting it together." Anthony Davis had 26 points and 11 rebounds for New Orleans. Alexis Ajinca set career highs with 19 points and 12 rebounds. "We played hard, but we just got to do a better job on defence," Davis said. Griffin added 22 points, while DeAndre Jordan had 14 points to go along with 16 rebounds. Paul cited the play of Griffin and Jordan as "the reason why we get those open 3s." All five Clippers starters and two reserves scored in double figures. Matt Barnes, Darren Collison and Hedo Turkoglu each scored 12. "The ball movement on our team is terrific," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "When you play that unselfish with that many good players, a lot of good things are going to happen." Los Angeles hit 16 threes on 28 attempts (57.1 per cent). New Orleans made only 7 of 18 (38.9 per cent) from long range. "There were a lot of shots that we had a hand up and they threw it up in the sky and it came down and went in the bucket," Pelicans coach Monty Williams said of the Clippers 51.8 per cent shooting overall. "What I didnt like was there were times when they made shots and I thought that we allowed our spirit to get down. ... We just allowed their offence to dictate our spirit." Anthony Morrow scored 13 points and Al-Farouq Aminu 12 for New Orleans, which has lost four straight. Gordon and Austin Rivers each scored 10. The Clippers were in control from the outset against a Pelicans team that has been struggling all season defensively. Los Angeles opened a nine-point lead in the first quarter on Jordans alley-oop dunk of Turkoglus lob. The lead grew to 15 in the second quarter, when Griffins dunk, set up by a feed from Paul, made it 54-39. "At the start, I thought the execution was close to flawless," Rivers said. The Pelicans clawed back within single digits by halftime after Ajincas dunk made it 61-53. The Clippers dominated the third quarter, however, breaking the game open with a 15-2 run that started with Crawfords three and featured nine points by Griffin, including a layup as he was fouled and an alley-oop dunk reminiscent of the dunk fest he brought to the Big Easy during the All-Star game. Los Angeles took its largest lead when Pauls 11-foot jumper made it 88-69. New Orleans showed only one more sign of threatening after that, pulling to 10 points on Jeff Witheys putback with 7:39 left. But Rivers called timeout, during which he instructed Paul to set up Crawford for a 3. It worked, and New Orleans never got closer than 13 again. NOTES: The Clippers are 25-0 when they make at least nine 3-pointers and 19-1 when shooting 50 per cent or better. ... Morrow entered the game making an NBA-leading 48.1 per cent of his 3-pointers. He improved that slightly by hitting 2 of 4 against the Clippers. ... Pelicans G Tyreke Evans made only 4 of his 13 attempts and is 9 of 34 (26.5 per cent) from the field in his last three games. ... The Clippers have scored 120 or more points 11 times this season, including two games in a row. Kyle Seager Jersey . Despite Barcelona showing the same vulnerability in defence, Messis best performance since returning from a lengthy injury layoff ensured that his side bounced back from a defeat by Valencia in the previous round. Felix Hernandez Jersey . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. http://www.cheapmarinersjerseys.com/?tag...-johnson-jersey. -- D.A. Points was disqualified Friday from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for using a training device while waiting to play the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. Cheap MLB Jerseys . The International Ice Hockey Federation says Pavlovs avoided a two-year sanction because he acted "without significant negligence in failing to verify the safety of the supplements he was taking. James Paxton Jersey . As deep as their roster is, they need their superstar. Rose scored 23 points in his return from a five-game absence due to back pain, and Chicago hung on to beat the struggling Atlanta Hawks 90-79 on Monday.The 2014 World Cup in Brazil has seen its fair share of excitement over the last 15 days. A total of 133 goals have been scored and thats just been during group play. As the first stage of the tournament comes to an end, the bracket is finally set for the Round of 16. There have been no shortage of storylines to go along with these matches and so moving forward, how do you see the Round of 16 unfolding? Probably the team feeling the most pressure is Brazil. The host nation didnt win its group in dominant fashion. Despite that fact, Brazil have managed to create offence and have one of the best strikers in the tournament so far: Neymar. The 22-year-old is tied for the tournament lead in goals with four. Brazil, however, is in for a big test against Chile. Although Chile finished second in Group B, they have proven to have a great team dynamic led by Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas. These two teams are familiar with each other but Brazil has won nine of the last 10 meetings between the two nations. With both teams being from the same continent, its sure to be an exciting battle. Another all-South American match-up sees Colombia taking on Uruguay. Luis Suarez might have already overshadowed this game, but its still going to be a wild affair. Uruguay will be without their star striker because of suspension, and it might be a big blow for the squad ggiven that he has scored half of their goals.dddddddddddd On the other side, Colombia has gotten stronger as the tournament has gone on. Even without their star Falcao, Colombia went undefeated and will look to James Rodriguez to lead them to the quarterfinals. Another undefeated squad is the Netherlands. Theyve scored the most goals in the tournament with 10 and will look to add to that tally against Mexico. Led by Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben, the Dutch havent missed a beat from the squad in 2010 that finished as runners up to Spain. Mexico however has been one of the surprises of the tournament. They stumbled into Brazil after barely qualifying but have been one of the best teams so far, going undefeated in the group stage. What about the dark horses? No one saw Costa Rica coming out of their group period - let alone in first place - and they have so far shocked the world. They have been the surprise team of Brazil 2014 and can continue to be with a victory against Greece. But Greece has a strong defensive mindset that can shut any top offence down. Will that be enough to get them through? France, Argentina and Germany have also been impressive and have something to prove as well. Do they have what it takes to move on? Who do you see booking their ticket to the quarterfinals for a chance at World Cup gold? Its Your Call! ' ' '