HOUSTON -- Chris Paul had 30 points and 12 assists, Jamal Crawford added 22 points and the Los Angeles Clippers clinched their franchise-record third straight playoff appearance with a 118-107 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night. Gale Sayers Jersey . The loss broke a five-game winning streak for Houston, which was without two of its starters as Dwight Howard and Pat Beverley sat out with injuries. The Clippers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half before using two big runs to take the lead. Houston stuck around for most of the second half before consecutive 3s by Matt Barnes and Darren Collison made it 114-101 late in the fourth. But it wasnt all good for Los Angeles, as Blake Griffin left in the first quarter with back spasms and didnt return, and Glen Davis missed the second half for disciplinary reasons after throwing a temper tantrum in the second quarter. James Harden led the Rockets with 32 points, and Chandler Parsons had 28. DeAndre Jordan added 20 points with 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who are third in the Western Conference. Crawford scored all of the Clippers points in an 8-1 run to start the fourth quarter and leave them up 96-85. An 8-3 run by Houston cut the lead to 102-96 with five minutes remaining. Harden capped it with a free throw after a technical foul on Paul. The Rockets scored the first five points of the third quarter to take a 63-61 lead. The teams exchanged the lead several times in that quarter before a layup by Ryan Hollins left Los Angeles up 88-84 entering the fourth quarter. The first half was filled with drama for the Clippers, who lost Griffin in the first quarter before the incident with Davis in the second. There appeared to be minimal contact between Griffin and Donatas Motiejunas before Griffin dropped to his hands and knees on his way to the bench after a timeout was called midway through the first quarter. He was clutching his lower back and remained on the court for a couple of minutes before being helped to his feet. He was biting his jersey as he gingerly walked off the court and to the locker room. Davis, whose nickname is "Big Baby," was apparently upset after being taken out in the second quarter and threw a temper tantrum at coach Doc Rivers. Rivers immediately sent him to the locker room and the team announced that he would not return after halftime. Davis was 0-for-2 with a steal in less than four minutes in the first half. With Griffin out, Houston used a 7-2 spurt to start the second quarter and extend its advantage to 40-25. The Rockets were still up by 15 points a couple of minutes later when the Clippers used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 44-37. Harden made three free throws before another run -- this one 14-2 -- gave Los Angeles a 51-49 lead. Paul, who had 17 points in the second quarter, scored the first 10 points in that span with two 3s and he dished an alley-oop to Jordan to cap it with a dunk. Los Angeles led by a point soon after that before scoring six straight points to extend the lead to 61-54 Houston scored the last four points of the quarter to cut the lead to 61-58 at halftime. NOTES: Jordan went to high school in Houston and college at nearby Texas A&M. ... Howard is day to day with a left ankle strain and Beverley has a torn meniscus in his right knee and is out indefinitely. Devin Hester Jersey . Expensive. The NFL fined Tomlin $100,000 on Wednesday for interfering with Baltimores Jacoby Jones on a kickoff return in the third quarter of a 22-20 loss to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. Gary Fencik Jersey .com) - Australian Open champion Li Na, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and former world No.PORTLAND, Ore. - Wesley Matthews got a chance to practice his bow-and-arrow 3-point celebration on Sunday night.Matthews made six 3-pointers and finished with 28 points, leading the Portland Trail Blazers to a 101-79 victory over the short-handed New York Knicks.Matthews, around when the Blazers perfected the so-called 3 Goggles some four years ago, and then toyed with the 3 Holster gesture, now punctuates his 3-pointers by shooing an imaginary arrow.Matthews, who leads the NBA with 106 3-pointers this season, made five 3s in the first half against the Knicks. Teammate Nicolas Batum had five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.The Blazers went 16 for 36 from long range on the night. They have made at least 10 3s in five of their last six games.Its contagious. It was just a good vibe from the jump, Matthews said. I think I missed the first one, but then Nic hit one, Damian (Lillard) hit one and I think the floodgates really opened.It was the eighth straight loss for the Knicks, who had just nine available players to start the game, and then lost Carmelo Anthony for the second half because of a sore left knee.Cole Aldrich had 12 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for New York, and Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 17 points.Portland, which led by as many as 27 points, has won eight of its last nine games. The Blazers are 25-7 and have the most wins in the NBA.But Portland was again without All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, who has missed three of the last four games with an upper respiratory illness, including the Blazers 114-93 victory over Philadelphia on Friday.The Knicks were without J.R. Smith, who is having ongoing issues with his left heel. Samuel Dalembert was sidelined by a sprained right ankle, and Amare Stoudemire missed the game with a sore right knee.To make matters worse, Anthony, who missed two games earlier this season because of his knee, did not return for the second half. Anthony had 36 points in a 135-129 overtime loss at Sacramento onn Saturday night. Deon Bush Jersey. The high-scoring forward had 13 points in the first half, but grimaced at times in pain.Tonight it feels like fatigue, and not getting a chance to recover from last night, Anthony said. I felt this before the game, but I looked around the locker room and we have seven or eight guys ready to go — I really didnt have a choice but to go out there and attempt to play and see how much I could take.Batum hit a 3 to extend Portlands lead to 50-32 in the second. At that moment of the game, 30 of Portlands points were from 3-pointers by either Matthews or Batum.TIP-INSKnicks: It was the eighth of 20 back-to-backs for the Knicks this season. Among those, the Knicks have won just one of the second games. ... Aldrichs previous career high for rebounds was 13.Blazers: C Chris Kaman was back on the floor a day after he and his wife Emilie welcomed baby Barrett Christopher Kaman, who weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces. ... Portland has won 14 of its first 15 games against Eastern Conference foes.BRITISH BULLDOGJoel Freeland had 10 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. The British Olympian has been playing more at centre while Robin Lopez recovers from a broken hand.Joel has just been solid, Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. He does what he does well, he plays very hard. He plays his minutes hard.SHELVING MELO?Knicks coach Derek Fisher was asked about sitting Anthony for an extended period to address the sore knee.Carmelo is Carmelo. We dont necessarily make decisions for him, Fisher said. Hes part of the conversation. So we have opinions that weve expressed to him. We talk about different things, but really it is a decision that he has to also want to make for himself and his career. Hes also conferenced about the team and his teammates, and so well continue to find a right balance of it all.UP NEXTKnicks: Visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.Trail Blazers: Host Toronto on Tuesday night. ' ' '