LOS ANGELES - Rasual Butler scored 13 of his 27 points in the third quarter, Eric Gordon added 22 and the Los Angeles Clippers erased a 20-point deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors 124-117 on Monday night.
Seven Clippers scored in double figures, including Chris Kaman, who had 16 points and nine rebounds. Point guard Baron Davis, who helped the Warriors end a 12-year playoff drought in 2006-07 before joining Los Angeles as a free agent in July 2008, had 13 points and 11 assists.
The Warriors, back indoors after Saturday night's 104-101 victory over Phoenix at the outdoor Indian Wells (Calif.) Tennis Garden, completed their four-game Southern California swing. Anthony Morrow led them with 32 points despite early foul trouble, Monta Ellis had 24 and Corey Maggette added 20.
Blake Griffin, the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft out of Oklahoma, played in his second pre-season game and had 15 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes. In his debut last Friday against Portland at Staples Center, he had five fouls in 21 minutes and finished with eight points and five boards.
Griffin received a warm handshake and some kind words from Warriors Don Nelson just before the start of the second half.
Golden State forward Stephen Jackson finished serving his two-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team, which cost him approximately US$139,000 in salary. Last Friday night against the Lakers, the Warriors' 31-year-old co-captain was charged with five fouls and a technical in less than 10 minutes and then sent to the dressing room following a confrontation with Nelson at the bench.
Jackson, who signed a $27.8-million contract extension last November, also was fined $25,000 by the league last month for saying he would like to be traded. The Warriors don't play again until Saturday night at Sacramento.
Butler, a seven-year veteran swingman acquired from the New Orleans Hornets on Aug. 12, closed the third quarter with a 3-pointer and opened the fourth with another to help the Clippers pull ahead 105-94 with 9:16 to play. Al Thornton's two free throws capped the pivotal 15-2 run.
Thornton, held to just two points over the first three quarters, added a pair of layups 44 seconds apart - both after offensive rebounds - to help build the Clippers lead to 111-103 after Golden State sliced the margin to five.
Thornton fouled out on a drive to the basket by Maggette with 4:58 left. But Gordon hit a 3-pointer with 2:58 to go, increasing the margin to 118-107, and the Warriors got no closer than the final score.
The Warriors built a 71-51 lead with a 23-9 run, by Morrow's 3-pointer with 1:53 left in the first half. But the Clippers opened the third quarter with a 22-5 surge, turning a 16-point halftime deficit into a 79-78 lead. Davis capped the comeback on a driving layup over centre Andris Biedrins with 5:36 left in the quarter.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry, the seventh overall pick in the draft, had 11 points in 27 minutes.
Replacement referees Kurt Walker, Larry Killips and Brian Shelley, impossible to ignore because of the three-digit numbers on their backs, called 54 fouls and got a number of puzzled looks from the players in return. Anthony Randolph picked up three fouls during a 5:07 span of the first quarter. Maggette, the first player off the Warriors bench, got his fourth less than 1 1/2 minutes into the second quarter.
