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Ellis leads Warriors past Clippers

Mar 18, 2009 - 6:11 AM OAKLAND, California (AP) -- Monta Ellis showed why he's the future Golden State Warriors point guard. He played a lot like last year's point guard, Baron Davis.

Ellis matched his season high with 29 points, Corey Maggette had 21, and the Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, 127-120, Tuesday night.

"He took another nice step," Golden State coach Don Nelson said. "There's nothing wrong with being a scoring point guard. He tried to make plays, ran what coach wanted and showed good vision."

Davis scored 29 points in his first game in Oakland since opting out of his contract with the Warriors. He received a warm ovation before the game.

"It was all about the fans tonight. I was just letting them know how much I appreciated them," Davis said. "It was fun playing back in Oracle. It's different being on another team and playing here, but at the same time we wanted to get this victory. It would have been sweet if we got it."

Anthony Morrow added 20 points as the Warriors earned their third win in four games. Kelenna Azubuike had 16 and Anthony Randolph 14.

"Coach called the plays and I tried to give the ball to the open man on a mismatch," Ellis said. "We were the better team tonight and we came out with a win."

Morrow credited Ellis in keeping the team together without Stephen Jackson and Andris Biedrins.

"It was a huge effort by everybody," Morrow said. "But Monta was the leader. He stepped up and showed he's a special player."

Al Thornton had 25 points and nine rebounds but the Clippers lost their sixth straight road contest.

Los Angeles pulled within four points of the Warriors three times in the fourth quarter but could never close the gap, falling to 1-22 when trailing after three quarters on the road.

"A big game from Monta Ellis and I thought their bench killed us," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "They shot the ball really well; that's what they do. We didn't make them play defense on enough possessions."

Jackson sat out the contest after his one-game suspension was handed down from the NBA for receiving his 16th technical foul of the season during Sunday's 154-130 loss to Phoenix.

Marco Belinelli started in place of Jamal Crawford, whom Don Nelson benched so he could give the 6-foot-5 Italian guard extended playing time. He played just over 16 minutes.

The Warriors built a 15-point advantage following a three-point play from Randolph before settling for a 92-81 lead entering the final quarter.

Golden State ended the first half with an 18-7 run to take a 59-51 lead into intermission.