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Clippers rally past Nuggets

Jan 30, 2012 - 5:29 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Chauncey Billups scored a season-high 32 points as the Los Angeles Clippers rallied in the fourth quarter to take a 109-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.

Chris Paul added 25 points, six rebounds and seven assists, and Blake Griffin netted 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in the Clippers' fourth win in six games.

"It's a good win for us because we had only had one road win on the season so far," Paul said about his team, which improved to 2-4 as the visitors this year. "So wins like this are huge for us and it gives us the confidence to know we can win outside out building."

Nene paced the Nuggets with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Danilo Gallinari had 17 points and Andre Miller contributed 16 points and 10 assists as Denver had its six-game win streak snapped.

The Nuggets held a 53-48 lead at the half and stretched their lead to 65-57 near the midpoint of the third quarter until a 17-8 run by the Clippers put Los Angeles ahead, 74-73, for the first time since late in the first quarter.

Denver, though, closed out the third with a 10-3 spurt to take an 83-77 advantage into the fourth quarter.

After a pair of Al Harrington free throws gave the Nuggets their largest lead of the game, 87-77, a minute into the final stanza, but the Clippers reeled off 10 straight points to knot the game at 87.

The teams traded buckets over the next six possessions until a brief 6-0 spurt by the Nuggets bookended by a pair of Nene high-percentage shots put Denver ahead 99-94.

However, Los Angeles scored 10 of the game's next 12 points and held a 104-101 lead with 1 1/2 minutes left in the contest.

Nene put an end to the run with back-to-back dunks around a Paul turnover to give the Nuggets a one-point lead with 47.3 seconds to play, but Denver would not score again.

Paul quickly put the Clippers back on top for good with a pair of free throws and coming out of a timeout, Harrington received a pass in the lane as he cut to the basket, but he ran too close to the net and his layup attempt hit the bottom of the backboard and rolled out of bounds.

Los Angeles hit 3-of-4 foul shots from there to account for the final margin.

"They made shots and we didn't," said Harrington. "It felt like we got fouled on a couple possessions and got some calls that should of went our way, especially at home, but they didn't."

Denver took a 26-23 lead into the second quarter after a back-and-forth opening frame and led by as much as nine in the second en route to a 53-48 lead at the break.

Game Notes

Harrington finished with 16 points and Rudy Fernandez contributed 12 off the bench for Denver...Mo Williams had 12 points in reserve for the Clippers...Denver outscored Los Angeles in the paint, 62-30.