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Suns hand Clippers third straight loss

Jan 25, 2013 - 7:36 AM Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Goran Dragic tallied 24 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the Phoenix Suns' 93-88 win over the Chris Paul-less Los Angeles Clippers.

Marcin Gortat added 15 points and eight rebounds for Phoenix, which has won two straight under new interim head coach Lindsey Hunter.

"The last two games we have played as a team," Dragic said. "We are hustling on defense; offense everybody is engaged, everybody is participating."

Paul sat out his second contest in a row with a bruised right kneecap, an injury which has caused him to miss five tilts so far this season.

The team is 3-2 without him.

Jamal Crawford netted 21 points off the bench to lead the Clippers, who have dropped three consecutive games on the heels of a four-game win streak.

"We didn't make enough shots when we needed to and we didn't get enough long rebounds when we had to. We've just got to be a little sharper, especially in the fourth quarter," Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said.

Gortat's reverse layup with three minutes left gave the Suns an 86-79 advantage before Los Angeles scored the next six. Crawford's 3-pointer pulled the visitors within 86-85 with 26.9 ticks to go.

Four straight makes from the foul line by Gortat and Shannon Brown sandwiched around a 1-of-2 effort from the stripe by Crawford made it 90-86 with 15.4 seconds remaining.

A personal foul on Caron Butler led to Markieff Morris splitting a pair from the stripe, and Crawford misfired from beyond the arc at the other end to essentially seal the outcome.

The Suns led 24-20 after one, 50-46 going into the break and 68-66 following three quarters of play.

Game Notes

Luis Scola had 14 points and nine boards for the Suns ... Blake Griffin finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers ... Phoenix shot 42.3 percent (30-of-71) from the field.