Dies und Das... » Hilliard II netted 14 points and Kris Jenkins supplied

LOS ANGELES -- Consistent and timely perimeter shooting by Blake Griffin and Jared Dudley, along with a season-high 36 assists, helped the Los Angeles Clippers to a satisfying start to 2014 following their most lopsided defeat of the season. Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the defending Pacific Division champions to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. "Dud is a shooter. Every time I see him shoot it, I think its going in, so were going to keep feeding him like that," Clippers point guard Chris Paul said. "Its all about confidence. We also have the utmost confidence in Blake. He works so hard, and it was great to see it all come together for him tonight. That was unreal. They didnt know what to do." Dudley faced his second former team in two games, making seven of 10 shots against the club that selected him with their first pick in 2007 and traded him to Phoenix after one season. He had nine points against the Suns on Monday in the Clippers 107-88 loss. "For me, to see the ball go in once or twice, it breeds confidence," said Dudley, who came in shooting a career-worst 44 per cent from the field. "Ive just got to be aggressive, and obviously make shots. I know when I play well, our team usually plays well. When you move the ball from side to side, it opens things up more. Sometimes when I do score, it just gives the other guys the confidence to do other things. But when Im not shooting the ball well, I have to do all the little things." Paul had 17 points and 14 assists, helping the Clippers beat the Bobcats for the sixth straight time and send them to their 17th straight road loss against Western Conference opponents. "We had 36 assists tonight, and you could see what we worked on yesterday at practice with ball movement," coach Doc Rivers said. "It was quick. The ball was flying around the floor, and that makes us really good. It makes it harder to guard Chris and Blake because you cant key on those guys. I think we got away from that a little bit, so its good that that came back tonight." Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker each scored 14 points for the Bobcats, whose previous six losses all were decided by five points or fewer. "Those guys played really well," Walker said. "They picked up their defence, made us take tough shots, and we werent able to make them. On the offensive end, they moved the ball really well, shared the ball and made shots. We just couldnt get over the hump in the second half." Dudley jump-started the Clippers in the third quarter with a 3-pointer and a 22-footer, and they pulled away to a 75-62 lead on DeAndre Jordans tip-in with 6:19 left in the third quarter. Dudley opened the fourth with another 3 to give Los Angeles an 84-69 cushion. But as hot as he was at the time, Dudley passed up a 3-point shot and drove the lane before dishing off to Ryan Hollins for a layup that resulted in a three-point play and an 87-71 advantage with 10:05 left. Griffin, who began the final quarter on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 5.2 seconds left in the third, reported back in with 7:56 remaining and made four perimeter jumpers during a 1:33 span -- the first two from 21 feet and the next two from 18 feet -- to give the Clippers a 97-78 cushion with 5:32 left. "You never want to give anybody anything, especially a very good player like him. But thats the toughest shot in the NBA -- the long 2," Bobcats forward Josh McRoberts said. "Defensively, maybe we could have done a bit better job." For good measure, Griffin added his seventh 3-pointer of the season with 1:50 on the clock for a 102-83 lead. The Bobcats didnt make a field goal after Jeffersons 16-footer with 4:04 remaining. Charlotte shot 38.2 per cent from the field, making the Clippers 40-1 since the start of last season when holding an opponent under 42 per cent. "It was all about our defence and energy, and moving the ball," Paul said. "We had a great practice yesterday where we competed and just talked about moving the ball. We did tonight, and things came a little bit easier." Paul had 17 points and seven assists during a seesaw first half that included 18 lead changes, and both teams shot over 50 per cent before leaving the court at intermission tied at 56. Neither club led by more than four points until Chris Douglas-Roberts converted an offensive rebound into a layup to give the Bobcats a 43-37 margin with 6:41 left in the second quarter. The Bobcats came in having allowed the second-fewest points in the paint (35.8) and second-fewest fast-break points (9.9). The Clippers ended up with 38 and 15, respectively, after averaging 40.2 and 16.3 in both categories. NOTES: The Clippers are 4-2 on New Years Day since the franchise relocated to Los Angeles in 1984-85, and 6-5 including the years in Buffalo and San Diego. ... Charlottes Steve Clifford is one of nine rookie coaches in the NBA this season. The only ones with a winning record are Phoenixs Jeff Hornacek and Atlantas Mike Budenholzer. ... Griffin has committed 43 turnovers in his last 12 games, including a career-worst eight last Saturday against Utah. ... Walker has scored in double figures in 22 straight games, the longest such streak of his career. ... Charlotte came in having allowed an average of 93.8 points, third-lowest in the league. Last season the Bobcats had the second-most porous defence, giving up 102.7 per game. ... The Bobcats have gotten double-digit scoring from both Walker and Jefferson in each of the last 20 games. The club record for a tandem is 28 games, by Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace in 2007-08. Bobby Hebert Jersey . MacIntyre stopped 49 shots and the Marlies defeated the Texas Stars 5-1 in Game 1 of the American Hockey Leagues Western Conference final. "I felt in control, so that was nice," MacIntyre said. New Orleans Saints Jerseys . Judging by his performance Saturday night, Cotto has plenty left in the tank. Cotto became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world championships in four weight divisions, stopping Sergio Martinez in their WBC world middleweight title fight Saturday night. http://www.shoptheofficialsaints.com/Elite-Rickey-Jackson-Saints-Jersey/ . Lupul injured the hand in a fall at practice on Thursday. He will wear a cast for a minimum of 10 days before he can put a glove back on it and get some mobility back, said Carlyle, who added the winger wont go on the teams upcoming road trip. Sam Mills Jersey . Nowitzki scored 28 points, Harris had a season-high 14 for the second straight game and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons 116-106 Sunday night. Custom New Orleans Saints Jerseys . The rest of the team was already on the field stretching before batting practice while Puig was getting dressed in the clubhouse. He had been slated to start in right field for the afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants, who beat the Dodgers 8-4.PARIS - Given how well Paris Saint-Germain played in Tuesday nights thrilling 3-2 win against a previously unbeaten Barcelona side, the clubs poor league form remains somewhat of a mystery.The two-time defending champion has drawn five of eight league games and coach Laurent Blanc said after the Barca game that perhaps his players lack enough motivation when theyre playing in the less competitive French league. Still, victory over Monaco on Sunday is paramount as league leader Marseille is gradually building up a healthy lead over PSG.Here are some things to know about this weekends games:___IBRAHIMOVIC DOUBTParis Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc is sweating on the fitness of star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic ahead of Sundays home game against Monaco. Ibrahimovic is struggling to recover from a left heel injury which has kept him out of the past three matches.If Ibrahimovic fails to recover in time to face Monaco, his absence may not be such bad news, after all.Without Ibrahimovic, the players gelled much better as a team, and showed in Tuesdays win against Barcelona that they could finally step out of his imposing shadow.I told the players before the game that to get great results there has to be great teamwork, Blanc said. Even though there were a lot of good individual performances, it was a collective performance above all.However, PSG is clearly better off having Ibrahimovic around. He was the French leagues top scorer in the past two seasons and totals 61 goals in 72 league games since joining PSG from AC Milan.___PASTORE OR CAVANI?Javier Pastores outstanding performance in Tuesdays 3-2 win against Barcelona in the Champions League means he will be hard to leave out of the side from now on.The Argentine playmaker was PSGs first big signing when he joined for 42 million euros ($53 million) three years ago, but over the past two seasons Pastore has failed to hold down a regular place under coach Laurent Blanc.He made a huge contribution against Barca, however, and was the best player on the night with his darting runs and superb passing.Blanc now faces somewhat of a headache, for when Ibrahimovic recovers from injury and returns to the side, Blanc will have to decide whether to go with one centre forward in a 4-3-3 formation or two up front in a 4-4-2.If he goes with just one, he must choose if he wants to keep Edinson Cavani or Pastore as one of his wide players.The prooblem is that Cavani cost PSG 64 million euros ($80.dddddddddddd1 million) and dropping such a costly player may prove problematic.A 4-4-2 would accommodate both Cavani and Pastore, but Blanc is not as keen on that formation.___MAGNIFICENT SEVEN?Led by the irrepressible form of top scorer Andre-Pierre Gignac, who has eight goals already, Marseille will be looking for a seventh straight league win when it travels to Caen on Saturday.With five goals in his past three games, it is little wonder that Marseilles notoriously hard to please fans voted him their best player of the month for September.It has been quite some turnaround for Gignac, who was beset by weight issues when he first joined the club four years ago and mercilessly teased by his own fans, who even nicknamed him Big Mac for his love of fast food.After managing only nine league goals in his first 51 games, Gignac turned his fortunes around by scoring 24 in his last 43 matches to become Marseilles No. 1 striker.He was called up to Frances squad by coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday for upcoming matches against Portugal and Armenia.___SANE SIDELINEDSecond-place Bordeaux has defended consistently well this season, and centre half Lamine Sanes absence will be a big blow to coach Willy Sagnol.Sane had an operation on his troublesome right knee Wednesday and he faces up to six weeks out.Sagnol had initially hoped Sane would only need physio treatment on his knee, but the operation means he will miss the trip to face defending champion Paris Saint-Germain on Oct. 25.Sane could return in time for the trip to Marseille three weeks later.Left back Diego Contento is also out of the Reims match because of a muscle problem.___MALOUDA EFFECTFlorent Malouda is proving to be somewhat of a lucky charm for Metz.Since the former Chelsea and France winger joined Metz a€” following a brief spell with Turkish side Trabzonspor a€” the newly-promoted side has won three straight games with Malouda proving influential.Malouda, who played 80 times for France, set up his sides third goal for Venezuelan striker Juan Falcon in last weekends 3-0 win against Reims.Metz is in fifth place and finds itself in the unexpected position of being level on points with Paris Saint-Germain, which is ahead only on goal difference.Metz will be confident of securing a fourth straight win when it travels to play 18th-place Evian on Saturday. 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