NEW ORLEANS -- Clippers forward Blake Griffin praised the way Los Angeles finished off a 10-day trip that closed with games on the shores of lakes Erie and Pontchartrain on back-to-back nights.Griffin had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Chris Paul had 17 points and 13 assists, and the Clippers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 114-96 on Friday night.The dominant effort came one night after an equally convincing 113-94 triumph at Cleveland on Thursday night -- with a flight from the United States northern border to the Gulf Coast in between, touching down in the Big Easy around 2 a.m. local time.Its tough, but the end of a road trip can go one of two ways, Griffin said. You can either be like, `All right, lets finish this out on a good note and get home and get this over with, or you can completely lose focus and come in and not play the way you want, and I thought we did the first.Jamal Crawford scored 21 points and Luc Mbah a Moute had 15 points for Los Angeles.Anthony Davis hurt his right shoulder late in the first quarter but played through it, scoring 21 points for New Orleans. ETwaun Moore scored 15 points and Terrence Jones had 14 for the Pelicans, who have lost three of four and saw their home winning streak snapped at five.The Clippers were making the right plays, Davis said. We were living with Blake and Mbah a Moute taking jumpers and they made them.The Clippers made 10 3-pointers, with Mbah a Moute hitting three, Crawford hitting two and even Griffin hitting one from the left corner. The Pelicans, by contrast, were 5 of 20 from long range.TIP-INSClippers: Los Angeles wound up 3-3 on its road swing that began in Dallas on Nov. 23. ... Coach Doc Rivers gave starting shooting guard J.J. Redick, the teams third-leading scorer (16 points per game), the night off. Rivers has been periodically resting starters this season. Griffin had sat out Tuesday night at Brooklyn. Its kind of a scientific thing were doing, Griffin said. ... Austin Rivers, who was drafted 10th overall by New Orleans in 2012 and traded in January 2015, missed eight of nine shots and finished with two points. ... Paul was called for a Flagrant-1 foul when he grabbed Jones shoulder from behind to stop a breakaway layup.Pelicans: Center Alexis Ajinca played 11 minutes, his most in eight games. Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry had not played Ajinca in six of New Orleans previous seven games, and the 7-footer saw only 4 minutes last Sunday at Dallas. Against the Clippers, Ajinca had two points and three rebounds. ... First-round draft choice Buddy Hield played just the final 3 minutes, hitting both shots he attempted for four points.DEFENSIVE EFFORTAfter a Pelicans shot-clock violation, the Clippers bench was on its feet, roaring in approval of their teammates defensive effort.A lot of times you see guys up cheering for big plays on the offensive end, Griffin said. Its nice when your team is excited about those little things.In addition to holding Davis about 10 points below his scoring average, the Clippers combined for to block seven shots, including two each by Griffin, Mbah a Moute and DeAndre Jordan. Los Angeles had seven steals and outrebounded New Orleans 46-41.It started on defense, and I feel like we always say that when we have a big win but its so true, Griffin said.PIVOTAL RUNLos Angeles opened a 15-point lead in the third quarter, when Griffin scored 11 points. Griffin hit three 19-foot jumpers, another from 17 feet and a finger roll during a pivotal 17-5 surge. Paul assisted on three of those baskets.Paul pretty much controlled the whole game after halftime, Gentry said. They were kind of running freely and shooting the ball freely and taking it wherever they wanted to.Paul said he noticed Griffin was in rhythm early, and if hes shooting it like that, the other team is in trouble.Indeed, New Orleans struggled to recover after that, getting no closer than 10 points on Davis short basket as he was fouled by Brandon Bass with 7:14 left. Los Angeles, which shot 51.1 percent (45 of 88), then rebuilt its lead to 20 in the late stages of the game.UP NEXTClippers: Host Indiana on Sunday.Pelicans: Visit Oklahoma City on Sunday. Cheap Nike Chris Paul Basketball Shoes China . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Discount Basketball Shoes . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. http://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.net/ . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Cheap Nike Paul George Basketball Shoes China . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Cheap Basketball Shoes Free Shipping . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. TWICKENHAM -- Its the mark of a good side that England can beat a team like South Africa without hitting top gear. They looked rusty at stages, struggled with discipline in the first half but they got the job done with an impressive confidence.It was a match they were never in danger of losing. Their 37-21 triumph made it 10 on the bounce under Eddie Jones and it was their first win over the Springboks since 2006. Unwanted droughts and records are being cancelled out in the Jones era.They were marshalled by the brilliant Ben Youngs at scrum-half. His box kicks and passes were on point and it was no coincidence that it was his darting run in the 44th minute to tee up the try for George Ford which ended this as a contest. He followed this up with a near-identical piece of skill to tee up Owen Farrell after 68 minutes.South Africa were poor. They lacked any invention and but for some incisive runs from Damien de Allende, showed little in attack. Their defence around the fringes was near non-existent and they looked stretched whenever England went wide or, for that matter, through the middle.England did start slowly but were seldom tested by this Boks side. It was a cold, damp occasion at Twickenham -- John Keats was perhaps thinking of November Tests when he penned his Ode to Autumn, talking of a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.While Jones will be pleased with the win, will take the positives and be relieved at the clean bill of health, it is the bigger picture around this match which is perhaps most significant.Friday marked a year to the day that Stuart Lancaster left his post as England coach in the grizzly, post-World Cup bloodletting. Now, a year on, and England have won all 10 matches under Jones with continuity and gradual evolution at their very core.The back-row which started against the Boks had a familiar look. Chris Robshaw, Tom Wood and Billy Vunipola all started that fateful World Cup match against Wales but this time around Robshaw was at blindside and Wood was at No.7. Its those little tweaks coupled with a change in mentality and outlook which have seen England progress.Roobshaw did superbly at blindside, nullifying any threat from the South Africa back-row.dddddddddddd Their handling was also impressive. As they tested the water in the first half, it was that back-row who were putting the wingers into space but it was Englands starting 8,9,10,12 axis that was key to this victory.Billy Vunipola, arguably the form No.8 in world rugby, was at his usual effective, bulldozing best -- even Eben Etzebeth came off second best when connecting head on head with the England back-row -- while Youngs, Ford and Owen Farrell have built a brilliant understanding in the midfield. This platform allowed Marland Yarde and Jonny May time and space to run directly at the Boks defence.With both Maro Itoje and George Kruis sidelined, Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes combined well in the second-row and their performance will give Jones food for thought when he has a fully fit party to pick from. But their discipline will concern Jones -- they conceded six penalties in the first 30 minutes -- and a better team than the Boks would have exploited these lapses.But the Boks are a team low on confidence and look to have a confused gameplan. They are stuck midway through an approach focused on contestable kicking and then running straight and hard. Englands defence was resolute until Johan Goosens 59th minute try but that was the first time they really looked stretched.Instead they forced turnovers - Mike Brown did well in this area - and Ford pinned the Boks back in their own 22 with some deft kicking from hand. Another positive for England will be debuts for Nathan Hughes, Kyle Sinckler and Ben Teo while Elliot Daly played the full 80 and finished on the wing.Up next for England are Fiji and judging by their performance against the Barbarians on Friday, they will make it 11 wins from 11 under Jones next Saturday. Its all about evolving and continuing to improve in the Jones era and this win over the Springboks saw them take another step forward in that process. ' ' '