Craig Smith scored a season-high 25 points and had 10 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Houston Rockets 99-93 on Thursday night to break an 11-game road losing streak.
The Clippers, who hadn't won on the road since Feb. 2, trailed by as many as 11 in the second half .The short-handed Rockets were without Shane Battier and Kevin Martin, who sat out because of a sore left shoulder.
The Rockets led by one point with about seven minutes remaining before Los Angeles scored five straight points to go on top 80-76. Houston hit two free throws before Eric Gordon scored five consecutive points to push the lead to 85-78. Houston cut the lead to three points on a 3-pointer by Trevor Ariza with about two minutes left, but Smith made a free throw followed by a jump shot by Baron Davis to make it 92-86 with less than a minute remaining.
Houston used a big run to take an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter. But Los Angeles answered with a 21-8 run to regain the lead, 69-67, with about two minutes left in the quarter.
Ariza and Smith were both shaken up early in the fourth quarter after a collision as Ariza drove to the basket. Both writhed on the court for a couple of minutes before getting up and slowly heading to the bench. Ariza was called for an offensive foul on the play.
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