With Blake Griffin out of commission, Paul Pierce remained in his slot in the starting lineup—and the positive results continued for the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Truth had 13 points in 21 minutes as the Clippers won their fourth straight with a 122-117 triumph over the Charlotte Hornets. With Paul in the team’s new-look small-ball rotation, the Clips spacing was spectacular, as they splashed 15 three-pointers on the night. Paul hit three, J.J. Redick had five, Austin Rivers had four and Jamal Crawford hit two.

“It’s been great,” Crawford said. “Obviously it’s a small sample size, but just the spacing’s really good. Having three guards out there to attack so to speak or make plays I think is always good, you see more teams doing it.”

Los Angeles Clippers v Charlotte Hornets

All three of Paul’s trifectas came in the first half as the Clips led wire-to-wire at Time Warner Cable Arena. The Truth buried back-to-back threes to open the game and give L.A. a six-point lead. Both of those triples came off Chris Paul assists, and shortly thereafter, The Truth paid him back. No. 34 set up CP3 on a short jumper to help Los Angeles preserve its six-point lead. The Clippers led by as much as 12 in the first and took a seven-point cushion into the second period.

The L.A. bench briefly stretched the lead back to double digits early in the second before Charlotte came roaring back, cutting the deficit all the way to one, 53-52, with 2:33 to go in the half. But the Clips quickly took back over, mounting a 12-4 run, capped by a buzzer-beating trey by The Truth to make it a nine-point cushion at the break.

Charlotte kept clawing its way back throughout the game. The Hornets got contributions from all across the board, including four players—Jeremy Lamb (19), Nic Batum (19), Frank Kaminsky (20) and Kemba Walker (29)—with 19 or more points. But each time the Buzz battled back, the Clippers swatted them away. In the third, Redick led the way with 3-of-3 shooting from deep. Crawford and Pablo Prigioni each added threes to preserve a six-point lead, 92-86, going into the fourth.

“They kept making runs. We just kept making timely plays,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “It just seems like we’re rolling now. They’re just playing with the right spirit. You can see it. You can see the ball moving, and they’re so active defensively.”

Los Angeles Clippers v Charlotte Hornets

Kaminsky and Lamb did some major damage early in the fourth to once again slice the L.A. lead to one point, but the Clippers again answered with some brilliant long-range shooting. With the advantage just one point, Wesley Johnson hit a long two and Crawford canned another three to push it back to six once again. From there, the Clippers never really looked back. The Truth knocked down a short fadeaway J to make it a 10-point lead with just less than three minutes to go, and he added two clutch free throws in the waning seconds to ice the game.

Paul was one of six Clippers in double figures. Redick led the way with 26 points, while Rivers wasn’t far behind with 22. CP3 had a 19-point, 11-assist double-double, while DeAndre Jordan turned in one of 13 points and 13 boards.

“We had a great contribution from a lot of people tonight,” Redick said. “The biggest takeaway the last three games has just been other guys kind of getting opportunities and taking advantage of that.”

NEXT UP

The Clips (20-13) will ring in the new year in New Orleans on Thursday night against the Pelicans (10-21).

L.A. is 1-0 against NOLA so far this season, the win coming on Nov. 27 at the Staples Center. The Pelicans have won three of their last five, but they’re coming off a 104-89 loss to the Orlando Magic earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the Clips will be eyeing their fifth consecutive win, all coming while as the road team.

Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. PT.

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