Grizzlies overcome Chris Paul's heroics to snap Clippers' win streak

The Los Angeles Clippers surged into their Monday night tilt with the Memphis Grizzlies riding a remarkable four-game, Blake Griffin-less win streak, in which they averaged nearly 118 points a night and beat the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings by an average of 16 points.

But on the day Griffin was cleared to begin working out after having stitches remove from his formerly staph-infected elbow, the Clippers' unstoppable offense crashed into the Grizzlies' immovable defense, and the Grizz escaped with a three-point win. 

In a game that see-sawed back and forth from opening tip to final buzzer, Chris Paul did his damnedest to carry his teammates across the finish line. Paul had 30 points and 10 assists, and scored eight clutch points in the final five minutes to keep the Clippers in the game. 

But he couldn't do it alone, and the Grizzlies' D was able to neutralize the rest of the Clippers, who combined to score only 57 points on 38.6 percent shooting and 29.2 percent from 3-point range. 

DeAndre Jordan continued his domination of the boards, grabbing 17 (he's averaged 17.8 in the six games Griffin has missed), and had one massive dunk over Marc Gasol ... 

... but Gasol and Zach Randolph were ultimately able to lock him down, holding Jordan to just four field-goal attempts and nine points. 

Unlike other teams have done during the Clippers' recent streak, the Grizzlies felt confident in their massive front line's ability to contain Jordan, and played him straight rather than putting him on the free-throw line. The Clippers as a team shot only 12 free throws in the game, which is less than half the total Jordan alone shot in the wins over the Rockets and Spurs. 

In the end, it came down to Paul, with the shot clock turned off, the ball in his hands, his team down a point, and a chance to win the game he'd killed himself to keep within reach. 

But the Clippers were out of timeouts, and Paul was visibly exhausted. Without the chance to draw up a play, Paul didn't get a screen, instead left to go one-on-one with Courtney Lee. He tried to make a move but lost the handle. Mike Conley swooped in to steal it and put the game on ice. 

It was a typical grind-it-out win for the Grizzlies, who have sneakily crept to within three games of the seemingly unassailable Golden State Warriors for top spot in the Western Conference. 

Meanwhile, the Clippers can hold their heads high in defeat. They're still 4-2 without their leading scorer, and may be getting him back sooner than anticipated.