PHOENIX -- Matt Barnes knows shooting nights like this are rare moments to be savored. Boston Celtics Pro Shop . The 11-year NBA veteran scored 18 of his 28 points in the third quarter and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns 104-96 Tuesday to match their season best of five victories in a row. Barnes made 12 of his first 13 shots and scored 16 points in the first 5:09 of the third quarter. "I felt like I got good looks every time," he said. "I found a little bit of space and was able to get the shot up. Every time it left my hands it felt good. One of those nights." Blake Griffin added 22 points and Darren Collison had 18 for Los Angeles. DeAndre Jordan had 10 points and 17 rebounds and blocked Goran Dragics layup try with the Suns still in it with 41 seconds to go. P.J. Tucker scored 18 and Gerald Green 17 on 6-of-19 shooting for the Suns, who played without centre Miles Plumlee (right knee sprain). They also lost guard Leandro Barbosa to a broken left hand in the first half. Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said Barbosa would be out four to six weeks. After Jordans block, his two free throws sealed it at 101-94 with 39.5 seconds left. Phoenix led by as many as 12 in the third quarter and trailed by as many as 15 in the fourth before cutting it to three late. Trailing 61-49, Los Angeles outscored the Suns 32-10 to take an 81-71 lead on Barnes layup after a Clippers offensive rebound with 38.9 seconds to go in the third quarter. Markieff Morris scored to cut Los Angeles lead to 81-73 entering the fourth. Barnes shot 7 of 7 for 18 points in the third quarter. Griffin added 12 in the period. The Clippers won despite a 4-for-14 shooting night from Chris Paul. Dragic, his Phoenix counterpart, was 5 for 14. They had nine assists apiece. "It is not going to be Blake and Chris every night," Barnes said. "We have a deep team and you have to be accountable for everybody and we have been showing that lately." Clippers coach Doc Rivers credited his teams second-half defence. "The second quarter was horrendous," he said. "But then I thought our defence, to hold them to 39 points in the second half -- everybody was in the right spots. We were rotating, and we played with intensity." Los Angeles built its biggest lead at 90-75 on Jared Dudleys layup with 8:48 left. Phoenix got back in it with an 11-0 run. Morris scored on a baseline dunk, then followed with a 3-pointer that cut the Clippers lead to 90-86 with 6:31 left. Green was 3 for 16 before making two 3s and bouncing in a 16-footer to cut the lead to 97-94 with 2:37 to go. Griffin made a fadeaway 13-footer with 2:09 left. "The third quarter, they were more physical, especially on defence," Dragic said. "We were catching the ball way out and we didnt get open shots. They just played hard defence, like we should do." Early on, Phoenix dominated. The Suns outscored the Clippers 16-2 over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the first quarter and the opening 1:45 of the second to lead 30-24 after newcomer Shavlik Randolph made one of two free throws with 10:15 left in the half. Dragic got his offence in gear in the final 1:19 of the half. He sank a 3-pointer, stole Barnes pass for a layup, then fed Alex Len for a layup as Phoenix used a 9-2 run to lead 55-44 at the break. NOTES: Barbosa was hurt taking a charge late in the first quarter but stayed in the game another 6 minutes. ... Phoenix is a half-game ahead of Memphis for the No. 8 playoff spot in the West. ... The Clippers were without Jamal Crawford (strained left calf) for the second game in a row. ... Len, a first-round draft pick, got his first start in place of Plumlee and struggled with six points and six rebounds in 19 minutes. ... Plumlee injured his knee in practice last week and had been trying to play through it. ... Suns G Eric Bledsoe, coming back from knee surgery, participated in a full scrimmage Monday. ... Bledsoe was hurt in the Suns 107-88 win over the Clippers in Los Angeles on Dec. 30, the only other time the teams have met this season. Fake Celtics Jerseys . Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble. Lyon, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar will also be in Fridays draw in Nyon, Switzerland, where the team to avoid will be Juventus -- even though the Italian champions made heavy work of their all-Italian last-16 match against Fiorentina. Boston Celtics Shirts .C. -- Al Jefferson knows few people will be giving the Charlotte Bobcats a chance to upset the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. https://www.cheapceltics.com/ . The American secured his first back-to-back ATP match wins since June to leave Tsonga relying on his performance at next weeks Paris Masters to clinch one of the final three places for the season-ending event in London. Tsonga would have moved up one spot to No. 6 with a win over Querrey at the City of Arts and Sciences, but his serve deserted him in the second set as the 116th-ranked American broke twice to reach the quarter-finals.The call could go something like this.Whats up, Melo? Man, you wont believe who theyre giving Lakers jerseys to these days. We should change our name to the Los Angeles Charmins.Dont even get me started, Kobe. You should see these stiffs I have to play with every night. Were not the New York Knicks. Were the New York Knick. Im good, but I aint good enough to win playing one-on-five.As far as we know, such a conversation hasnt actually happened between Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.Maybe it should.Bryant deserves to go out better than this.Anthony needs to realize that the prime of ones career comes with an expiration date.For now, these two superstars are bogged down on storied franchises enduring truly wretched seasons. If the NBA had relegation, Kobes Lakers and Melos Knicks would be candidates for the D-League. Things can change quickly, of course (just ask Cleveland), but a championship for either Bryant or Anthony looks far, far away.Given their hefty contracts — which, by their own doing, is part of the problem — it would be tough to work out a trade for either of them. Even if there was a championship-contending team willing to take on one of the games top players, any benefit would likely be more than offset by having to give up half their roster to make it work under the salary cap.But considering all the road kill thats taking up roster space in New York (the Knicks were 4-20 and losers of 10 in a row heading into Friday nights game at Boston) and Los Angeles (the Lakers were a slightly less terrible 6-16 as they prepared to face the NBA champion Spurs), perhaps one of those teams could find a way to make a Bryant-Anthony partnership work.If its the Knicks, there would be the added perk of Bryant reuniting with his coach from the Lakers championship years, Phil Jackson, whos now running things in New York.Barring a New York-LA trade — and, well admit, it doesnt seem likely to happen — Bryant will have to be satisfied with individual achievements playing for a Lakers franchise that has become a dysfunctional mess.Going into the game at San Antonio, he was just 30 points from tying Michael Jordan for third place on the career list at 32,292. If Bryant has a couple of more seasons like this, heell make a run at the second guy on the list, Karl Malone (36,928). Cheap Celtics Jerseys. Not even Kareen Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) is totally out of reach.One things for sure: Bryant still has plenty of game after missing most of last season recovering first from an Achilles injury, then going down with a knee injury.Granted, his shooting percentage is ugly, but thats to be expected given every opponent knows hes about the only player on the Lakers who can beat them. Bryant was averaging more than 25 points a game, which is essentially unheard of for someone his age. Of the NBAs top 10 career scorers, only Karl Malone managed a season with a 25-point average after his 36th birthday.While Bryant has professed to remaining patient during the Lakers rebuilding process, his emotions boiled over at a practice Thursday when he ripped into his teammates, calling them soft as Charmin during an expletive-filled tirade that was caught on video.Critics will say that both Bryant and Anthony are getting what they deserve for signing huge contracts that hampered efforts to assemble a talented roster around them. Anthony, especially, is ripped for not pursuing a discounted deal from another team this past summer — even Bryants Lakers — rather than signing a five- year, $124 million deal to stay with a team he had to know was still far away from being a title contender.Anthonys deal includes a no-trade clause. The New York Post reported Friday that the 30-year-old would be willing to waive the provision if the right deal came along. Anthony denied the report, but its certainly within the realm of possibility given the Knicks record and further reports of a rift with his teammates.Under NBA rules, anyone signing as a free agent cant be traded until Dec. 15.Thats Monday.For those who say one ball wouldnt be enough on a team that included Bryant and Anthony, remember how well the two friends meshed when they played together at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where they helped lead Team Redeem to a gold medal.Come on, someone, make it happen.These guys are too good for this.They deserve each other.___Paul Newberry is a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry@ap.org or www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 ' ' '