Clippers Clinch

Paul Pierce punched his playoff ticket for the 13th straight year of his seasoned NBA career.

This time, he’ll enter the playoffs with the Los Angeles Clippers, who clinched the postseason berth with a 105-90 win over the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center on Sunday.

No. 34 finished with five points, three rebounds and a block, as six Clippers scored in double figures. The Truth was particularly impressed with center DeAndre Jordan, who recorded a monster double-double with 16 points, 16 boards and six blocks.

“He’s expanding his game, he’s improving and he works at it,” Paul said. “It’s something he does on a daily basis. If he gets his free-throw percentage up to 70 percent, then you’re looking at an MVP candidate.”

The Clippers never trailed, as The Truth opened scoring with a triple 21 seconds into the competition.

Jordan added to the energy with major sequences in the first quarter. Twice, he turned an offensive board into a bucket before blocking Emmanuel Mudiay’s shot immediately on the other end.

Paul later denied the Denver point guard of a basket in the second stanza, as the rookie was held to just four points. Shooting guard Gary Harris was the only starter for Denver (31-43) to reach double figures, as the reserves outscored the starters, 62-28.

Just as Paul had done in the first half, he sparked the L.A. offense in the second, this time with a nifty finger roll. And just as Jordan had done early, he kept the ball rolling, posting eight points, five boards and four blocks in the third period.

“He’s our energy guy, the captain of our defense,” Paul said. “He gets the rebounds obviously, but we have been going to him a little bit more in the post on offense. He’s starting to fulfill a lot of his potential. He is still young and still has a lot of room to grow. He’s showing that he can keep getting better and better.”

Jordan highlighted the quarter, blocking back-to-back shots before throwing down an alley-oop dunk from point guard Chris Paul, 56-50.

“This team dominated us in the paint the last time we played them,” said Jordan, who also added two assists and two steals to stuff his stat sheet. “That was a big emphasis for us, to protect our paint, and limit those guys to one shot, try to keep their second-chance points low.”

The Clippers pushed their lead to as many as 22, 88-66, with about eight minutes remaining in the final frame, thanks to a triple in transition by shooting guard Wesley Johnson.

Matthews and forward Jeff Green each had 13 points, while guard Jamal Crawford finished with 14 off the bench. As far as starters, CP3 scored 14 points with nine assists, and shooting guard JJ Redick added 12 points. Los Angeles had 11 players in the scoring column and six players with 12 or more points.