Clippers down lackluster Heat 99-89 in Shanghai

With the domination in the paint, the Los Angeles Clippers beated the NBA defending champion Miami Heat 99-89 at the Mercedes-Benz Center here on Sunday. Chris Paul played in his first preseason game after surgery on his thumb with 4 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. DeAndre Jordan scored 18 points and 9 rebounds with a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and Blake Griffin added 13 points and 10 rebounds. "Physically, I felt a lot better and try to stay in the best shape as possible......DeAndre had an amazing match and the way he ran the court was what we want in the new season. Blake dominated the inside that made guys get many open shots," said Paul, who averaged 19.8 points and 9.1 assists per game last season with the Clippers, Caron Butler, Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes also scored in double figures for the Clippers. LeBron James, who hammered a game high 20 points in the first match the Heat won in Beijing, finished with 11 points,3 rebounds and 4 assists in 20 minutes while Dwyane Wade only played just 8 minutes in the first quarter. "We have made a lot of progress in the last two weeks with Dwyane. We wanted to make sure we keep him healthy and we didn't want to push it," said Spoelstra, the head coach of the Heat. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, enthusiastic fans began to yell "We want Wade" together, but the "Flash" - Wade' s nickname - didn't show himself up on the floor till the end of the game. "I did hear the fans chant my name. It was cool and so much appreciated by me, thanks for all the love from my fans in China," Wade said during a news conference after the game. In the limited game time, Wade also made two brilliant dunks in the first quarter and assisted James for an alley-oop dunk which was seemed as the highlight of the whole match. Jordan showing his talent from the beginning of the game and made all 7 of his shots in the first half, as the Clippers led 57-43 at half time and extended their advantage to as much as 20 points during the third quarter. With Terrel Harris scored all nine of his points in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter, Miami reduced the disadvantage to 6 points. However, Matt Barnes made a perimeter shoot in the next round which distinguished the defending champion's last hope.