But Minnesota is giving a league-low 16.9 points per game.

LOS ANGELES -- Chris Paul had 20 points and a season-high 20 assists and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 133-105 on Saturday night with their highest offensive output of the season.It was the first 20-20 game of Pauls career, and hes the first player since at least 1977-78 -- when turnovers were first recorded for individuals -- to have 20 points, 20 assists and no turnovers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.The Clippers shot a season-best 57.4 percent from the field and made a season-high 17 3-pointers on 36 attempts to snap a two-game skid.Jamal Crawford scored 22 points and DeAndre Jordan had 19 points and nine rebounds for Los Angeles, which won for only the third time in eight games after opening the season 14-2. Austin Rivers had 18 points and J.J. Redick had 16.The Pelicans, playing without resting Anthony Davis, lost their fifth straight. New Orleans gave up its season-high in points and has lost three consecutive road games, falling to 2-9 away from home.Tim Frazier scored 20 points to lead New Orleans. Chuck Diallo added 19 points and Terrence Jones had 18.The Clippers led 61-55 at halftime, and then broke the game open with an 18-6 run over the opening 4:29 of the third quarter. Rivers hit a pair of 3-pointers and capped the stretch with a lefty layup off the glass, giving the Clippers 79-61 lead.This was the Clippers eighth consecutive victory over the Pelicans at Staples Center, a streak dating to 2012.NO A-DThe Pelicans elected to rest Davis, the NBAs leading scorer with 31.4 points per game. He had averaged 44 minutes over his previous three games.I think he just needs to take the day off, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said.Through Friday night, Davis had averaged a league-leading 38.1 minutes per game.RIVERS RUN THROUGHRivers took a hard elbow to the jaw from a driving Jones with 4:22 left in the third quarter. Rivers returned late in the quarter, tried to play in the fourth, but had to be helped from the court early in the final quarter. He was taken to the locker room to be evaluated by team physicians, according to the Clippers.3,000 AND COUNTINGSaturdays game marked announcer Ralph Lawlers 3,000th regular season Clippers television broadcast. Lawler joins Al McCoy (Phoenix) and George Blaha (Detroit) as the only active NBA play-by-play announcers to call 3,000+ games with one team.TIP-INSPelicans: Guards Jrue Holiday and ETwaun Moore were not available Saturday night, both dealing with turf toe. Each missed his third consecutive game.Clippers: Blake Griffin sat out his second game of the season after injuring his right knee against Golden State on Wednesday night. Its nothing, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. Hell play Monday. ... Austin Rivers made his first start of the season in Griffins place. Guard Raymond Felton missed his second consecutive game because of personal reasons.UP NEXTPelicans: At the 76ers on Sunday night.Clippers: Host the Trail Blazers on Monday night. Stan Smith Rebajas . Aduriz headed home Markel Susaetas cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring at San Mames Stadium. He bettered that with a long-range blast that went in off the goal frame in the 18th, and converted a penalty in the 72nd after Diego Mainz was sent off for fouling Aduriz with only the goalkeeper to beat. Stan Smith Baratas Rebajas . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. http://www.stansmithbaratas.es/ .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Stan Smith Baratas . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. Stan Smith España Baratas . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. MINNEAPOLIS -- When the season began, the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings were expected to be among the top teams in the NFC.The two teams had Super Bowl aspirations with talented rosters coming off last years playoff appearances. Minnesota started the year 5-0, while Arizona was 1/3 a month into the season.Since their undefeated start, the Vikings have lost four games in a row. The Cardinals (4-4-1) have used two wins against the San Francisco 49ers to jumpstart the second half of the season.Despite the differing paths, there is still a road to playoff contention as they meet Sunday in Minnesota.Weve been fortunate with some of the other things that have happened in the league that were still in a good place, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. We can go out and win. I know everybody thinks Im crazy, but my goal is to win the division. So, go out and get some wins and get going again. Thats all.The last two ball games have been (close and), honestly, could go either way. We didnt win them, so we just need to get a couple of these either-way games and win. Thats kind of what happened at the beginning of the season. So, its a seven-game season now.Minnesota is tied for the NFC North lead with the Detroit Lions at 5-4. Arizona is two games behind Seattle in the NFC West but still in prime wild-card position.Both teams have dealt with plenty of injuries, which will also impact Sundays game.The Vikings lost left tackle Jake Long for the rest of the season when he injured his Achilles in last weeks 26-20 loss at Washington. Long, signed as a street free agent in October, had already been an injury replacement at left tackle after starter Matt Kalil was lost after two games.Zimmer hasnt revealed his plans for his battered offensive line on Sunday. Jeremiah Sirles could join the starting lineup. Minnesota, which has also lost right tackle Andre Smith for the season, has T.J. Clemmings at the other tackle.Weve definitely been a little bit unfortunate as far as some of the injuries that weve had up front, quarterback Sam Bradford said. But like weve done in the past, we just have to keep moving forward. Obviously, Sirles and T.J., they started a couple of games together so we feel confident in them because theyve been out there, theyve done it before. Theyve played a lot of football. As bad as this is to continue to lose guys youve just got to try to stay positive and just keep moving forward.Arizonas injuries have hit hardest in thhe secondary.ddddddddddddSafety Deone Bucannon missed Wednesdays practice with an ankle injury. Defensive back Tyrann Mathieu was limited in Wednesdays practice with a shoulder injury. Mathieu missed last weeks game with the injury. Both are questionable for the game.My shoulder feels fine, its stable for the moment, Mathieu told the Arizona Republic. Ill continue to put it to work during practice and see where Im at, at the end of the week.Cardinals coach Bruce Arians and Zimmer know each other well dating back to their time as coordinators in the AFC North. Arians was the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator facing Zimmers defenses for the Cincinnati Bengals.Ive always respected Zim as one of the most sound, aggressive defensive coaches that Ive ever gone against ... They dont beat themselves, Arians said via conference call. I think our defense, our defensive line is playing at a very high level right now. I think both offensive lines have their work cut out for them.Arizona owns the leagues second-ranked defense in terms of yardage, one spot ahead of Zimmers Minnesota crew. The Cardinals are allowing 295.2 yards per game compared to the Vikings 308.8 yards per game. But Minnesota is giving a league-low 16.9 points per game. Arizona is tied for third, giving up 17.8 points per game.I think this is going to be one of our biggest challenges of the year, Bradford said. Probably the best group that weve faced. So, I think its important that we have a great week of practice and get ourselves ready to go.Both teams also made significant special teams changes this week. The Cardinals brought back punter Drew Butler after Ryan Quigley didnt prove to be an upgrade the past six games. Quigley had the leagues lowest qualifying gross punting average at 41.6 yards per punt.Minnesota parted with embattled kicker Blair Walsh and signed Kai Forbath. Walsh had only made 75 percent of his field-goal attempts and hit just 78.9 percent of his extra-point attempts.It was just something we felt like we needed to do, kind of move forward, Zimmer said. Were all accountable for the things we have to get done, and I think we gave him a lot of opportunities. Although, Blairs a great kid, and it was hard to do. Its just part of the business.Business this week, for both teams, will be trying to stay in the playoff race. ' ' '