Goran Dragic sent home from Heat road trip with calf injury

Jordan’s averaging 11.6 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game this year, and his consecutive games played streak was the second-longest in Clippers franchise behind only Randy Smith, who played in 595 straight games.

Los Angeles Clippers’ Cole Aldrich, left, dunks past Miami Heat’s Justise Winslow during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, in Los Angeles.

Jordan last missed a game on March 23, 2011, after being diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia.

Head coach Doc Rivers said Jordan’s felt sick the last few days, spending time at the hospital.

Los Angeles led 79-69 heading into the final period after they out-scored the Heat 34-17 in the third.

The Clippers were down 25-17 after one quarter, during which they shot just 32 percent, 12.5 percent (1 of 8) from 3-point range.

In addition to Aldrich, four other Clippers scored in double figures with Pierce, Paul and Jamal Crawford all finishing with 15.

After the starters departed with a sizable lead, back-up guard Pablo Prigioni terrorized the Miami backcourt, picking up a career-best eight steals. “He’s a crafty, veteran player”, said Rivers, who holds the Clippers single-game record of nine. He shot 7 of 14 and also had three assists and a steal. 500 and on pace for 54 wins, the Clippers are in fourth place in a top-heavy Western Conference and trail the team that took Miami down on Monday, the Golden State Warriors, by 11-games for the top seed. “I was lucky on some of them, so nothing more I can say about that”. They’ve moved 41/2 games ahead of the Mavericks in their effort to have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and they have every intention of looking up, not down and behind them.

“The screens that he sets with J.J.to get open, the times that he rolls and they have to tag and it gets guys open shots and stuff like that”, Paul said. “We’ve got to keep getting better and better and eventually, at the end of the year, end first. We texted back and forth, ‘I’m going to play, I’m going to make it, I’ll be there, ‘ and then finally the last text was, ‘I can’t make it'”.

The Clippers notched up the defensive intensity in the second half as they forced Miami into six turnovers in the third quarter alone. Wade would running with a second unit of Gerald Green, Justise Winslow, a healthy Josh McRoberts, and either Bosh or Whiteside rotating between the first five and second unit would provide the Heat with a lot better spacing and potentially offense on both fronts.

“We’re communicating really well”, he said.

One way to fix this issue would be to use Wade as a sixth man and start Tyler Johnson in his stead.

Aldrich agreed, but also praised Chris Paul’s veteran leadership while Griffin has been out. “I thought that even the thought of it was ludicrous – but not him. Offensively, we’ve had some guys really step up”, said Aldrich, whose missing tooth and jagged row of stitches above his eyebrow gave him a strong resemblance to a hockey player.

Two greats before the game. “We’ve been saying it for a while – Cole is a guy who just stays ready”.