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SALT LAKE CITY -- After spraining his ankle, Chris Paul might have lost some quickness. He compensated with determination. Paul shook off the injury and the teams early sluggishness to score 18 points and extend the Los Angeles Clippers winning streak to 10 with a 96-87 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night. "I knew I had just had to find a way," Paul said. "We already said at halftime, its not going to be pretty every night, but stay the course and find a way to win." Before Paul got hurt, it certainly wasnt pretty and the Clippers struggled. Blake Griffin had 20 points, even though he never got into a comfortable flow. "Its never an easy game coming into a place like this," he said. "You cant relax and walk into a building and think youll just win because of who you are or what you done, or a streak youre on." Los Angeles had its lowest points total during the streak, but the Clippers won this time with defence, forcing 20 turnovers by the Jazz that led to 31 points. "Thats what we kept saying in the huddle, Lets play our defence!" Paul said. "Early in the game, it was like they were just in a rocking chair. They were swinging it and getting everything they wanted." The Jazz led 70-60 in the third quarter, but the Clippers capitalized on a rash of Utah miscues and poor shot selection to go on a 20-2 run. "We locked in. The intensity and the effort was finally there," Griffin said. In the midst of the surge, Paul landed awkwardly after scoring and sprained his left ankle. "It was the freakiest thing ever. I layed it up and no one was around me but when I landed, my left foot was on the stanchion," said Paul, who returned after quickly getting the ankle taped between the third and fourth quarters. The point guard limped up and down the court, but still quarterbacked the Clippers come-from-behind-third quarter burst. He had seven points and three assists in the six-minute run that ended with Will Greens 3-pointer with 10:37 to play that made it 80-72. Griffins inside basket extended the lead to 85-74 before the Jazz made one final surge. Hayward made a 3-pointer that closed the gap to 90-85 with 3:25 remaining, but the Jazz couldnt score again until 24 seconds remained and the game was decided. Trey Burke had 18 points -- his third straight with at least that many -- and Derrick Favours also scored 18, but the Jazz made only seven of 19 fourth-period shots and have dropped eight of nine contests. The Clippers scored an average of 115 points a game in their previous nine, but were sluggish early against Utah. The Jazz led by as many as 13 in the first half as they played with more energy than theyve shown in the past several games. One thrilling sequence exemplified Utahs determination near the end of the half. Jeremy Evans and Gordon Hayward blocked back-to-back fast-break layups by the Clippers and brought the crowd to its feet. "Our biggest area of growth will be maintaining that type of intensity throughout the game and playing that way for 48 minutes," Burke said. The Clippers missed the shooting and playmaking of Jamal Crawford (calf), but turned to their stars, Paul and Griffin, to bring them back and claim their ninth straight against the Jazz. "Chris started being more aggressive," Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said. "I think sometimes he wants to be the point guard, but tonight we needed his scoring." Griffin ranks fourth in the league with more than 28 points per game since Feb. 3 and has now scored at least 20 points in 25 consecutive games, the second-longest current streak in the NBA. But it was defence that turned the tide. "It was definitely a defensive thing," Griffin said. Matt Barnes contributed 15 points and Darren Collison had 14 as the Clippers set a season-high for fast-break points with 31. "Were tough to guard in transition. Blake makes some great decisions," Paul said. Starting in place of injured Marvin Williams (back), Enes Kanter had 11 points and 15 rebounds, but shot just 5 for 17 for the Jazz. "In the second half, they were just aggressive and we couldnt match them," Kanter said. NOTES: In honour of the upcoming St. Patricks Day holiday, the Jazz wore their road green uniforms. The Clippers played in their regular red away attire. ... Collisons layup at the first-half buzzer was disallowed after video review. ... The Jazz fell to 0-12 when Williams is out with injury, while the Clippers are 6-0 without Crawford. ... Paul had seven assists to move into 30th place all-time, passing Mookie Blaylock. 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The four-time world champs lead at 79.MELBOURNE, Australia - Sebastian Vettel has a warning for those already writing off his chances of a fifth-consecutive Formula One title — the season is long and the teams current engine problems wont last. The Red Bull driver has experienced a troubled off-season, with the team severely restricted in its testing because engine supplier Renault suffered a myriad of problems trying to make the sports new six-cylinder turbo hybrid powertrain function in anything approaching a reliable fashion. While Vettel acknowledged that Mercedes will be the team to beat in this weekends season-opening race in Australia — and Red Bull will likely be off the pace in early races — he was adamant another title was within his reach, even if it was not in the imperious style of 2013 when he won the last nine races. "We are not in the best position for this race, but its a different story when you talk about the championship," Vettel said Thursday. Vettel did not have far to look for inspiration about how to overcome early-season difficulties as he was speaking while sitting beside Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, who found himself in a similar predicament in 2012. "Two years back Fernando was on the grid with 1.5 seconds to pole, and very close to beating us for the title at the very last race, so anything can happen," Vettel said. "We are a strong team. We have a lot of good people on board with a lot of strong resources. We should progress as the season goes on." Red Bull was not alone in suffering severe problems in the off-season. While the ongoing troubles are expected to particularly afflict the Renault-powered cars in the early races, all teams will be anxious heading into this Fridays practice sessions. The new computer-controlled engines must balance the poweer supply between the combustion engine, turbo charger, and the battery-stored electric power — the role of which is vastly greater than in previous years.dddddddddddd. Added to that is the need to reduce fuel use by about a third on last year to meet new rules, understand the altered aerodynamics and get used to new tires. Little wonder that F1 officials have relaxed the curfew restricting how many hours engineers and crew can spend in pit lane working on the cars. Some bleak forecasters are even predicting there will not be enough finishers on Sunday to fill the ten points positions, and race director Charlie Whiting on Thursday was asked questions about the contingency plans if no cars are running. Simple answer - the race will be stopped. While such doomsday scenarios are very unlikely, there was a strong possibility of several cars not getting within seven per cent of the pole sitters qualifying time and therefore being excluded from the race. Stewards have always had some discretion to exempt teams from that rule and Whiting said that Melbournes stewards will look upon such scenarios in Melbourne "very sympathetically." The men considered most likely to vie for that that pole-sitting yardstick are the Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg who, in contrast to most drivers, had enjoyed smooth and impressive testing sessions. The Mercedes drivers are old colleagues from their childhood days, and Hamilton said their friendship will not be tarnished if they end up fighting each other for race wins and perhaps even the championship as many expect. "It (the relationship) will be the same at the start as at the end," Hamilton said. "We have been racing together since we were 13. This is a stronger championship but I dont see any issues." ' ' '