Clippers’ winning streak survived some lapses

Almost quietly, the Clippers have put together a modest winning streak of four consecutive games.

The last two victories came on the road, at Orlando and Miami, but Chris Paul said the Clippers still have much more work to do.

Paul paused when asked how much improvement the Clippers have made over this stretch, finally saying the progress was “somewhat” encouraging.

“But we’ve still got to get better on defense,” Paul said late Friday night.

Friday’s too-close-for-comfort victory over the Miami Heat showed Paul just how much the Clippers’ defense can leak at times.

They blew all but one point of a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter, their offense turning into a less than efficient production.

On defense, the Clippers nearly stopped playing any in the final 12 minutes.

They gave up 29 points in the fourth and saw the Heat make 50% of its shots to make it a game.

“We have won four games in a row, but we still know that we can be a lot better,” Paul said. “I always say that you can win games and still know you need to get better and you can lose sometime and know that you played well. So we still got to be a lot better.”

The Clippers avoided an embarrassing loss when DeAndre Jordan snatched an offensive rebound off a missed Paul free throw with 9.4 seconds left and scored the decisive basket with a put-back using his right hand.

Jordan, who is left-handed, has seen the Clippers blow a game this season when they failed to close out the Brooklyn Nets after building an 18-point lead, losing that game in double overtime.

“We’ve had a couple of games like this throughout the season,” Jordan said. “We’ve just got to tighten it up and finish our games.”

Early on, the Clippers were tight, building an NBA-best 14-2 record.

Since then, they have gone 6-5.

“Yeah, I’m seeing progress,” Jordan said. “Obviously we’re winning, again. But we’ve got to finish out games better. We’ve got to continue to play for 48 minutes and not 3½ quarters or whatever. We’ve just got to put it together and just finish our games. That’s it.”

If nothing else, the Clippers have been a force on the road, owning an 11-3 record away from Staples Center.

Before Saturday night’s games in the NBA, the Clippers were among three teams to have 11 or more wins on the road (the San Antonio Spurs have 14 road wins and the Golden State Warriors have 13).

The Clippers will look to get another road win when they play at the Washington Wizards on Sunday afternoon.

“It can get better,” Blake Griffin said Friday night after he scored a team-high 20 points on nine-for-15 shooting against Miami. “It can always be better. It’s great to get wins in this league, especially on the road. But we can get better. We can sharpen up some things for sure.”

CLIPPERS

AT WASHINGTON

When: Sunday, 12:30 p.m. PST.

Where: Verizon Center.

On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 570, 1330.

Records: Clippers 20-7; Wizards 11-14.

Record vs. Wizards: Clippers 2-0 (2015-16 season).

Update: The Clippers have won three straight against the Wizards and five of the last six. After starting the season losing eight of their first 10 games, the Wizards have gone 9-6. Wizards point guard John Wall is third in the NBA in assists (9.6) and first in steals (2.35) while averaging 24.2 points per game. His backcourt mate, Bradley Beal, averages 22 points per game and center Marcin Gortat is fifth in the league in rebounding (12 per game.).

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter:@BA_Turner