LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers are on the verge of advancing to their first Western Conference Final.

Center DeAndre Jordan scored a playoff-high and career-tying 26 points with 17 rebounds, and the Clippers rolled past the Houston Rockets 128-95 to take a 3-1 edge in their conference playoff semifinal Sunday at Staples Center.

The Clippers can wrap up the series with a win in Game 5 on Tuesday at the Toyota Center in Houston.

"It's a great opportunity, but that's not what our ultimate goal is," said Jordan, adding that an NBA championship is the ultimate for the Clippers. "That's not what we want to achieve, just making it to a conference final. We want to win nine more games."

Forward Blake Griffin added 21 points and eight rebounds, shooting guard J.J. Redick scored 18 and point guard Chris Paul finished with 15 points and 12 assists for Los Angeles, which had six players score in double figures.

"The best part about today's game was how we responded after the half, came out and did such a great job of defending and getting out and getting easy buckets," said Griffin, who connected on seven of nine shots from the floor and seven of eight foul shots.

Guard James Harden led Houston with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Forward Trevor Ariza finished with 18 points, while guard Jason Terry had 16.

"This is the ultimate adversity right now," Harden said. "We've got Game 5 back at the house and it's really win or go home. Our backs are against the wall, and we've got to show up."

Like Game 3, when the Clippers blitzed them in the third quarter and coasted to an easy decision, the Rockets didn't show again after halftime. Los Angeles opened the third with a 21-4 stretch for an 81-58 cushion after back-to-back lobs from Paul for rim-rattling, alley-oop dunks by Jordan midway through the quarter. The Clippers outscored the Rockets 43-25 in the quarter for a 103-79 lead heading into the final period.

"I expect a good fight," Griffin said of his expectations of the Rockets in Game 5. "I expect an intense game."

The Clippers led 60-54 at the break in a half dictated by the Rockets intentionally sending Jordan to the foul line. They started their strategy less than four minutes into the contest and continued it until the final seconds before intermission.

Jordan made only 10 of 28 free throws -- an NBA record for attempts -- in the first half and finished 14 of 34 from the foul line. Jordan broke his own franchise mark of 17 attempts in a game, recorded in last year's first-round series against the Golden State Warriors.

"I was just trying to make as many as I could for our team, and on the other end just try to get us as many stops as I could in a row," said Jordan, who made six of seven field goals. "Every time that we've gotten the lead and went on a run, we were able to get stops and limit those guys to one shot and get out and run and do what we want to do, and we were able to convert."

Overall, the Clippers were 37 of 63 (58.7 percent) on foul shots to 15 of 30 (50 percent) for Houston.

Rockets center Dwight Howard, plagued by foul trouble, had seven points and six rebounds in 18 minutes before fouling out and receiving his second technical with 9:52 left.

"It's frustrating. I get emotional when I'm playing in the playoffs and I want to win so bad," said Howard, who hit just three of seven shots from the floor and one of six free throws. "It's frustrating at times, but I just have to try my best to keep my cool."

NOTES: Rockets coach Kevin McHale said before the game his club needed to improve on defense and move the ball more on offense to experience success. "They got out early and were running on us," McHale said of the Clippers' Game 3 win. "We have to do better in transition to get in front of guys because the last game, they did a great job of pushing with (G Austin) Rivers." ... Lost in the Game 3 performance of Rivers, who had a playoff-best 25 points, were the key contributions of F Spencer Hawes, who came off the bench and produced two points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 11 minutes. ... Game 6, if necessary, would be Thursday at Staples Center.