LOS ANGELES -- Hack-a-Jordan. Deck-a-DeAndre. Jab-a-D.J.

Call it what you want, but the intentional fouling of DeAndre Jordan reached a new low on Monday as the Los Angeles Clippers center was sent to the free throw line a career-high 28 times, 14 in the fourth quarter alone. That was partly due to the fact that he made only 10 of those attempts.

"I dropped out of college," Jordan said, "but percentage-wise I don't think that's good."

Despite his struggles at the free throw line, Jordan scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, just two boards shy of his third straight 20-20 game as the Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs 119-115, winning their third straight game against a Western Conference playoff team without Blake Griffin.

The story after the game, however, was Jordan's constant trips to the free throw line and a strategy that dragged the game on for almost three hours. It is nothing new for Jordan, who has now been sent to the free throw line 54 times over the past two games. In a season where Jordan's stats are often compared to Wilt Chamberlain's, he now has another one. The last player with consecutive games of 25 or more free throw attempts was Chamberlain in 1961.

"54?!" Jordan said when told the number of his attempts. "I don't want to know how many I made. We won though."

Jordan is having a career season, averaging 10.7 points and 13.8 rebounds per game with averages of 24 points and 21.6 rebounds over the past three games against the Mavericks, Rockets and Spurs without Griffin in the lineup. But Jordan is still shooting 41.4 percent from the free throw line, and until that percentage improves, he still will be faced with the prospect of getting intentionally fouled over and over again.

"It's something that teams are going to use as a strategy to slow us down, and I guess get me mentally frustrated," Jordan said. "Over the years it's become something I've gotten used to. As long as we're getting stops or I'm making them it really doesn't matter."

It hasn't mattered over the past three games, all victories, but it could matter if they see the Spurs in a playoff series and Jordan is forced to the bench because he can't make free throws down the stretch.

"It's part of basketball," Tim Duncan said. "Unless it gets outlawed, it's part of basketball. If [Jordan] starts shooting better, people will stop doing it but until then, it's basketball strategy. It worked for us. It gave us an opportunity. Unfortunately in those times we couldn't sustain our offense enough."

It's not a new strategy and certainly not new to the Spurs, who often used it against Shaquille O'Neal when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It is a rule," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I hate it. I hate doing it, but it's a rule. Free throws are part of the game. It is a whole lot better than chasing Chris Paul around all day."

There was a moment in the fourth quarter after Jordan was fouled by Aron Baynes where he clenched his fists and looked as if he had enough of the tactic. But he smiled about it after the game.

"I'm big and I have feelings too," Jordan said. "It hurts a little bit."

When Paul missed 20 games last season and the Clippers kept their playoff positioning, Griffin came into his own and catapulted himself into third in the MVP voting behind Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Although Jordan won't get any MVP votes, if he continues playing like this in Griffin's absence he will be viewed more like the star his teammates and coaches have been saying he is.

"I tell people all the time that he is one of the most underappreciated people in the league," Paul said. "I think the biggest thing when we talked at halftime, I told him, 'We have been together for four years now and that fouling thing is a sign of respect.' It is one of the only ways you can stop him, or try. He did not let that faze him. He kept rebounding, he kept playing. He is unbelievable."

After the game, Jordan held court in the news conference room, which is something he rarely did last season, leaving that up to Paul and Griffin. He was self-deprecating about his struggles at the free throw line when he would have refused to talk about them last season.

After being billed as part of a "Big Three" with Paul and Griffin for the past three seasons, Jordan is finally living up to that role on and off the court. The only thing he's missing now is the commercials his teammates have.

"No," Jordan said when asked about getting endorsement calls during his current run. "My grandma gave me a big, tall Coca-Cola when I was at home. That was about it. She said, 'You're playing great. Take this Coke.' I was like, 'All right. Cool.' It was hot though. It wasn't a fridge Coke; it was a in-the-cabinet Coke. That's about it. But absolutely I'd be open [to endorsements]. Why not? I think I have a pretty good personality."