Clippers overcome several hurdles to enter All-Star break with win over Warriors
Lue's ejection opens door for Clippers to 'win one for The Gipper.'
Tyronn Lue had never been ejected as head coach of the LA Clippers.
Not once in 312 games.
The 313rd was different.
Trailing by nine with 9:36 to play in the fourth quarter, Lue was ejected after receiving his second technical foul. His first one came 42 seconds earlier when he was perplexed why officials weren’t reviewing a foul by Golden State’s Draymond Green for a potentially hostile act when Green appeared to wind up before making contact with Clippers backup center Mason Plumlee’s arms.
But it was the second indignation from Lue that drew the ire of the officiating crew as Lue appeared to ask why they were reviewing Plumlee’s foul on Warriors rookie Brandin Podziemski when they didn’t do the same just 42 seconds earlier.
That was enough to give Lue the boot. But Lue wasn’t done.
Lue approached referee Scott Twardoski, who had issued Lue both technical fouls, following the ejection and let the 13-year vet hear it before Lue left the floor.
“There was a lot of emotions and just some frustrations,” Clippers associate head coach Dan Craig said following the win. “But we got [Tyronn Lue]’s back.”
Due to it being Lue’s first ejection, it was also Craig’s first time taking over mid-game for the Clippers (36-17).
“I don’t think he’s ever been thrown out of a game, not just with the Clippers. Again, it was a collective effort, just team-wise and I thought the guys really rallied around each other and really just wanted to get this win.”
The Clippers looked second-best all evening against a Warriors team that was splashing home 3s thanks to Stephen Curry’s greatness and Brandin Podziemski’s streakiness.
That was after the Clippers came into the night already missing Kawhi Leonard due to a left adductor strain. It turned out to be Leonard’s fifth missed game of the season.
Life got tougher sans Lue, but it also proved to be the spark that the Clippers needed.
The Clippers ended the game on a 36-22 run following Lue’s dismissal to snatch a 130-125 victory and pluck the season-series by a 3-1 tally against Golden State.
Even the run wasn’t without some trepidation.
Paul George fouled out with the Clippers leading by one with three minutes to go. Yet the Clippers chugged along with a group that included James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Amir Coffey, Norman Powell, and Ivica Zubac. They did more than just tread water; they stretched the lead.
Powell scored 12 of his 21 in the fourth quarter, all on 3s. Coffey scored seven in the frame, Westbrook added 10. Zubac supplied rim protection, rebounding, and short-roll passing. Harden was the straw stirring the drink, facilitating as Golden State repeatedly blitzed the bearded savant time and time again.
Harden finished with a team-high 26 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. The Clippers outscored the Warriors by 13 in Harden’s 40 minutes.
“We brought it in, in the timeout, we had I think nine and a half minutes left and I thought the guys did a great job just being locked in and focused,” said Craig. “Defensively first, their mindset, trying to get stops and then limiting them to one shot. Then offensively, I thought they did a great job of just getting organized early in the clock and getting to a trigger so we could get [Golden State] in rotations.”
Prior to fouling out, Paul George had accumulated 24 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Four of the five Clippers starters finished the evening in double-figures. In total, six Clippers scored at least 10 points while eight of the nine who played finished with at least eight points.
The team entered the fourth trailing by 11 after Terance Mann knocked home a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to end the third. Through the third, the Clippers were shooting 46.3 percent, nearly right in line with Golden State’s 46.8 percent. However, the Warriors were 14-for-37 on 3s while the Clippers were a paltry 8-for-30.
That would slightly change in the fourth as the Clippers made five of their eight attempts, with Norman Powell knocking home four of them. Amir Coffey, who started in place of the injured Kawhi Leonard, drilled a corner triple with 1:23 left that nudged the Clippers in front by seven. It felt like the killing blow.
Stephen Curry finished with a game-high 41 points as he knocked down nine 3s, his fourth time reaching that mark against the Clippers. However, the Clippers are now 2-2 all-time when Curry accomplishes the feat.
Brandin Podziemski had career highs in points (25) and 3s (five) as the rookie delivered 32 stellar minutes off the bench. But outside of those two, that was practically it for the Warriors (26-26).
Klay Thompson tallied 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting but had a questionable late-game foul on Russell Westbrook that allowed the Clippers to begin to ice the victory from the line. Andrew Wiggins had 10 points on 10 shots while Jonathan Kuminga scored 13 points on 13 field goal attempts.
Outside of his usual antics, Draymond Green didn’t provide all that much — nine points in 31 minutes but needed 12 shots to do so.
The Warriors ended the night with 103 field goal attempts, 15 more than the Clippers’ 88.
The Clippers now enter the All-Star break third in the Western Conference, trailing the Minnesota Timberwolves (38-16) by 1½ games. That could trim down to a scant one should Minnesota lose on the road to the Portland Trail Blazers (15-38) on Thursday, but don’t bet on it.
Still, this was a monumental win for a Clippers team that had sputtered a bit since returning home following their 6-1 Grammy Trip. Home losses to New Orleans and Minnesota sandwiched a closer-than-expected victory over Detroit.
Had the Clippers not managed to turn things around on Wednesday night in San Francisco, a real sour taste would have likely developed in their mouths as they prepared to take the next week off.
Instead, the Clippers are in the thick of things; hanging around, living life, succeeding in spicy situations.
Even one where their head coach got ejected for the first time.
This really is a season of firsts for the Clippers: first time Lue was ejected, first wins for Lue in Utah and New Orleans, most wins on a Grammy Trip, first time being first-place in the West in February, etc.
Maybe a title could join that. We’ll find out after the break.