George's Shot, Star Trio Lifts Clippers to Redemption Against Warriors
The Clippers led for only 8.9 seconds. Turns out, that was enough.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — An old racing adage came into play on Saturday afternoon: You don’t need to lead every lap; you only need to lead the last one.
The LA Clippers (9-10), like a cagey driver trying to make up for lost time in the pits, zoomed past the Golden State Warriors (9-11) at the finish line thanks to Paul George’s clutch 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds remaining.
For the first 47 minutes and 51.1 seconds, it appeared like the Clippers were going to sputter to the end of their race. And then they nipped the Warriors, 113-112.
Such is the beauty of this game.
The Clippers rallied from a 22-point third-quarter deficit thanks to the trio of George, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, but also due to a lineup change that saw guard Norman Powell start in place of Terance Mann in that third quarter.
“Just [to] get a little bit more spacing,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue following the game when asked for his reasoning to go with Powell over Mann to start the second half.
“I think if teams are going to overhelp, having an extra shooter on the floor I thought would be good and be beneficial, which it was. T-Mann, like I said, we got belief he can knock down shots, and just tonight he didn’t have it going from three and so [we] decided to go with Norm in that second half. [If] Draymond (Green) and those guys want to overhelp, then we have extra shooters on the floor. And so it worked to our favor tonight in the second half.”
That lineup with Powell in place of Mann outscored Golden State by 10 points in their nearly nine minutes together, turning a 19-point halftime deficit into only a nine-point game with roughly three minutes to go in the third quarter.
Powell finished the game with 12 points on 12 shots, making five of them. He also added one offensive rebound. At one point, Powell played 26 consecutive minutes — the final two minutes of the first quarter, the entire second quarter, and the entire third quarter. But it was the spacing he provided that allowed the trio of stars to shine.
Paul George scored 19 of his 25 in the second half, including 11 in the fourth. George added six rebounds and six assists for the game in his 35 minutes of action.
“I felt confident with the ball in my hand,” George remarked about his final shot when meeting with reporters after the game. “There was only one of two options — either I can make it or I can miss it. It’s just how you gotta look at it. No fear in being in that moment.”
That moment was a big one. It allowed the Clippers to get some semblance of redemption following Thursday’s loss at Golden State where a weary Clippers team looked like a squad that was at the final stages of a five-games in seven-nights stretch.
However, Saturday was a different feel, especially in the second half as the three stars carried the load.
Harden tallied 21 points, with 15 of them coming in the third quarter alone. He also registered nine assists and five rebounds in his 35 minutes, but it was the way Harden went about his work that was noticeable, especially with an interesting rotation decision coming down from Lue.
The superstar guard usually plays the bulk of the first quarter. However, on Saturday things changed. Instead of letting Harden play out his usual rotation, Lue opted to sub Harden out after roughly six minutes, deciding to put Harden back in with the bench unit where he could take advantage of second-string guards and get to the paint. That’s exactly what Harden did.
“I think just letting James be James,” Lue noted postgame about Harden’s time with the second unit.
“Having the ball in his hands, creating on the pick-and-roll like he always does, putting shooters around him, putting a roller around him and just letting him play. We’ve been struggling at the start of those second quarters a lot lately, so it’s going to take some time, but I did like it. And then we gave James his own unit for a while and then brought PG in probably, I think, two or three minutes into that second quarter.”
Harden took 14 shots on Saturday. Five of them were directly at the rim, which tied his season-high that he had against Denver back on Nov. 14. The left-handed future Hall of Famer made all five of them, his most in a game this season, while also drawing five free throws.
Not to be outdone, Leonard poured in eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. The forward made all four of his attempts from the field in the frame. Quite importantly, each of the four baskets that Leonard made in the quarter brought the Clippers within one possession of the Warriors.
Leonard also finished with eight rebounds, seven assists, and one steal in 39 minutes. It’s the third time this season Leonard has played that many minutes in a game.
Center Daniel Theis added 12 points in 22 minutes off the bench while Ivica Zubac also had 12 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes. Terance Mann had three points, two rebounds, and two assists. Russell Westbrook added eight points, six rebounds, and two assists in 19 minutes, with his biggest contributions of the night being a key rebound to kickstart the team’s final offensive possession and a closeout to contest Draymond Green’s potential game-winning 3-pointer on the team’s final defensive possession.
A lot has been made of the Clippers’ struggles, and rightfully so. A team with all this talent is a mere 9-10 after Saturday’s win, but it hasn’t disillusioned Lue one bit.
When asked postgame if this experience has been harder than expected, Lue chortled before taking time to give his answer.
“It’s been pretty hard,” Lue said. “It’s been pretty hard, but I’m built for it. I’m built for it and like I said, I love this team. I love our roster. [President of basketball operations] Lawrence (Frank) and those guys have done a great job of just constructing a team like this, and now it’s my job to figure it out as well as our four guys just figuring it out as well.”
Stephen Curry led Golden State with 22 points and 11 assists but was just 1-for-10 in the second half. Draymond Green hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter before finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Moses Moody started for the injured Andrew Wiggins and also chipped in with 21. Klay Thompson had 17.
The Clippers now get a few days off before once again having to play against the Denver Nuggets (14-7) in Los Angeles. The Clippers have already lost the first two meetings with Denver this season, including a disappointing home loss less than a week ago against a depleted Nuggets squad.
Considering the Clippers were able to get a bit of redemption and retribution against Golden State on Saturday, perhaps Wednesday’s matchup with Denver will offer something similar. Maybe. You never know.
But while it has been hard for Lue and the Clippers, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The talent is there. They just need to put it together.
8.9 seconds at a time.