Escape in L.A.: Clippers Survive High-Scoring Affair
Nearly 260 points were scored on Monday night as the Clippers held off the Blazers.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — James Harden’s left hand came chopping through the Crypto.com Arena air like an assassin subduing a target.
The guard, like he had done most of the night, displayed hands fast enough to create just enough havoc for anyone who dared attack him. The ball ricocheted off of Portland guard Anfernee Simons but was initially ruled to be Trail Blazers ball, prompting Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to challenge the call.
In the end, Lue won the challenge, and the LA Clippers were able to see out a high-scoring affair, securing a 132-127 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in the process and moving to 12-10 on the season. Portland dropped to 6-16.
Statistically, Harden registered just one steal on the night but was a key figure in deflecting passes and repeatedly smacking the ball out of the hands of would-be ball-handlers.
Harden finished the night with 20 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, and one official steal. On the night, Harden forced at least three Portland turnovers that didn’t count as steals or turnovers directly credited to himself.
Before the defensive play to close the game out, the Clippers had struggled on offense as they experienced a five-minute stretch where they made just one shot. However, that one basket came at a crucial juncture.
As the Clippers nursed a one-point lead with 30 seconds to play, Paul George slithered through the paint like a snake locked in on its prey. The shifty wing left defenders in his wake as he maneuvered his way to the rim before craftily finishing with a left-handed layup, pushing the Clippers in front of Portland by three late in the game. The Clippers had missed their eight prior field goal attempts.
All in all, the Clippers tallied 66 paint points on the night.
“Our mindset, like the last 10 games, I think we are No. 1 as far as attacking the paint, getting to the rim, I think,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after the game.
“But that’s our mindset. When we get into the paint, we know we can get to the free throw line, we can get baskets or we can spray out for 3s. And so tonight getting up 34 3s, just attacking the basket, getting to the rim, and then I think in that second half we might have had, I think we had 19 free throws. So, just doing a good job of just getting to the paint.”
Kawhi Leonard led the way offensively for the Clippers in this one, building off his 41-point outing in Utah on Friday night to score 34 points on Monday, including 25 in the second half as he made 11 of his 19 field goal attempts overall.
Leonard added six rebounds, five assists, and three steals in his 39 minutes.
“Just in a good rhythm,” Leonard answered postgame when asked how comfortable he’s become lately within the offense. “My team’s in a good rhythm. I think we won the last three or four games. That’s all I care about. You guys see the big numbers. I think I’ve been shooting the ball pretty well throughout the season, but yeah, tonight the ball found me and [I] made shots.”
George’s late acrobatic layup put a bow on his 20-point night, the veteran’s fourth straight game of at least 20 points. George also led the team in rebounds and assists, notching eight apiece in his 41 minutes.
The workloads of both George and Leonard have been talking points as the duo has now played in all 22 games this season, logging 608 minutes together already this season after 996 last season.
“We just got to win games until we figure it out and at some point, their minutes will go down,” said Lue postgame about the minutes for his two stars.
“But right now we need every bit of it,” Lue continued. “And so they're doing a lot, like you said, just gutting it out, playing back-to-backs, playing a lot of minutes, but we need it. We need it right now until we continue to keep getting better, continue to keep figuring it out on both ends of the ball, continue to figure out our rotations and so like I said, it’s huge for those guys to be healthy and be able to play extended minutes because we need them to do it, so I thank them for that.”
The Clippers have now won four in a row for the first time this season and are building on some good habits. They finished with 33 assists to just nine turnovers on the night, their third game of at least 30 assists and fewer than 12 turnovers this season. The Clippers had four such games last season.
Ivica Zubac added 18 points, scoring 14 of those in the first quarter as he equaled a career-high for a single frame. Zubac also registered six rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in his 33 minutes.
“We found him for some easy layups,” Leonard said about Zubac following the win. “The other team, [center] was stepping up or whoever was guarding him, and we were able to feed him down low and he was able to make the baskets and yeah, I mean, it helped us out.”
Norman Powell scored 16 points off the bench in 25 minutes while Russell Westbrook added 12 points, six assists, and two rebounds in his 16 minutes of action. Daniel Theis had three points in 14 minutes. Rookie Kobe Brown saw five minutes in the first half but didn't play in the final two quarters as Lue shortened his rotation to eight players in the second half.
The Clippers survived a 3-point barrage by the Blazers in the third quarter as Portland’s young group went a blistering 10-for-16 on 3s in that frame alone. Somehow, L.A. managed to win the quarter and took a six-point lead into the fourth before holding on for the win.
On Tuesday night, the Clippers will welcome the Sacramento Kings (13-8) to Los Angeles as both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back. The Clippers defeated the Kings in Sacramento on Nov. 29.
A win on Tuesday guarantees the Clippers no worse than a split of their season series against the Kings.