Clippers star Kawhi Leonard directs teammates while being guarded by Oklahoma City’s Luguentz Dort during the first half of the Clippers’ 129-107 loss Thursday.
The Clippers had a big chance to show that they belonged at the top of the fiercely contested Western Conference against the Oklahoma City Thunder.Rather, they passed up another chance to prove they could defeat one of the best teams in the NBA.
After the All-Star break, the Clippers lost to the Thunder 129-107 on Thursday night. This was their second straight loss to a club higher in the standings, the first being to the Minnesota Timberwolves 121-100 on February 12.
Oklahoma City (38–17), which saw the match as a barometer against elite teams, won the regular-season matchup between the two teams.
Coach Tyronn Lue of the Clippers stated, “It was a big game as far as just the tiebreaker situation.” But they’ve had excellent play the entire year. We have, I believe, occasionally played incredibly well. There have been occasions when our skill helped us win games.
Thus, as previously stated, I do not believe it to be a barometer game. The keystone game, in my opinion, will be determined by what transpires in the postseason. Therefore, we know that we need to improve greatly, particularly in terms of clearing things up defensively, comprehending coverages, and occasionally improving our schemes. We therefore need to improve on that.
The Clippers made just 29.6% of their shots in the third quarter, and the game slipped away from them. The Thunder defeated the Clippers 35–23 while shooting a scorching 70% from the field and 71.4% from three-point range during the same period. The Thunder’s 13-3 surge to end the quarter placed the Clippers behind by 14 points.
“They just started playing harder and running faster in the third quarter,” said Kawhi Leonard, who led the Clippers with 20 points on nine of his twelve shots. “They got out in transition after we turned the ball over, and they just cooked us up.”
The Clippers (36-18) mounted a final effort in the fourth quarter as their deficit widened to 19 points. However, with 3:53 remaining and the Clippers down 115-99, Lue decided to bench four starters, including James Harden, Paul George, Leonard, and Ivica Zubac, because they had a game in Memphis on Friday night.
“You could still lose the game by cutting it to four or six, and in my opinion, those are wasted minutes,” Lue remarked. Thus, after they scored and led by sixteen points with four and a half, it was as if to sаy, “This is it, so prepare for tomorrow.” We recover well after a game and prepare for Memphis the following day.
The Clippers realised after this game that they needed to strengthen their defence.
All five Thunder starters scored in double figures, with All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way with 31 points.
Oklahoma City shot 55.6% from the field and 48.6% from three-point range thanks to his 12-for-19 and 3-for-6 shooting from three-point range, respectively.
George, who finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, stated, “For the most part, they were in rhythm.” They were impossible to break the rhythm of. However, I felt Shai did a fantastic job of basically going into аttаck mode. Every single one of them was simply in аssаult mode. Furthermore, I doubt we took any action. We didn’t play as well defence of the paint or the three-point line as we should have in the second half.
The Clippers are still in third place in the West, but Denver (37-19) is only a game behind them. They are 2 and a half games behind conference leader Minnesota and 1 and a half games behind second-place Oklahoma.
“It goes without saying that our goal is to end up with the best seed available,” George stated. “But more than anything, I believe, we just need to be playing the right game as the year draws to a close.”