Without Leonard and George, Clippers no match for Bucks
The odds of the Clippers beating the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday without two of their All-Stars were slim, if any. No Kawhi Leonard. No Paul George, and no Russell Westbrook, for that matter.
And the chances were even lower considering Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard were healthy and playing like superstars.
But the Clippers did have James Harden and Ivica Zubac.
And P.J. Tucker.
While Tucker, who has spent most of the season on the bench, and the other fill-ins put up a fight, it wasn't enough to combat the Bucks' top duo.
Antetokounmpo and Lillard combined for 69 points to lead the Bucks to their second victory against the Clippers in a week, this time winning 124-117 at Crypto.com Arena.
The two Milwaukee AllStars broke open a close game, accounting for all but two of the Bucks' points inside the final three minutes that all but put aside any thought of a victory for the Clippers (41-22).
Antetokounmpo finished with 34 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists, while Lillard had a gamehigh 35 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists. Lillard had scored 41 points a week ago against the Clippers.
“Those two guys, I mean, they're great players and we understand that,” Coach Tyronn Lue said. “And they had a good game. I thought Dame set the tone early, scoring the basketball, a couple 3's and then took over the game late.
“And once he got going, it was hard to stop. We tried to blitz. We tried to fire, tried to do some different things, but he had to go in and he made some big shots.”
The short-handed Clippers did what they could do, and that was relying on Norman Powell, who scored a season-high 26 points and Zubac's 18 points and six rebounds. Terance Mann and Amir Coffey both finished with
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Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks, right, drives against the Clippers' Bones Hyland during Sunday's game.
Online: Coach Tyronn Lue says P.J. Tucker brought toughness to the Clippers in his first start of the season. OCREGISTER.COM
16 points, while Harden posted 13 points and 11 assists.
With Leonard and George sitting out the game, Tucker got his first start — and the most minutes — of the season. He finished with seven points, six rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes.
Tucker was a semi-logical choice to start in place of Leonard given his history with Antetokounmpo. The two were teammates on the Bucks' 2021 NBA championship team. After one season in Milwaukee, Tucker signed with the Miami Heat.
This season, he joined the Clippers as part of the trade with the Philadelphia 76ers that brought James Harden to Los Angeles. But shortly after arriving he was relegated to the bench and ultimately demanded a trade until recently when Lue began inserting him into the lineup.
On Sunday, he started and scored his first basket since Nov. 14, 2023, when he put up a layup that gave the Clippers a 27-26 lead early in the opening quarter. In the following quarter, he buried a 3-pointer.
The Clippers, who have focused lately on improving their transition defense, held the Bucks to just four fast-break points in the first half. Their defense broke down in the third quarter as the Bucks
scored 10 fastbreak points over the first eight minutes, giving the Bucks an 85-80 lead.
The Bucks continued to push the Clippers as they stretched their lead to seven, 90-83 late in the third. Brandon Boston Jr. then dunked on Antetokounmpo, earning a technical foul for celebrating the shot. The Bucks Malik Beasley made the foul shot, and the Bucks took a 91-85 lead into the fourth.
The Bucks continued to pressure the Clippers and added to their lead with a quick basket to start the fourth. The Clippers, however, tied the game on Tucker's layup at the 10:02 mark, capping a 5-0 run.
The Bucks regained a five-point lead, 103-98, when Antetokounmpo went around Zubac for a layup, followed by Lillard's fifth 3-pointer. The Bucks guard had four 3's in the first half.
The Clippers ended a tight first half with a flourish, outscoring the Bucks 9-3 in the final two minutes for a 62-59 lead.
Lue said before the game that the Clippers couldn't allow the Bucks to get to the line as freely as they did when the teams met a week ago when Milwaukee made 28 trips to the line and made 24 of their foul shots.
The Bucks still got to the line 27 times, but made just 21, missing 3 of 6 down the stretch in the first half. They outscored the Clippers 21-9 at the free-throw line.
While Leonard and George sat, others picked
SUMMARY
Milwaukee Min
G.Anttknmpo 38:37 12-2410-15 0-7 10 3 34 Crowder 19:23 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 3 7 Lopez 31:12 2-4 2-2 2-6 1 2 7 Beasley 38:40 6-11 1-1 0-4 1 0 17 Lillard 38:01 11-19 6-7 1-7 11 1 35 Connaughtn 26:14 1-5 2-2 0-3 2 0 5 Portis 25:53 5-14 0-0 3-8 1 1 11 Beverley 15:33 2-4 0-0 0-4 1 5 5 Gallinari 6:27 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
Totals 240:00 43-87 21-27 7-41 28 15 124
Percentages: Goals:
FG .494, FT .778;
17-38, .447 (Lillard 7-13, Beasley 4-9, Gallinari 1-1, Beverley 1-2, Crowder 1-2, Lopez 1-2, Portis 1-2, Connaughton 1-5, G.Antetokounmpo 0-2);
7; None;
6 (Lopez 2, Beverley, Connaughton, Crowder, G.Antetokounmpo);
7 (G.Antetokounmpo 3,
Lillard 2, Beasley, Lopez); 5 (Beverley 2, Connaughton, Crowder, G.Antetokounmpo); coach Doc Rivers, 1:16 second.
Rebounds: Team Turnovers: Blocked Shots:
Turnovers:
Clippers
Coffey Tucker Zubac Harden Mann Powell Hyland Boston Jr. Theis Plumlee
Totals 240:00 47-104 9-10 17-52 30 23 117
Percentages: Goals:
FG .452, FT .900;
14-47, .298 (Coffey 4-6, Powell 3-14, Hyland 2-5, Mann 2-6, Boston Jr. 1-3, Harden 1-6, Tucker 1-6, Theis 0-1);
8;
Team Rebounds: Team Turnovers:
Blocked Shots:
None; 9 (Boston Jr. 2, Mann 2, Theis 2, Coffey, Tucker, Zubac); 10 (Harden 5, Coffey, Plumlee, Powell, Tucker, Zubac); 3 (Hyland, Powell, Zubac);
Boston Jr., 00:41 third.
Fouls:
Technical Fouls:
6-11 3-9 9-11 5-16 6-10 9-21 5-12 2-9 1-2 1-3
Turnovers:
Milwaukee Clippers
A:
Min
30:10 25:30 26:11 36:26 30:02 31:09 21:03 17:58 14:34
6:57
29 30 32 33 — 124 33 29 23 32 — 117
19,370 (18,997);
FG FT Reb A PF Pts
FG
T:
FT Reb A PF Pts
0-0 1-10 4 4 16 0-0 4-6 2 0 7 0-0 3-6 1 5 18 2-2 3-5 11 4 13 2-2 2-2 1 2 16 5-6 0-7 2 2 26 0-0 0-2 5 2 12 0-0 2-5 1 2 5 0-0 1-6 0 2 2 0-0 1-3 3 0 2
2:19.
3-Point
Team
Steals:
3-Point
Steals: Technical
up the load. Amir Coffey, Zubac and Harden all were in double figures before halftime, giving the Clippers a boost heading into the second half.
The absence of the two stars gave players, such as Bones Hyland and Brandon Boston Jr., a chance to shine. Hyland finished with 12 points, continuing a string of strong showings since replacing Russell Westbrook, and Boston had five points, including a monster dunk over Antetokounmpo with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. He earned a technical for his exuberant reaction to his dunk.
“Yeah, just seeing our young guys getting opportunities – like you said, Bones and Brandon playing well, P.J. starting, bringing that physicality,” Lue said. “I thought (Tucker) played well as well.
“Just getting different looks and just seeing different players as we go into the playoffs. and seeing our young guys get on the floor and get a chance to play in a big game like this, and hopefully we can build from that.”