Clippers, without Leonard, hold on to end skid at home
Not many, if any, coaches would welcome the defending NBA champions, along with their two-time MVP, to their arena. Yet, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue did just that before Thursday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
“Anytime you get a chance to play against the champs, you got to be up for that,” Lue said. “And Joker (Nikola Jokic), who’s a tough cover, is a great player. I love watching him play.”
Lue might not have been feeling the same early on as the Clippers, playing without Kawhi Leonard, struggled to contain the Nuggets and fell behind by 17 points in the first half.
But behind a solid defensive effort in the second half and playing with the kind of energy not seen lately in Crypto.com Arena, they held on for a 102-100 victory, ending a five-game losing streak at home.
But it wasn’t easy.
LOS ANGELES » THE SCORE
CLIPPERS 102, NUGGETS 100
Up next: Jazz at Clippers, today, 7:30p.m., BSSC
After Jokic hit a 3-pointer to come within two, 102100, with 1:46 left in the game, Zubac missed a layup. The Clippers got the ball back when Aaron Gordon lost the ball out of bounds with 33.1 seconds remaining, giving them a shot at padding their lead.
James Harden’s 3-point attempt, however, fell short, giving the ball back to the Nuggets with five seconds left in the game. Jokic then threw up a last-second 3-pointer that fell short as the clock ran out.
The Nuggets began to chip away at an 11-point third-quarter deficit, eventually pulling to within two, 94-92, on a 3-pointer by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 3:51 left to play. Denver further closed the gap, 9897, on free throws by Jokic with 1:46 left.
But the Nuggets (53-24) couldn’t complete the comeback.
Leonard missed his second consecutive game and eighth this season, because of right knee soreness and his status for Friday’s game against the Utah Jazz was yet to be determined.
Sitting Leonard, who has had surgery on the knee in 2021, could be a precautionary move considering Thursday’s game was the start of a five-in-seven run. The AllStar wing has played 68 games this season, the most he’s played since his 2016-17 All-Star season,
While the Clippers missed Leonard’s team-leading 23.7 points per game in Tuesday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, Thursday was a different story.
They had four players in double figures, led by Paul George, who had 28 points and four rebounds. Harden finished with 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds, Russell Westbrook added 12 points and six assists, while Zubac had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
SUMMARY
Denver
Gordon 35:36 5-10 Porter Jr. 37:56 6-18 Jokic 40:06 14-24 Cldwell-Pope37:30 6-13 Jackson 21:30 2-6 Braun 33:53 3-9 Watson 18:14 0-2 Holiday 8:37 0-1 Jordan 4:32 0-0 Strawther 2:04 0-0
Totals 240:00 36-83 17-25 6-51 27 19 100
Percentages: Goals:
8-14 0-0 5-6 0-1 2-2 0-0 2-2 0-0 0-0 0-0
FG .434, FT .680;
11-35, .314 (Caldwell-Pope 4-7, Jokic 3-8, Porter Jr. 2-10, Jackson 1-2, Braun 1-4, Holiday 0-1, Watson 0-1, Gordon 0-2); 13 (Jokic 5, Jackson 2, Porter Jr. 2, Caldwell-Pope, Gordon, Holiday, Watson);
3 (Braun, Caldwell-Pope, Gordon);
coach Michael Malone, 7:54 fourth; coach Michael Malone, 7:54 fourth
Turnovers:
Technical Fouls:
Clippers
George 36:35 10-21 6-8 0-4 2 2 28 Tucker 16:37 0-2 0-0 1-3 1 4 0 Zubac 34:50 4-11 6-6 1-15 1 4 14 Harden 38:16 6-23 6-7 1-6 8 0 20 Mann 18:03 2-6 2-2 1-3 1 3 6 Powell 35:22 4-12 1-2 1-3 3 0 11 Westbrook 23:44 4-9 4-4 1-6 5 1 12 Coffey 23:28 3-5 2-3 0-6 1 1 9 Plumlee 13:05 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 5 2 Brown 0:00 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 240:00 34-90 27-32 7-48 22 20 102
Percentages: Goals:
FG .378, FT .844;
7-33, .212 (George 2-6, Powell
2-7, Harden 2-13, Coffey 1-2, Tucker 0-1, Mann 0-2, Westbrook 0-2); 6 (George 3, Westbrook 2, Harden); 10 (George 3, Mann 2, Coffey, Harden, Powell, Westbrook, Zubac);
Tucker, 1:46 fourth;
(18,997).
Fouls: Denver Clippers
Min
Min
FG
FT Reb A PF Pts
2-6 7 1-9 1 1-17 10 0-4 3 0-2 3 2-8 3 0-2 0 0-2 0 0-0 0 0-1 0
3-Point
Steals:
FG FT Reb A PF Pts
3-Point
Turnovers:
Steals:
Technical A:
19,370 4 18 4 14 2 36 4 16 1 7 2 7 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0