ONE THAT GOT AWAY
The Clippers can’t keep up with Bucks’ big man Antetokounmpo down the stretch
Giannis Antetokounmpo was too, too much for the Clippers on Sunday.
All told, the two-time reigning NBA MVP accounted for 17 of his game-high 36 points in the fourth quarter to lift his Milwaukee Bucks to a 105-100 victory, their biggest win of the season.
The Clippers’ two superstars couldn’t do what he did down the stretch, when Antetokounmpo outscored them and all of their teammates collectively 7-0 in the final 4:01 of play.
While Antetokounmpo turbo’d it through the finish line Sunday, the Clippers’ offense ground to a halt in the showdown between conference powers at Fiserv Forum, for which 1,800 fans were in attendance and a national television audience tuned in on ABC.
“Giannis dominated the last four minutes of the game,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of the Bucks’ famously agile and aggressive 6-foot-11, 240-pound star, who extended his streak of 35-plus point games to four. “He got whatever he wanted.” And the Clippers got nothing at all in those fateful, tentative final four minutes.
The three possessions immediately preceding the drought were promising for L.A.; Kawhi Leonard hit a turnaround fadeaway from 7 feet out, he set up Marcus Morris Sr. (11 points) for a 3-pointer and, finally, Leonard landed a jumper from 13 feet — a sequence that gave the Clippers a 100-96 lead.
But then, as the highlightfilled Giannis Show headed for its climax, the Clippers noshowed.
Paul George — who scored only two of his 16 points in the second half — missed consecutive 3-pointers.
A poor pass from Patrick Beverley led to a layup by the 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo over the 6-0 Beverley at the other end -- a play on which a slow-rotating Nicolas Batum also fouled the Bucks star in the act of shooting. Antetokounmpo made the ensuing free throw (he went 4 for 6 from the line) to trim the lead to 100-99.
Another Batum foul 37 seconds later sent Antetokounmpo back to the line. He made both free throws and gave Milwaukee (21-3) the lead would stand as the Clippers continued to fire blanks in their third game in four days.
George -- who finished 0 for 5 from deep in the final period and made just one of his nine fourth-period attempts from the field -- drove and missed from close range before he missed two more 3-point attempts, though one of them was a 49-foot heave with time running out.
Leonard missed a stepback 3-pointer over Antetokounmpo and another, falling away shot from deep with seven seconds left.
For his part, Antetokounmpo -- who went 6 for 9 in the last stanza, when he also registered three of his four blocks -- capped his scoring with a driving dunk through the Clippers’ defense. The jam gave the Bucks a 103-100 lead and sent him galloping joyfully up the sideline, with a good feel for who the final 10 seconds would belong to.
“I thought more than we should’ve just played with a little more pace,” George said of the Clippers’ late-game stall. “Down that last four minutes we kind of walked the ball up, kind of played a slower offense. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance by the time we got halfcourt … we should’ve just pushed the pace -- that’s on us.”
Like George, Leonard said that wasn’t all Milwaukee’s doing -- as well as the Bucks (21-13) played.
It was, he said, indicative of the Clippers’ ongoing education, a prick of pain that growth entails.
“As a team, I don’t feel like we’re there yet,” Leonard said. “We’re looking to the sideline for plays. I feel like our pace has pretty much slowed down … some teams come down in the flow or pace and know exactly what they’re doing. Those are the teams that usually win. You’re not thinking, you’re just coming down, getting into a set.
“But we’re all learning each other, we’re learning
T-Lue, so it’s just a learning process.
“It’s one of those nights,” Leonard concluded. “You gotta give credit to the Bucks; they closed out the game, they played well.”
Leonard led the Clippers (24-12) with 25 points and nine rebounds. Serge Ibaka -who started the game 2 for 8 -- picked up some of the offensive burden in the third quarter, when he scored 12 of his 15 points and shot 5 for 6.
The Clippers used a 21-7 run that period to more than erase the Bucks’ 11-point lead. Lou Williams (14 points) finished the scoring flourish by popping a 3-pointer over Donte DiVincenzo to extend the lead to 81-77 entering the final quarter, in which L.A. was outscored 28-19.
L.A. native Jrue Holiday returned to action following a bout with the coronavirus, according to ABC’s Lisa Salters, who reported that the guard “felt like he had bricks in his feet” when returned to practice after missing 10 games (a span in which the Bucks lost the first five games before winning the last five contests).
Holiday played 18 minutes Sunday and finished with two points (on 1-for-5 shooting) with three assists.
Khris Middleton added 19 points for Milwaukee, 14 of them coming after halftime.
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