Leonard, Clippers awaken in time, top Nets
Correspondent
Historically, the Clippers haven’t done well playing during daytime hours. Matinee games have proved difficult for them, whatever the reason.
So, predictably Sunday’s 12:30 p.m. game at Crypto. com Arena was disastrous from the beginning, a lackadaisical performance best left in the dark.
By the time it ended, though, the Clippers had pulled out a 125-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in front of a boisterous afternoon crowd.
The early tip off was compounded by a rare three days off, which left the Clippers out of sync and out of touch shooting-wise for the first 36 minutes. Most notably was the lack of scoring early from Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
But after a quiet first three quarters from Leonard, the team’s leading scorer tallied 14 of his 21 points in the final quarter as the Clippers (25-14) closed out their third straight victory with a 22-0 run in the final five minutes.
“In that fourth quarter, we were on a whole other level,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.
George finished with a quiet 12 points and seven rebounds.
Lue hoped the three-day break would serve as a refresher for the veteran-ladened team, enabling it to “get our legs back” and for the players to get treatment for minor ailments that might have lingered after winning 23 of 27 games.
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Regardless, Lue predicted it would be a long day against the Nets, who were coming off a convincing victory against the Lakers two days earlier. They used that momentum to build a 12-point halftime lead, extending it to 18 (10486) in the fourth quarter.
The Clippers, behind James Harden’s strong second half, cut the lead to nine, 106-97, when he made three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt by Nets’ Lonnie Walker IV with 7:58 left in the game. Harden had 14 of his 24 points in the latter half.
Russell Westbrook followed with a steal and a dunk to trim the lead to 106-99.
The Nets responded to every challenge the Clippers threw at them until the final four minutes, holding on to a 113-101 lead with 6:07 left to play. Suddenly, the Clippers offense woke up and went on a 10-1 run to pull within one, 114-113.
Leonard tossed in another basket to take the lead, 115-113, with 2:50 left. After grabbing a rebound, Leonard drove the line but was fouled by Spencer Dinwiddie, sending him to the line for a pair of free throws. He capped his scoring spree with a 3-pointer.
The rest of the team kept going. The late stages were a marked difference from the start.
The Nets jumped out to a 16-0 lead, a painful start for a team looking to further cement their dominance in the league.
Instead, the Clippers played with the energy of quicksand in the first half, going scoreless until Terance Mann buried his first 3-pointer at the 7:28 mark of the first quarter. Mann followed with his second 3
THE SCORE
Up next: to trim the lead, 16-6. Westbrook brought a muchneeded spark to complete an 18-2 run that tied the score, 18-18.
The Nets didn’t blink and twice used 7-0 runs to open a 42-29 lead in the second. From there, the Clippers slipped further behind and trailed 61-49 at the half.