Clippers dominate late to defeat Sacramento Kings
Having watched his team give up at least 122 points in eight consecutive games, Sacramento coach Luke Walton set a small goal for his team before tipoff inside Staples Center.
“I’ll settle for anything under 120 right now,” Walton said.
He got his wish Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers. It still didn’t help.
Behind Paul George’s 19 points and 12 assists, and Kawhi Leonard’s 32 points, six steals and five assists the Clippers used another dominant third quarter to pull away for a 115-96 victory.
The win moved the Clippers (11-4) into a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA’s best record.
Coming into this season, coach Tyronn Lue and his staff wanted to maximize their
best players’ talents. In practice that meant “putting the ball in PG and Kawhi’s hands and kind of force-feeding them to let them make plays,” Lue said. Both have responded with career-high assist percentages, a trend that continued against the Kings when George matched his career-high of 12 assists for the first time in eight years. The Clippers scored 31 points — including seven three-pointers — off of his passes.
The Clippers have built their winning streak on the strength of transforming into the NBA’s most dangerous team after halftime. During their last five third quarters, they’ve outscored opponents by a combined 56 points. The Kings have been victimized twice: Their league-worst defense was outscored by 21 last week before seeing their fivepoint halftime deficit Wednesday balloon to 20 entering the final quarter.
The common thread throughout has been shooting: During their last five third quarters, the Clippers have made 26 of their 48 three-pointers, including four makes on seven shots from deep Wednesday.
When center Ivica Zubac caught a pass from Leonard in the third quarter and finished a layup while being fouled, Leonard held his right fist above his head while Patrick Beverley bounced out of his seat on the bench to applaud. There haven’t been many moments through the season’s first month for Zubac to celebrate like he did against Sacramento, when he produced his most impactful performance this season (11 points and 12 rebounds in 23 minutes).
When Lou Williams returned from a two-game absence because of discomfort in his hip, so did his pairing with fellow reserve guard Luke Kennard, a move curious because Lue recently said he wanted to minimize the combination as much as possible. Among the many rotation changes Lue made after the first 10 games, breaking up Williams’ and Kennard’s minutes was at the top of his list because of the defensive liabilities the combination presented around the perimeter.