Clippers click in court return
CLIPPERS 116, UTAH 112
The Clippers had to wait for it. Four weeks since their usual starting lineup had last played together. A fourth quarter that lasted nearly 50 minutes. A few nail-biting final possessions, after watching Utah’s Donovan Mitchell make one difficult three to keep the Jazz close — then another. Late fouls that allowed Utah a constant march to the free-throw line in the final minutes.
Finally it was over: a 116-112 win that was indisputably the Clippers’ best this season.
With Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Nicolas Batum back in the lineup, the Clippers prevailed in the first true look at how a pair of contenders in the West stacked up.
The first-place Jazz, who also played with a full lineup after Mike Conley returned, lost for just the second time in their last 22 games, unable to overcome not just the return of the Clippers’ two leading scorers but also clutch fourth-quarter performances by their role players too.
“Playing the No. 1 team, you got to go out and beat them, they’re not going to give it to you,” said Patrick Beverley, who scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Leonard scored 29 points and deflated Utah’s chance to rally when, with 46 seconds left, he grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds with the Clippers (22-9) leading by seven. After nine points in the opening quarter, George finished with 15. Batum didn’t score in 31 minutes. Coach Tyronn Lue called the trio “rusty” in their return, but they kept the Clippers from running out of gas as they had in the final minutes of an 18-point loss two days earlier to Utah (24-6).
“We got our guys back and we wanted to win this game and guys went out and did a hell of a job,” Lue said. Five takeaways from the game:
Cold from three
The stars had their moments. Neither team could pull away. But this was unexpected: way-off threepoint shooting. Since Utah’s red-hot run began, it ranked third in threepoint accuracy (40%), while the Clippers were first (42%). But the Clippers made 10 of 30 threes while Utah made 12 of 34.
Yet threes taken by a small-ball lineup that played the final eight minutes keyed the Clippers victory. After his team had missed 11 consecutive three-pointers to open the second half, Marcus Morris made two in the fourth quarter to push the lead to seven with four minutes to play. Beverley
then followed with a pair of threes.
Next Mann up
As the second guard to check in off the bench, Terance Mann leapfrogged Luke Kennard in Lue’s 10-man rotation. Mann has impressed with his doggedness defensively and ability to attack the rim. Kennard has yet to shoot and play aggressively with enough consistency.
Measuring minutes
Batum and George played a restricted amount of minutes, and the restriction appeared to hurt the Clippers late in the second quarter. With George, who had played nearly 13 minutes, off the floor for the half ’s final six minutes, a 14-point Clippers lead was trimmed to eight at halftime. Four minutes into the second half, their lead was down to two.
Third-quarter heroics
Just as Mitchell’s limited playing time because of two fouls in his first four minutes handicapped the Jazz during the first half, the presence of the young guard was instrumental in helping Utah rally. His foul trouble was an issue early because with Conley playing on his own minutes limit, Utah went without a true point guard for stretches. He scored 12 points in the third but that production was matched by Leonard’s own 12 points in the quarter, including 10 during the final five minutes during a 16-8 Clippers run that gave them the lead entering the final quarter. Mitchell then scored 15 in the fourth quarter and finished with 35.
Center of attention
The benefit of having a center like
Serge Ibaka is his ability to draw centers away from the basket by being a three-point threat. But Ibaka made just one of five threes, allowing Utah’s Rudy Gobert to sag off and roam defensively. Ibaka has made five threepointers in his last eight games, shooting 31%, and with his backup Ivica Zubac also a nonfactor, the Clippers opted for a small-ball lineup with Morris at center in the fourth quarter. After 23 points and 20 rebounds Wednesday, Gobert had eight points and 15 rebounds Friday.