LOS ANGELES —
Clippers coach Tyrone Lew was saying just before Tuesday's impossibly low-scoring thriller, the biggest thing he learned about his friends during this season is that they can handle adversity: " Just kind to see the character that people have when you're going through a tough time and we're doing a good job of trying to keep that under control."
After a disappointing, frostbite first half on Tuesday night, the Clippers had scored an NBA season-low 28 points. He found himself in a 25-point hole against the Denver Nuggets with seven minutes left in the third quarter. And, yes, weak as ever.
And wouldn't you know it, he handled it, winning 87–85 in what Lew called a "throwback" victory, which he joked to "set basketball back 50 years".
The 25-point comeback win tied for the Clippers' biggest - postseason games included - since the 1997–98 season and was one of only three times this season that a team has recovered from such a major deficit.
Reggie Jackson, in particular, was having a veritably unfavorable play when he swung three consecutive buckets together to give the Clippers a 76-75 lead, with 5:40 left.
His fourth straight was a dunk on Jokic - just Jackson's third slam this season. Dunk extended Denver's lead to 79-78 and converted Jackson's terrifying one-for-nine shootout on the pretext of the grand finale, with 15,077 fans at the Crypto.com Arena chanting his name as he watched the Clippers. during the run. Western Conference Finals last season.
"The game was ugly to me early on, most sports, just ugly," Jackson said. "... it was difficult. It was difficult to trust myself for long periods of time there."
But he said his teammates and his fans continued to support him: "He knew the game would give me a chance to make some plays."
And it made a difference, he said: "It's not me — it was the whole building, there was a whole organization, I was just about to get a few shots. It was everybody, putting that battery in my back and everybody Convincing me today."
Jackson provided the final touch on a win that the Clippers (21-21) made possible with a massive jump in the third quarter.
In the first half the Clippers scored 12 for 44 off the ground (27.3%) and 14 for 14 from 3-point range, with Lew asking him in the locker room: "Why are we in such a dilemma?"
And so they attacked - after all. Only after digging holes 59-34 with 7:04 remaining in the third quarter.
The Clippers then fell short and outscored the Nuggets (20–19) by 14 points with a lineup of Eric Bledsoe (who had 11 points, nine assists and a plus-28 finish in the box score), Amir Coffey (one The team—high 18 points, seven assists and four steals), Terence Mann (13 points), Marcus Morris Sr. (12) and Nicholas Bottom (six points)—none of whom are taller than 6-foot-9. Then, to start the fourth quarter, Serge Ibaka replaced Batam and helped the Clippers reduce their 66-55 deficit to 66-64 with 9:10 remaining.
"The defense saved us because the offense, some nights, isn't going to go your way," said Butam, whose 3-pointer follows Coffey's 3-pointer with 1:47, a combination that gave the Clippers the lead. Pushed into his biggest night: 86-81.
"It happens in the NBA, can't make the shot, nobody can do it, but the defense will be there."
While Aaron Gordon scored 13 of his 30s in the fourth quarter as he and Jokic tried to fight the Clippers, his teammates scored just 3 for 16 after halftime, as the Clippers beat Denver to 59 in the second half. Caught the Nuggets ahead of -44. For shooting 16-for-37, which includes 2 for 17 from 3-point range.
Despite the efforts of the Clippers, Jokic finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists - his ninth consecutive double-double and the 15th time in 16 games that he has reached the 20-point limit. But when he missed a 3-point look with 2.5 seconds left and Gordon couldn't hit the follow, the Clippers' comeback stood out.
It was the Nuggets' lowest-scoring game this season and the lowest-scoring match by a Clippers opponent this year.
The Clippers were without Luke Kennard, who missed his sixth game in protocol - and Justice Winslow, who missed his second. Add to that: No Kawhi Leonard (ACL), Paul George (elbow), Isaiah Harttenstein (ankle) or Jason Preston (leg).
LA's first-half total was the lowest first-half point as the Clippers scored 27 runs in a 51-point loss to Dallas last season. But it wasn't the lowest first-half mark in league history—the record belongs to the 1999 Clippers, who only scored 19 points when entering the middle of a game against the Lakers.
Starting center Ivica Zubac played just five minutes in the first half, scoring two points, assessing three fouls and hitting the head twice with the ball.
Jackson was 1 for 9 and 0 for 3 from 3-point range—and a team-worst minus -14 in the box score—17 after the first half.
And Morris - who had big blocks with the game in balance - was called up for Flagant 1 when his forearm attached to Austin Rivers' neck area - and Rivers, how things were going on Tuesday, both from free throws. Missed.
Rivers - the son of former Clippers and former coach Doc Rivers - played despite experiencing an allergic reaction that sent him to the hospital on Monday while working out with teammates at UCLA.
"We were in the exercise gym at UCLA, working out, shooting alternate, and he just had an allergic reaction," said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, noting that the cause of the reaction remains a mystery. . "And it was scary for him and the people around us. He was in the hospital for a while, got discharged last evening and thankfully woke up today, feeling much better, went through the shooting . . . thank god he is feeling much better."
After a season-best 22 points and six 3-pointers in Denver's 99-95 win over Oklahoma City, Rivers held on to four points and five rebounds against the Clippers on Tuesday.
0 Comments