As soon as a serious disappointment, the Los Angeles Clippers at the moment are the NBA’s hottest workforce. They are going to be out to increase their run of success throughout a go to from the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in Inglewood, Calif.
Greater than a month faraway from their 6-21 begin to the season, the Clippers at the moment are 14-3 since Dec. 20 and have bookended that run with victories over the cross-town Los Angeles Lakers, together with one Thursday.
The Clippers’ identification has modified a lot that their 112-104 victory over the Lakers this week got here with some disappointment. They led by as many as 26 factors within the third quarter, then watched the Lakers pull inside three with 1:28 left earlier than closing out the win.
“We acquired to do a greater job of taking good care of the basketball,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue mentioned. “We knew they had been going to junk the sport up. They acquired down 26 and began blitzing and firing, and we ready for it; we simply did not deal with it nicely. However our guys simply stayed the course and located a method to win the sport.”
Kawhi Leonard returned from a three-game absence due to a left knee contusion to attain 24 factors, whereas James Harden added 18 factors with 10 assists. Middle Ivica Zubac led the cost inside with 18 factors and a season-high-tying 19 rebounds.
“(It was) his potential to wash up missed photographs across the basket, a pair kickouts for (3-pointers),” Lue mentioned. “They had been going small, and I believed Zu did a extremely good job of simply displaying his presence as a giant man, and it was enormous for us.”
The Nets have been the precise reverse of the Clippers with a 2-12 file since Dec. 29, however they managed to take the Boston Celtics to double time beyond regulation Friday earlier than falling 130-126.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 30 factors within the loss, whereas rookie Nolan Tarore had a career-high 21. The impressed effort got here after Brooklyn absorbed a 120-66 loss towards the New York Knicks on Wednesday.
“From coaches to gamers, there’s a lot for us to be taught,” mentioned the Nets’ Nic Claxton, who scored 18 factors with 9 rebounds. “It is a powerful loss, clearly, so we simply have to observe the movie and get higher from it.”
Brooklyn trailed 101-91 with 3:06 remaining in regulation earlier than making the late cost with Claxton delivering the follow-up dunk off a Porter missed 3-pointer to tie the rating 104-104 with 1.9 seconds remaining.
“We made a few errors (on protection) and people errors, on this league, an excellent workforce makes you pay,” Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernandez mentioned. “They made 22 threes, and that was considered one of our keys of the sport, to defend the 3-point line.”
Now the Nets face the Clippers, whose revival has include Leonard taking pictures extra 3-pointers. Leonard averaged six photographs from 3-point vary over his first 17 video games earlier than boosting that to eight.8 over the workforce’s improved 17-game run, the place he has scored 32.1 factors per contest.
–Area Degree Media
