After ‘a lot of cussing’ at halftime, Clippers beat Portland to stay in playoff position
The Clippers left the regular season’s penultimate day with the same answer applying to their three most pressing questions.
Will they avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament? Could injured All-Star wing Paul George return for a first-round series? No matter where they end up, will their defense be ready?
All of it is still to be determined, and the last two are the most unknown.
After beating Portland, 136-125, on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, the Clippers (43-38) are assured of a top-seven finish in the Western Conference standings, where a top-six finish guarantees a first-round series.
Norman Powell scored a team-high 27 points off the bench, and Kawhi Leonard had 25 points as the Clippers defeated the Lakers 125-118 on Wednesday.
No matter what else happens around the West, a Clippers win against Phoenix in Sunday’s regular-season finale will guarantee them the fifth seed and a first-round date against the fourth-seeded Suns that would begin next weekend.
That appears to be the scenario both teams are headed toward. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said his team will not rest its players, meaning Kawhi Leonard will play on consecutive days for the second time this season. Phoenix, meanwhile, announced that virtually all of its main contributors, including Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, will miss Sunday’s game.
The Clippers could also finish sixth, drawing Sacramento in a first-round series — but each pathway toward that seed involves a Clippers loss, and Lue said he is playing to win, to ensure his team isn’t relying on New Orleans, Minnesota or Golden State to dictate whether the Clippers avoid the play-in tournament, where their season ended a year ago.
In a related development, Lue believes in basketball karma.
“I mean if you don’t treat the game right, basketball gods will make you pay for it,” he said before Saturday’s tipoff.
The Clippers put themselves in position to control their path to a first-round series by finally corralling Portland after scoring 45 points in the third quarter, a team high for any quarter this season.
Kawhi Leonard scored 13 of his 27 points in the third, and finished with eight rebounds and four assists, and Norman Powell scored 23 off the bench. Both attempted at least 10 free throws, using Portland’s youth against it to draw fouls. In the win the Clippers accomplished something key — none of their starters played more than 29 minutes.
But it was not in their control from the start, falling behind by 10 and trailing by six at halftime. It raised questions again about their readiness to defend Durant, Paul and Booker after their lack of urgency and mistakes following the game plan found them struggling to contain Kevin Knox (30 points), Shaedon Sharpe (26 points) and Trendon Watford (24 points). Weeks after shutting down its best players, apparently intent on securing the best draft lottery odds than a playoff berth, Portland’s grab-bag assortment of starters scored 70 points by halftime, and Watford and Sharpe had outscored all of the Clippers’ starters.
Lue’s halftime speech involved “a lot of cussing,” he said.
“We gotta be more professional with our approach, and we all realized that wasn’t our greatest first half,” Lue said. “We didn’t play the right way and we just can’t do that. And so they understood that’s why they came out in the third quarter and played the way they did.”
Lue, Powell and Leonard all said they were confident the Clippers’ focus would improve when given one opponent to prepare for in multiple games.
“We got a veteran team, we know what’s at stake, the style of basketball we need to play and we can play at that level,” Powell said. “It’s just about being locked in. I think we’re ready.”
Said Leonard: “I mean, I’m confident in it. We gotta be optimistic about it. We are who we are at this point. So we’re gonna focus in and be better.”
George would certainly help, yet uncertainty is all there is for now regarding his recovery.
More than two weeks after spraining his right knee, and crucially avoiding ligament damage, George walked around the arena Saturday without needing crutches and worked out before the game. George “continues to undergo exercises and therapies to rehabilitate his sprained knee,” a team statement read. “There is no timeline for his return to play.”
Norman Powell scored a team-high 27 points off the bench, and Kawhi Leonard had 25 points as the Clippers defeated the Lakers 125-118 on Wednesday.
“It’s gonna be tough, he’s out pretty much, so it’s a challenge for all of us,” Leonard said.
The Clippers didn’t answer all their questions Saturday. But their postseason direction seems clear. A return to Phoenix next week is one win away.
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