One is the league’s best team, by record, the other perhaps its streakiest, by the eye test.
It was far too early in December to think ahead to the potential of a meetup in June. Yet in a matchup of teams that began this season harboring legitimate championship aspirations, it was the Clippers who scored a 113-93 victory as they hope their inconsistent season has turned a corner.
Behind Kawhi Leonard’s most efficient offensive game this season, the Clippers overcame foul trouble and only average 3-point and free-throw shooting to grow their lead to as many as 16 points by the third quarter’s end Monday inside Crypto.com Arena.
Norman Powell still isn’t back to the form that made the backup Clippers guard one of the team’s most dependable scorers for much of November as he recuperates from a groin injury.
But while the Clippers wait for their last injured contributor to return to the lineup, they received their best sign yet that Leonard is returning to his own form, needing only three quarters and 25 minutes for him to register a season-high 20 points to go with nine rebounds and six assists.
His running mate, Paul George, wasn’t nearly as efficient but helped the Clippers hold their own in a must-see matchup of two of the NBA’s top all-around duos, facing Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
When Brown missed two free throws with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, he had been limited to just 16 points while making one of his six 3-pointers — and one of his four free throws.
On the very next possession, Leonard answered with a 3-pointer, the lead up to 22.
Since Leonard and George returned from injury one week earlier in Charlotte, they had played nearly all of their minutes together in coach Tyronn Lue’s attempt to make up for lost continuity. When one All-Star checked out, the other was typically right behind walking to a courtside chair. Against Boston, Lue changed tactics: When George checked out unusually early in the first quarter, after six minutes, Leonard stayed in another four minutes. And this time, when it was Leonard’s time to check out after 10 first-quarter minutes, it was George who replaced him thanks to his breather.
With one star on the floor at all times, the Clippers pulled ahead convincingly by making eight of their first 12 shots, even as starters Reggie Jackson and Ivica Zubac quickly got into foul trouble and the charged atmosphere in the building seemed split between Celtics and Clippers fans. But it could not fully blunt Boston’s firepower, nor avoid a scoring drought. Leading by as many as 12 points, the Clippers were then outscored 17-3 during a five-minute stretch spanning the first and second quarters to take back the lead.
Forced partly by foul trouble as Zubac earned a third foul before halftime, the Clippers closed much of the first half with a kind of small lineup that clinched a win Saturday in Washington, by allowing only 23 points in the final 17 minutes. With wings and guards surrounding the duo of George and Leonard for nearly the final six minutes of the first half, the Clippers outscored Boston by eight to lead 56-47 at halftime.
When Zubac then picked up his fifth foul with five minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Clippers stayed small instead of inserting backup center Moses Brown or rookie forward Moussa Diabate.
Lue said he is drawn to lineups with guard Luke Kennard surrounded by four wings – exactly the lineup the Clippers turned to again with eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter, holding onto a 19-point lead.
“Having his shooting on the floor with our four wings that can guard, defend and rebound the basketball it’s pretty good,” Lue said. “We gotta work a lot, a lot more on it, just on the offensive side of things, but defensively we’re way ahead on that small lineup.”
Lue reiterated Monday that Powell, who hasn’t played since Nov. 29, is taking part in on-court workouts but doesn’t have a timetable for his return. Before the injury, Powell had scored 17.1 points per game while making 50% of his shots and 46% of his 3-pointers.
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