-
Clippers guard Reggie Jackson, left, shoots as Cavaliers guard Damyean Dotson defends during the second half of Sunday’s game at Staples Center. The Clippers won, 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, left, and Los Angeles Clippers center Serge Ibaka battle for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, right, agues with referee Eric Lewis before receiving a technical foul during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, center, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers guard Terance Mann, left, and center Ivica Zubac defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, left, shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, second from left, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers guard Reggie Jackson, left, and center Serge Ibaka defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer celebrates after the team scored during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Taurean Prince, left, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center Serge Ibaka defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, left, shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center Serge Ibaka defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams, right, shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, left, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers forward Nicolas Batum defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro, left, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center Serge Ibaka defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers center JaVale McGee, left, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damyean Dotson, right, has his shot blocked by Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley, left, as center Ivica Zubac defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr., left, shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaac Okoro defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, top left, and Los Angeles Clippers center Serge Ibaka, right, face off for the tipoff during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, right, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center Serge Ibaka defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
-
Los Angeles Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr., left, and guard Lou Williams, center, joke around with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 128-111. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LOS ANGELES — No Kawhi Leonard. No Paul George.
Is Lou Williams available?
Then no problem.
Williams, the Clippers’ Sixth Man extraordinaire, took his turn as a starring starter on Sunday evening. The 34-year-old guard sashayed into the starting lineup for the first time since Feb. 11, 2020, and orchestrated a convincing 128-111 victory over a reeling Cleveland squad.
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff acknowledged pregame that for the Cavaliers – who lost their seventh consecutive game to fall to 10-18 – “there’s not magic pixie dust that we can sprinkle on us and say get out of this rut.”
And though fate might have given Cleveland a puncher’s chance by setting them up with a Clippers team that was without All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for the third time this season, Williams was spellbinding from the jump for the short-handed Clippers.
Leonard was scratched Sunday because of a left lower leg contusion and George – who was on the court shooting around and chatting with team owner Steve Ballmer pregame – missed his fifth consecutive contest because of swelling in a right toe.
But Williams – a three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year, the “Professional Scorer,” “Underground G.O.A.T,” your “favorite player’s favorite player” – lent his specific shine to the proceedings.
“Understanding that I’m gonna be the third offensive player on this basketball team, with the first two out, that puts me in position to just be more aggressive on the offensive end and make plays for me and my teammates,” Williams said postgame, via a Zoom video conference “Just try to create as many opportunities as we can and be efficient.”
The result: An efficient 30 points and 10 assists in 32 minutes, his first double-double since 2019 as the Clippers – still playing without fans at Staples Center because of local coronavirus safety guidelines – kick-started a five-game homestand by extending their current winning streak to three games and improved to 20-8.
“Confidence. He’s confidence,” Terance Mann, an NBA sophomore, said of Williams after the Clippers’ previous win in Chicago. “He just brings that confident swagger with him. He’s able to pick you up when you’re not feeling your game, he’s a big-time confident guy and with him next to you, you’re almost feeling yourself too.”
Williams was feeling it Sunday, and so, too, were the Clippers.
He set the tone and tempo, darting to and fro, knocking down shots to continue his scoring surge of late with a season-high; in his past five games, the slight 6-foot-1 guard is averaging 23 points on 52.6% shooting.
Williams set up his teammates with verve Sunday, delivering passes in stride and on the money.
His 10 assists were a season-high too, contributing to the Clippers’ 31 total, the fourth time this season they’ve reached that threshold. Staring center Serge Ibaka assists with that tally as well, tying his career-record with six assists – plus a season-high 21 points and nine rebounds.
Sunday marked Williams’ 20th career double-double and his first since Nov. 27, 2019, which came in a victory over Memphis when he had a career-best 13 assists.
And it was the fifth game of Williams’ 15-plus-year career when he recorded 30 or more points and 10 or more assists.
Like Williams, Marcus Morris Sr. picked up where he left off in Chicago, where he made five fourth-quarter 3-pointers and combined with Williams for 26 final-period points.
Against Cleveland, Morris scored a season-high 23 points off the bench on 7-for-14 shooting, including going 4 for 6 from 3-point range.
And Patrick Beverley played an action-packed 20 minutes in his third game back after missing eight contests with right knee soreness, delivering 16 points to bring his career total to a grand 4,000 – a feat about which he was plenty proud: “4 K!” he exclaimed, sipping a celebratory Bud Light during his postgame comments.
For good measure, Beverley also added six rebounds and five assists and a few characteristically dynamic defensive stretches.
Luke Kennard, cool lately, also got going a bit with 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
Despite four members of the Cavaliers scoring in double figures – Collin Sexton had 22 and Darius Garland added 20, as did Cedi Osman – they couldn’t gain ground after falling behind 32-24 in the opening period.
The Clippers will wait to learn when Leonard and George might be fit to return and, with or without them, try to extend their winning streak Monday against the Heat, against which L.A. came back from 18 points down to win – without George and Leonard – on Jan. 28 in Miami.
30 & 10 for Sweet Lou
— NBA (@NBA) February 15, 2021
from Irvine Business Signs https://ift.tt/3tZPL1W
via Irvine Sign Company
