The Clippers likely won’t be at full strength on Thursday when they take the court for the final time before the All-Star break, desperate for a victory in what Paul George described as a “must-win” game against the Washington Wizards.
He arrived at that assessment Tuesday night after the undermanned Clippers stalled down the stretch for the second consecutive game, losing this time to Boston, 117-112. The defeat was L.A.’s second consecutive loss and fifth in eight games.
They were without All-Star Kawhi Leonard against the Celtics because he was a late scratch after back spasms flared up before tip-off. They also missed the contributions of Marcus Morris Sr. once he left the game with a concussion after scoring 10 points in 15 minutes.
Going into Thursday’s first-half finale, Leonard is considered questionable and Morris is doubtful.
Their understudy, Patrick Patterson, won’t be available against Washington because he’s away tending to a personal matter.
With or without them, the Clippers hope to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season with a win against the Wizards, who are 13-20 overall but 7-3 in their past 10 outings.
And they’ll brace for another opportunity to address the late-game issues that continue to crop up.
For the season, the Clippers’ 114.8 points-per-game average is sixth-best in the NBA, as is their 48.5% field goal percentage. Their 41.8% shooting percentage from 3-point range is tops in the league.
But those impressive tallies fall off in the fourth quarter: The Clippers – who woke up Wednesday 24-13 and in fourth place in the Western Conference standings – shoot 46.6% from the floor in the final period, 39.6% from deep and average a 16th-best 27.2 points.
They haven’t had much practice playing “clutch” minutes this season, having tallied only 41 minutes that qualify (which is to say they occurred within the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential was five or fewer).
That’s fewer than 27 other teams, and perhaps too small a sample size to say anything definitively? Or perhaps it’s a good thing they haven’t been put in the position more often? Because the Clippers haven’t played well in those measurable crunch-time moments.
L.A. has shot an uncharacteristic 35.3% (24 for 68) from the floor in those situations, and only 34.2% (13 for 38) from 3-point range.
In this most recent two-game skid, the Clippers have struggled mightily to score in eight “clutch” minutes, going 3 for 15 from the field and 2 for 11 from deep.
And George? The now-seven-time All-Star to whom the Clippers will turn down the stretch of such tight affairs has lately hit a wall. He has hit only one of nine shots in seven clutch minutes.
Those are jarring number especially when considering how well he started both games, shooting a combined 14 for 22 (63.6%) in first-half action.
After George and Leonard’s combined 0-for-9 cold snap cost the Clippers in Milwaukee on Sunday, they both talked about needing to pick up the tempo and be more secure in their attack.
On Tuesday, George sang a similar tune, blowing the whistle on himself.
“We just gotta do a better job of pushing the pace, pushing the tempo and just getting into our sets,” he said, via Zoom video conference. “Tonight, we didn’t do that down the stretch once again, and that’s on me. A lot of times, I’m one of the primary ball handlers, I gotta get the ball up, let’s get into some action, and let’s play from there.”
Reggie Jackson – who contributed a season-high 25 points in his spot start for Leonard on Tuesday – said he trusts the Clippers’ stars will come through as they play more clutch minutes and get more comfortable with what’s needed from them in those moments.
“It’ll be something that we continue to get better at,” Jackson said. “We feel like we got the ball in the right guys’ hands, they’re gonna do their best job night in and night out to make the right decisions for us.
“We trust them all the time, and a lot of times they find a way to pull it out for us, to make big tough shots, so that’s the player that we’re accustomed to having. They’ve been doing it for a long time in their career, so we trust their decision, every time. Put the ball in Kawhi, or Paul and Lou (Williams’) hands, we trust them to make the decisions down the stretch for us.”
CLIPPERS (24-13) at WIZARDS (13-20)
When: Thursday, 4 p.m.
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
TV: Fox Sports Prime Ticket
Paul George last two 4th quarters:
7 PTS
3-19 FG
1-11 3PHe’s shooting 25% in the clutch this season. pic.twitter.com/oO0O4CRJ9Y
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 3, 2021
Tough one. pic.twitter.com/vDfd48tYFy
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 3, 2021
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