Breaking above .500 for the first time since New Year’s Day, the LA Clippers (32-31) came up clutch in a down-to-the-wire, comeback win over the Houston Rockets (15-45). Ivica Zubac put up a one-of-a-kind game for the season, totaling 14 points (5-5 FG, 4-6 FT), a season-high 15 rebounds, three assists and a career-high six blocks. Playing a game-high 38 minutes, Reggie Jackson came up huge once again for LA with a game-high 26 points (9-21 FG, 2-6 3PT, 6-9 FT), nine rebounds and six assists. Jae’Sean Tate was perhaps the most effective Rocket on the night with 14 points (6-11 FG, 2-4 3PT), six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Rockets game recap.
Summary
The first quarter was one to forget for the Clippers as the often inaccurate, 3-point-hunting Rockets offense found gold with seven treys on 53.8% shooting. LAC was fairly casual on the other end as well, coughing the ball up four times which led to nine Houston points as the home team’s momentum began to build. Offensively, the start was okay early for LA, who looked to attack any Houston starters not named Jae’Sean Tate. Marcus Morris Sr. started hot early with a pair of threes but was noticeably shying away from contact on the other end as his shot began to dry up. Brandon Boston Jr. and Luke Kennard were the first subs off of the bench but weren’t able to spark much life into the offense. After one, Houston held a 28-19 lead.
After trailing by as much as 13 in the second frame, the Clippers closed on a 16-6 run as the energy began to pick up. There was not much pop to start the second quarter as the LAC threes continued to rim out. While the Rockets continued to nail their looks from deep, however, Isaiah Hartenstein feasted in the paint to keep the game within reach on four straight makes for LA. Some peculiar theatrics took place here as well as it appeared that the on-fire Garrison Mathews suffered a bad non-contact injury but was thankfully able to return, and Terance Mann came close to selling a flagrant foul on Tate. Ultimately, Tyronn Lue and co. went back to their main guns, playing Boston Jr. just eight seconds while Robert Covington stabilized the defense in 10:37 of action. Morris Sr., Kennard and Reggie Jackson combined for just four points on 1-for-7 shooting from the field and 1 of 3 from the line, but the Clippers’ paint attack and Houston’s 25% 3-point shooting in the frame proved to be more impactful. At the break, the Rockets held a 50-46 advantage.
Shooting just 12.5% from three, the Clippers continued to make things ugly as the lead changed hands eight times in the third quarter. With several moving screens, plenty of dunks (both made and missed) and play-on loose-ball traffic jams, the game became very physical with both teams dialing up the intensity. Making the adjustment to slip screens on Houston’s switch-everything scheme, Ivica Zubac broke free for four freebies inside. Zu’s activity extended to just about everywhere, from rebuking several Rockets at the rim to staying on the officials to get the calls right. Meanwhile, with Mann picking up his fourth foul less than five minutes into the frame, and Jackson needing a breather, the Clippers went to a bench unit with Hartenstein and Coffey as the table-setters. While there were some better moments later in the game from them from an assisting standpoint, here, they came in and had back-to-back giveaways that ignited Houston fastbreaks. Additionally, Kennard’s rough night continued as he remained scoreless on three attempts from beyond the arc. Heading to the fourth, the Rockets sat back in the driver’s seat up 80-74.
Setting up yet another finish in which their Top-7 defense could win them the game, the Clippers executed a cold-blooded 13-0 haymaker in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the quarter to take a 4-point lead. The run was delivered courtesy of a Jackson-to-Coffey 3, a Jackson middy off a Zu high screen, a Jackson floater, a Coffey hand-off to Kennard 3 and a Jackson to Zu short-roll, corner hit Coffey 3. From then on, LAC played the Rockets just about even the rest of the way, holding them to 12 points in the final 9:04 (excluding Mathews’ 2.2-second triple).
Clippers vs. Rockets Game Notes
- Zubac, Clippers Win Old School: Heading into tonight, the Clippers were 4-18 when they made fewer threes than their opponent. In the first half, the Clippers shot the ball terribly from deep and turned it over too many times. In the second half, the Clippers still shot the ball terribly from deep and turned it over too many times. Ultimately, however, LAC continued to focus on controlling a lot of the factors Tyronn Lue emphasized pregame: rebounding better, attacking mismatches, not getting stagnant against the switches and getting back in transition. The Clippers allowed zero Houston points off of 10 turnovers in the second half, as well as won the rebounding battle 59-37.
- Guard Minutes Dilemma: Minutes into the opening quarter, it was clear that this was not the game to give Brandon Boston Jr., Rodney Hood and Semi Ojeleye some burn. However, while Nicolas Batum and Robert Convington probably not playing as much as they should here is something that the guys on TLTJTP will surely discuss, perhaps the main concern to take away from this one is once again the ball-handling situation. Unfortunately, with Paul George and Norman Powell sidelined, it’s clear that this current roster makeup puts a lot of pressure on Reggie Jackson to run the show. Tonight, Jackson played the final 15 minutes of the game. Time and time again, these longer stretches have proven to see Reg make some questionable decisions with the ball as the fatigue sets in. In the preview, we mentioned how Lue believes Mann and Coffey’s developments have outweighed the need to go get another point guard, but games like these show why the issue still remains.
- The Unsung Hero: Robert Covington was by far the best player off of the Clipper bench tonight. I won’t dare say something like he’s a taller Patrick Beverley, but RoCo made so many key rebounds and ball pokes as well as knocked down important threes. Right after the block of the night in which Zubac somehow shut down Wood with LAC up two and 16.1 seconds left, Covington grabbing the ball right after allowed the Clippers to get possession after the challenge instead of having to jump it up.
Up Next: The Clippers will stick around and finish off their season series with the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Tuesday, March 1, at 5 p.m. PT.
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