The Clippers suffered a brutal loss, falling to the Magic 116-111 on the road in overtime in a game in which they led by as much as 18.
Summary
The Clippers came out of the gate hot with great ball movement and excellent defense, going up 7-0 and forcing a quick Orlando timeout. The Magic halted the onslaught for a bit, but Kawhi and PG kept rolling on both ends, forcing turnovers and missed shots and getting wide open looks. Terance Man and Moses Brown were brought in early for Reggie and Zu, and the Clippers didn’t slow down, with Mann hitting two threes. The entrance of Amir Coffey and RoCo along with Reggie and Zu for the remaining starters and Brown brought the Clippers’ run to a crawl, but the Magic still couldn’t make any dent in the lead, and the Clippers held a 32-14 edge after one.
The bench’s offense, not surprisingly, didn’t look nearly as good. Fortunately, their defense held fairly strong, which prevented the Magic from making much of an inroad. The Clippers’ starters began to trickle back in, but the offense did not return with them. The Magic, invigorated after a Mo Wagner dunk on Zu, played frantic and active defense, and the Clippers couldn’t get much going, with some of their signature turnovers creeping in as well. Thankfully, after the Magic trimmed the lead to three late, Reggie Jackson went on a personal 6-0 run to get the advantage up to 9 entering halftime.
The Magic started out with a quick push, but the Clippers responded strongly, and two Nico threes pushed the lead to 15 and forced a Magic timeout. At this point, the gaem turned sloppy, with both teams turning the ball over and not getting much positive done. Moses Brown checked in when Zu picked up his 4th foul, and played well within his limits, getting a couple nice blocks and a putback dunk. However, the Clippers were unable to pull away, largely because they could not get stops. The bench unit plus Reggie once again struggled, and a Cole Anthony three at the buzzer cut the Clips lead to seven and gave the Magic the momentum entering the final frame.
That cursed Reggie plus bench unit was in to start the 4th as well, and it immediately lost the lead. Reggie was just awful, and with no other real ballhandlers or playmakers on the court, the Clippers could not generate any offense. Zu checked in for Brown, but while this helped a bit defensively, it could not bring the Clippers to life on offense. Then, down 6 with 8:36 to go, Ty brought in PG and Nico for Reggie and Amir. All of a sudden, the game shifted, as the Magic’s attention to Zu brought open shots for the Clippers. The ball was popping, the defense locked in, and the Clippers quickly grew a six-point lead of their own. At the five-minute mark, Kawhi came back in for RoCo, and the game sludged up again. The Clippers’ defense was mostly fine, but their offense was not, as Kawhi and George bricked time and again. The Magic tied it up with 33.7 to go, and Kawhi missed everything on a quick ISO. The Clippers got the stop, but a swift PG push up court only generated a contested three that missed. Overtime.
With minutes restrictions in place, Kawhi, PG, and Reggie started overtime on the bench. The Clippers’ lineup with a combo of TErance and Amir was predictably bad offensively, but got just enough buckets to hang around. With the game tied at 1:22 to go, Kawhi came back in for Amir, as he had a minute left under his restriction. Bol Bol scored on an offensive rebound, but Kawhi found Nico for a 3 to put the Clips up one with under a minute to go. The Clippers then forced a Fultz turnover, giving them the ball back. At that point, things unraveled. Kawhi missed an open jumper, and then the Clippers fouled Banchero, who made two free throws to put the Magic up one. Ty called a timeout, but oddly left Moses Brown in the game (he’d come in to help rebound) after Zu fouled out, and a lineup that had never playd together all season looked very confused. The inbounds play was extremely slow developing, and the Clippers, with no timeouts, picked up a 5 second violation with 7 seconds to go. The Magic made two more free throws. The Clippers, down three with 5.5 seconds left, put in George alongside Kawhi. Unfortunately, Covington tried to make an extremely bold three-quarters court pass to George that went out of bounds. The Magic made more free throws, and the game mercifully ended.
Notes
Sit Reggie: This was a night to forget for most Clippers, but Reggie Jackson had a particularly brutal night, shooting 5-20 from the field and 2-8 from three with only one rebound in 31 minutes. He is clearly exhausted if not injured, and playing him 31 minutes tonight, even in a game without Luke, Norm, or Wall, was just a wild decision by Ty Lue. The Clippers could have staggered George and Kawhi more (or at all) to help balance out non-Reggie units, but their desire to keep those two together at all costs hurt them. Reggie needs rest, not just tomorrow hopefully, but maybe a game or two more. It’s just tough to watch him out there.
Nico & Mann Great: The only two Clippers who were legitimately very good tonight were Nic Batum and Terance Mann. Nico had 16 points on 6-11 shooting, four rebounds, and five assists in 38 minutes – the most he’s played in a long time. Mann had 19 points on 7-10 shooting with nine rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes, and both provided their usual positive defense. If the rest of the Clippers had shown up, this would have been a runaway victory.
Kawhi and PG Not Good Enough: Both of the Clippers’ star players, especially Kawhi Leonard, are shaking off rust. But they combined to shoot just 7-27 from the field, got to the line only seven times between them, and had eight assists to eight turnovers. Even worse, most of those field goals and assists came in the first quarter, when both looked great. Maybe it was running out of gas down the stretch, maybe it was just dual off nights, but neither Kawhi or PG could buy a bucket in the 4th quarter, as the Clippers didn’t make a field goal the last 4:43 of the frame to blow an eight-point lead. Kawhi almost certainly won’t play tomorrow, and PG might not either, and I get why that’s the case – which just makes losing a game to an awful Magic team where both played 30 minutes is even more disappointing.
