The Clippers have now lost four of five games after falling to the Heat 115-110 on Thursday night in Mimi. Keep reading for a full recap of the game.
RECAP
For a second straight night, the LA Clippers started a basketball game off with tons of promise — defensive rotations were crisp, the ball moved and open shots were made throughout the opening 12 minutes. But also for a second straight night, it all fell by the wayside in the second frame.
After taking a 34-24 lead, a mostly bench unit for the Clippers quickly began to undo all the good of the opening frame. The unit began the quarter with three consecutive two-point makes but was immediately followed by seven empty possessions — six missed shots (two missed layups) and a turnover, which left them scoreless for nearly four minutes. At the same time, no player in a black uniform could seem to locate the hottest shooter in the gym, Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin, whose 10 straight points for the Heat helped narrow their gap. Eventually, his four 3-pointers and 16 points in the quarter would propel a 36-point frame for Miami, giving the home team a 56-54 edge at the break.
The third quarter played out a bit better than the second from a competitive standpoint. But many of the same mistakes plagued the team — namely, wasted offensive possessions by way of turnovers. Yet, L.A. found itself with a lead at the quarter’s conclusion because, well, the team’s only available superstar player performed as such. After not registering a single point in the prior period, Paul George’s 14 third-quarter points had nearly everything to do with how the Clippers dug themselves out of a hole to take a three-point lead into the final quarter.
Unfortunately for the Clippers, the momentum didn’t sustain for long. Tyler Herro emerged for the Heat to throw a few jabs during the fourth period and Bam Adebayo joined in shortly after. And in the end, the knockout punch came from Jimmy Butler, who continuously hunted the smaller Clippers guards and abused them down the stretch to eke out a five-point victory for his Heat.
The Clippers dropped to 14-13 on the season after the 115-110 loss to the Heat on Thursday. They’ll finish up their four-game road trip on Saturday when they take on the Washington Wizards.
NOTES
Batum Stays Hot
Nicolas Batum has been great for just about all of the 2022-23 season, though his impact rarely appears in the box score. However, his numbers have jumped off the page in recent games.
After hitting four triples in back-to-back outings, he made three tonight and logged his third-straight game as a double-figure scorer. With Batum’s offensive production matching his impact on the defensive end as a switchable forward and energizer of sorts, it’s going to be interesting to see how much Ty Lue balances saving Nico’s legs and riding him throughout the season as the Clips battle for wins. He played 32 minutes on Thursday after logging 38 in Orlando the night prior.
Point Guard Play
Reggie Jackson and John Wall had some moments during this game, but it felt like they took turns being very unpredictable, which is not what you want for 48 minutes from the point guard spot. Whether it was turnovers, no-pass offensive possessions, bad shots, or bad defense, it felt like many possessions were wasted in this one.
Surely, both players will benefit from playing alongside a healthier Clippers roster with additional capable offensive players available to relinquish some of the burdens. But as the team awaits that time, it’s going to be difficult for this team to hit its game-by-game potential without one of the two point guards being unquestionably good.
