Knocking down 21 threes and holding their opponent below 100 points despite 17 turnovers, the L.A. Clippers (47-23) routed the Charlotte Hornets for the second time this season 113-90 Thursday. Bouncing back from an ice cold first half start, Paul George was the Clippers’ leading scorer with 20 points, five threes, 10 rebounds and six assists. Kawhi Leonard settled into a nice flow once again, adding in 16 points (5-9 FG, 2-4 3PT) and nine assists. Outscoring each individual Hornet while coming off the L.A. bench, Reggie Jackson was terrific with 19 points, five threes, three rebounds, three assists and a block. Rookie sensation LaMelo Ball looked fantastic for the Hornets (33-37), finishing with a team-high 18 points (5-10 FG, 3-4 3PT), six rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Hornets game recap.
Summary
Despite a slow offensive start highlighted by PG and Kawhi shooting a combined 3-for-10 from the field, the Clippers found their rhythm midway through the quarter with 7-for-12 shooting from deep to show for it. Marcus Morris Sr. led the way for L.A. early with a game-high eight points on perfect shooting, albeit giving up two fouls and two turnovers in the process. Full-time starter Ivica Zubac was solid in his 10 minutes of action, dominating the glass early and rocking the rim on several feeds from Leonard as the Clippers took a 31-23 lead after one.
The Clippers’ rebounding and offensive woes of recent games reared their heads in the second quarter as the Hornets outscored them 24-13 in the period. Opening up with a pair of missed triples, a missed technical free throw and an intercepted pass, Los Angeles’ rough start from PG and the bench unit allowed the Hornets to regain their composure a bit with their speedy guards breaking loose. LaMelo Ball showed off his range from deep while making some of his patented effortless passes. Shooting an uncharacteristic 1-for-10 from downtown and continuing to make some errant passes en route to nine first half turnovers, the Clippers headed back to the locker room down 47-44.
Winning the third 40-30, the Clippers’ offense finished just ahead as both teams found no shortage of buckets. With 10 assists on 13 of 15 shooting from the field (86.7% FG) and 8-for-10 from three, the Clippers’ offense looked much better as PG and Kawhi’s shots began to fall with regularity. Going small rather than bringing DeMarcus Cousins back in, Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum brought some much needed shot-making off the bench, tallying two threes apiece on perfect efficiency. Through three quarters, the Clippers took a 84-77 lead entering the closing frame in Uptown Charlotte.
Stretching out the Hornets’ defense with unselfish passing and consistent buckets, the Clippers dominated the fourth quarter 29-13. Rajon Rondo set the tone for the rest of the game, knocking down two wing threes to get the Clippers out in front 6-0 to start. After the Clippers continued to methodically move the ball, finding the open man on jumpers and backdoor layups to build a 20-point advantage, Hornets head coach James Borrego signaled the white flag as Terance Mann, Luke Kennard, Yogi Ferrell, Daniel Oturu and Jay Scrubb entered the game for L.A. with 4:09 left. After 11 ties and seven lead changes, Kawhi got the entire fourth off for the second game in a row as the Clippers moved to 2-0 in the Jay Scrubb Era.
Clippers vs. Hornets Game Notes
- Silencing the Swarm: Entering this afternoon’s matchup, the Clippers needed to be weary of the streaky shooting of both Terry Rozier and Devonte’ Graham. Rozier had averaged 30.7 ppg over his last three contests while Graham was coming off of a 31-point performance with seven threes against the Denver Nuggets. L.A. held the guards to a combined 15 points on 6-for-17 shooting.
- The Nightly Rotation Roundup: In 18 minutes of action, Patrick Beverley’s fingerprints on the game were just about nowhere to be found in this one as both Reggie Jackson and Rajon Rondo stepped it up in the second half to guide the Clippers to victory. With Pat Bev expected to be a starter heading into the playoffs, it would be great to see him look a bit more comfortable out there in these last two games. After the halftime break, Ty Lue also limited his substitutions to an eight-man rotation, opting for small ball instead of bringing in Boogie while continuing to leave Mann and Kennard on the pine.
- Goggles, Check: It seems moving out of the starting lineup and into more of a sixth man spark plug scoring role made the game clearer this afternoon for Reggie Jackson, who showed no hesitation being aggressive in putting up shots (and for good reason). The goggles have continued to look terrific, and having Jackson’s role be more defined can only mean good things for the Clippers come late May.
- Up Next: The Clippers will continue their four-game season finale trip in the second end of a back-to-back against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center on Friday, May 14 at 6 p.m. PT.
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