The Clippers squandered a fourth-quarter lead on Friday night, falling 116-108 to the Toronto Raptors to end the year. Keep reading for a full recap of the loss.
SUMMARY
The home team was “bombs away” to begin the game as the Raptors connected on four of their first five threes en route to an early 19-6 lead. The three-point barrage was part of an 18-0 Toronto run that eventually ended with a Reggie Jackson bomb of his own. The basket grew bigger for the Clips after a 2/12 start making three in a row, and four of the next six shots, to narrow the deficit back down to single digits. Contributions from Marcus Morris Sr. (five points) and Amir Coffey (eight points) down the stretch of the first frame sent the Clippers down just four points after one quarter of play.
LA briefly recaptured the lead at the onset of the second frame, fueled by a few tenacious defensive plays by Justise Winslow. The frontcourt duo of Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby would re-emerge from the bench to quickly restore order for Toronto. The Raptors’ lead grew to as many as six before back-to-back corner threes from Reggie Jackson evened the score at 55. The action evened out over the next few minutes. Another Reggie three in the waning seconds of the half sent the Clippers into the half with a 62-56 advantage.
A ton of loud bricks filled the empty Scotiabank Arena as the two squads combined to shoot 0/7 over the first couple of minutes of the half. But in the blink of an eye, the score jumped to 72-66 around the midway point of the third. Fred VanVleet’s craftiness kept Toronto in the mix throughout the quarter just as the Clips would build a little cushion. LA grew the lead again, thanks to the solid play of their bench, and went into the final frame up by five.
Toronto opened the quarter on a 12-4 run largely due to their defense. The Clippers committed consecutive turnovers and opened the door for easy Raptors points. Coffey got the Clippers back in the game, though, with an impressive sequence — a beautiful lefty drive to the rim, followed by a feed to the corner for a Kennard three and a timely transition stop. However, the Clippers’ small-ball unit to close the game just couldn’t get stops. Toronto was there to rebound every miss and put it back in for two when it did. A late VanVleet three put a dagger in the hearts of the Clippers and sent them into the new year with a 116-108 loss.
GAME NOTES
Rebounding: The Clippers have a rebounding problem and that was only magnified against the Raptors, without two centers. They got a concerted effort from various guys throughout most of the game, but their lack of size ultimately did them in. Toronto crushed LA’s small-ball lineup to close the game, which was enough to tilt the game in its favor. The Raptors finished with 18 offensive rebounds.
Back of Rotation Guys: The lack of available bodies opened the door for minutes for the end-of-rotation guys. They responded with strong outings. Justise Winslow had a strong game, particularly on the defensive end, and Keon Johnson impacted parts of the game with his energy and activity. Not necessarily an end-of-rotation guy, Amir Coffey played as arguably one of the Clippers’ best players on the night — scoring 15 points off the bench.
UP NEXT
The Clippers are right back at it tomorrow afternoon in Brooklyn when they face the Nets for the second time in less than a week. Be sure to come back around for a preview and recap of the game.