You could forgive the Clippers for being a little bit sleepy.
After winning a tight game against the Washington Wizards in LA on Wednesday, the Clippers flew across the country to lose a tight game in Atlanta Friday night. Then, it was on to Detroit, where they had to wake up early today to play a matinee against the Pistons… after losing an hour of sleep to Daylight Savings Time. They’ve done this all while managing an 8.5-man rotation, playing without 6 guys (meaning they can’t even properly get their rotation players rest during garbage time), including Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Norman Powell, and Robert Covington–and they played a half without Marcus Morris in Atlanta, too.
All of that is to say, I get why the start to the game was ugly. The Clippers broadcast noted the team had been particularly lifeless in warmups, and they immediately fell behind 17-4 to the young Pistons. LA couldn’t do much at all defensively, with poor perimeter containment allowing constant drives into the lane and flat-footed help defense from Ivica Zubac offering little meaningful protection at the rim. The Clippers managed to a little more competence as the first half wore on… but only a little. The second unit was equally lifeless and the Clippers went into halftime down 53-39 with just 31.7% shooting from the field. The only Clipper to actually have a strong first half was the man who took the second half off in Atlanta on Friday night: Marcus Morris, who put up 15 of the Clippers’ 39 points and made 5 of their 13 first-half field goals. He routinely worked his way into good spots with the ball in his hands, creating far more paint touches than typical of his game and getting to the free throw line 8 times.
But as has so often been the case with these Clippers this season, there was simply no moment tonight where they allowed fatigue or missed shots to demoralize them. Morris’ play kept up as he matched his first half production with 16 more in the second, but the rest of the team decided to join him in the third quarter. Reggie Jackson, after going 1-6 from the field for 2 points and 0 assists in the first half, had 13 points on 5-10 shooting and 9 assists in the second. Reggie also added 8 rebounds, second-most on the team. Ivica Zubac, who had 4 points and 6 rebounds on 1-4 shooting in the first half, had 10 points and 9 rebounds on 5-7 in the second, also stepping up his defensive play and stonewalling Piston drives as the Clippers won his 14 second-half minutes by 17 points.
That improved play from the starters allowed the Clippers to pull themselves back into the game, but as the third quarter wore on you just knew they’d need some type of burst off the bench. In tandem with former Piston Marcus Morris’ scoring and fellow former Piston Reggie Jackson’s distribution, a third former Piston stepped up to the plate: Luke Kennard, who made four second-half three-pointers en route to being the Clippers’ second-leading scorer. With a lift from Kennard and Isaiah Hartenstein, LA’s second unit managed to carve out a small lead in the mid-fourth, but quickly relinquished it as Ty Lue stuck with his second unit well into the final frame.
After going ahead 92-87, the Clippers saw their lead cut to one, 97-96, before Lue brought back his starting front court alongside Jackson and Kennard to close the game. Jackson and Morris delivered back-to-back daggers in the final two minutes to push the lead to 4 and then 6, and the Clippers were able to successfully coast to the finish from there against a Detroit team that wasn’t overly interested in extending the game with intentional fouls.
However ugly the first half was, the Clippers found a way to win in the second, as they have so often this season. They improved to 36-34 on the year, maintaining a comfortable lead over the 9th-place Los Angeles Lakers while still well behind the 7th-place Minnesota Timberwolves. The margins on either side of the team are both not quite insurmountable… but they’d require some pretty shocking results to close the season as LAC has just 12 games remaining. The Clippers’ focus is now entirely on the road game they’ll play in the second week of April for a chance at clinching the 7-seed in the first round of the playoffs–a game that will most likely be against the Wolves, but could still be one of Utah, Dallas, or Denver.
As far as that sleepiness that slowed down the Clippers in the first half today, they’ll have to wait a bit longer to get their respite. The team travels from Detroit to Cleveland tonight, where they’ll complete their final 5-in-7 stretch tomorrow against the Cavaliers. I’d be inclined to suggest that Reggie Jackson, who played his third straight game of 40 minutes today, should sit that one for rest, but the Clippers do not have another point guard on the roster. Maybe they just eat the loss and let Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, and Brandon Boston all do a little ballhandling.
Then, things will finally start to lighten up, at least as far as fatigue is concerned. The Clippers, whose current 70 games played lead the NBA, have just 12 games in the final 27 days of the regular season. The catch is that their next 8 straight games come against playoff opponents, so they’ll have to get the most out of their rest advantage in coming weeks to find those last few wins to push themselves to 41 or 42 wins and either finish the season at or above .500. Even though they’ll be the 8-seed even if they fall short of that mark, those are nice internal goals to keep them motivated.
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