The LA Clippers had their first overtime game in quite some time on Tuesday night — and they got there in dramatic fashion. Unfortunately, the Clippers came up short, losing 112-104. Check out our recap of the Clippers-Mavericks game below.
Summary
The Clippers led, albeit not by much, the whole first quarter. Early, Reggie was the “wild horse” Dr. Shap of our podcast called for him to be. He had nine of the Clippers’ 26 first quarter points along with two steals. Luka Dončić, who went from “questionable” to “available” for this game, led the Mavericks with six of their 21 first quarter points.
It’s worth nothing here that this game was very curiously called by the referees tonight. Mostly, the game was called extremely tight, as evidenced by the foul trouble both teams experienced. For example, the Clippers average 17.7 FTA per game, and took 29 tonight. The Mavericks average 19.4 and shot 27. (Both teams shot over 80%.)
Going into halftime, the Clippers held a six point led, but really should have been up by more. The Mavericks were 1/14 from three in the first half and the Clippers had largely contained Dončić, who only had 11 points on seven shot attempts. Turnovers — often an issue for the Clippers — were an especially big problem, as the good guy had 11 in the first half. Even worse, many of them came on transition opportunities. As Farbod Esnaashari relayed from the post-game press availability, coach Ty Lue was unhappy with the team’s transition offense: too many missed opportunities.
The third quarter turned into the Dončić versus Jackson show, and the Mavericks had the better hand. Dallas won the third quarter by 10 points behind 15 from Luka. Notably, he had three of the six Dallas threes in the frame; after being terrible from three in the first half, their shooting woke up. Reggie had 14 of his own, which was (unfortunately) enough for half of the Clippers’ third quarter points.
The Clippers made up the four point deficit pretty quickly into the final quarter. Things fell apart, however, with about five minutes left in the quarter. After Marcus Morris, Sr. made a jumper to make the score 94-92, the Mavericks extended their lead to 10 after two three-pointers and a Maxi Kleber dunk.
But after Kleber’s dunk, the Clippers went on an 11-1 run in the final 3:29. The final three points, of course, came from an amazing, 23-foot step back from Paul George with 1.1 seconds.
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 24, 2021
AT THE BUZZER!!! @Yg_Trece takes us into OT! pic.twitter.com/skgGYDr3Fi
The Clippers’ run ended in regulation, though. The Mavericks would score 9 to the Clippers’ one point in extra time. As they did all game, the Clippers struggled to move the ball and get good looks, and gave up three offensive rebounds.
Notes
- Marcus Morris Sr. Looked Pretty Good: Although Marcus was inefficient (4/12 from the field; 2/7 from three), he finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Moreover, he looked healthy and ended up playing 31 minutes despite being on a “minutes restriction.” (He did, however, have 4 turnovers.)
- Offensive Stagnation: The Clippers have talent, but the offense is not clicking. Yes, Paul George, Reggie Jackson (who had 31 tonight — his most as a Clipper), and others have had big individual scoring games, but the Clippers’ offensive rating is 23rd in the league. They also have the 10th worst assist-to-turnover ratio. Injuries play a big part of these issues, of course; nonetheless, it is fair to want more from the Clippers’ offensive scheme.
That just about does it for our recap of this Clippers-Mavericks game. Check out the site and our podcast for more news and analysis.