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LOS ANGELES — Just astir 2 weeks into the NBA season, a brace of one-win NBA teams tangled, trying to fig it retired Monday nighttime astatine Staples Center.
The Clippers picked up that elusive Win No. 2; Oklahoma City mislaid for the sixth clip already.
Paul George scored 32 points, Reggie Jackson added 15 and the Clippers rallied from a nine-point shortage precocious successful the 4th fourth to bushed the Oklahoma City Thunder, 99-94. The Clippers trailed 91-82 aft Josh Giddey’s jumper with 2:44 remaining earlier closing connected a 16-3 tally to amended to 2-4.
George, who had 27 of his points aft halftime (15 successful the 4th quarter), besides had 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. He scored 8 points during the precocious surge, including a 10-footer with 1:08 near for the Clippers a 93-92 lead, their archetypal since aboriginal successful the archetypal quarter.
Before Reggie Jackson, George and Luke Kennard came live late, Thunder manager Mark Daigneault said he’d warned his team, the NBA’s youngest, to beryllium prepared to look an hostile playing with the desperation of a “cornered animal.”
“We’re trying to make nonrecreational habits and we’re trying to truly make an situation wherever young players tin larn each things nonrecreational basketball,” said Daigneault, good alert of the Clippers’ past 2 losses, clunkers successful which they conjured up lone 79 and 92 points.
“There’s definite mindset things that teams person erstwhile they’ve got maturity astir them, and 1 of them is benignant of competitory empathy, you gotta recognize wherever your hostile is going into a crippled and the science of the opponent. …
“Their discourtesy hasn’t gotten going, and this is astir apt a crippled that they’re gonna beryllium acceptable to rock.”
Instead, the Thunder experienced a squad of committed professionals who kept dutifully chiseling distant contempt being mired successful a wild, extended team-wide funk.
After missing 35 of their archetypal 50 shots successful the archetypal half, the Clippers finished the crippled 35 for 92 (38.0%) wide and 15 of 42 (35.7%) from 3-point range.
It wasn’t until the 3rd play that the Clippers yet showed their teeth, erstwhile Kennard’s archetypal 3-pointers, coming backmost to back, chopped OKC’s 12-point vantage to 66-60. Then George rattled successful a 3-pointer to whittle what had been a 15-point pb into conscionable a 3-point shortage with 2:53 to spell successful the quarter.
And past Clippers didn’t people for different 4 minutes, 39 seconds.
Before that, OKC’s prima defender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – who was traded successful 2019 successful the blockbuster woody that brought George to the Clippers – had a fewer cunning retorts successful his holster.
Beloved by Clippers fans arsenic a rookie successful 2018-19 – connected Monday, a instrumentality shouted, “We miss you, Shai!” – utilized a bid of patented start-and-stop moves to escaped himself to people 15 (of his full 28) points successful the 3rd quarter. He changeable 5 for 7 successful the period, making each 3 of his 3-point attempts to assistance the Thunder support their distance. The Clippers trailed 74-66 entering the 4th quarter.
Despite not scoring until determination was 10:14 left, Kennard (14 points) and Nicolas Batum (14 points) knocked down a mates of 3-pointers that chopped the pb to 74-72.
But again the Thunder – whose lone erstwhile triumph was a 26-point comeback astatine location against the Lakers – strung unneurotic a fewer baskets.
And the Clippers (2-4) faltered offensively, stymied, it seemed, by the hoops gods again and again. Even casual layups lipped out, similar the back-to-back point-blank misses by Kennard and Terance Mann (10 points) with 6:30 near successful the 4th play aft George’s blocked changeable acceptable up a modulation opportunity.
But the Clippers stuck astir and kept defending, truthful erstwhile George buried a brace of high-arcing 3-pointers with 2 minutes to play, it sent a surge done the assemblage of 13,722 and drew the Clippers backmost to wrong 3 astatine 91-88.
And Kennard pulled them even, burying a 3-pointer from the country with 1:39 to play.
After Darius Bazley made 1 of his 2 escaped throws, George deed a 10-footer to springiness the Clippers a lead. A pb that Jackson – a parched 4-for-16 until past Monday – extended to 95-92 with a timely 6-foot floater with 36.7 seconds left.
Jackson finished with 15 points, 7 coming successful the 4th quarter.
He and Kennard besides knocked down 2 escaped throws apiece successful the last moments to get the Clippers backmost successful the triumph column.
The Clippers were outrebounded by astatine slightest 20 successful losses to Cleveland and Portland, but they broke adjacent against the Thunder, 51-51.
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