LA Clippers lost to Minnesota,beat Toronto- March 2023
Feb. 28th game
The LA Clippers hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves at the crypto.com arena as the season winds down. LA recently made some upgraded changes to the roster right before the trading deadline acquiring Mason Plumlee, Bones Hyland and Eric Gordon. They got rid of sharpshooter, Luke Kennard, John Wall, and Reggie Jackson. The most intriguing acquisition was Russell Westbrook, who made his season debut with the Clippers. Minnesota also had some deadline deals sending out guard D’Angelo Russell, but acquiring Mike Conley from Utah. Both teams are vying to move up in the standings to stay out of the play-in game, but not far from missing the playoffs either. Minnesota has played decent basketball, despite some injuries, including top player, Karl-Anthony Towns. They acquired defensive center Rudy Gobert in off-season trade, giving up many first round draft picks.
The game was back-and-forth but Minnesota came up with the big plays in the end to defeat the Clippers 108-101, as the home team had too many turnovers (24 total) as they were too sloppy with the ball. Minnesota used a full balance attack with six players and double figures.
Paul George had 25 and Kawhi Leonard had 23 points but it wasn’t enough despite getting starting Center, Ivica Zubac back in the lineup. The Clippers have lost three in a row and their schedule is not getting any easier. Coach Tyronn Lue is trying to alter the lineups to seeing which can have the most chemistry with such a deep team as they are underachieving now that they have everyone healthy.
March 9th game
The Toronto Raptors visited crypto.com arena to challenge the LA Clippers, who had broken a five game losing streak the game before vs Memphis. This was a reunification of Kawhi Leonard versus the team he won the NBA championship with a few years ago. Leonard played spectacular and had 24 points and 12 rebounds. The game started off with the Clippers playing very sloppy in the first period with many turnovers again but they seem to settle down as the game went on. Paul George added 23 points and Zubac at 17. Terrence Mann played very well scoring 14 on 6-7 shooting and handling the ball very well at point guard taking over for Westbrook in the second half . The Raptors had a balance attack with Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes scoring 20 points while Anunoby at 18. Fred Vanvleet had 13 points and nine assess but Toronto faded down the stretch with LA taking over the game with good defense and less turnovers. Eric Gordon also played some quality minutes as the team is expecting top reserve Norman Powell back in the next couple weeks from a shoulder injury. The Clippers are in a tie for fifth place with Golden State but are only three games ahead of 12th place so the rest the season is key to stay consistent and play great down the stretch to have a better seed and continue improving their chemistry heading into the post season. More www.nba.com/clippers.