LA Clippers lose to Oklahoma City with George getting injured then beat Chicago- March 2023
The LA Clippers took on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a matchup at crypto.com arena. The Clippers got off to a quick lead before the thunder came back the second quarter to make it a close game. It was back-and-forth till the end. The Clippers got sloppy at the end with some turnovers and they still had a chance to win it with Kawhi Leonard going one on one but he didn’t get a shot off in time as the buzzer sounded and Oklahoma won by one point 101-100 in a very tough loss. Besides the defeat, there was concerning news as Paul George had his knee buckle in the third quarter had to be carried off. The diagnosis was a strained knee and he will be reevaluated in 2 to 3 weeks. Oklahoma was led by Shai Gilgeous Alexander who scored 31 points and was just phenomenal. He made his first All-Star team this year and ironically was a big part of the trade for Paul George along with many 1st draft choices. Oklahoma has a very young team and are looking to make the playoffs with the play in game this year while the Clippers are battling for fourth or fifth place. If they stay there, their opponent looks like Phoenix, which will be a very tough matchup especially when Kevin Durant comes back .
The Clippers came back to be Oklahoma city on the back to back games two days later, then faltered on Saturday night versus New Orleans.
I also covered the game versus Chicago and they came out fired up with a sense of urgency. The game was close in the first half until the Clippers went on a run and pulled away 124-112. Russell Westbrook (12 pts and 10 assists) was a key with his penetration and dish offs to open shooters and teammates either with easy hoops around the net or three pointers made by Nicolas Batum (team high 24 pts on 8-10 shooting from 3 point range and Eric Gordon (22 points and 5-9 on 3 pointers). Kawhi Leonard (also added 22 pts starting to heat up the second half at LA started to pull away. Bones Hyland (13 pts & 8 assists in 24 min) came in and provided some great energy as spark which they’ve been missing. Plumlee and Zubac also scored in double figures with the well balanced attack.
The whole team played very well while the Bulls were more of a three-man team with Vucevic, Levine and DeRozan, providing most of the scoring with Patrick Williams also getting into double figures. The rest of the team didn’t contribute that much, which was a difference in the game. The are in 5th place as the playoffs wind up in the next couple weeks. Key reserve Norman Powell should be back soon and the team still have plenty of depth to be dangerous in the playoffs.
More at www.nba.com/clippers