INGLEWOOD — The pace of the Miami Heat’s play could be the reason the Clippers lost, and it was partly to blame. The Clippers couldn’t keep with the younger, faster Heat for all 48 minutes.
Their defensive breakdowns also played a part in the Clippers’ 120-119 loss to the Heat on Monday night at Intuit Dome as did a lack of attention to detail that was lost in a flurry of activity on the other side of the court.
But the real reason? Coach Tyronn Lue had the answer.
“It came down to turning the ball over – 16 turnovers in the second half,” he said. “Same (stuff) over and over, man.”
The Clippers turned the ball over a total of 21 times, which Miami turned into 37 points and eventually into a close victory.
“We got to be better,” Lue said of his team’s ball-handling.
James Harden made two costly turnovers late in the game that Miami center Bam Adebayo turned into a pull-up jumper and added two free throws to give the Heat a 120-116 lead with 57 seconds to play.
Harden redeemed himself with a 25-foot 3-pointer to pull the Clippers to within 120-119 with 19 seconds left. After a jump ball, Kawhi Leonard got one final attempt at another game-winner but his 26-foot, step-back 3-point attempt bounced off the rim.
Leonard, who hit a game-winner against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, said he had difficulty shooting over a double-team from the Heat.
“They kind of forced me into a triple help side, but yeah, I mean we got a good look at the rim,” Leonard said.
While turnovers and missed shots cost them the game, Leonard said, from his standpoint, the game was lost when he turned his right ankle with 2:23 left to play, which left Andrew Wiggins wide open for a 28-foot 3-pointer that gave the Heat a 116-113 lead.
“That was a change of the game for me right there,” said Leonard, who added that he’s not sure about his availability for Tuesday’s game.
The Clippers (3-3) are going to need all the offensive firepower they can get plus a tougher defensive mindset Tuesday when they face the unbeaten Oklahoma City Thunder (7-0) on the second night of a back-to-back set.
Lue said before Monday’s game that the only way to slow the Heat, outside of tying their shoelaces together, was to remember how to play defense. Miami is the fastest team in the league in 40 years based on possessions.
“They put their foot on the gas and were (that way) the entire way,” Clippers guard Bradley Beal said. “I think we kind of got off a little slow but did a really good job of rallying back and staying in the game.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win there at the end, but I think it was just, they were just flying. They were all over the place offensively. They didn’t call any plays; they just were just kind of putting their head down and going.”
Lues said the Clippers need to get back in transition and “get your defense set because they are attacking, they’re playing fast. And so that’s been one of my Achilles heels getting (the team) back in transition.”
For a while, that worked. The Clippers scored 11 fast-break points in the first half off opportunities created largely by their defense and led, 71-66, at halftime.
At the intermission, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra made adjustments on defense, and the Heat came out playing more aggressively at that end of the court. Turnovers mounted and the Heat found openings inside that enabled them to build a 91-81 lead with 5:29 left in the third quarter and take a 103-95 lead into the final period.
Lue put in his second unit, along with Harden, to start the fourth and that lineup reeled off a 7-2 run to tie the score at 105-all. It was close down the stretch as neither team could get a solid hold on the lead.
Whereas defense let them down, offense wasn’t a problem for the Clippers. Leonard finished with 27 points and had four rebounds and four assists, while Harden had 29 points and eight assists.
Derrick Jones Jr. again made an impact at both ends of the court with 12 points to go along with three rebounds, one blocked shot and one steal, and Ivica Zubac posted nine points and 18 rebounds.
Beal also scored in double figures (12 points), but none of that was enough to combat the Heat’s speed, youth and defense.
“Teams like that are going to try to junk up the game and make you play a little faster, play out of character a little bit or try to force us to play their game a little bit and we may have done that,” Beal said. “I think we’ve turned the ball over a little bit more in the second half than we did in the first, but for the most part, I think it’s hoops, man. I think we just got to focus on this, not get too rattled by what they were doing.
“I don’t even think we got rattled. It’s just staying locked into what we do and just close out, execute better.”
The game marked the return of Clippers fan favorite Noman Powell, who was traded to the Heat this summer in a three-team deal that brought John Collins to the Clippers and helped create salary cap space to sign Beal. Powell hugged his former teammates before tipoff before getting five quick points that helped the Heat to an early 10-point lead.
Powell finished with 21 points, while Wiggins had 17 and Kel’el Ware added 16 for the Heat, who shot 54.2% from the floor and made 12 of their 25 3-point attempts to 50% for the Clippers, who were 17 for 41 from long range.
The Heat, who lost to the Lakers the previous night, improved to 4-3.