INGLEWOOD — The Clippers beat the top team in the Eastern Conference five days ago, so how difficult could it be to knock off the top dogs in the Western Conference?
It was harder than it looked.
The Clippers battled until the final seconds but fell short of securing the double feat, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 103-101, on Sunday night at the Intuit Dome.
Late shots by Norman Powell and Kawhi Leonard fell short, dropping the Clippers (40-31) into the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings as they try to get into the top six positions to avoid the Play-In Tournament.
The Clippers – who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end – started the day in seventh place, percentage points ahead of idle Minnesota Timberwolves.
“A loss is a loss,” Coach Tyronn Lue said, pointing to several missed opportunities in the final minute.
“But I thought our guys did a good job competing on the defensive end. Offensively, I thought we could have done things better.”
Lue was encouraged by his team’s play, namely the defense against league MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who managed to shake free for a game-high 26 points but needed 29 field-goal attempts to get there. Gilgeous-Alexander, who leads the league in scoring, shot a season-worst 24.1% (7 for 29) from the field as OKC won its sixth straight.
“Just being able to come down the stretch in a one-point game, had a couple shots but just capitalize,” Lue said. “And then just defensively, I thought we did some good things. I thought we made Shai play a lot under duress all night, not let him play free and comfortable.”
After squandering a 10-point halftime lead, the Clippers managed to get back into the game and pushed the Thunder down the stretch with neither team backing down.
Trailing 81-77 to start the fourth quarter, the Clippers pulled to within 88-87 on a floater by Ben Simmons.
The lead went back and forth until Leonard gave the Clippers a four-point cushion on back-to-back baskets with 4:47 left to play.
Thunder center Isiah Hartenstein made two free throws to close the gap before James Harden made two foul shots for a 97-94 lead.
After a jump shot by Leonard gave the Clippers a 99-97 lead, Alex Caruso buried a 3-pointer for a 100-99 Thunder lead with 1:54 remaining. A Caruso free throw made it 101-99 with 1:33 left.
Derrick Jones Jr. then split a pair of free throws that would have tied the score and Powell missed a 3-point attempt with 21.1 seconds left. The Clippers still had the ball in the waning seconds down by a point, but James Harden held the ball too late into the shot clock. He passed it off late to Leonard, who threw up a wild turnaround jumper that hit the back of the rim, then Gilgeous-Alexander made a pair of free throws for a three-point lead with three seconds left and the Thunder (59-12) held on.
“We were in the game the whole game. Just calls could have gone either way, but give a salute to them. They’ve been the best team all year,” said Leonard, who continued his string of solid outings with 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Powell said the game came down to “a few plays here and there.”
“I don’t think it got away from us, I mean it was right there,” said Powell, who was playing in just his third game back after missing seven straight because of knee and hamstring injuries.
“A few calls go our way; a few shots don’t go down. We got a good look at it. Three late, in and out. That’s the game sometimes.”
The teams last met Jan. 25, just three weeks after Leonard played his first game and long before the trade deadline that reshaped the Clippers’ roster.
“They’re a different team from the last time we saw them. (Now) they are healthy, clicking and playing on all cylinders right now,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after his team completed the season sweep (4-0). “And they’re deep.”
Sunday’s game was the closest of their four matchups.
Lue, who returned to the bench, said the challenge in playing the team with the NBA’s best record was more physical than mental.
“I think we got to understand that this is a really good team,” Lue said before the game. “They’re very well-coached and we can’t beat ourselves.”
Lue had missed seven games while dealing with shoulder and back pain, watching from his bed at home the Clippers knocked off the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies (fifth in the West). Assistant Brian Shaw guided the team to a 6-1 record in Lue’s absence.
While the shoulder and back pain have subsided, Lue said the pain has traveled down to his leg, which caused him to sit at times during Sunday’s game. He is day-to-day, he said.
“Going crazy. Going crazy. Just laying in bed and not being able to do anything is tough, especially when your team’s fighting and competing,” Lue said. “Pride myself on not missing games and being available every night and just sometimes it doesn’t happen like that.”
Feeling better, Lue was back on the bench only to see the Clippers revert to some bad habits and cling to some positive notes. There still were 14 turnovers and only seven second-chance points, but Leonard looks better with each passing week.
Harden added 17 points, surpassing Moses Malone for 11th place on the NBA’s career scoring list with 27,415 points, but he shot 4 for 14 from the field with six turnovers.
Harden gave the Clippers, and a sellout crowd, a scare when he took a fall in the third quarter after Luguentz Dort appeared to knee him in the thigh. The Clippers’ veteran point guard then rolled his foot while hopping on his one good leg but resumed playing.
“He couldn’t really move,” Lue said. “Probably should have saved him from himself and got him out. He was pretty stagnant once he came back in. He just wanted to try and gut it through.”
Harden limped around the locker room but downplayed the injury, saying “we’ll see” if he can recover in time for the Clippers’ upcoming four-game trip, which begins Wednesday against the New York Knicks.
The Thunder did an effective job on center Ivica Zubac, pestering him inside and limiting his shots and rebounds. He had 15 points and 11 rebounds to extend his stretch of double-doubles.
Lue had cautioned his team about the Thunder’s ability to score in transition, a warning that worked. Sort of.
“They’re a tough team to beat and so we understand that, and we got to be better with the basketball,” Lue said. “We can’t allow ’em to get out and get easy baskets … we can’t beat ourselves.”
The Clippers averaged 22 turnovers in their first three games against Oklahoma City and while they cut down on their mistakes Sunday, the Thunder still were able to score 13 points off their turnovers.
The Clippers were ready for the challenge of facing the third top team they have seen in the span of a week. They jumped out to an early lead while keeping Gilgeous-Alexander in check – he didn’t score for the first 8:38 – and led by 10 (34-24) at the end of the first quarter.
With four of the Clippers’ starters on the bench, the Thunder regained their bearings and led by Aaron Wiggins, out hustled the Clippers to open the second quarter with a 15-0 run, flipping a 10-point deficit to a 39-36 lead. Wiggins scored seven points during the run.
Lue slowly worked the starters back in and the Clippers managed to stay close until Oklahoma City, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, finished the first half with an 8-3 run and took a 57-51 lead into halftime.
Wiggins scored 19 points, while Caruso had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Hartenstein added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Jaylin Williams scored 12 points.
The Thunder were playing without Jalen Williams (hip) and Chet Holmgren (hip), their second- and third-leading scorers, respectively.