INGLEWOOD — James Harden moved to the right side of the arc, barely getting his feet set, then launched a 26-foot shot into the record books.
With his first 3-pointer in the first quarter Sunday, the 16-year veteran moved into second place on the NBA’s career list, surpassing Ray Allen who had 2,973 made long-range shots.
“It’s an unbelievable accomplishment,” said Harden, who now has 2,975 made 3’s. “Just a testament to the amount of work that I’ve been putting in.
“As I get older and just chip away at an unbelievable career, I start to accomplish things like that. So, I don’t ever want to take it for granted. I just want to give motivation to the youth and every other person that’s chasing a dream to play professional basketball or whatever it is. So, it’s an honor.”
The Clippers took a moment during a timeout to celebrate the moment in front of the Intuit Dome crowd.
Then, with that out of the way, the Clippers focused on beating the Utah Jazz and getting back to the winning side of things. And they got there with a rare 116-105 double-digit victory that snapped a three-game road skid.
The Clippers (7-7) had won four in a row before traveling to Oklahoma City for one game against the Thunder and two against the Houston Rockets, losing all three. The Intuit Dome was a welcome sight.
Sunday’s victory was something of a milestone for the Clippers. Their largest margin of victory this season had been nine points (113-104) against the San Antonio Spurs 13 days ago.
“Taking care of the basketball was huge,” Coach Tyronn Lue said. “I think the ball was moving, the ball was hopping, we made the right play. I thought we actually got into our stuff, especially in that first half, first three quarters, and then offensive rebounding.”
Yet, like so many games this season, the Clippers again found themselves sweating out the ending.
The Clippers led by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter and maintained a significant lead before it started to unravel. Utah closed to within eight (108-100) on a 3-pointer by Jazz forward Laurie Markkanen with 4:06 remaining in the game and Kevin Porter Jr. followed with a layup to put the Clippers back up by 10. Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson then buried a 3-pointer to narrow the lead down to seven, 110-103.
The Clippers scored five quick points to put them comfortably ahead, 115-103 and held off any further challenge from their opponent.
“It should have been easier,” Ivica Zubac said. “We got to be better with just closing the game out. Going up 20 at the half — we got to be able to come out better. We gave up a lot of points to start the third and we just got to be better. We can’t relax, we can’t let the teams believe they got a chance.”
The Clippers made it easier on themselves with just nine turnovers; they had been averaging 17.4.
They also had five players in double figures, led by Zubac’s 22 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots in 32 minutes.
Balancing out the scoring was Harden (20 points, six rebounds, 11 assists, 0 turnovers), Powell (18 points), Porter Jr. (12 points) and Kris Dunn (11 points, four assists).
Another in-game nod could easily have gone to 7-0 Mo Bamba, the Clippers’ offseason pick-up, who scored nine points and posted eight rebounds in relief of starting center Ivica Zubac. It was Bamba’s season debut with his new team.
Lue had seen small signs of fatigue in Zuback, who carried much of the big man duties in the team’s first 13 games as Bamba rehabbed a lingering sore left knee.
“I think it’s been tough (for Zubac),” Lue said. “He plays the first six minutes of the game and then usually plays that whole second quarter. And so, as a guy who is 7-foot, 7-1, 7-2 or whatever, we gotta do a better job just trying to either get him three stints — where we start him the second quarter, get him out and then get him back in again. But I can tell that the fatigue is setting in with him.”
With Bamba filling in, Zubac shaved a few minutes off his average as the Croatian big man had been playing 34 minutes a game.
The Jazz (3-10) were without Walker Kessler (hip), who missed his third game with no clear timetable for his return. John Collins and Drew Eubanks will absorb the minutes at center; Collins started in Kessler’s place again and finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Clarkson led the Jazz with 21 points, while Markkanen added 18 points and 10 rebounds.