LOS ANGELES — Paul George made a public pledge before tip-off on Saturday night, grabbing a microphone and addressing the 16,748 fans at Staples Center for the Clippers’ home opener: “All season long, we’re gonna play hard.”
Few could question their effort against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Clippers played with characteristic verve, fighting back to lose a nail-biter for the second time in as many games this young season. They fell 120-114 in their home opener.
So the effort is there. What needs work is execution, sustainable execution. Also: communication, transition defense, boxing out.
Otherwise, even a performance as sparkling as George’s on Saturday – 41 points on 15-of-25 shooting to go with 10 rebounds in 35 minutes – isn’t getting the job done.
“Hopefully we don’t have to rely on him each and every night to have 40 just for us to have a chance to win,” Clippers guard Reggie Jackson said. “Hopefully we have some easy ones where he can get rest.
“We depended upon him heavily last year, we’re depending upon him heavily this year, so …. we’re gonna have to figure things out as a team, we’re gonna have to get better as a team, shore up some things, go back to the drawing board and come out and get ready for the next one.”
George’s exploits didn’t get the Clippers through the finish line with a win against the Grizzlies, who finally put away the Clippers on backbreaking shots by Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the final minute of the game.
Starring guard Ja Morant led the way for Memphis with 28 points (shooting 10 of 18) and eight assists. North Hollywood native and former USC standout De’Anthony Melton went 4 for 8 from 3-point range and grabbed seven rebounds.
Reggie Jackson finished with 17 points for L.A., which also got double-digit scoring from Eric Bledsoe (12), Luke Kennard (10) and, in his Clippers debut, Isaiah Hartenstein (11).
A nine-point Hartenstein run helped the Clippers build a 13-point lead in the second quarter, but that advantage shrunk to three by halftime and disappeared entirely fewer than two minutes into the third quarter, when the Grizzlies (2-0) tied it 64-64.
Memphis turned the momentum in its direction, pulling ahead by 16 points, 91-75, with 4:15 to play in the third, when it outscored the Clippers 38-27.
But George was true to his word, doing what he could to rev a Clippers’ comeback.
He scored 27 points in the second half, when he went 9 for 15 from the floor, 3 for 7 from 3-point range and shot and made all six of his free throws – his first free-throw attempts this season.
George keyed an 11-0 run over a span of 1:45 late in the third quarter that shaved 10 points off of what had been a 16-point lead. He turned the corner and flew in for a two-handed dunk that cut the lead to 91-81. He followed a Nicolas Batum 3-pointer with one of his own to make it 95-89.
But the go-go Grizzlies kept the Clippers at arm’s length as their diminutive lineup battled with 6-11 strong man Steven Adams, whose 17 points were the fewest of the Grizzlies’ starters, all of whom finished in double figures.
George hauled in six of his rebounds in the second half, including a defensive board that led to a Bledsoe transition bucket to cut it to 111-106. A pair of made free throws from George got the Clippers closer yet, 111-108 with 3:30 to go.
George countered a Morant basket with his fifth 3-pointer to make it 114-112.
And after Bane answered that with a bucket to make it 116-112, George drove in for a tough double-clutch layup that cut it to 116-114.
Finally, Jackson Jr.’s 3-pointer with 17.5 seconds left silenced the Clippers’ retorts.
“I’m happy we fought, but that can’t be who we are,” George said. “We gotta come in, we gotta do our job, we gotta win games. With that though, we have to play hard, and so I know it was a moral victory in Golden State, but tonight, we gotta do a better job. We gotta come out first, establish who we are. Playing hard should be a given. We gotta win games.”
They looked, for a spell in the first half, as though they might have it in hand.
Hartenstein, who beat out Harry Giles III as the Clippers’ third center during training camp, checked in and said hello for the first time with 4:46 left in the first quarter.
During a minute and a half long stretch early in the second quarter, Hartenstein scored nine points on a free throw and an array of moves at the rim: a 2-foot layup; a dunk off of a Bledsoe pass; an alley-oop flush off a pass from Nicolas Batum, and finally, a layup off of a pass from Mann. All of it bumped the Clippers’ lead to 40-34.
“He did a good job for us, first game,” Lue said. “I thought he rolled to the basket, some good plays around the basket, around the rim and when that second unit came in they picked up our energy and he was part of that. He played really well, got a little tired but that could be just from the excitement of the first game but I thought he did a good job.”