It was the largest comeback win of the season for the Clippers, who reached the 40-win mark for the fifth year in a row and ninth time since the club relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1984. There was no discipline. He’s experimented this season with lineups that don’t have either Durant or Westbrook on the floor, which is unconscionable.
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This wasn’t the first time the Clippers went to this strategy against the game’s most unique scorer.
DeAndre Jordan contributed 20 points, 18 rebounds and some crucial buckets down the stretch, rallying the Los Angeles Clippers to a 103-98 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night at Staples Center. That game was also played on the Clippers’ home court, so there’s definitely going to be some vengeance in the way that Blake and his team plays tonight! “Obviously, they had to make the plays to get back in it. In order to do that, there has to be a high level of sacrifice by everybody”. Early on, Durant stuffed a Jeff Green shot attempt and took off for the races, beating Paul Pierce with a Eurostep to throw down a strong dunk. “We gotta continue to stay with the right play”. Suddenly, Oklahoma City was the team that couldn’t make a shot, couldn’t get out of its own way. Durant lost control of the ball under minimal pressure on multiple occasions, and Westbrook seemed to lose his mind on the deciding possession. Steph Curry going into super-human mode, battling off an ankle injury to put up 46 points and 12 three-pointers, with the last serving as a ridiculous game-winner from 35-feet.
Afterward, Donovan and Westbrook told reporters that the All-Star point guard was anticipating a foul from the Clippers on the play.
“Our intensity was key”, Paul said. “[The referees] didn’t call it”. If they can chase them off the perimeter than they should take this one.
The Oklahoma City Thunder looked like world-beaters through three quarters Wednesday night.
The Thunder dominated the first half, rolling to a 58-38 advantage at the break behind Durant’s 16 points.
Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City have gone back and worth in all physical match ups, with no one winning back-to-back games in the series within that time frame. We were looking to get our guys rest, and by doing that, it dropped us to the second round playing them, and I thought we were as fresh as we could be.
While they to have had a recent loss to the Golden State Warriors, they did manage to grab a win against the San Antonio Spurs, and defeat both the Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets in their last two matches.
Given their current swoon, is it time for the Thunder to be just as concerned about their head-to-head record against Portland – 1-1 with two to play?
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Oklahoma City faces obvious questions with Donovan’s inexperience, a coaching staff that is now without assistants Monty Williams and Maurice Cheeks and a second-unit that is largely lacking in difference-makers.
