Due to damage by Minnesota Timberwells late Friday night, Clepers remain one of the top three at the Western Conference. But if they expect to live, clippers need to break their habit of taking out the game in the last minutes.
The Clippers (38–18) concluded the two-market journey with another 101-95 win against Memphis Grizzleez on Friday. It followed a pattern in which the team used late game push to defeat Detroit Piston and Golden State Warriors.
Against the Grizzlee, the clippers got big moments from Paul George and James, going in the early stages of victory and the conference leaders Minnesota (39–17) and Oklahoma City (39–17) used to reduce the aggressive performance of stretch and tereity value to go within half games of the half game.
Mann scored a season-hai 23 points, this season overtook 20 points for the first time and performed the first double points in the last six matches.
“It’s been some time,” Mann said in an on-court interview on Friday.
Meanwhile, clippers are going to need more than players named Kavi Leonard. The six -time all -star had a wholesale for work against Grizzleez, with eight rebounds, four aids, three stolen and a blocked shot with 10 -18 points on shooting.
Harden scored at 27-foot only once on Friday, with the clippers ahead of four with 46 seconds. He was 1 for 8 with eight assistance.
George scored just six points through three quarters before finishing with 14, consisting of two 3-pointers in the last seven minutes that seemed to drop Grizlies below the stretch.
And I felt that our people had done a good job to reduce that stretch, ”Coach Tyron Lew said after the game. “Once with Luke (Kenard) and (Jaren Jackson Junior), Pick-And Rol, PG went for theft, picked it up quickly, which he scored twice in the first half. And then two dual teams, Qui got stolen. I think James found that James found a theft.”
“Just executing the game plan defensively under the stretch, it was really good.”
Clippers should also find ways to eliminate “victory one, necklace”, which they have recently slipped. Since posting four consecutive wins to shut down the Grammy trip, the clippers have fought to establish continuity in the winning department.
They are 3-3 in their last six matches, going out of the all-star break on the road 1–1. He lost to Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, followed by Friday.
They have the opportunity to keep the back-to-back win together against Sacramento Kings (32-23) on Sunday, but it is not a given. The Kings are headed by D’Oron Fox, which ranks 10th in the league, scoring 26.8 points in a game, and Damentas Sabonis, which is 62.4% average from the field.
To achieve both those things, clippers need to sideline their defense. His 114.3 defensive ratings place him 13th in the league.
“We know that we have to be much better, especially cleaning the goods at a defensive end,” Lu said after the thunder loss. “Being better with this, understanding coverage and sometimes better with our plans.”
George said that the team wants to clearly finish strong and earn the best possible seeding by the end of the regular season.
“But I think more, we just need to play rightly towards the end of the year,” he said.
Sacramento in clippers
When: 6:30 pm Sunday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: Balli Sports Socol, ESPN/AM 570