The Los Angeles Clippers were outrebuffed and outshot for three quarters until they became an unstoppable squad.
The Clippers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 125-114 on Sunday by using a game-ending 22-0 run to overcome an 18-point deficit. Kawhi Leonard scored 14 of his 21 points in the last five minutes of play.
The Clippers were playing catch-up after trailing 16-0 early in the game.
James Harden, who finished with 24 points and 10 assists, stated, “They came out and punched us in the mouth and in that fourth quarter we played Clipper basketball, got some stops and the rest is history.”
With two minutes left, Leonard’s shot gave the Clippers their first lead. Leonard’s 3-point shot from the corner to win for the tenth time in twelve games put an end to their incredible run.
Tyronn Lue, the coach of the Clippers, remarked, “He finally found his rhythm.” “We weren’t sure if he would be able to go today because he hadn’t been well and couldn’t practice yesterday.”
Russell Westbrook, who came off the bench, contributed 23 points to his teammates’ lackluster performance.
Paul George and Leonard had trouble for the most of the match. Together, they scored 11 out of 32 from the floor. George finished with seven rebounds and 12 points.
George said, “That was first of a kind—slow to start, then really hot toward the finish.” “We will always compete all the way to the finish. The wonderful thing about our group is that we never think we’re finished or hopeless.
Mikal Bridges led the Nets, who had just defeated LeBron James and the Lakers by eighteen points the previous night, with twenty of his twenty-six points coming in the first half.
Bridges said, “Just got to be better for the whole 48.” “Not fun at all,”
The Clippers went on a 39-10 run to end the game with 22 consecutive points after trailing by 18 points. As they scored almost every of the time down the floor, the audience let out a yell.
It like a party, Harden said. “The intensity was at a hundred.” That’s home-court advantage right there.
Despite being 14 of 39 from 3-point range, the Nets were unable to score during the Clippers’ comeback. In the fourth, they were limited to 15 points.
Bridges said, “We didn’t know how to break it, we were stuck.”
The Clippers were down early in their first game in five days, and they didn’t look good from the first tip.
The Clippers responded to the Nets’ 16-0 lead with an 18-2 rally, which included 10 consecutive wins, to level the game at 18. They did not catch up to Leonard’s late heroics, however.
The Nets had a halftime lead of 61-49 and a three-point lead of 99-84.
With three minutes remaining, Nic Claxton made the extra inch to recover the ball. Being one of the tallest players on the court, he was called in to assist when it became caught behind the backboard. At first, he indicated it was too high for him with the handle of a mop. He moved the ball on his second attempt, winning Leonard an embrace.
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