Faced with one of the NBA’s top teams and one of the league’s elite players, it was necessary to expand the winning streak to six games.
However, they faced each other in the final seconds and were not defeated in a tense battle at Int’t’ Dome.
“A lot of turnovers. Even at the end of the fourth, there were two or three turnovers at the end,” Kawhi Leonard said. “Yeah, we fought hard. We were in the game throughout the game. We might have got a call either way. But we salute them. They were the best team in the league.”
The Clippers left Derrick Jones Jr., who left only one of the two free throws, missed the opportunity to tie the game together with 1:22 left, leaving the Clippers at 101-100 before things actually started to unravel.
Two costly sales ended their chances of taking the lead, including one, after fumbling the ball from the bounce at the left at 1:01. He then missed the shot with 21 seconds left, and after Zubac scored an offensive rebound, he missed the shot with 4 seconds left.
This loss led the Clippers (40-31) to eighth place, increasingly close in Western conference postseason races. They are one game from 6th in the final automatic playoff berth for the rest of the 11 games.
“I’ve already played play-in, but I’m not trying to do it again,” said Powell, who finished with a nine-point finish. “So you’re looking closely at the positioning and wanting to keep the way we play, the team loses and we’re bounced back on this road trip. But, no doubt, everyone is trying to avoid that play-in right now.”
Gilgeous-Alexander fired a 29-for-7 shot from the floor, finishing with 26 points. He made all 11 free throw attempts, including two in the final seconds.
Leonard had 25 points and 10 rebounds. , finished with 17 points and moved to 11th on the NBA’s highest scorer list of all-time scores. Zubac had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
After the game, Harden limped around the locker room. He was kneeled on his left thigh in the third quarter by Thunder Guard Luguentz Dort. Harden said he rolled his leg during the play.
The Thunder, who swept the season series against the Clippers, has the NBA’s highest record 59-12, is the league’s leading scorer and has the most valuable player candidate (32.9 points per game).
It wasn’t all bad news for the Clippers – the coaches are back on the sidelines. He missed five of his previous seven games due to back pain, and the Clippers stretched that stretch 6-1, with assistant coach Brian Shaw at the helm.
Lue thanked the coaching staff for keeping the team in good condition.
“I felt much better,” Lu said. “I’m just going to take it every day, take it every game. …The pain from my shoulders and behind me put my legs down a bit. …I feel really good on my back and shoulders.
