Clippers’ comeback against Nuggets comes up short, losing streak extends to six
DENVER — Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard were among the first to depart the locker room inside Ball Arena late Tuesday, leaving as soon as possible from a place where the Clippers have not won in nearly three years.
They left while inviting an NBA fine for criticizing officiating, after coach Tyronn Lue lamented that “we didn’t get the same calls” and Paul George called the referees “awful” and his five free-throw attempts “very disrespectful.”
They left winless in their last two weeks, their record now 3-7, with Tuesday’s 111-108 loss to Denver the latest of what has grown to a sixth consecutive defeat since making a roster-altering trade for James Harden.
They also left … encouraged?
“I’m definitely encouraged,” Lue said, “by what I saw tonight.”
What Lue saw was the most cohesive performance by his team since the trade — but one that also conjured as many questions as it provided glimpses of potential answers.
Four games into James Harden’s winless Clippers career, it’s difficult to define what he is or what he and his star teammates can become.
“We played great,” George said. “It’s tough, the adversity of playing against the extra three [officials]. I thought they were awful. But, defending champs, we got to play better. There’s a lot to be positive about. I’m not one for moral victories but I thought we showed more of a sign of a team tonight that’s close to getting it over the hump.”
Trailing by as many as 13, the Clippers mounted a 20-point turnaround against the Nuggets to lead by seven halfway through the fourth quarter. George scored 35 points and looked as assertive as he has been since the acquisition of Harden scrambled the roles of the team’s stars, including Leonard (15 points on 15 shots) and Westbrook. Harden, meanwhile, was at his most comfortable offensively, particularly in the third quarter when he scored 10 of his 21 points.
The Clippers also curbed a pair of longtime weaknesses, committing only 11 turnovers while giving up just six offensive rebounds despite having only one legitimate big man in Lue’s eight-man rotation. Yet it still was not enough, even against a vulnerable Nuggets team missing injured point guard Jamal Murray.
Outscored by 10 over a four-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter, the Clippers lost their lead with 2:25 to play and never regained it. Their last chance to force overtime came with seven seconds left, when George shot a potential tying three-pointer, only for the ball to wedge between the rim and backboard. It led to one last jump ball, but not a final jump shot for the Clippers, who dropped to 0-2 halfway through the NBA’s in-season tournament group stage.
“We have a chance to be really, really good, really special and it’s going to take some time, some patience,” Harden said. “And within this locker room, within this organization, we just got to continue to build and not really care about what other people are saying.
“Because those results aren’t showing right now, but we’re in it for the long haul.”
Their preferred result, a first victory since Oct. 31, did not show because every moment of optimism eventually was tempered.
The Clippers made 13 three-pointers and shot 44.8% behind the arc, by far their best since Harden’s debut five games ago. They also shot virtually the same percentage inside the paint, making just 17 of 38 shots there.
The Clippers played virtually the final 16 minutes without a traditional center, and for a second consecutive time the strategy got them back into the game. Eventually they could not contain Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, the 7-footer who scored 32 points with 16 rebounds and nine assists while making all 14 of his free throws.
Harden scored 21 points with four assists through three quarters as Lue frequently allowed him to clear out and isolate against his defender. It was nothing like the cutting and pace the coach talked about during training camp, but he has turned to this offense in hopes of getting Harden more comfortable playing an on-ball style he excelled at earlier in his career. Harden’s rhythm with George and Leonard in the third quarter — the same unit that went five minutes without a field goal in the second quarter — erased the Clippers’ eight-point halftime deficit.
Paul George said he’s ‘super optimistic,’ Kawhi Leonard said he’s ‘still confident,’ James Harden was focused on the ‘big picture’ in wake of losses.
But that same trio combined to shoot six for 15 in the fourth quarter, with 11 of the shots belonging to George, who went 0 for 5 from three in the quarter. Harden went scoreless in the quarter while taking only one shot and had no assists.
“I don’t really care about how many shots he gets, just how the offense is going,” said Lue, who called Harden “the most comfortable he’s been since he’s been here” while saying he was “making the right pass and right play.”
Said Harden: “I was a little more aggressive. I feel like I can be a lot more aggressive and aggressive means making the right plays, getting guys open shots, not just scoring.”
Harden replaced Westbrook with 5:20 remaining in in the fourth quarter when the Clippers were leading by five. Westbrook scored eight points with six rebounds while playing 25 minutes, while Harden, Leonard and George played at least 36. Lue wants Westbrook’s minutes and Harden’s not to overlap too often, believing each can run his own unit, but said before tipoff that bringing Westbrook off the bench was not something he’d considered.
“His energy and the things he did on the floor, you know, it was good for us,” Lue said of Westbrook. “And so it’s going to be the tough part. Just like you said, juggling guys’ minutes, and who should finish the games and who’s playing well.”
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