Whatever progress the Clippers made in their recent stretch of games wasn’t apparent early Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The defense gave up 80 points in the first half, the offense stalled, and double-digit turnovers seemed to doom any chance they had at posting a third consecutive victory and their sixth in seven games. Then the second half happened.
After trailing by as many as 26 points in the third quarter, the Clippers staged one of their biggest comebacks of the season and came away with a 120-118 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
Paul George and Norman Powell fueled the late rally, with George doing most of the heavy lifting in the fourth. He scored 15 of his game-high 39 points in the final quarter and came up with a block in the final two seconds to seal the victory.
Terance Mann tied the game at 115 on a corner 3-pointer with 1:16 to play and Amir Coffey gave the Clippers a 118-115 lead on a 26-footer for his only basket of the game.
Cavs center Jarrett Allen again tied the game with a three-point play, but George scored with seven seconds to go on a 13-foot jumper as the shot clock buzzer sounded to put the Clippers ahead. He then blocked Darius Garland’s two-foot shot as time ran out.
“I just told myself to play the game,” George said in on-court interview.
Making their effort harder was the fact the Clippers again were without Kawhi Leonard, who missed his fourth consecutive game because of inflammation in his right knee. Reserve center Daniel Theis also sat out the game because of a sprained left thumb.
Without Leonard, coach Tyronn Lue knew it would be a long afternoon against the Cavs, who are in third place in the Eastern Conference and possess two of the league’s most dynamic guards in Garland and Donovan Mitchell.
Mitchell, however, didn’t play due to left knee injury management. The Cavs still had five players in double figures, led by Garland’s 28 points and eight assists.
James Harden, who was listed as questionable because of a sore right foot, played anyway and scored 22 points with five rebounds and five assists in 26 minutes.
George finished with 39 points, a season-high 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Powell scored 14 points and Ivica Zubac posted 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The victory gives the Clippers 50 victories for the sixth time in franchise history.
The game appeared to be one of those early contests that catch the Clippers not fully prepared for their opponents. The Cavs jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first quarter.
Unlike other matinee games this season, however, the Clippers managed to get themselves back into contention, even taking a two-point lead with 1:17 in the first on a step-back 10-footer by George. Then they reverted to their old habits.
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By halftime, the Cavs held an 80-59 lead and stretched it to 26 points in the third quarter as they took advantage of Clippers turnovers.
Slowly, though, the Clippers staged a comeback that was unthinkable in other matinee games.
Behind the play of Zubac and Powell, the Clippers managed to find their rhythm late in the third, pulling to within 94-77 on a 3-pointer by Powell. The former UCLA star again found the basket from beyond the 3-point line to narrow the lead 97-86 with 31 seconds left in the quarter, capping an 18-4 run. Zubac had eight points, scoring on all four of his attempts, and posted five rebounds in the quarter.
