INGLEWOOD — The Clippers beat the top team in the Eastern Conference five days ago, so how difficult could it be to knock off the top team in the Western Conference?
It was harder than it looked.
The Clippers battled until the final seconds on Sunday night but fell short of securing the double feat, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 103-101, at the Intuit Dome.
Late shots by Norman Powell and Kawhi Leonard fell short, leaving the Clippers (40-31) in the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings as they try to get into the top six positions to avoid the Play-In Tournament.
The Clippers started the day in seventh place, percentage points ahead of idle Minnesota Timberwolves.
After squandering a 10-point halftime lead, the Clippers managed to get back into the game and pushed the Thunder down the stretch with neither team backing down.
Trailing 81-77 to start the fourth quarter, the Clippers pulled to within 88-87 on a floater by Ben Simmons.
The lead went back and forth until Leonard gave the Clippers a four-point cushion on back-to-back baskets with 4:47 left to play.
Thunder center Isiah Hartenstein made two free throws to close the gap before James Harden made two foul shots for a 97-94 lead.
After a jump shot by Leonard gave the Clippers a 99-97 lead, Alex Caruso buried a 3-pointer for a 100-99 Thunder lead with 1:54 remaining. A free throw by Caruso made it 101-99.
Derrick Jones Jr. missed the first of two free throws that would have given the Clippers the lead. The Clippers had the ball in the waning seconds down by a point, but James Harden held the ball too late into the shot clock. He passed it off late to Leonard, who threw up a wild turnaround jumper that hit the back of the rim, ending the Clippers’ hopes.
The teams last met Jan. 25, with the Thunder (59-12) winning for the third time this season, just three weeks after Leonard played his first game and long before the trade deadline that reshaped the Clippers’ roster.
“They’re a different team from the last time we saw them. (Now) they are healthy, clicking and playing on all cylinders right now,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “And they’re deep.
“This will be a great test for us.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who returned to the bench, said the challenge in playing the team with the NBA’s best record would be more physical than mental.
“I think we got to understand that this is a really good team,” Lue said before the game. “They’re very well-coached and we can’t beat ourselves.”
Lue had missed seven games while dealing with shoulder and back pain, watching from his bed at home the Clippers knocked off the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies (fifth in the West). Assistant Brian Shaw guided the team to a 6-1 record in Lue’s absence.
While the shoulder and back pain have subsided, Lue said the pain has traveled down to his leg, which caused him to sit at times in during Sunday’s game. He is day-to-day, he said.
“Going crazy. Going crazy. Just laying in bed and not being able to do anything is tough, especially when your team’s fighting and competing,” Lue said. “Pride myself on not missing games and being available every night and just sometimes it doesn’t happen like that.”
Feeling better, Lue was back on the bench only to see the Clippers revert to some bad habits and cling to some positive moves.
There still were 14 turnovers and only seven second-chance points, but Leonard continued his string of solid outings with 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Harden gave the Clippers, and a sellout crowd, a scare when he took a fall in the third quarter after Lunguentz Dort appeared to knee him in the thigh. The Clippers’ veteran point guard stayed down for nearly a minute but resumed playing.
Harden finished with 17 points, surpassing Moses Malone for 11th place on the NBA’s career scoring list with 27,415 points, but he shot 4 for 14 from the field with six turnovers.
The Thunder did an effective job on center Ivica Zubac, pestering him inside and limiting his shots and rebounds. He had 15 points and 11 rebounds to extend his stretch of double-doubles.
Lue had cautioned his team about the Thunder’s ability to score in transition, a warning that worked. Sort of.
“They’re a tough team to beat and so we understand that, and we got to be better with the basketball,” Lue said. “We can’t allow ’em to get out and get easy baskets … we can’t beat ourselves.”
The Clippers averaged 22 turnovers in their first three games against Oklahoma City and while they cut down on their mistakes Sunday, the Thunder still were able to score 13 points off their turnovers.
The Clippers were ready for the challenge of facing the third top team they have seen in the span of a week. They jumped out to an early lead while keeping NBA MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in check – he didn’t score for the first 8:38 – and led by 10 (34-24) at the end of the first quarter.
With four of the Clippers’ starters on the bench, the Thunder regained their bearings and led by Aaron Wiggins, outhustled the Clippers to open the second quarter with a 13-0 run, flipping a 10-point deficit to a 39-36 lead. Wiggins scored seven points during the run.
Lue slowly worked the starters back in and the Clippers managed to stay close until Oklahoma City, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, finished the first half with an 8-3 run and took a 57-51 lead into halftime.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who leads the league in scoring, finished with a game-high 26 points (17 in the first half) and eight assists but shot a season-worst 24.1% (7 for 29) from the field as OKC won its sixth straight. Wiggins scored 19 points, while Caruso had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.
More to come on this story.