Inglewood – With 19 regular season games in the calendar and injuries are still a factor, the Clippers are faced with the challenge of gaining lack of hand and winning in a hurry.
And that means stacking as many victories as possible between now and mid-April if they have hope for a higher seeded in the playoffs.
“We just have to condense and get better in what we are trying to do,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue.
The Clippers showed signs of improvement in a 105-95 victory against the New York Knicks on Friday evening at Intuit Dome, winning two successful games for the first time since February 12 to 13.
Although it was not perfect, the 10 -point victory was the kind of solid performances that the Clippers had to build Wednesday’s victory over the Pistons de Detroit and their three solid quarters of play in a defeat against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
They are currently team No. 8 of the Western and Online Conference for the Game Tournament (Seeds 7-10).
“We are late. I think the guys do the right thing, trying to come back, trying to get on the ground, but also to put the work to understand and learn what we have to do to improve, “said Lue. “So we just have to continue to cross it. You have to take the game day by day.
The mowers were pushed and fired by the Knicks, who were twice the goalkeeper of the All-Star Jalen Brunson, who left Thursday’s defeat against the Lakers in overtime after rolling the ankle. Brunson, who is seventh in the league by scoring (26.3 points per game) and eighth in assists (7.4 APG), will be reassessed in two weeks.
“He’s the next man,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. “You don’t replace a player like this individually. We will have to do it collectively. »»
The mowers only know this feeling too well. It was the same state of mind that they had throughout the first half of the season, while Kawhi Leonard rose a knee injury and one that they recently revisited when Norman Powell suffered a tension in the hamstrings in his first match after missing six games and Ben Simmons (knee ache) joined him on the bench.
But the Clippers (34-29) still had enough scores to beat the Knicks (40-23). So much so that James Harden did not have to play 40 minutes. However, the 11 -time star leader has always led the team in a score, with 26 points, as well as three rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes.
The Clippers had three other two -digit players.
Leonard added 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Nicolas Batum, making his fourth start of the season and second consequence, marked a summit of 17 points on a 6-en-9 shot (5 for 7 on a beach of 3 points). He also had four rebounds, two blocked shots and two interceptions.
Ivica Zubac collected 16 points and 14 rebounds, establishing a career summit in one season in the latter (763).
Friday, the Clippers started before Derrick Jones Jr. after missing the three previous games due to a vintage tension. He got out of the bench and scored nine points, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added eight points and 11 rebounds one night when the Clippers fired 15 for 38 behind the arc.
The Knicks did not let the absence of their star alleviate their game. After following up to eight in the third quarter, New York prompted the Clippers to shoot in the 78-75 with 2:34 to do. But visitors could not take the lead because they missed three 3 -point shots in the last two minutes. The Clippers hung on to an advance of 79-78 before the last quarter.
With Harden on the bench, the Clippers found a lead of nine points (94-85) with less than six minutes to play. They sailed from there to mark their second consecutive victory.
The Clippers quickly moved, taking an advance of 9-0 before the Knicks settled. But once the knicks have done, they continued.
The Clippers, who led 31-25 at the end of the first quarter, found themselves dragging 39-33 less than four minutes after the start. They did not score their second basket for another minute when Amir Coffey won a 3 -point at 7:20.
The match turned into a 3 -point competition while each team scored two long -range shots in the three minutes. Batum equalized the scoring with a pointer at 3 and followed it with another for an advance of 50-49.
After Leonard hit two free throws, Harden buried another 3-point pointer, and after Karl-Anthony Towns scored, Harden was the victim of violation of his 12th attempted 3 points, sending him to the line for three shots. Zubac closed the scoring in the first half with a cutting dunk for a 60-54 advance.
Towns led the Knicks with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Mikal Bridges collected 22 points and six assists. Josh Hart collected 14 points and dropped 20 rebounds.
More to come to this story.
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