nba

Clippers storm past Thunder in rematch

Bones Hyland and Kawhi Leonard helped lift the Clippers past the Thunder without Paul George.

LOS ANGELES – History almost repeated itself Thursday when the Clippers blew another early double-digit lead to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Without key scorer Paul George, the Clippers responded to Tuesday’s loss with a commanding 127-105 home win over the Thunder.

Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers’ bench took care of things after it was announced George would not return for two to three weeks with a sprained right knee. 

Perhaps the most dominant off the bench was recent trade acquisition Bones Hyland. Just a month and a half after being traded, the self-proclaimed “spark bunny” came in the game to completely change the pace of Los Angeles’ offense.

“Just come in and change the dynamic of the game, change the flow, change the pace, you know,” said Hyland on his performance. “Just give the defense a different look and I feel like that’s what we did tonight.”

In 26 minutes Hyland contributed 16 points, along with four rebounds, seven assists and a lone steal.

Turning point: The game was off to a slow start after Tuesday when Los Angeles blew another double digit lead in the second quarter and allowed a tie 54-54 score at the half. 

Three three-pointers from Leonard and Bones Hyland helped create another scoring gap and allowed a 90-82 lead into the final quarter. From then on the Clippers had all the momentum and added 35 points in the fourth for the 127-105 win over Oklahoma City.

Hits: Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers  in scoring with 32 points in 35 minutes of play time. Leonard also went 13-15 from the field 86% shooting. Russell Westbrook got the Clippers crowd riled up with a 24-point performance, along with seven assists and two rebounds. 

Misses: Outside of George, Norman Powell and Brandon Boston Jr. missed out on play time.

Stat of the game: On Tuesday Los Angeles was 19% (6-31) in three-point shooting. Thursday the Clippers managed to climb to 48% (18-37) in threes versus the Thunders’ 33% (13-39).

Up next: The Clippers have one day off before they host the Orleans Pelicans on Saturday and face off for the second time this season. New Orleans (23-51) enters Saturday’s matchup as the 12th seed in the West. In the last game between the two teams, Zion Williams contributed 21 points to the New Orleans 112-91 win.

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x