They have done just that. Over the first 67 games, they have undergone a unique transformation, going from what many within the organization believed would be one of the NBA’s best teams to perhaps its most confounding. And over the course of Sunday’s final 12 minutes, a franchise whose direction appeared nearing free-fall went full throttle to close the season’s gutsiest and most desperately needed victory, a 135-129 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
“It felt like the stakes were high,” coach Tyronn Lue said.
His team trailing by 14 at home to a short-handed opponent missing its stars, Lue raised a topic with the players he has discussed publicly for several days, as their losing streak grew to five and the Clippers earned an ominous distinction — the only Western Conference team yet to win since the All-Star break.
“Just said mental toughness, just show some resiliency,” Lue said. “Continue to keep fighting, keep battling.”
Behind 42 points by Paul George and 34 from Kawhi Leonard, including 15 in the fourth quarter, the Clippers ended their skid on a night when, at one point, the championship aspirations appeared lost.
After allowing 51 third-quarter points to Memphis, the Clippers allowed just 17 in the fourth quarter.
“Kawhi did a good job of turning it up that last eight minutes,” Lue said.
“PG was great all night. Marcus [Morris Sr.] made two big shots when we were stagnant in that fourth quarter.”
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
At the season’s start, the schedule’s stretch run after the All-Star break appeared as a chance to rest and tune up for the playoffs. Instead, a streak that continued through one-point losses in Denver, San Francisco and Sacramento turned into a gantlet of survival just to remain in the postseason picture.
And it was why the stakes Sunday were weightier than usual, their virtually full-strength roster — down only Norm Powell and his injured left shoulder — holding no excuse against Memphis. Its All-Star ignition in Ja Morant is missing at least two games, his timetable for a return unclear beyond that, amid an NBA investigation into the guard’s Instagram video in which he posed with a gun.
Starting big man Steven Adams had a hurt knee. An Achilles tendon tear late last week sidelined athletic wing Brandon Clarke for the rest of the season. And drawing too many technical fouls had drawn a suspension for chief instigator Dillon Brooks.
“Tonight was a good start for us,” Lue said.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is fouled by the Grizzlies’ David Roddy during the second quarter Sunday. Leonard finished with 34 points.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“Especially after having some bad luck, and even our luck was so bad we even got struck by lightning,” a reference to the team’s plane being hit last week en route to Denver.
“It’s just been a rough week and a half, so we just got to continue to keep fighting through it.”
They produced another reminder why they are treading water — and why a flicker of hope in capturing their potential remains within their locker room, as they improved to 34-33.
Instead of tweaking his starting lineup, Lue turned again to his standard look of Leonard, George, Ivica Zubac and Morris.
Yet when the Clippers still looked lackluster at halftime, with Morris’ impact minimal after missing all four of his shots while adding one rebound and one assist, Lue started Nicolas Batum over Morris in the second half.
Within one minute, their five-point halftime lead had expanded to 11. But less than eight minutes later, with their defense again in tatters and three largely preventable turnovers leading to seven Grizzlies points, the Clippers trailed by 10.
And when Grizzlies reserve Santi Aldama turned and spun on Terance Mann at the free-throw line with a drive ending in a dunk, and Desmond Bane followed on their next possession with a three-pointer in transition, the lead swelled to 16.
The Grizzlies totaled 51 points in the third quarter, a nadir for a defense that has trended among the NBA’s worst for much of the last two months.
Between the third and fourth quarters, as the Clippers pondered how to dig themselves out of a 15-point hole, reserve Robert Covington — who received praise from Lue after a season-high 31 minutes Friday but was back out of the rotation against Memphis — looked on with a thousand-yard stare from his bench seat as Leonard sat next to him similarly without expression.
Then came the avalanche, the Grizzlies unable to score for nearly six minutes until a layup by Bane that ended a run of 17 consecutive fourth-quarter points by the Clippers. Their run was punctuated by a Russell Westbrook dunk and foul. The run grew to 24-2.
Eric Gordon scored 17 points off the bench for the Clippers and Mason Plumlee added 15 points.