Telepeer

Clippers pull away from short-handed Knicks

March 8, 2025

Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr., right, dunks as New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges watches during the first half on Friday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

1 of 33

Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr., right, dunks as New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges watches during the first half on Friday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Expand

INGLEWOOD — With 19 regular-season games left on the schedule and injuries still a factor, the Clippers are facing the challenge of winning while short-handed and winning in a hurry.

And that means stacking as many victories as possible between now and mid-April if they have any hope for a higher seed in the postseason.

“We just got to condense and get better at what we’re trying to do,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

The Clippers showed signs of improvement in a 105-95 victory against the New York Knicks on Friday night at the Intuit Dome, winning two games in a row for the first time since Feb. 12-13.

While not perfect, the 10-point win was the kind of solid performance the Clippers needed to build on Wednesday’s victory over the Detroit Pistons and their solid three quarters of play in a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.

They currently are the No. 8 team in the Western Conference and in line for the Play-In Tournament (seeds 7-10).

“All these games are important for us, telling guys in a sense this is going to make or break us because we are playing a lot of competitive teams,” forward Kawhi Leonard said. “Teams are in the playoffs (or) are trying to make that playoffs push, and if we win these games, it’ll help us in the playoffs and if we don’t, we will most likely be out.

“So, it’s time to lock in on each and every game and see what we can do.”

What they did Friday was hold on despite being pushed around by the Knicks, who were without two-time All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, who rolled his ankle in Thursday’s overtime loss to the Lakers. Brunson, who is seventh in the league in scoring (26.3 points per game) and eighth in assists (7.4 apg), will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

“It’s next man up,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You don’t replace a player like that individually. We will have to do it collectively.”

The Clippers know that feeling all too well. It was the same mindset they had throughout the first half of the season while Leonard worked his way back from a knee injury and one they recently revisited when Norman Powell suffered a hamstring strain in his first game back after missing six games and Ben Simmons (sore knee) joined him on the bench.

But the Clippers (34-29) still had enough scoring Friday to beat the Knicks (40-23). So much so that James Harden didn’t have to play 40 minutes – or score 50 points as he did against the Pistons. The 11-time All-Star point guard still led the team in scoring, though, with 27 points, along with three rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes.

The Clippers had three other players in double figures.

Leonard added 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Nicolas Batum, making his fourth start of the season and second in a row, scored a season-high 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting (5 for 7 from 3-point range). He also had four rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals.

Ivica Zubac had 16 points and 14 rebounds, setting a single-season career-high in the latter (763).

The Clippers got starting forward Derrick Jones Jr. back on Friday after he missed the three previous games because of a groin strain. He came off the bench and scored nine points, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added eight points and 11 rebounds but went 0 for 4 from 3-point range on a night when the Clippers shot 15 for 38 from behind the arc.

“To get four guys in double figures helps big time,” Leonard said. “We need everybody. That’s how you win basketball games. One or two players just can’t do it. It’s a collective unit. You’re going to need everybody moving forward.”

The Knicks didn’t let the absence of their star dampen their play. After trailing by as many as eight in the third quarter, New York pushed the Clippers to pull within 78-75 with 2:34 left. But the visitors couldn’t take the lead as they missed three 3-point shots in the final two minutes. The Clippers clung to a 79-78 lead heading into the final quarter.

With Harden on the bench, the Clippers regained a nine-point lead (94-85) with less than six minutes to play. They cruised from there to notch their second consecutive victory.

“And like I said, being short-handed, not having a lot of days to practice, guys have really been locked in in walkthroughs and shootarounds trying to get better as much as we can,” Lue said. “So, we just got to take it game by game and hopefully we’ll start getting more and more bodies back.”

The Clippers got moving quickly, grabbing a 9-0 lead to start the game before the Knicks had a chance to get settled. But once the Knicks did, they kept going.

The Clippers, who led 31-25 at the end of the first quarter, found themselves trailing 39-33 less than four minutes into the second. They didn’t score their second basket for another minute when Amir Coffey landed a 3-pointer at the 7:20 mark.

The game turned into a 3-point contest as each team scored two long-range shots over the three minutes. Batum tied the score with a 3-pointer and followed it with another for a 50-49 lead.

After Leonard hit two free throws, Harden buried another 3-pointer, and after Karl-Anthony Towns scored, Harden was fouled on his 12th 3-point attempt, sending him to the line for three shots. Zubac closed out the scoring in the first half with a cutting dunk for a 60-54 lead.

Towns led the Knicks with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Mikal Bridges had 22 points and six assists. Josh Hart had 14 points and pulled down 20 rebounds.

“It was a group effort, all the guys competed,” Lue said. “We had a few mistakes defensively but overall I thought we did a good job defensively, understanding what we are trying to do.

“They’re a tough team even with Brunson out. They still compete. They have a lot of good players over there and are well-coached. So, this was a big win for us tonight.”

Clippers pull away from short-handed Knicks Orange County Register

News Details

Clippers pull away from short-handed Knicks

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS