1 ranked offense, have scored for the season (118.6).

Even with Westbrook on the floor, they've scored 118.4 points per 100 possessions, which is just behind what the Kings, who have the NBA's No. That's not what teams envision when they go small.īesides, scoring largely hasn't been a problem for the Clippers lately. Leonard and Paul George made tough, contested jumpers to win the game for the Clippers. But many of the shots the Clippers were making weren't exactly your typical small-ball shots. The Grizzlies couldn't, say, trap Kawhi Leonard with Westbrook's man every time down the floor to force the ball out of his hands like the Kings did in Westbrook's debut because Westbrook still would have had three shooters to pass the ball to on the short-roll. Going small makes life easier on offense. The Clippers couldn't have won this game without an electrifying offensive performance down the stretch. Russ finished the 1st with 6 points and 3 assists. I know what you're thinking: going small must have helped the Clippers properly space the floor around Westbrook, whose non-shooting is so problematic that teams guard him like this:ĭraymond Green not even guarding Russell Westbrook 😳 They proceeded to outscore the Grizzlies by 20 points in the final nine minutes to win the game, 135-129. In a desperation measure, they removed Mason Plumlee from the game and played the remainder of the fourth quarter without a big man. With roughly nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Clippers trailed the Grizzlies by 14. And then they allowed 51 points in the third. They led by double digits in the second quarter. They were at home playing a Memphis team missing four of its best players, including All- NBA guard Ja Morant. 500, but tied them in the loss column with the hated Lakers, who got rid of Westbrook in the first place. A sixth would have not only knocked the Clippers below. That decision yielded five straight losses. The Clippers took a bold step by not only signing Russell Westbrook after the trade deadline, but immediately breaking up a thriving lineup to insert him into the starting five. There are plenty of bad losses on this team's resume, but Sunday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies almost took the cake. It suffered a 51-point home loss to the Dallas Mavericks months later, proceeded to lose three straight home playoff games to those same Mavericks, and this season, managed to blow a 14-point lead and allow 176 points in a loss to the Sacramento Kings.

There is no shortage of candidates for the worst loss of the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George era in Clippers history.

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