LOS ANGELES – One team was ramping up, the other pulling over.
Such is the nature of Game 81 in the NBA schedule, where the play-in bound Clippers took care of business against the Kings, who fell to 29-52 and got one game closer to going fishing.
Behind an incisive 23-point, 12-assist, eight-rebound effort from Paul George in his fifth game back following an elbow injury that cost him three months, the Clippers beat Sacramento 117-98 before a crowd of 17,568 at Crypto.com Arena.
With their fourth consecutive victory, the Clippers (41-40) put themselves in position to extend the franchise’s streak of winning seasons to 11 consecutive if they can defeat Oklahoma City on Sunday.
The Clippers were sharp to start Saturday, the second to last of the regular season and the first of three in the next four days counting Tuesday’s tilt in Minnesota, where they’ll face the Timberwolves in the 7 vs. 8 Western Conference play-in game.
George – who shot 8 for 14 from the field and 6 for 9 from deep – equaled his career high in assists, tied his season-high with six 3s and came within a couple of rebounds of his fourth career triple-double.
The torn ligament in George’s right elbow needed three months to get better. In that time, somehow, his court vision appears to have improved too.
Before he was hurt just before Christmas, the Clippers’ star wing was averaging 5.5 assists and 4.2 turnovers per game. Coming into Saturday’s game, he’s been averaging 5.5 assistant and just 3.3 turnovers in his four games back.
On Saturday, he improved those averages, finishing with just four turnovers (the first one a result of an offensive foul). That tally included some dazzling dimes, like his over his head connection with Ivica Zubac and his cross-court through-defenders delivery to Luke Kennard for a 3-pointer.
“Overall, been trying to take each possession for what it is,” George said. “Just trying to make the best play possible and just be trusting with the ball, to make the right plays, really.”
The Clippers led 59-45 at halftime, by which time Zubac already had his 24th double-double of the season, with 13 points and 12 rebounds (he finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes). George went into halftime with 17 points, including five 3s, seven assists and no turnovers in 16 first-half minutes.
As locked in as the Clippers were, the Kings were loose, at least to start.
But after a 16-point first quarter, Sacramento – had beaten the Clippers in two of their first three meetings – showed some short-lived spunk. The Kings trimmed what was a 20-point lead to just 59-52 early in the second half, when they outscored the Clippers 7-0 out of the break.
But after Davion Mitchell’s pull-up made it 73-66, five consecutive 3s (Nicolas Batum, Paul George, Nicolas Batum, Norman Powell and Powell) pushed the Clippers’ lead back up to 87-71. They entered the fourth quarter with their biggest lead of the game – 92-71.
Norman Powell came of the bench and scored 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including going 4 for 6 from deep. Marcus Morris Sr. (11), Isaiah Hartenstein (10) and Kennard (10) all also finished in double figures for the Clippers, who shot 21 for 43 from 3-point range and had 10 players hit a 3-pointer in the victory — bringing their season total to 1,029, a new franchise record.
It was the Clippers’ third time in four games with more than 20 3-pointers — a trend that coach Tyronn Lue credited to George, the playmaker.
“I just think him being aggressive getting to the basket, I think playing pick and roll, making the right pass, making the right plays has definitely opened things up for us,” Lue said. “And so, when you got a guy like PG on the floor, teams are gonna gravitate toward him, two and three guys are gonna be aware of where he is on the floor at all times and it’s up to him to make the right plays and right passes, and he’s been doing that.”
More to come on this story.