The Clippers had this one in their hands, then let it slip away in the final seconds.
Los Angeles was 3.3 seconds from snapping a skid that had stretched all the way back to its season opener two weeks earlier, but a breakdown on the last inbound play left Miami’s Klay Thompson alone in the corner. Thompson buried the three with one second left, the Intuit Dome went quiet, and the Clippers couldn’t answer on the final heave from Kobe Sanders.
The result was another gut punch for a team that has now dropped seven straight and fallen to 1-7. That already tops last season’s longest losing streak.
Tyronn Lue didn’t spend much time dissecting it afterward. His postgame session lasted only three minutes, and the message was blunt.
“We’re close, we’re just not finishing the game,” said Clippers Head Coach Tyronn Lue. “We played pretty well, good enough to win the game, it just didn’t go our way tonight.”
The Clippers have now blown four leads of at least 11 points this season, and they’ve dropped back-to-back games after leading by 21 and 20. It was another night where they controlled long stretches without ever putting the game away.
That was especially true in the first half. After falling behind by nine in the opening quarter, the Clippers flipped the script with a wild second-quarter burst, ripping off a 26-2 run over the first six-plus minutes. They hit six of nine from deep during that stretch and finished the quarter 8-for-13 from three, matching their most made threes in a quarter since New Year’s Day this past season.
Miami cooled off hard in that frame, scoring just 19 points and going 1-for-9 from beyond the arc.
The Clippers also got strong early production from their supporting cast. Rookie guard Keaton Wagler scored nine of his 11 points in the first half and was a perfect 3-for-3 from three, including a near logo shot. Max Strus, in just his second game as a Clipper, added 11 points off the bench and knocked down three threes, two of them after halftime.
Rui Hachimura set the tone for the starting group with 17 first-half points, using midrange jumpers and trips to the line to keep the offense moving. He finished with 21 and made the second of two free throws in regulation after missing the first, which was enough to force overtime.
Brook Lopez was productive from the start as well, putting up 12 points by halftime. He later strung together a 7-0 personal run late in the game, a stretch that included his second three-pointer and the 1,200th made three of his career.
Darius Garland, meanwhile, was quiet for much of the night before taking over when it mattered most. He had just eight points at halftime, and his sixth turnover of the game briefly gave Miami a 107-106 lead inside the final 11 seconds of regulation. But he steadied himself in overtime, finishing with 26 points on 10-for-14 shooting and 4-for-6 from deep, then scoring all nine of the Clippers’ overtime points.
Miami, though, had enough firepower of its own to keep coming. Bam Adebayo posted his first double-double of the season and did it in style, going for a season-high 35 points and 10 rebounds. He was a constant problem around the rim and on the glass.
Giannis Antetokounmpo added 27 points and 14 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double and sixth of the season. After scoring just eight points on three field goals in the first half, he turned it up late and went 11-for-13 at the line.
Then Thompson delivered the finishing blow. He scored a season-high 30 points, hit eight threes and now has a team-leading 31 triples through his first eight games in South Beach.
“I’ve got to go back and look at it, said Lue.” “They attacked us in the paint, Klay got going and made some shots.”
Davion Mitchell also played a major role in Miami’s comeback, giving the Heat a lift off the bench with 11 points, 10 assists and four steals. His pressure helped fuel transition chances as the game tightened.
The win was Miami’s third straight over the Clippers. It also pushed the Heat to 42-34 all-time in the series and 20-19 on the road.
Now the Clippers head into Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans still searching for their first win since opening night. Lue pointed to the same issue that has haunted them through this seven-game slide.
“We understand what the problem is as far as turning the basketball over, allowing teams to get out in transition,” said Lue. “Shooting good from the field, shooting good from three, we’ve just got to be strong with the basketball and continue to learn from our mistakes.”
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