Max Strus was back in the lineup Monday night, and for a while it looked like the Clippers might finally have the extra help they needed to stop the slide.
Instead, the same old ending showed up at Intuit Dome.
Toronto ripped off a 47-27 fourth quarter, erased a 13-point deficit and beat Los Angeles 125-118, sending the Clippers to their sixth straight loss after opening the season with a win over Sacramento. The Clippers had controlled most of the night, but once the game tightened, the Raptors took over with free throws, rim pressure and one last push that flipped everything.
Los Angeles led 63-52 at halftime and stretched that margin to as many as 16 before taking a 91-78 advantage into the fourth. But Toronto slowed the pace, attacked the basket and forced the Clippers into a parade to the foul line. The Raptors finished 31-of-48 on free throws, while the Clippers were called for 34 fouls and lost Brook Lopez and Kris Dunn to foul trouble.
The Clippers still held a 109-103 lead late, but Toronto answered again. Scottie Barnes knocked down a turnaround jumper with 2:08 left to put the Raptors ahead for good, and that was that.
Barnes finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, with 15 of those points coming in the fourth quarter. Immanuel Quickley scored 27, and RJ Barrett added 26.
“We fouled too much,” Strus said after the game. “They slowed the game down.
They got free throws. They stopped the clock a lot and that gave up our lead.”
Strus played 23 minutes in his first regular-season action since suffering a partial plantar fascia tear in his right foot during an Oct. 4 preseason game against Golden State in Hawaii. He scored 11 points in the return.
Ty Lue, who coached through an illness that kept him out of his pregame press conference, pointed to Toronto’s size after the loss, especially once Lopez fouled out.
“I thought the size really bothered us around the rim,” Lue said.
Kobe Sanders gave the Clippers a real spark, finishing with a career-high 26 points and hitting five of 11 shots from three. Isaiah Jackson also delivered off the bench for the first time this season, putting up 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds.
Gradey Dick, making his first start against the team that drafted him, scored 12 points. Lopez and Dunn each had 12 before fouling out.
Darius Garland added 16 points and eight assists, but he also committed seven turnovers as Toronto put Barnes on him and made him work the length of the floor.
“We're asking DG to do a lot for us offensively,” Lue said.
That’s the part that has to bother the Clippers most. They’re not getting blown out from start to finish.
They’re building leads, then watching them disappear in one bad stretch. It happened Sunday against Golden State, and it happened again Monday on their own floor.
The circumstances help explain it. Rui Hachimura is out with a quad injury, Derrick Jones Jr. is out with a knee issue, and Monday was the second night of a back-to-back. Garland is carrying a huge offensive load, and by the fourth quarter he looked like a player running on fumes.
Lue said the medical staff will take a look at Garland, and a night off would not be a surprise at some point soon.
Strus believes the group can settle in.
“I don't think there's a reason to hit the panic button,” Strus said. “It's growing pains. We'll be all right.”
Maybe. But at 1-6, the Clippers need more than healthier bodies. They need to start finishing the games they already have in hand.
They’ll try again Wednesday night, when they host the Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m. at Intuit Dome.
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For the Clippers, the interest is in how quickly a player like Omier can turn a brief opening into real value elsewhere. Minnesota is making room for him by waiving Enrique Freeman, and Omiers path has already included a stop with Los Angeles before he drew more attention in Summer League after not receiving a qualifying offer. It is the kind of roster churn that can make a young forward easy to overlook, until another team decides there is still something worth betting on. [Read more 🡒]