The LA Clippers found out the hard way again that building a lead and finishing one are two very different jobs.
Against the Miami Heat, they played their first overtime minutes of the season and were in position to win for most of the night. Then came the ending: a game-winning three-pointer from one of the greatest shooters ever, Klay Thompson, who somehow got loose for a wide-open corner look.
That finish stung, but the bigger issue was what happened before it. The Clippers had a 10-point cushion with about 5:04 left in the fourth quarter and then watched Miami rip off nine straight points to seize control. It was the kind of late-game slip that turns a solid night into a missed opportunity.
And it wasn’t an isolated problem. Two nights earlier against the Toronto Raptors, the Clippers let another fourth-quarter lead slip away. Kobe Sanders knocked down a free throw with 6:30 left to put LA ahead by 12, and just over three and a half minutes later, the game was tied.
That’s a rough look for the coaching staff, because Tyronn Lue knows better, and for players like Darius Garland, who are paid top dollar to control late-game situations.
For most of the game, the Clippers look sharp. The offense moves, defenses get pulled apart, and the shots they generate are the right ones.
But once the pressure rises, everything tightens up. The ball sticks.
The mistakes pile up.
Over the last two games, in the eight clutch minutes the NBA counts before overtime, LA shot 30.8% from the field, hit just 50.0% of its free throws, and coughed the ball up eight times.
Garland has been at the center of several of those breakdowns. He hasn’t taken care of the ball well enough, hasn’t consistently gotten the offense organized, and hasn’t managed the clock the way the team needs.
The answer, at least for now, is pretty plain: more work in the film room, while veterans like Brandon Ingram and Bradley Beal remain out and could eventually help steady things.
The Clippers need to sort out a late-game plan they can trust. That could mean cleaner ball movement, less isolation, and more set actions such as pick-and-rolls.
If they don’t, these close losses are going to keep piling up.
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What made the night stand out was the way it ended, with Thompson stepping into the kind of moment that had somehow eluded him before. For Clippers fans, it was a familiar heartbreak in a one-point game, and for Thompson it was another reminder that even after all the big shots he has made, there are still milestones left to check off in a new uniform. [Read more 🡒]