What happened to the deadeye Clippers? Team doomed by missed shots vs. Knicks

After a fan pulled from the group Sunday missed each shot in a midcourt Skee-Ball promotion, one other stepped onto Crypto.com Area’s courtroom to check his luck in a three-point capturing contest.

As each shot missed for him, too, injured Clippers star Paul George leaned backwards and forwards throughout a timeout as if attempting to will the ball to go in, wincing and smiling with every misfire.

It was much less amusing for the Clippers when their very own capturing proved barely simpler in a 116-93 loss to the New York Knicks.

Whereas trailing by as many as 32 factors to a Knicks crew that had bumbled its method to a 3-17 file since Jan. 17 getting into Sunday, the Clippers missed from all distances — on a dunk, layups, midrange jumpers and hoists from deep.

They missed in all manners. A 3-point shot by Robert Covington circled the rim twice earlier than spinning out. One other three by Terance Mann banked too onerous off the backboard. Isaiah Hartenstein’s one-handed floater within the fourth quarter didn’t contact iron.

Three days after the Clippers’ dead-eye accuracy in opposition to the Lakers marked one excessive — the Clippers’ 63% three-point capturing was their finest in opposition to the Lakers since 1994 — Sunday’s revealed the opposite in stark distinction. The Clippers wanted six minutes and 14 makes an attempt to make their first shot of the second quarter.

However their most consequential miss wasn’t one shot however felt over the course of 4 minutes. With a 26-point deficit minimize to simply 12 getting into the fourth quarter, one other comeback seemingly within the offing, the Clippers didn’t rating from the time 43 seconds remained within the third quarter till 8:31 within the fourth — a span through which the Knicks’ lead was again to a wholesome 22, and led Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to insert not often used reserves.

Amir Coffey scored 16 factors off the bench to steer the Clippers, who additionally obtained 14 factors from Hartenstein. Solely Terance Mann (11 factors) and Reggie Jackson (10, together with 0-for-8 capturing from deep) scored in double figures, the final stat line jarring when in comparison with Jackson’s 36-point masterpiece solely three days earlier in opposition to the Lakers.

Simply because the Knicks grabbed 12 extra rebounds and noticed RJ Barrett rating 28 factors of their matinee victory in opposition to the Clippers in January, Barrett dropped 24 factors and the Knicks’ measurement, led by heart Mitchell Robinson, precipitated issues once more.

Earlier than tipoff, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau praised Lue, a former assistant of his in Boston when Lue helped the Celtics’ defensive architect examine video, with molding a gritty Clippers (34-32) crew.

“The one manner you substitute [George, Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell] is along with your togetherness, it’s your crew protection,” Thibodeau mentioned. “Even with these guys out, they’ll play nice protection after which in addition they can play nice offense by sharing the ball, which they’ve finished. I feel the best way [Reggie] Jackson has performed, he’s taking part in at a really, very excessive degree and Ty’s stored it collectively.”

Since Feb. 12, the Clippers first’ recreation with all three of Powell, Leonard and George on the harm report, the Clippers had owned the NBA’s stingiest defensive ranking, at solely 104 factors per 100 possessions allowed.

However the Knicks (26-38) couldn’t be boxed out, with their 15 offensive rebounds turning into 19 second-chance factors, and regardless of Julius Randle making simply 4 of his 16 pictures for 10 factors, Immanuel Rapidly scored 19 factors off the bench to bolster Barrett, who scored 16 second-quarter factors.

It was within the second quarter, trailing by 19, that Lue responded by pulling Ivica Zubac for guard Luke Kennard, making a small lineup with Marcus Morris Sr. and Nicolas Batum as his largest choices. Three fouls on Batum then led Lue to go even smaller, a choice that compelled Robinson to match up on the perimeter in opposition to faster wings. 4 minutes after trailing by 19, the Clippers’ deficit was a extra manageable 11.

By halftime, it was again to 19 and it ought to have been bigger after the Knicks made solely 12 of their 21 first-half free throws.

After outscoring Houston and the Lakers by a mixed 37 factors within the third quarters of their final two victories, the Clippers left halftime Sunday with no such juice, a 10-2 New York run pushing its result in 26 barely 4 minutes into the quarter.

The Clippers’ third-quarter surge to trim their deficit to 12 regarded acquainted, their push powered by scoring 9 factors off of turnovers and the work of a hard-charging bench. However their last half of the quarter was the exception, not the rule, on an evening after they finally had no shot.