Clippers guard Norman Powell arrived at the Golden 1 Center before Friday’s tip-off with his left arm still in a sling, a day after injuring his shoulder trying to block a potential Golden State rebounder.
After a fifth consecutive loss, this time a 128-127 loss to the Kings decided in the final seven seconds, his team’s high postseason expectations were similarly tarnished.
In a reversal of last week’s double overtime frenzy in which Sacramento staged a 14-point comeback in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter, the severely understaffed Clippers trailed 13 points with 7:41 to go, only to take the lead . one by one at 34 seconds past after a hard-fought layup from Paul George.
The Kings had one last chance to win with 15 seconds left after a pass slipped through the hands of Russell Westbrook, who until then had been a big reason the Clippers stayed in the game.
The Kings missed a jump, but Domantas Sabonis fouled with seven seconds left and made both free throws for a one-run lead.
With no timeout, George dribbled up and missed a three on time and his foul protest was void. The Clippers are 33-33 and eight in the West.
Westbrook had 27 points and 10 assists in his most encouraging performance since joining the Clippers, a performance marred in the dying seconds when Westbrook said he lost track of the ball as he was about to drive a layup .
“It’s up to me,” he said.
“He looked great, looked like a great Russ,” said George, who had 28 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. “He was special tonight. Game after game, layup after layup, big timed baskets, rebounds, big stops, he gave us that energy and the juice and kept us in the game tonight.”
The Clippers are 4-12 in giving up 120 or more points and 13-23 against teams with records of .500 or better, and have lost two games by a point in their losing streak – yet several players said the team didn’t did lost confidence, it can still be dangerous.
“It won’t be every game,” forward Robert Covington said. “It’s going to turn and it’s going to change very quickly.”
Without Powell, who became a contender for the league’s top reserve with a 16.6-point average with 41% three-point accuracy, it looks harder to turn him around, only to have a run at the end of Thursday’s third period. risk of subluxation of the left shoulder. neighborhood in San Francisco. Powell will undergo treatment and the team expects to have a clearer picture of his recovery within a week.
Powell suffered shoulder injuries throughout his eight-year career, including a previous subluxation of his left shoulder in November 2018. He subsequently missed 21 games in five weeks. A season later in December 2020, another injury to Powell’s left shoulder cost him 11 games.
Powell’s mix of speed, aggressive shots in paint and an ability to make mistakes make him a unique, hard-to-replace talent. Powell averaged 8.4 free throw attempts per 100 possessions, the second highest percentage of any of the team’s top contributors.
The prospect of a possible extended absence comes at a time when the Clippers were expected to limit their rotation to create the long-awaited chemistry on the field. Coach Tyronn Lue didn’t know how removing Powell from the rotation would affect his decisions about future teams – or whether Lue thinks he can still give playing time to all three guards, including Terance Mann, Eric Gordon and Powell, a lingering question – but said: “We are used to change.”
Covington had 15 points and four rebounds after totaling seven minutes in his last six games and Lue praised his departure during his shift with only nine players available. Kawhi Leonard did not play the second night of a consecutive game, while starting center Ivica Zubac (elbow spasm), starting forward Marcus Morris Sr. (calf strain) and four G-League players were also unavailable.
Needing an offensive spark with Leonard, especially after George fired just four shots in the first half, meant more offensive leeway for Westbrook. After making seven of his first eight shots and making seven assists in the first half, he had a tough talk with Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox. His layups sparked the comeback in the fourth quarter just as his late turnover stopped it.
“Unfortunately we don’t win the games,” said Westbrook. “But I have a lot of confidence in the guys in the dressing room and tonight was a good step in the right direction.”
Source: LA Times