The Clippers showed signs of fatigue against the Thunder. This situation is not without a trace, after all, they only had a fierce battle with the Mavericks yesterday. Today, they didn't get enough rest and rushed from Dallas to Oklahoma City, where they faced a more physical and energetic opponent. In the first quarter of the game, the Clippers quickly fell into passivity, while the Thunder, led by Alexander, showed a very dangerous offense. In less than half a quarter, the Thunder took a 10-point lead. In addition, Holmgren, Giddey, Dort and other players hit three-pointers one after another, especially Giddey, a player who usually does not have a high three-point shooting rate, actually shot three three-pointers in the first quarter and became the number one pusher for the Thunder's onslaught.
The Clippers are clearly at a disadvantage on offense, in addition to the fatigue of back-to-back games, more importantly, the absence of the team's core player Xiaoka. So far this season, he has played 27 games and has become one of the most reliable players in the team. Not only has he been on good attendance, but he has also made changes to fit into the team system and has shown a fresh chemistry in recent times. Over the past nine games, the junior has averaged 293 points, 6 rebounds, 41 assist and 12 steals, and the shooting percentage is even more amazing. However, in this game, the Clippers not only had to face back-to-back challenges, but also had to deal with the absence of the core player of Xiaoka, which led to a significant drop in power. Clippers vs Thunder, a high-profile matchup.
In this game, the young card was rested for back-to-back games, while George opted to return in the back-to-back first game. The Thunder's offensive stability and confidence clearly surpassed the Clippers. With the card not playing, the Thunder were able to reallocate defensive resources that should have been on him to George and Harden, putting the latter under more defensive pressure. As a result, Harden was inefficient in the first half of the game, hitting just one of his first 10 shots and being frequently blocked by the Thunder's defenders. Even after adjusting his half-court performance, Harden only had inefficient scoring and assist statistics. George's score also looked a little low. Thankfully, the Clippers have stalled their offense due to injury issues.
Not only did Giddey and Jalen Williams withdraw from the game due to injury, but the Clippers played a wave of ** that failed to change the trend of the game. The Thunder readjusted and set off a new climax in the latter part of the third quarter, putting the Clippers back into the pit of falling behind, after which the Clippers were unable to fight back. In the end, the coach decided to remove all the starting players and announced the surrender. Despite this acceptable loss, the Clippers' performance over the season has been remarkable. From the lowest place in the West 12th place, they went all the way north to make it nine straight wins and rushed into the top four in the West, which is already a remarkable result. While the loss may give them a brief cooling-off period, it won't change the Clippers' resurgence in the West.
New Structure: Starts with a background and a look at both sides, then goes into detail about the matchups and injuries in the game, and concludes with a summary of the Clippers' performance during the season and future prospects. ）