On December 30, the NBA regular season continued, and the matchup between the Clippers and Grizzlies took center stage on this day. The Grizzlies' final game of four consecutive road games, and still facing them on a back-to-back schedule, is a big challenge for Morant, who has just returned. At the same time, Clippers star Leonard, who failed to play due to injury, also disappointed fans. At the beginning of the game, Harden's excellent performance allowed the Clippers to quickly get into the lead, and the first quarter ended with an eight-point lead at 33:25.
In the second quarter, Moreland led the Grizzlies to start a counterattack, and they recovered 3 points in a single quarter, and at halftime, the Clippers still led by 5 points. In the third quarter, the Clippers showed a fluid offense, opening up a 14-point lead and widening the gap to 19 points, making it difficult for the exhausted Grizzlies to catch up. However, the Grizzlies' Morant was not willing to give up easily, and at one point in the fourth quarter narrowed the score. However, due to fatigue, Morant's performance was limited and it was difficult to turn the situation around.
In the end, the Grizzlies lost the game and suffered two straight losses, while the Clippers won two in a row. Looking back at the game, who made the Clippers win?There's no doubt that Harden is indispensable. Although he didn't shoot very efficiently in this game, he put up a staggering 16 points, 4 rebounds and 13 assists in the first three quarters. Despite five turnovers, that didn't overshadow his excellent performance. In addition, in Leonard's absence, Wei Shao continued to maintain an impressive performance.
In the first three-and-a-half quarters of the game, Wei Shao scored 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists on 9-of-6 shooting. However, the Clippers also had underperforming players whose slump nearly cost the team a win. In this game, that player is Powell. He had just six points, two rebounds and one foul on the court, and Powell's win-loss percentage was -10 in a game where the Clippers almost took the lead, which is enough to show how poor his performance was.
The offense was sluggish, the defense was poor, and when there were seven minutes left in the game, Powell was tackled again, angering Willis. Obviously, his absence made it difficult for Wei Shao to be satisfied, and even if Wei Shao tried to wake him up, it didn't work.