On March 7, 2024, Beijing time, the NBA regular season ushered in the showdown between the Rockets and the Clippers, and neither side had a personnel rotation in this game, the Rockets just finished back-to-back games, and the starters are still Dillon, VanVleet, Jalen Green, Smith and Shen Jing, and the Clippers are also regular starters, respectively, Harden, George, Leonard, Mann and Zubac.
In the first quarter of the game, the Clippers continued to find Zubac to attack, which was confusing, and they did not score in three consecutive rounds, but the Rockets scored consecutive points against the weaknesses of the Clippers Harden and Zubac. In the end, Mann and Harden scored five points in a row to open the Clippers' scoring account. Then the Clippers finally began to attack with pick-and-roll, and after the Rockets adapted, the effect was not good for Shen Jing.
Rockets VanVleet and Smith hit three-pointers, and Jalen Green scored eight points on a European layup to help the Rockets continue their lead. I have to say that in today's Clippers, George does not break through, Leonard does not play, and only relies on Harden's blocking to solve the problem, which is obviously very difficult. The Clippers then scored for 3 minutes and were beaten 12-0. In the end, it was Powell who broke the scoring drought with a three-pointer, and then Hyland scored a layup, and the Clippers trailed the Rockets 19-27 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter of the game, the Clippers made consecutive mistakes at the beginning, but fortunately, George threw in the whistle and threw it, Zubac scored a basket, and Coffey made a layup and caused a foul, but then the Clippers continued to make mistakes and were beaten 6-0, which directly stopped the Clippers. Lu guided Wei Shao during this time, and Hyland replaced Wei Shao's position, but he did not change the rotation, let George lead the team alone, no one could organize on the court, and the scene was chaotic
George had another turnaround after the timeout, Harden missed a three-pointer, and Leonard and Powell hit three-pointers. Whitmore trained the Clippers and continued to use conversion scores, and Holiday hit a three-pointer, and the margin was stretched to nearly 20 points. The Clippers only had Leonard scoring four points during this period. Forcing Coach Lu to take another timeout, the Clippers scored 5 points in a row, George missed the vacancy, and Shin Jing threw a score to stop the Clippers' momentum of chasing points. Fortunately, the Clippers began to increase their intensity, Powell also scored three points, Harden converted offensive layups and scored, once chasing the score to 10 points, and Dillon scored five points in a row at a critical moment to help the Rockets stop the decline, and the Clippers trailed the Rockets 44-57 at halftime.
In the second half of the game, Lu Gui replaced Plumlee, George finally scored in the middle distance, Mann also had three points, and Plumlee completed the back dunk! The Clippers went on a 7-3 run, and the offense returned to normal and stopped the Rockets. After the timeout, VanVleet forced a three-pointer from beyond the arc, Harden assisted Plumlee to complete an empty dunk, and Smith singled out Harden to score. George hit a three-pointer, but then missed a three-pointer from a big open position, and Green converted a three-pointer to shoot.
Then the Rockets had a difficult offense, the Clippers Mann made a three-point shot, George threw a mid-range, Leonard and George missed a three-point shot, giving the Rockets a chance, and switching offense Smith threw an open three-pointer! The Clippers suffered a conversion loss in this game, and as long as they missed the shot, they were chased by the Rockets to play the conversion。Fortunately, George continued to hit three-pointers after that, but immediately let Green return a two-and-one. He then scored a foul on a free throw, followed by Theis for a layup, and Mann and Hyland scored four straight points. But then the Clippers let Hyland play instead of Leonard, allowing the Rockets Shin Jing and Dillon to score four straight points, and the Clippers trailed the Rockets 80-86 at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter of the game, Shen Jing scored 4 points in a row, Hyland and Harden scored 7 points in a row, but then Dillon directly flew Harden and scored 2 points on the shot. Harden started to show aggression in the quarter, and Smith also made a layup, but the Clippers let Whitmore empty and let him continue to shoot threes, but George responded. Then Plumlee successfully defended Shin Kyung, and then Harden assisted Plumlee to make an empty catch, and the difference was chased to 3 points. The Clippers let Whitmore empty again, and Leonard responded with a three-pointer from mid-range, bringing the margin to two points. After the Rockets took a timeout, Shin Kyung continued to score with hook hands, Powell responded, the Clippers lost rebounds, VanVleet made a three-point shot in the open position, Leonard forced a mid-range score, and the two sides began to fight offensively. Powell hit a three-pointer and Leonard hit a mid-range shot to give the Clippers the equalizer.
In the last 3 minutes and 20 seconds, Shen Jing stood on the free throw line and hit one of two free throws, the Rockets cut Plumlee, Plumlee missed two free throws, Plumlee blocked Shen Jing, George scored three points, and the Clippers overtook by 2 points! Leonard singled Smith to make it two plus one, and the margin came to 5 points. Smith made a key three-pointer, Powell caused Green to foul, two free throws and one hit, the referee was the force, sent Shen Jing to the free throw line, two free throws missed, Harden missed three points, George grabbed the rebound and caused Shen Jing to foul, Dillon was dissatisfied with the referee and also received a technical foul, George executed a technical foul and scored a free throw, and then two free throws were also hit, the Clippers led to 6 points, and in the last 48 seconds, Jalen Green made a dribble error, Leonard stealed, Shen Jing fouled Harden, sent Harden a free throw, both free throws, Shen Jing made an easy layup under the basket, Shin Jing fouled Harden again, hit two free throws, and Shin Jing scored a layup, and the Clippers beat the Rockets 122-116 at the end of the game.
The statistics of the whole game, the Clippers Leonard shot 11 of 18 and got 28 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, Harden 21 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, George 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Mann 15 points, Zubac 3 points and 5 rebounds, Powell 12 points, Plumlee 8 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks, Hyland 6 points and 11 rebounds. Shin Jing had 23 points, 19 rebounds, 14 assists and 2 steals, Smith 19 points and 2 rebounds, VanVleet 15 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, Green 15 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Dillon 11 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, and Whitmore 17 points.