The LA Clippers couldn’t click on any cylinders today. If you looked up the definition of the word “rough one” in the sports dictionary, this game would be the result. The Clippers never led for a second of the game, and trailed by as many as 33. While this isn’t a knock on the Mavericks, it’s hard to imagine losing that badly to a team with only 5 wins.
LA was outrebounded by 16, shot 34% from the field, and 27% from three. The offense never ignited for the Clippers, as only 2 players scored in double digits. On the plus side, Deandre Jordan got the predicted double-double. Jose Barea led the way for the Mavs, scoring 21 points and 10 assists off the bench.
Which way did he go? 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/k4txHTSFpz
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 2, 2017
Here’s what went wrong for the Clippers today.
2nd Quarter Collapse
The Clippers basically lost the game in the 2nd quarter, and never recovered from it. Los Angeles started the quarter 17-24, and only scored 1 basket within 5 minutes of the quarter. With 7:23 left in the quarter, the Clippers found themselves down 40-19.
BUH 👏 RAY 👏 UH! 👏 pic.twitter.com/nE8kBBXD60
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) December 2, 2017
You could see Clipper players become upset from their inability to make a shot. That inability not only resulted in poor offense, but resulted in incredibly poor defense.
Poor Defense
The Mavs are 27th in the league at scoring (99.5) and they effortlessly scored 108 points today. Again, this defensive collapse started in the 2nd quarter, where the Mavs outscored the Clippers 35-21. Dallas shot a staggering 16-35 (45%) from the three. You could see the Clippers try to climb back into the game, but then Dallas would get an offensive rebound & hit a three.
The Final Clip: Today was an embarrassing effort by the LA Clippers. You could see the team mentally fall apart due to their inability to score. Hopefully the team can catch fire tomorrow, because they’ll need it against Minnesota.
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