Redick 3 Completes Clippers Comeback Against Sixers

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Los Angeles 98, Philadelphia 92 (OT) – Box Score

Even coming off a win over Brooklyn Saturday night, nobody expected the Philadelphia 76ers to hang with the Los Angeles Clippers a couple nights later. Aside from the fact that even a Clippers team missing Blake Griffin is still the more talented roster, more importantly, something about their team is just a terrible match-up for the Sixers. In the teams’ previous meetings during the Process/Brett Brown era, the closest the Sixers had come against LA was an 11-point loss, with the average margin of defeat over 30 points.

However, Monday night, Philadelphia completely flipped the script, quickly jumping out to a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter; they then extended the advantage to as many as 19 points late in the first half. Ish Smith returned from an ankle injury and was supposed to have a 24-minute restriction, but he ended up playing 33 minutes and dropping 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Jerami Grant also had a tremendous game off the bench; Grant went 6-7 from the field and 5-7 at the line as he double-doubled with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Yet, sometimes the Sixers are just going to Sixer and the usual culprits of turnovers (21 on the game) and poor outside shooting (6-25 from three) eventually caught up with them. Robert Covington and Isaiah Canaan were particularly inept from the perimeter on the evening, as that pair combined to shoot 0-11 from behind the arc. With the Sixers offense constructing new homes brick-by-brick, the Clippers kept chipping away and eventually found themselves down just three in the closing moments.

Then, Chris Paul found podcaster-slash-professional basketball player J.J. Redick wide open on the wing, and the former Duke Blue Devil canned the triple to tie the game with 10 seconds remaining. For some reason, Grant hung inside the arc and allowed DeAndre Jordan to set a pick on Ish Smith, rather than switching onto one of the most dangerous three-point shooters in the league. Redick and Jamal Crawford each finished with a game-high 23 points, while Jordan recorded 12 points and 21 rebounds, eight of those coming on the offensive glass.

The Sixers still had a shot to win it, but they somehow ended up with Jahlil Okafor getting the ball at the elbow with only around 4 seconds left and having to settle for a long fadeaway two.

Brown on last shot of 4Q: "We wanted to put Jahlil in a situation where he could go at DeAndre from an elbow, and DeAndre did a good job."

— Jessica Camerato (@JessicaCamerato) February 9, 2016

All in all, there were head-scratching decisions down the stretch from the Sixers, and PTSD flashbacks to clutch situations earlier in the season. The Sixers missed 8 straight shots across the end of regulation and the start of overtime, allowing the Clippers to take control of the game in bonus basketball.

When it comes down to it, the result was much better than anyone would have expected against LA heading into the night. It’s a situation where you’re conflicted knowing the loss is ultimately what’s best for the franchise in the long run, but you agonize over yet another missed opportunity and some poor decisions/execution in the final moments of a game. At the very least, Sixers fans can take solace in the fact that Sacramento just announced they’re poised to fire head coach George Karl any day now. Here’s hoping the Kings keep sowing dysfunction in Northern California and the Sixers reap the bounty of those sweet, sweet swap rights.