INGLEWOOD — Maybe it was playing at Intuit Dome and the energy derived from the home crowd. Maybe it was seeing guard Bradley Beal in uniform again after he missed the previous two games because of back issues. Or maybe it was the thought of dropping below .500 so early into the new season.
Whatever has been bothering the Clippers lately was eased Friday night by a game-winning shot from Kawhi Leonard at the buzzer, capping a 126-124 victory over the winless New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA Cup group-stage opener for both teams.
Eased, but not erased.
The Clippers (3-2) suffered lapses in their defense down the stretch and were forced to hold off a late run by the Pelicans, who had closed to within 124-122 with 19 seconds left. Zion Williamson then went to the free-throw line and made a pair of foul shots to tie the score with 9.6 seconds remaining.
Leonard then got the ball from James Harden above the 3-point line, dribbled to his left, pump-faked to get Jeremiah Fears up in the air and elevated for a 20-foot winner at the buzzer to finish his 34-point night.
It was a much-needed victory for the Clippers after their embarrassing loss two nights earlier in the Bay Area, even if they encountered a determined Pelicans team down the stretch. Coach Tyronn Lue said the team has to finish games “the right way” going forward.
“You’re going to miss or make shots, but I think defensively we got to make sure that we understand what we’re doing when JVG (Jeff Van Gundy) is giving the coverages, understanding what we’re supposed to do and execute the game plan,” Lue said. “Tonight, defensively, I don’t think we did a good job of that, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The breakdowns began in the third quarter, when New Orleans (0-5) began to rally from a 17-point deficit then tied the score at 107-all midway through the fourth. Derrick Jones Jr. responded with a 3-pointer followed by a jumper from Leonard with 4:13 left to put the Clippers ahead 113-107.
The Pelicans continued to threaten, pulling back to within 113-111 on a driving layup by Jordan Poole with 3:34 left, only to have the Clippers (3-2) respond each time with a blocked shot, a rebound or big shots from Leonard.
At one point, Leonard scored 12 consecutive points over a 3-minute span in the fourth. In addition to his 34 points, he had five rebounds, five assists and six steals, while shooting 11 for 16 from the field (5 for 8 from 3-point range) and making all seven of his free throws.
Harden, who finished with 24 points and a game-high 14 assists, said the game rested on the Clippers’ resilience not to let the Pelicans walk out of the arena with a victory.
“We had too many opportunities to put the game away, especially in the second half and we just allowed them to come back and make shots,” Harden said. “Defensively … we had some really good possessions where we played 22 seconds of great defense and then foul at the end. So, we just got to be more disciplined to finish possessions off. But all in all, you are happy to come out with a win.”
Lue said before the game that trust issues were the underlying problem in their 79-point output while losing by 19 to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
“We didn’t make the right decisions or the right passes and just stopped trusting was the No. 1 thing I would say,” Lue said. “We just got to be better with that. If we’re getting good shots and generating good shots, we got to continue to play the right style of basketball.”
Trust wasn’t the Clippers’ biggest problem against the Pelicans. They couldn’t stop the Pelicans from 3-point range, which allowed New Orleans to twice take the lead in the first half and kept them in the game in the final quarter. The league’s worst 3-point shooting team connected on 12 of 25 shots (48%) from long range in the first 24 minutes and finished by making 18 of 37 (48.6%) overall.
The Pelicans’ hot shooting enabled them to keep pace with the Clippers until Harden heated up in the final 1:40 of the half, scoring twice and then trusting Jones twice with two long passes for high-flying dunks to propel the Clippers to a 67-59 lead at intermission. Harden had 14 points and five assists in the second quarter alone.
Ivica Zubac finished the night with 14 points and 11 rebounds, and none of Leonard, Harden or Zubac showed the shocking fatigue that put them on the bench against the Warriors.
Jones finished with 16 points and John Collins had 14 for the Clippers, who improved to 3-0 at home this season.
The Clippers continued to pressure the Pelicans, who fell behind by as many as 17 with 4:12 left in the third quarter. New Orleans managed to trim the deficit to 92-84 on a pair of free throws by Poole and had a chance to further cut the lead but turned the ball over.
Coming into the game, Lue was most concerned about Williamson, who was averaging 21.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. The Pelicans star finished with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists. He made Lue sweat briefly as his two free throws following a 3-point play by Poole and a layup by Derik Queen cut the Clippers’ lead to 96-94 at the start of the fourth.
“There’s going to be games where we’re not scoring the ball, but defensively, we got to be engaged,” Harden said. “Tonight was one of those nights where we scored the ball, but we allowed them too many easy points, too many open shots. We got to find that balance.”
Poole led the Pelicans with 30 points. Trey Murphy added 17 points, five rebounds and six assists.
The Pelicans were without Dejounte Murray (Achilles) and Kevon Looney (knee).