INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Los Angeles Clippers couldn’t hold off a hot-shooting Miami Heat squad on Monday night, falling 120-119 at Intuit Dome in their first home defeat of the season. The loss dropped the Clippers to 3-3 and snapped their perfect 3-0 home record to start the year.
Offense Wasn’t the Problem
James Harden led the Clippers with 29 points and eight assists, while Kawhi Leonard added 27 points with four rebounds and four assists.
Though the duo looked sharp offensively, it wasn’t enough against a Miami team playing with pace and purpose.
Ivica Zubac controlled the glass with 18 rebounds to go along with nine points and Derrick Jones Jr. continued his strong two-way play with 12 points, while Bradley Beal and John Collins each contributed 12 points as well, but the problem wasn’t the offense.
The Heat shot an incredible 54.2 percent from the floor and knocked down 12 of their 25 three-point tries.
Miami’s new-look speed offense and high pace created problems all night for a Clippers team that couldn’t get back in transition.
“You got to get back and get your defense set because they are attacking, they’re playing fast,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said before the game. “And so that’s been one of my Achilles heels getting (the team) back in transition. But tonight, we got to make sure we do that.”
Bam Adebayo was fantastic for Miami with 25 points and 10 rebounds and former Clipper Norman Powell returned from a three-game absence with a groin injury to drop 21 points in his return to Southern California. Andrew Wiggins scored 17 points and Kel’el Ware added 16 to help the Heat snap a two-game losing streak.
Turnovers killed the Clippers.
Los Angeles coughed it up 21 times, which Miami turned into 37 points and the Clippers also shot a respectable 50 percent from the field compared to Miami’s incredible 54.2 percent.
With under a minute left, Harden made two costly turnovers that Adebayo converted into a pull-up jumper and two free throws, giving Miami a 120-116 edge with 56 seconds remaining.
Harden tried to redeem himself with a three-pointer to cut it to 120-119 with 19 seconds left and after a jump ball, Leonard got one final look at a game-winner, but his 26-foot step-back three-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
The Clippers don’t have time to sulk.
They host the undefeated Oklahoma City Thunder (7-0) on Tuesday night in the second game of a back-to-back and the Thunder own the best record in the Western Conference, which will test a Clippers squad that needs to clean up its transition defense in a hurry.
“We got to be able to hold those leads,” Leonard said after Friday’s close win over New Orleans. “It shouldn’t come down to the last shot.”
The Clippers will need that same mentality if they want to compete with the Thunder on short rest.