Los Angeles Clippers they won this Thursday at Miami Heat (112-109) to add his sixth win in a row in a game that I did not play Serge Ibaka, who asked to play in the G League to continue his set-up after recovering from his long back injury.
The Spanish-Congolese pvot returned on Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets after more than five months without playing and also participated in Tuesday’s match against the Portland Trail Blazers.
However, the Clippers coach, Tyronn Read, explained to the media that it was Ibaka himself who I asked to go to the Agua Caliente Clippers from the G League development league in order to add more minutes and continue to progress.
Lue said that Ibaka wants to “find his rhythm” and praises that he is “a true professional” for temporarily moving to the G League to improve their benefits as soon as possible.
Without Ibaka, the Clippers extended their splendid streak of consecutive victories to six after a very exciting game against the Heat.
Paul George (27 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds), Reggie Jackson (22 points), Eric Bledsoe (21 points) and Ivica Zubac (18 points and 11 assists) led the Angelenos, who have taken a run (7-4) and are making up for the absence of Kawhi Leonard.
The win over the Heat came with suspense and required a providential steal of Nico Batum on the last play.
On the part of the Heat, in which I did not play Jimmy Butler due to injury, they stood out Bam Adebayo (30 points and 11 rebounds), Kyle Lowry (25 points, 22 of them in the fourth quarter) and Tyler Herro (23 points and 7 rebounds).
The Miami team (7-5) are leaving Los Angeles after squandering a 17-point lead in the first quarter against the Clippers and after losing Wednesday in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers (120-117).
VENDAVAL ADEBAYO
The Heat did not surprise anyone with the weapons of their fantastic start.
Tyler Herro penetrated the basket with ease and Bam Adebayo went over everyone in the paint (6-15 with 7.06 left).
The pvot of the Heat made a real destruction in the defense of the Clippers: in just over seven minutes he had already 19 points and was absolutely unstoppable.
Paul George had to step up to counter the Adebayo gale, but it wasn’t enough against the Heat steamroller in the first quarter (25-40 with a stratospheric 68% shooting from the field).
Luke Kennard turned on the lights on the Los Angeles bench with a 7-0 run at the start of the second quarter.
The optimism of the locals cooled with the return of a fearsome Adebayo and with the realization that the Heat did not weigh their legs despite the extension against the Lakers (32-47 with 7.54 remaining).
The Clippers’ defense continued to leak, but two straight triples by Kennard narrowed the gap (48-54 with 3.53 left).
Herro with a mid-distance basket kept his team ahead at halftime (56-58) after a terrible final stretch by the Heat, who only scored 8 points in the last seven minutes of the second quarter and strangely gave up playing with Adebayo when he was by far the most dominant on the court (24 points on 9 of 11 shooting).
COLLECTIVE TO STOP LOWRY
Reggie Jackson led a remarkable 7-0 run at the restart, but Adebayo and Herro returned the lead to the Heat (65-66 with 8.35 left).
Those in Miami were beginning to miss the help of the Heat’s secondary players, something that the Clippers took advantage of to take control of the game (75-70 with 4.46 to go) with a hyperactive Jackson (11 points in just over seven minutes ).
All the freshness that the Heat lacked at the time was the Clippers.
Very coral, the Angelenos offered a convincing and seamless third quarter (86-78) thanks to the contributions of Ivica Zubac, Eric Bledsoe and Reggie Jackson.
Bledsoe took over from Jackson in the final quarter and they chain 7 points in a row to set off the alarm bells in the visitors (93-82 with 9.08 to go).
Kyle Lowry had been missing all night, but woke up at the right time (22 points in the fourth quarter) to keep the Heat on their feet (102-98 with 3.17 left).
The point guard gave quite a show: with a spectacular additional triple and a penetration plus free throw put the Heat on the verge of a comeback (108-107 with 40.7 seconds to go).
George and Jackson’s ERA sustained the Clippers, who nonetheless needed Nico Batum’s steal on the final play to clinch victory.
