Harden Leonard was efficient and difficult to save, Willis was 1-of-9 from the field and Alexander scored 31 points
The NBA regular season continued, and the Thunder defeated the Clippers 129-107 at home, and the team won three consecutive victories to secure the second place in the West. Leonard scored 20 points in 9 of 13, Harden scored 17 points in 5 of 9, the two of them performed efficiently but it was still difficult to save the master, Zubac 13 points and 12 rebounds, George 14 points, Wei Shao only got 2 points and 5 assists in 1 of 9, the team's starters and bench performance in this game were very bad, and in the first game after the All-Star weekend, the whole team has not adjusted to the best. On the Thunder's side, Alexander scored 31 points and 8 assists, Holmgren had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and the team's starting five all scored double-doubles, and the overall performance was far better than the Clippers.
Prior to this game, the Clippers needed to win the Thunder for the team to move up to No. 2 in the West, and it was a battle for No. 2 in the West for both sides. In the first half of the game, the two teams still played back and forth, and the Clippers were able to match the intensity of the Thunder on both offensive and defensive ends, and the score rose alternately. At the end of the half, the Clippers trailed the Thunder by 2 points, and the gap between the two teams was not very large.
The turning point of the game was the third quarter, the Clippers were in a very sluggish state in this quarter, the whole team played crazy iron, shooting 8 of 27 in a single quarter, shooting less than 30%, and there were a lot of turnovers. The Thunder seized the opportunity, the team shot 14 of 20 in the first quarter, shot as high as 70%, made five three-pointers from the outside, and scored 35 points with full play. In the entire third quarter, the Thunder outscored the Clippers by 12 points, and the lead came directly to 14 points.
In the fourth quarter, the Clippers did not chase points well, the Thunder always maintained a lead of about 15 points, the team saw that there was no hope of chasing points, and did not let Leonard play in the final quarter, with 4 minutes left in the game, Tyronn Lue also replaced George and Harden and other main players, the game entered the practice time, and the final score gap was fixed at 22 points, and the Clippers suffered a heavy defeat.
The Clippers had no problem in the first half of this game, but the team suddenly missed accuracy in the second half, and only scored 48 points in the third and fourth quarters, while the Thunder scored 68 points, a net minus 20 points in the half, and the sluggish performance in the second half was the main reason why the Clippers lost the game. Obviously, compared to the Thunder, the Clippers will need a longer time to recover after the All-Star Weekend, the team is not ready to play a tough game, all the players are a little unfocused, and with little left in the regular season, the Clippers need to get into their rhythm as soon as possible so that they can stabilize the top four in the West.