Clippers vs Thunder Recap – 12/22/15

By Johaan Forbes-Anthony
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Updated: December 21, 2015

The Clippers returned home after a two-game away stretch and welcomed Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder, a matchup that rarely fails to disappoint.

Two of the league’s premier point guards would go head to head while Blake Griffin matched up on Durant with success early on in the first quarter. Three DeAndre Jordan dunks got the Clippers offense going before Cole Aldrich saw his first meaningful minutes of the season, checking in late in the first quarter to have an instant impact, drawing a steal off Durant leading to two Clipper points.

Pablo Prigioni also entered the game, filling in as backup point guard for the injured Austin Rivers while the new look bench also featured Lance Stephenson, who has had his minutes stifled over the course of the season. As many agree, Stephenson has to be the primary ball handler for the second unit to work and while he coughed up the ball on a couple of occasions, he did make things happen as he finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four turnovers.

Despite being up by 10 points during the second quarter, the Clippers lead was whittled down to two at halftime on the back of a 7-0 OKC run, as Chris Paul had 18 points and five assists at halftime. Griffin only had one made field goal at the half, however his playmaking skills were on display with five assists. Cole Aldrich had three points, two rebounds, three steals and one block in the with half with a +/- of +6 in five minutes and the crowd appreciated his efforts.

Griffin was 1/11 at one stage during the third quarter however Paul picked up the slack, knocking down everything he looked at while J.J. Redick hit his third three in the ball game for a sixth straight game, the longest streak in his career. For every Clippers run, the Thunder match it, as the superstars for each team began to take over. Durant and Westbrook had 41 points between them on 36 field goal attempts after three quarters.

Aldrich continued to make an impact on both ends, blocking a Westbrook layup then dunking on the next play to stretch the Clippers lead early in the fourth quarter, however the Thunder would edge their way back into before a wild final minute would unfold.

This tweet summed it up quite simply.

westbrook three blake dunk westbrook jumper westbrook steal chris paul steal chris paul bucket durant jumper ibaka block hectic last min.

— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) December 22, 2015

Westbrook hit a three out of a timeout, then Paul found Griffin with his 10th assist of the night for a dunk. Westbrook hit a jumpshot over DeAndre Jordan that gave OKC the lead once more before a steal on J.J. Redick and a foul saw the Thunder regain the ball.
Just when you thought the Clippers would have to play the foul game, Westbrook mishandled the inbounds catch and with Paul hunting, turned around and got an easy lay up. With the Clippers up one, Kevin Durant went full Kevin Durant. Despite an average shooting night, the superstar stepped up and hit a jumper over Mbah a Moute before blocking Paul’s potential game winner to see OKC run out 100-99 winners.

Despite the loss, Chris Paul finished with 32 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and two steals in a superb battle with Russell Westbrook, who had 33 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals himself.

The Clippers have now led in 4th quarters against Golden State (twice), San Antonio and OKC and gone 0-4 in them, with Clipper fans wondering what could have been.

The Clippers have now lost three in a row, blowing a big opportunity to make some strides towards third seed in the West. They now have a three day break before “heading on the road” to face the Los Angeles Lakers, the final game of the Christmas Day slate.

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