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Clippers Late Push Not Enough In Loss To Heat

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After a deflating loss Saturday night to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Clippers hoped to rebound Sunday afternoon in a matinee matchup against the Miami Heat.

Miami has struggled to start the season, 3-5 coming into the game versus the Clippers 5-3. Right from the opening tip however it was clear that Los Angeles wasn’t ready for this game quite yet.

After just one quarter, things were not looking good for the Clippers and they didn’t improve much until a fantastic fourth quarter run. But we’ll get to that a bit later on.

First let’s talk about how Miami was able to stick it to the Clippers for the first three quarters of this contest.

Tyler Johnson was the main source of the Clippers woes as the Heat guard was on fire off the bench with 19 points. Johnson didn’t haunt Los Angeles alone though, Hassan Whiteside stood tall in the post and was able to win his matchup against Clippers Center DeAndre Jordan. Whiteside closed out his stellar afternoon with 21 points and 17 rebounds.

While not much went right for Los Angeles early in this one, this play to end the first half may have woken the team up heading into the break.

Backup Center Willie Reed provides a spark on what was his first three-point attempt and make of this young season.

That three ball cut the Miami lead to just 13 at the half but the third quarter allowed them to stretch that lead back out to 23. Then the fourth quarter started and something seemed to click for the Clippers.

Shots starting falling for Los Angeles and missing for the Heat. All of the sudden, this was a game in Los Angeles.

A great run sparked by Lou Williams off the bench got the Clippers back into striking distance. Williams had his most impressive performance in a Clippers uniform with 22 points but he had some help getting his team back into the game.

Blake Griffin saw the effort by Williams and used the momentum to continue the run. Griffin stepped up when his team needed it and finished up with 23 points to go with 8 rebounds and 4 assists. With the game on the line and Los Angeles trailing 102-101 it was Griffin who was called upon to take the game winning shot. Being covered by Whiteside, Griffin faded back and took the midrange jumper. The ball bounced off the back of the iron and into the hands of the Heat.

A tight 104-101 loss for the Clippers in what was a gritty comeback performance.

While it’s always nice to come away with a win, the team showed great effort to fight back and put themselves in a position to win after trailing by as many as 25.

Los Angeles is heading on a three game road trip after this one with their next matchup being in San Antonio against the always challenging Spurs.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Clippers and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time

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