The Los Angeles Clippers were able to secure a crucial victory over the second-place Memphis Grizzlies in their late-season playoff push despite playing without stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on Wednesday. Now, they will have to do it all over again.
On Friday, the two rivals in the Western Conference will meet once more in Memphis, and that matchup should look very different from the one that was just played.
Leonard is expected to play for the Clippers again after missing the game on Wednesday due to personal reasons. The Grizzlies were without Desmond Curse (foot), Jaren Jackson Jr. (calf), John Konchar (hip) and Tyus Jones (foot) yet expect at any rate a few fortifications from that rundown will return.
Russell Westbrook turned back the clock for the Clippers (41-36) with a season-high 36 points and 10 assists on Wednesday. The stars who did remain put on a show. The Grizzlies (48-28) were led by 36 points and nine assists from Ja Morant, who missed Tuesday’s game with sore thigh.
The Grizzlies appear to have secured their position as the No. 2 spot in the Western Gathering, 3 1/2 games behind the primary spot Denver Chunks and two games in front of the third-place Sacramento Rulers.
The Clippers are fifth in the conference, half a game behind the Phoenix Suns, who are fourth, but they are only two games away from being in the group of four teams that will get to play in the play-in tournament. Five more games remain for Los Angeles.
After moving from being a bench player with the Los Angeles Lakers to taking a significant amount of the blame for his former team’s struggles and being traded to the Utah Jazz, who bought out his contract, Westbrook has had a curious season. Despite his mixed results with the Clippers, he is leading the way behind the scenes.
Robert Covington scored 27 points for Los Angeles and hit all seven of his 3-point attempts, which was in addition to Westbrook’s contribution. From 3-point range, the Clippers made 22 of 37 attempts, or 59.5 percent.
Dillon Brooks, the Grizzlies’ resident agitator who is capable of knocking opponents off their game, scored 30 points for the Grizzlies. He had encounters with Westbrook and Covington, but it appeared that those interactions only fueled the Clippers’ players’ passion.
Morant responded, “I plead the fifth,” when asked if the Clippers would shoot from a distance on Friday like they did on Wednesday.
Morant is only four games back from a purposeful vacation and a NBA suspension that endured nine challenges. After playing 35 minutes on Wednesday, he admitted that he is still working on his stamina.
