The Los Angeles Clippers will take a season-best six-game winning streak into a meeting against the visiting New York Knicks on Saturday night.
The Clippers’ 121-113 victory at home against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday came without Paul George, who missed his first game of the season with a sore left hip.
With plenty of pure scorers at its disposal, Los Angeles leaned into James Harden, and he delivered season highs with 28 points and 15 assists. The start of Harden’s tenure with the Clippers was rough, with the team absorbing a six-game losing streak, but all is well now.
The Clippers have won 11 of their last 14 games and are finding plenty of contributors outside of their galaxy of stars in Harden, George, Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook.
Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell have thrived in recent weeks, and Amir Coffey stepped up into George’s void Thursday to deliver a season-best 18 points in his first start of 2023-24.
Harden also surpassed 25,000 career points, becoming the 24th NBA player to accomplish that feat.
“It won’t stop until I’m not playing basketball anymore, you know what I mean?” Harden said about his work ethic. “It’s a testament, and I’ve got a long way to go, but every single day I put the work in no matter if it’s a good day, if I had 28-30 like (Thursday) or if I had 10 points. Tomorrow, I’ll be in that gym and putting extra shots up, and for me it won’t change.”
Not only was George out against the Warriors, Leonard appeared to come away with an injury to his left side in the fourth quarter but remained in the game. Los Angeles weathered a late Golden State comeback attempt to finish the victory.
“Our team is getting better,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “We’re not perfect; there’s a lot of things we can still clean up and get better with.”
The Knicks will play on the second night of a back-to-back after earning a 139-122 victory on the road to the Phoenix Suns on Friday. Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 50 points and made all nine of his 3-point attempts.
New York not only delivered a season high in points, but it also has averaged 137.5 points over its last two victories.
The Knicks are 2-1 without starting center Mitchell Robinson, who underwent left ankle surgery and is expected to miss at least two months.
Robinson, whose interior defense has been key for New York, averaged 10.3 rebounds over his first 21 games. He also contributed 6.2 points and was shooting 59.2 percent from the field.
Robinson ranks 12th in the NBA in total rebounds per game and first in offensive rebounds (5.3). To get help inside, the Knicks brought back 6-foot-10 Taj Gibson on Friday with a one-year deal.
As much as Tom Thibodeau appreciates the Knicks’ recent high-scoring ways, the Knicks’ defensive-minded head coach knows where he wants to see his team thrive.
“We have to continue working on our defense,” Thibodeau said this week. “Just a little more urgency. We have to fire out a little harder, we have to contain dribble penetration, we have to challenge shots better, we have to rebound, we have to put our bodies on people. Pretty much the whole gamut.”
–Field Level Media
