With hopes of finishing as high as fourth place in the Western Conference and earning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers will take one more step toward that goal when they host the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
The Clippers (47-32) have won 15 of their past 18 games and currently hold the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference via a four-team tiebreaker. Houston officially clinched the No. 2 spot when the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
The latest victory for the Clippers was a 122-117 triumph over the short-handed San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday. Ivica Zubac scored 24 points with 20 rebounds and five assists to join Elton Brand on the list of Clippers players to achieve that feat in the past 40 years.
Zubac has four 20-20 games this season. The only NBA player who has more is the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic (five).
James Harden scored 21 points with 12 assists, and Norman Powell added 25 points as the Clippers played without Kawhi Leonard, who was resting for injury management on the front end of a back-to-back. Leonard has played on consecutive nights just once since making his season debut in January.
“From where we’ve come from and now where we’re at, we just want to get in,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said of the playoff chase. “… If we were able to get home court, that would be very special, especially how we’re playing at home.”
Los Angeles, which is 29-11 on its own court, started slow against short-handed San Antonio before picking up the pace in the second half. The Clippers had a 37-26 advantage in the third quarter to take control.
“We’re playing for something and we have a chance to do some special things so we can’t mess around with this game,” Lue said when asked what he said to the team at halftime.
The Rockets will be well rested following a physical 106-96 road victory over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday and might be up for fashioning a little more rest for specific players Wednesday.
Unable to catch the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top spot in the West, Houston has little to play for over the final three games of the regular season.
Houston’s early injury report has Fred VanVleet doubtful with an ankle injury, while Alperen Sengun (back) and Jabari Smith Jr. (groin) are questionable.
In the victory over the Warriors, Dillon Brooks scored 24 points for the Rockets while Jalen Green added 21. Sengun delivered 19 points and 14 rebounds on a night when Golden State’s Stephen Curry was held to three points on 1-of-10 shooting (1 of 8 from 3-point range).
Bay Area native Amen Thompson was given the defensive assignment on Curry and didn’t disappoint in his homecoming.
“I was extra motivated trying to get a win up here,” Thompson said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The emotional game, between teams who could end up meeting in the first round of the playoffs, saw Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and Curry exchange words just before halftime.
“This is the kind of game we like,” Udoka said. “This is who we are.”
–Field Level Media
