(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
It seemed like the Los Angeles Clippers were well on their way to an easy victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, leading them by 21 points with just a final quarter to go.
But when LeBron James lit it up in the fourth quarter, the Clippers didn’t have a good response and the team collapsed in a huge way, losing to the Lakers, 116-112.
This performance from the Clippers was very surprising and Stephen A. Smith spoke about it at length on Thursday’s “First Take.”
“What’s your excuse to have a 21-point lead and literally you can’t hold onto the basketball?” Smith asked the Clippers.
“They looked sloppy. They looked shook,” Smith went on, saying that he was concerned by the team’s incompetence, including a limited output from Kawhi Leonard in the fourth quarter.
He concluded by saying: “Something is wrong with this picture right here.”
.@stephenasmith is CONCERNED about the Clippers:
“What’s your excuse to have a 21-point lead and literally you can’t hold onto the basketball. … They looked sloppy. They looked shook.” pic.twitter.com/E7G1PZVSRy
— First Take (@FirstTake) February 29, 2024
For comparison, James himself scored 19 points in the final 12 minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, the entire Clippers roster put up just 16 during that time, with Leonard scoring 6 points, Norman Powell and Mason Plumlee posting 3, and Russell Westbrook and James Harden only scoring 2.
They looked confused and overwhelmed by James as well as D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Cam Reddish.
This was the first time in franchise history that the Clippers lost a game when leading by 19+ points in the fourth quarter.
The Clippers are set to open their new permanent residence at the start of next season so this was also the last regular-season meeting as Crypto.com Arena roommates with the Lakers, which makes the loss even more painful.
The Clippers walked away feeling very disappointed by the final score and are hoping to bounce back on Friday against the Washington Wizards.
For the last several months, the Clippers have looked like one of the best teams in the West but for the last quarter on Wednesday night, they just looked like a mess.
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