Los Angeles Clippers Can’t Complete Comeback Against Oklahoma City

The Los Angeles Clippers couldn’t save themselves on the road in a crucial visit with the Thunder.

Given how the last meeting between these two teams went down, it was thought that maybe the Clippers would pull themselves out of the gutter in a last second miracle — but that was all to no avail.

The one big problem throughout the night for the Clippers proved to be the game of Russell Westbrook.

Westbrook was better than his usual self, notching a triple-double in historic fashion.

Putting up 25 points, 20 rebounds, and dishing ten assists might seem like clockwork by now, but not even Kevin Durant could think of a good comparison to what went down against Los Angeles.

Durant went on to describe his teammate’s performance as “unheard of” while also making comparisons to playing video games.

Compared to Westbrook, Durant’s numbers helped propel OKC over the edge just enough to start playing comfortably, particularly in the fourth quarter, as he led the team with 30 points.

It has been the case ten times this season where the Thunder have given up the game after taking control heading into the final frame — they weren’t about to let that happen again on Wednesday night.

J.J. Redick tried to put together a masterpiece, especially late in the third and fourth quarters, but he couldn’t get the troops to rally around his shooting quick enough.

Redick’s 22 points were beat out only by Jeff Green, who grabbed 23.

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DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul combined for 30 points, while Paul Pierce was practically invisible on the floor by scoring no points and only throwing one assist.

Missed three-pointers and failing to convert on free-throw attempts ended up being what doomed the Clippers in the fourth quarter.

The way that the Clippers have decided to play games late against the bigger opponents in the Western Conference is room for concern come playoff time.

Trying to bet on the fact that your team can just catch up later instead of always trying to be the first one out of the gate has often costed them easy games and sometimes undeserved losses.

Los Angeles still remains the dark horse of the conference, even if the loss to the Thunder wasn’t pretty.

The Clippers remain three and a half games ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth spot in the standings, and can’t afford to give that up if they expect to go deep  in this year’s post-season.

Starting off the playoffs in the bottom half of the conference is hard enough, and the home court advantage of having a Game 7 at Staples Center really only comes if they stay where they’re at.

Next: Janoris Jenkins Leaving Rams For Giants

But no one is going to just give it to them, they’ve got to earn it.