Clippers come up short in 103-110 loss to Philadelphia

L.A. and Philadelphia went down to the wire, but the Clippers came up short in a 103-110 loss.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The L.A. Clippers have played in a lot of lopsided games this season, one way or the other. Very rarely have their games gone down to the wire — but that's what happened against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.

L.A. fought hard but ultimately lost its 17th game of the season to the Sixers, 103-110, who improved to 34-21 and a league-best 25-2 at home. And for those of you keeping track at home, the Clippers are now 7-7 in games that Patrick Beverley misses due to injury.

From the jump, the Clippers and Sixers were engaged in a back-and-forth battle. And while it was close throughout, Philadelphia was in control for a vast majority of the contest. Even when L.A. would get within a few points, Philly's lead felt larger than it was.

Any number of buckets could have flipped the momentum in L.A.'s direction, but that bucket never came. The Clippers remained just a few stops away all night long, and eventually, there just wasn't enough time to get back in it. 

The story of the game was L.A.'s inability to compete with Philadelphia's size. Joel Embiid caused problems for the Clippers' bigs, forcing Ivica Zubac and Montrezl Harrell to commit nine combined fouls. Embiid got to the line 13 times and recorded 26 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.

It wasn't just Embiid that was doing the damage, though. Philadelphia scored 58 points in the paint in total, many of which came from the hands of Ben Simmons, Al Horford and Tobias Harris. For comparison, 38 of L.A.'s 103 points were scored in the paint.

The effort highlighted the Clippers' need for a third center, which many expect they'll pick up via the buyout market. Zubac did better to protect the rim than Harrell did, but once he got into foul trouble, L.A. was stuck in a tough position. 

This led to a super small unit taking the floor for the final minutes of the game, which included Lou Williams, Landry Shamet, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Marcus Morris Sr. at center. Unsurprisingly, Embiid looked strong against this group as well.

That said, poor interior defense wasn't the only reason the Clippers lost this game. Outside of Leonard and Shamet — who went for 30 and 19, respectively — L.A. struggled to score. George and Williams, two of L.A.'s top scoring options, combined to score just 24 points on 8-of-30 shooting from the field. Harrell and Morris each made five shots as well.

The loss brings L.A.'s record to 37-17 overall and 15-12 on the road. They'll play the Sixers once more this season on March 1.

The Clippers will play Thursday night in Boston before heading into the All-Star break.