OKC Thunder Fall Short to Clippers, Drop Second Straight in Los Angeles

The Thunder fell short in its second night of a back-to-back versus the Clippers on Tuesday.

The Oklahoma City Thunder entered Tuesday evening fresh off a narrow defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers the night prior to play its fifth contest in seven days.

A tough matchup, the Thunder sat second in the West as it geared up for a second night in Crypto.com Arena, taking on the L.A. Clippers in the second night of a back-to-back.

"Stay the course," Oklahoma City forward Jalen Williams told reporter Nick Gallo pregame, highlighting what the team needs to do to bounce back coming off a rough loss. 

And in the second meeting of the Clippers-Thunder season series, Oklahoma City couldn't quite get things back on the rails, losing to LA, 128-117.

It was a matchup between the two most efficient 3-point shooting teams in the NBA and two of the best offenses in the Western Conference, as the Clippers looked to avenge their previous 19-point loss to the Thunder. 

Paul George had a massive outing in the Clippers' win, notching 38 points on 15-of-24 from the field.

Mason Plumlee, supplanting an injured Ivica Zubac, had a noteworthy outing in his 27 minutes with 14 points and three blocks.

For Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stayed relatively mild to his usual spectacular form versus his former team, but still saw 19 points on 6-of-16 shooting along with two blocks.

Lu Dort and Williams were very effective in the loss as well. Dort added 19 and five threes while Williams provided a 25-point, seven-assist outing.

Off the bench, Isaiah Joe broke his slump and produced five threes in the Thunder's 47.1% 3-point performance. 

The first frame was tight-knit, with both teams' starters contributing in the scoring department as both Oklahoma City and L.A. putting up similar shooting numbers.

Kawhi Leonard and Williams were of the most impactful in the first quarter's four lead changes, as the Clippers commanded the majority of 12 minutes.

But as the Thunder found the lead late in the quarter, L.A. took it right back with a quick 8-0 run, entering the second frame with a 35-30 lead.

The Clippers came out shooting in the second quarter's opening minutes with Harden sinking a couple threes to leak out to a nine-point advantage. 

But before they could it extend it further, a couple strong defensive possessions and an alley-oop from Williams to Holmgren kept Oklahoma City in striking range.

The Thunder generated some bolstering bench production from Vasilije Micic and Cason Wallace, helping combat a relatively slow start from Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Thunder's MVP candidate would check in at the halfway mark, adding two quick buckets and limiting L.A.'s lead to no more than six for the remainder of the quarter.

A back-and-forth bout of 3-pointers between the two teams ended the half, and the Clippers entered the break up four – each team shared a 22-of-44 first-half performance from the field coincidentally.

Dort boasted 12 points solely via 3-pointers, leading all scorers by the break.

L.A. came out with a similar hot hand in the third quarter as the second, getting out to its biggest lead of the night at 11 early in the second half.

Additionally, Oklahoma City endured a bit of foul trouble between its core three, as both Chet Holmgren and Williams weathered the storm with three fouls and Gilgeous-Alexander with four.

They'd manage though, as two threes from Joe propelled the Thunder back within two before a timeout from head coach Ty Lue and the Clippers.

But George's offensive prowess did not let it take long for them to extend the lead back out to double digits, ultimately helping maintain a 10-point L.A. lead into the final frame.

That 10-point lead was cut to five three minutes into the fourth by the Thunder with a converted and-one from Micic and some opportune scoring help from Aaron Wiggins. 

It was a constant slurry of replies between both teams down the stretch while also having a number of quality defensive stops – the ebbs and flows were heavy hitting.

One of the heaviest hitting, though, was a massive 3-point shot from Williams, giving the Thunder a one-point lead off the assist from Joe. 

But it was quickly nullified, as George converted an and-one the next trip down the floor for the Clippers.

A blocked shot from Leonard and one-of-two subsequent free throws for him gave L.A. a 118-115 advantage. Not long after, a clutch three from George increased the gap even further.

But the Clippers trio – and specifically George – proved to be too much collective offensive power in the end, closing out the Thunder in a hard-fought game. 

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Next, the Thunder stay on the road and head to Utah to take on the Jazz at 8 p.m. CT on Jan. 18 inside Delta Center.