“Once we got here, we don’t think about what happened in the past. Los Angeles has actually only been slightly worse defensively with Kuzma on the floor this season (by 0.3 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com) and he’s clearly been trying harder, but his reputation as a guy who is too often upright and prone to blow-bys has been hard to shake, and exacerbated by the fact that for most of the year, he wasn’t doing enough offensively to distract from his issues on the other end.īut while that’s a reputation Kuzma has, it’s not one he’s worried about. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.It’s fair to say that Kyle Kuzma has not exactly been known for his defense during his first three seasons with the Lakers. Wizards: Begin a three-game trip at Memphis on Saturday night.Ĭopyright 2022 The Associated Press. Kuzma's double-double was his 19th of the season and eighth in January.Ĭlippers: Continue their trip at Orlando on Wednesday night. Wizards: Held the Clippers to 36 first-half points, an opponent's season low. Kawhi Leonard has not played all season while recovering from a torn ACL. F Marcus Morris sat out due to personal reasons. “When we got to (within) 10, I was like, 'OK, we've got a real shot, we've got a real opportunity here if we can get some stops.'”Ĭlippers: Improved to 2-6 in the first leg of back-to-back games. “We kept chipping, chipping away,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. The Wizards helped the Clippers' cause with seven fourth-quarter turnovers. Los Angeles gradually cut into the lead in the third, got it to single digits with a 15-1 run that stretched into the fourth, got to within two inside the final three minutes, and then closed the game on an 11-2 run. Washington led by nine at the end of the first quarter and held the Clippers to 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting in the second. Kyle Kuzma had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Wizards but couldn't find a way to inbound the ball late, setting up Kennard's heroics. Terance Mann and Isaiah Hartenstein each had 16 points for Los Angeles, which outscored Washington 40-27 in the third and 40-22 in the fourth. “This January has been wild," Coffey said. And all of those wins came after they lost seven-time All-Star guard Paul George to a right elbow injury in December. They became the first team to accomplish that feat in a single season since at least 1996-1997. It's just a matter of us doing it.”Īmir Coffey scored a career-high 29 points for the depleted Clippers, who pulled off a third rally from this month from a deficit of at least 24 points, following wins at home over Denver on Jan. “And obviously I'm a big factor into that, too, in producing and playing well and performing. “I'm very well aware of how we're playing and how other teams are playing and what my interests are,” Beal said. It wasn't enough to avoid finishing an eight-game homestand with a 3-5 record, or to quiet talk that Beal might be traded before the Feb. ![]() He ended up scoring 10 of his 23 points in the period. “What kind of a team are we trying to be? I think that's my biggest question to all of us as a unit.”īeal didn't even expect he'd have to play in the fourth quarter, given that his team led by 30 at halftime. ![]() “What are we trying to achieve, honestly?" Beal said. Washington began the season 10-3 but is 13-22 since. 500 (23-25) for the first time this season. Beal was left to rue a fourth straight loss that dropped the Wizards to two games below. Kennard made the free throw, finishing with 25 points and completing a rally that tied for the second-biggest in the NBA since the 1996-97 season. Kennard hit a 32-footer out of a timeout and then, after Washington committed a 5-second violation, sank another 3 running to his right while absorbing a foul from Beal, the Wizards' three-time All-Star. Luke Kennard scored seven points inside the final 9 seconds, including a go-ahead four-point play with 1.9 seconds remaining, and the Clippers overcame a 35-point first-half deficit to stun the Wizards 116-115 on Tuesday night. Who are the Washington Wizards? Bradley Beal doesn't know. WASHINGTON – The Los Angeles Clippers are the NBA's new comeback kings.
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