They began a slew of games on Wednesday night in which the Clippers’ fortitude was expected to be tested.
They are in this space because of the devastating wildfires that rampaged across the Los Angeles area that caused the postponement of a Clippers’ game and forced the NBA to reschedule games.
So, starting with the Clippers’ 126-67 beatdown of the Nets in the largest margin of victory in franchise history, L.A. was set to play six games over nine days.
Kawhi Leonard played 23 minutes and 49 seconds and scored 23 points, both highs for his season. He was eight for 11 from the field in scoring a team-high at the Intuit Dome.
James Harden had 21 points, 11 assists and six rebounds in a game the Clippers led by as much as 64 points. He now has 26,681 points over his 16-year career, pushing him past Dominique Wilkins for 15th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
When the NBA announced its rescheduling of games, it meant the Clippers would play five games next week that include two sets of back-to-back games.
The Chicago Bulls game that was scheduled for Wednesday was moved to Monday, and it will be a back-to-back game because the Clippers host the Lakers on Sunday night.
The game against the Washington Wizards, originally scheduled for March 16, will be played Jan. 23 and it comes after the Clippers host the NBA defending champion Boston Celtics Jan. 22, in yet another back-to-back.
The Clippers end next week with a home game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 25.
The Clippers’ game against Charlotte that was postponed on Saturday has been rescheduled for March 16.
The Clippers’ game at Utah set for Feb. 13 has been moved to March 19.
Tickets for those original dates will be honored for the rescheduled games.
With Leonard playing in just his fourth game of the season, the Clippers will be cautious with their star over this stretch.
In fact, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said the medical staff will put together a plan to use as a guide during the arduous stretch of games.
“They haven’t really come up with what we want to do right now,” Lue said. “But six games in nine days. We’ve played, I think, pretty much the top-two hardest schedule in the league so far this year. It just adds to it. So, we just got to take it game by game. Can’t fall victim to the schedule. It’s out of the NBA’s hands what happened to our city and so we understand that. So, we just got to lock in, take it game by game, and just go from there.”
Part of that is not having Leonard play in the back-to-back game Thursday night at Portland.
Etc.
Clippers wingman Terance Mann, who didn’t play during Monday night’s game against Miami, didn’t play in the second half against the Nets because of left calf soreness. Mann had five points before he left.
