BY: ROBERT ANTHONY MORALES — SPORTS ON AIR — CORRESPONDENT
LOS ANGELES — Despite playing a brutal schedule of five games in eight days, the Los Angeles Clippers took off running against the Washington Wizards and pocketed 110-93 win Thursday night (Friday AM in Manila) at the Intuit Dome.
The hosts set the tone early with a 63-41 halftime spread, a lead that eventually ballooned to 27 points. The Wizards never recovered from the surge.
All five Clippers’ starters logged double figures in points led by Norman Powell’s 22. Derrick Jones Jr. sprayed 19 with 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Ivica Zubac had 11 and 9 rebounds while Kawhi Leonard and James Harden combined for 32.
While Clips coach Ty Lue was happy with the W, he pointed out that it wasn’t necessarily aesthetically pleasing.
“Not a good game for us. It was just a win. We didn’t execute and were loose with the basketball. We did some good things as well, but it wasn’t one of our best games, I thought,” he told reporters.
The Clippers hit only 40 of 88 field goals including just 13 of 38 from 3. They also coughed up 18 turnovers and barely won the rebounding battle, 55-49.
Luckily for Lue and Los Angeles, the Wizards were more dismal — 11-of-46 from 3 and 32 of 94 overall.
Jordan Poole had 24 points for Washington. Bilal Coulibaly hauled in 15 and 6 rebounds while Alex Sarr, the No.2 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, settled with 14 and 10 boards.
LA improved to 25-19 in the Western Conference. The Wizards plummeted to 6-37, the worst record in the league.
But Kyle Kuzma, the Wizards’ other resident star, had a rough going with 7 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
