Kawhi Leonard spoke to the media after the Lakers pulled off a 116-112 win over the Clippers, where they were down by 21 points in the fourth quarter. Leonard gave the Lakers the credit they deserved for the win, taking accountability and admitting that they had no answer for LeBron James‘ heroics.
“Tonight was on us… We didn’t play well. We gotta give the Lakers credit. LeBron got hot and he carried his team to win… We tried to throw two guys on him. His teammates responded. They made shots as well when he passed the ball.”
LeBron scored 19 points in the fourth quarter alone, compared to the Clippers’ 16 points in that stretch as a team. Leonard was guarding James for portions of that stretch, though the Lakers kept switching to ensure James could play against weaker defenders such as James Harden or Mason Plumlee.
LeBron did take the challenge of guarding Kawhi, who scored six points in the fourth quarter. He ended the night with 27 points.
This was the biggest fourth-quarter comeback win of LeBron’s career and the biggest comeback the Lakers have made in the final 12 minutes since April 2003. This was the final Clippers home game against the Lakers in the Crypto.com Arena, as they’ll be moving to the Intuit Dome next season.
The Clips have won the ‘hallway series’ 50-48 over their 25 years of sharing the arena, but the Lakers got the last laugh (and six championships in that span).
Tyronn Lue Had Never Seen A Comeback Like This Before
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is often hailed as one of the best coaches in the NBA, but tonight’s loss was a big failure on his part. Lue took accountability for the loss as well, saying that he had never seen a comeback like this since he started coaching.
“I take responsibility. When you’re leading a team and you’re up 21 points, you can’t lose a game like that. We’ve got to be better. To lose a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter, that’s not like us. We’ve got to do better in that regard. I don’t think it’s ever happened in my career. But Bron got hot, you can’t turn the ball over against this team because they’re deadly.”
Ty Lue on losing a 21 point lead in the 4th quarter:
“I don’t think that’s ever happened in my career since I’ve been coaching.” pic.twitter.com/B8iQjeth63
— Swish Cultures (@swishcultures_) February 29, 2024
This comeback was incredible to watch, as the Lakers were in an incredible state of flow in the fourth quarter. LeBron was making heat-check threes repeatedly. When he finally missed one of his shots, his teammates started stepping up as James became more pass-happy. Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell hit two of the biggest shots of the game, as the Lakers won the season series over the Clippers 3-1.
Both teams are still in very different places in the Western standings. The Clippers have lost steam in the race for the No. 1 seed, sitting four games back as the No. 4 seed. The Lakers reclaimed the No. 9 seed with this win, currently three games behind the No. 6 seed.
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