Wednesday is the deadline for the Clippers to sign a player to give them 14 standard contracts, and the team has looked at bolstering their depth at center. Eventually they could not contain Jokic, the 7-footer who scored 32 points with 16 rebounds and nine assists while making all 14 of his free-throw attempts. It helped build their seven-point lead in the fourth quarter. The Clippers played virtually the final 16 minutes of the game without a traditional center, and for a second consecutive game the strategy got them back into the game. They also shot virtually the same percentage inside the paint, after making just 17 of 38 shots there. The Clippers made 13 three-pointers and shot 44.8% behind the arc, by far their best accuracy since Harden’s debut five games ago. 31, did not show Tuesday because every moment of optimism was eventually tempered. Their preferred result, a first victory since Oct. “Because those results aren't showing right now, but we're in it for the long haul.” “And within this locker room, within this organization, we just got to continue to build and not really care about what other people are saying. “We have a chance to be really, really good, really special and it's going to take some time, some patience,” Harden said. It led to one last jump ball, but not a final jump shot for the Clippers, who are now 0-2 halfway through the NBA’s in-season tournament group stage. Their last chance to force overtime came with seven seconds left, when George shot a potential game-tying three-pointer, only for the ball to wedge between the rim and backboard. Outscored by 10 points over a four-minute stretch late in the fourth quarter, the Clippers lost their lead with 2:25 to play and never regained it. Yet it still was not enough, even against a vulnerable Nuggets roster missing injured starting point guard Jamal Murray. Lue, before tipoff, had said this was the only time that he had this much confidence in a team mired in this long of a losing streak, and that feeling did not diminish by the end. The Clippers also curbed a pair of longtime weaknesses, committing only 11 turnovers while allowing only six offensive rebounds despite having only one legitimate big man in Lue’s eight-man rotation. Harden, meanwhile, was at his most comfortable offensively, particularly in the third quarter when he scored 10 of his 21 points. ![]() In the comeback Paul George scored 35 points and looked as assertive as he has been since the acquisition of Harden scrambled the roles of the team’s four headliners, including Leonard (15 points on 15 shots) and Westbrook. Trailing by as many as 13 points, the Clippers mounted a 20-point turnaround against the reigning champion Nuggets to lead by seven at the halfway point of the fourth quarter. I'm not one for moral victories but I thought we showed more of a sign of a team tonight that's close to getting it over the hump.” But, defending champs, we got to play better. “It's tough, the adversity of playing against the extra three. “I thought we played great,” George said. Read more: Elliott: Clippers want James Harden to lead, but progress has been slow ![]() What Lue saw was the most cohesive performance by his team since the trade - but one that also conjured as many questions as it provided glimpses of potential answers. “I’m definitely encouraged,” Lue said, “by what I saw tonight.” They left winless in their past two weeks, their record now 3-7, with Tuesday’s 111-108 loss to Denver the latest of what has grown to a sixth consecutive defeat since making a roster-altering trade for James Harden. ![]() The Clippers left while inviting an NBA fine for criticizing officiating, after coach Tyronn Lue lamented that “we didn’t get the same calls,” and Paul George called the referees “awful” and his five free-throw attempts “very disrespectful.” Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard were among the first to depart the locker room inside Ball Arena late Tuesday, leaving as soon as possible from the venue where the Clippers have not won in nearly three years. Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard pressures Nuggets center Nikola Jokic as he works in the post during the first half of the game Tuesday night in Denver.
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