LOS ANGELES — They punched in on a Saturday afternoon, but the Clippers could have been diagnosed with a case of the Mondays in their 112-103 loss against the Sacramento Kings, which extended L.A.’s losing streak to a season-high three games.
In their first action since the All-Star break, the Clippers (37-19) were out of sync early and out of sorts late, and they ultimately ran out of time to get it right in their first appearance at Staples Center with recent additions Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson.
“I’ve always hated when you play a team that’s played already and then you play them anyday, especially the afternoon,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of his team’s matchup against Sacramento, who defeated Memphis on Thursday in its first action after the break. “We can find all the excuses, we have to play better.”
The new guys started, but Paul George (hamstring) and Patrick Beverley (groin) remained sidelined, and Jackson started in his Clippers debut, filling in at point guard for Beverley, who missed his fifth consecutive game (and 16th of the season, during which his teammates are 7-9).
This particular combination served as the Clippers’ 28th starting lineup this season.
If it looked like Rivers’ group was figuring it out out there, it was — not that his players were much in the mood to excuse themselves.
“Ten days since the last game, new guys in the lineup, still trying to get healthy — it’s no excuse, we had a chance to win the game,” said Kawhi Leonard, who finished with a game-high 31 points, 15 of which came in the third quarter and only two of which came in the fourth, when the Clippers managed to score just two points in the final six minutes after taking a short-lived lead.
“Just wasn’t ready to play,” Leonard added. “I just don’t feel like we were locked in early and it just took too late, it was too late for us to turn that switch on.”
“We couldn’t make a shot (early), couldn’t make a shot at the end, I thought we waited too long to start playing, start playing hard,” concurred Lou Williams, who committed a career-high eight turnovers to offset his 24 points. “Eight turnovers, which is uncharacteristic of me … eight was entirely too much. I feel like I cut that in half, we win the game.”
Morris, who contributed just six points on 3-for-9 shooting in his home debut as a member of the team, was similarly dissatisfied with his afternoon outing, which also included a two rebounds, one assist and five of the Clippers’ turnovers 19 turnovers (which led to 24 Sacramento points).
“I don’t think I did (crap),” said Morris, who played in his fourth game as a Clipper since arriving from New York at the trade deadline. “The basket seemed like it had a little lid on it early on, but gotta be more active man, I gotta pick my spots better.”
Despite a stagnant and disorganized start, the Clippers appeared primed to overcome a no-flow first half in which they shot a tepid 15 for 45 from the field but found themselves trailing only 54-48 at halftime after closing the first half on a 14-6 run that was capped by Jackson’s first made bucket as a Clipper — a 3-pointer — with less than a second remaining.
L.A. warmed up after halftime, going 12 for 21 from the floor in the third quarter. But it wasn’t until Montrezl Harrell (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Williams got going, combining for nine consecutive Clippers points, that their side had its first lead, 95-94 with 8:29 left in the game.
But the Clippers quickly cooled again, and when Bogdan Bogdanovic (20 points) buried a 3-pointer from the sideline with 2:33 on the clock, it up put the Kings (23-33) up 107-101.
Morris found Leonard for a dunk to make it 109-103, but that would be all of L.A.’s scoring Saturday.
De’Aaron Fox’s (20 points) floater over the outstretched arms of Landry Shamet and Harrell dropped and the Clippers were looking up at an insurmountable 111-103 deficit.
Jackson finished with eight points on 3-for-9 shooting and Leonard added eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in the loss.
Kent Bazemore led the Kings (23-33) with 23 points, 15 of which came in the first half.
“The time is now,” Leonard said when asked to assess the defeat, the Clippers’ fourth in five outings. “Just got to keep getting better. It doesn’t matter what seed you are, just got to keep fighting. It is about the right team peaking at the right time.
“I don’t think we have even got there yet. It feels like we are getting close but we just need guys to get healthy. And guys can get healthy and we all got to be consistent from there.”
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