Clippers blown out by Thunder, setting up showdown with Blazers

INGLEWOOD — Before Wednesday’s game, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue used a handful of superlatives in describing what makes the Oklahoma City Thunder the best team in the Western Conference this season.

Lue didn’t have to use fancy words, though. He could have simply mentioned the Thunder’s offense, their defense and point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP.

“Defensively, offensively, they know who they’re playing through and how they want to play,” Lue said, drawing off the memory of two earlier losses to the defending champions.

The Thunder used their three-pronged attack and then some to hand the short-handed Clippers a 128-110 defeat at Intuit Dome in the second night of a back-to-back for both teams and secured the No. 1 seed for the upcoming playoffs.

“They’re the champions for a reason, and until somebody dethrones them, they’re going to be the champions,” Kawhi Leonard said. “They got the MVP player on their team as well as some All-Stars, All-NBA players. So yeah, they’ve been playing great all season and especially down the stretch.”

Despite the loss, the Clippers (41-39) remained in eighth place, one game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers with two games to play, including a critical matchup with the Blazers on Friday night in Portland. The Trail Blazers also lost on Wednesday, setting the stage for the showdown.

The Clippers would clinch the No. 8 seed with a win on Friday, while Portland would gain the head-to-head tiebreaker with a win that would then make Sunday’s regular-season finales meaningful for both teams. The ninth-place team will need to win two Play-In games to advance to a first-round playoff series.

The Thunder (64-16) came into Wednesday’s game needing one more win or one more San Antonio loss to clinch the top spot in the conference. They secured the No. 1 seed – and home-court advantage throughout the postseason – with minimal drama.

Lue said the Clippers, who were without point guard Darius Garland, would need to start in attack mode and take care of the basketball if they had any hope of notching their first victory in three tries against the Thunder this season. That, he said, was the “most important thing.”

The Clippers did neither against the Thunder, who rolled to their seventh consecutive victory with a combination of hot shooting and strong interior defense, the two things Lue feared.

The Thunder shot 57.8% (48 for 83) from the floor and 38.2% from 3-point range, while the Clippers overcame poor shooting at the start to finish at 46.5% overall and 43.8% from behind the arc.

“They had good rim protection all night and just the pressure,” Lue said. “I thought the pressure from their guards didn’t allow us to own our space and they were physical, trying to deny the basketball and pressuring the basketball.

“We just couldn’t get away from their pressure, and it slowed us down offensively.”

The lone bright spot for the Clippers was Leonard, who extended his streak of 20-point games to 56 straight. He made one of two free throws midway through the third quarter to keep his run intact, then took a seat on the bench. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter of the blowout.

Kobe Sanders chipped in 17 points, Brook Lopez and Jordan Miller each scored 16, John Collins added 12 points and nine rebounds and Derrick Jones Jr. scored 11 points.

The Clippers struggled from the start. And every time they did something good, Oklahoma City answered with something better, such as a blocked shot, a steal, a pair of free throws or another 3-pointer. And that was just in the first half.

It didn’t take long to see that the short-handed Clippers were no match for the Thunder’s aggressiveness or 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren, who was an imposing figure inside. He had two of his four blocks in the first half and finished with a team-high 30 points on 10-of-13 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds and five assists, limiting the Clippers’ success on drives to the basket.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 20 points (9-of-17 shooting from the field, 2-for-6 from 3-point range) and 11 assists. Isaiah Joe had 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Jalen Williams added 18 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Isaiah Hartenstein had 10 points and seven rebounds.

“They play aggressively like a well-oiled machine, so you just kind of got to read what’s there and then you don’t have time to think because by the time you think they’re there,” Miller said. “So, I can’t really put my thumb on it, but you just have to be aggressive.”

The Clippers struggled to get to the rim in the first half, shooting just 38.3% (18 for 47) from the field, and fell behind by 11 after the first quarter and 20 by halftime (69-49).

The Clippers made a run at the Thunder in the third quarter, trimming the margin to 12 points with an 11-3 run. They had a chance to get within nine, but Derrick Jones Jr. missed a 3-point attempt and Gilgeous-Alexander answered with a 3-pointer.

The game unraveled from there as Oklahoma City rebuilt a 24-point lead early in the fourth with a 13-2 run before leaving L.A. with its second lopsided win in as many nights. The Thunder crushed a depleted Lakers squad, 123-87, on Tuesday.

The defending champs have gone 19-1 since Feb. 27 to hold off the Spurs for the top seed. San Antonio lost ground despite going 18-2 since March 3.