Clippers beat Pistons 126-112; George leaves with hamstring
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Montrezl Harrell scored 23 points and the Los Angeles Clippers survived without Paul George in the second half to beat the Detroit Pistons 126-112 on Thursday night, winning consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 13.
George didn’t return after halftime because of left hamstring tightness. He finished with 12 points.
Lou Williams added 22 points and Kawhi Leonard had 18 in three quarters for the Clippers, who had alternated wins and losses for nearly three weeks.
Bruce Brown led nine Pistons in double figures with 15 points. Andre Drummond added 10 points and 12 rebounds. They’ve lost four in a row on the road and eight of nine overall.
Trailing by nine, the Clippers took control in the second quarter. They outscored the Pistons 35-20, including runs of 9-0 and 10-0, to take a 69-63 lead into halftime. George hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Leonard followed with another 3. Seven different Clippers scored in the spurts.
Once George was sidelined, his teammates stepped up. Landry Shamet hit consecutive 3-pointers that extended the lead to 18 points in the third. Maurice Harkless, who started, Williams and Harrell combined to score 13 of the Clippers’ final 15 points and send them into the fourth leading 106-79.
Detroit scored on consecutive possessions just once in the third.
Harrell and Williams anchored the second unit in the fourth when the starters rested. The Pistons outscored the Clippers 33-20, but they had too big a deficit to overcome.
TIP-INS
Pistons: They’re on a trip with at least one game in each time zone for the first time since Dec. 5-16, 1979. … Nearly two years after Blake Griffin’s shocking trade from the Clippers to Detroit, he’s the only one of six players involved still on either roster.
Clippers: Patrick Beverley is expected back in the next couple games from a sprained right wrist. … At 10-5, they tied for the league’s third-best record in December. … So far the Clippers have scored at least 130 points in six games, tied for second-most in the NBA.
NO GRIFFIN
Griffin sat out with left knee soreness against his former team. Clipper Darrell shouted, “I paid my money and I want to see Blake Griffin!”, drawing a smile from Griffin seated on the bench. The crowd then began chanting, “We want Blake! We want Blake!”
REMEMBERING STERN
Doc Rivers recalled that David Stern was the first call he received after being fired as Orlando coach in 2003.
“I’m thinking, `Wow, this is a cool thing. When you get fired the commissioner calls,’” Rivers said. “But he was calling me to tell me was that tomorrow ABC was going to offer me the job and I better take it.”
Rivers did, working with Al Michaels as a TV commentator for one season before returning to coaching with the Boston Celtics.
“He was the sheriff with love,” Rivers said of Stern, who died Wednesday. “People don’t remember this league when he came in. This was a tough league. This was a drug-infested, image-problem league. David Stern came in and cleaned it up and kept it going.”
Detroit coach Dwane Casey credited Stern for doing more than any other sports commissioner to promote race relations and women in the workplace.
“I am a product of the ’60s and I’ve seen everything, discrimination, segregation, and David made it known from the very start that he wanted diversity in the NBA,” Casey said. “He wanted it in the front offices and in the coaching ranks, and he made it happen.”
There was a pregame moment of silence for Stern.
UP NEXT
Pistons: Visit Golden State on Saturday in the middle of their six-game trip.
Clippers: Host Memphis on Saturday, a team the Clippers beat by two points on Nov. 27.
