The LA Clippers are no strangers to comebacks these days. The team already has three 24+ point comebacks under its belt, this season alone. It is no secret that this team is as resilient as they come, but where do this season’s performances rank amongst the best in franchise history? Not every comeback is made equal. Well, maybe some are. Here are the Comeback Clippers’ best games.
Comeback LA Clippers Tier List
Tier 3
Clippers Only Score 28 points in the First Half, Still Beat Denver
The Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic had the Clippers stymied. A horrendous half that only saw the team score 28 points set an early precedent that points will be hard to come by. Reggie Jackson was struggling the entire game, but his understudy Eric Bledsoe helped bring the Clippers back. Bledsoe hunted steals and attacked the rim, leading the charge to get the team back in striking distance.
After falling behind by 25 points, the Clippers found themselves back in the game when the fourth quarter arrived. And Jackson atoned for his first-half sins. Tough shot followed another tough shot. Floaters, off-the-dribble threes, and a poster dunk on Jokic brought the crowd on its feet. Finally, the game was in grasp after wings Nicolas Batum and Amir Coffey drilled late threes to seal the deal. What made the final baskets even better, were the calls by Clippers’ play-by-play broadcaster Brian Sieman.
Clippers Overcome a 24-Point Deficit Against Philly, Doc Rivers
After a heartbreaking loss in Denver the night before, the Clippers found themselves in another tough matchup against the 76ers. Jokic dropped a 49 point triple-double less than 24 hours before, and now the team had to deal with arguably the league MVP, Joel Embiid. They did not do much better defending the big man, as Embiid dropped 40 points and the Sixers eventually took a 24-point lead in the third quarter.
But, the Clippers came back with a true team effort. Batum started defending Embiid, Coffey proved yet again that he has game, and Jackson bailed them out in tough moments. The second unit led by Bledsoe, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, and Isaiah Hartenstein proved to be the spark that the team needed off the bench. Hartenstein finished at the rim, Bledsoe made plays, and Kennard hit two big threes when the game was teetering. The performance was capped off by Coffey’s clutch pull-up jumper, perhaps the biggest shot of his career.
The win was sweet, but doing it against former coach Doc Rivers may have been sweeter.
Darren Collison Leads the Clippers Past OKC to Tie the Series
A Mother’s Day matchup saw the OKC Thunder take on the LA Clippers in game four of the second round. The Thunder led the series 2-1 and looked to take a commanding 3-1 lead. The outcome seemed determined as Kevin Durant and crew took a 15-point lead in the fourth. But the Clippers began to chip away with a unique lineup of Chris Paul, Darren Collison, Jamal Crawford, Danny Granger, and Blake Griffin.
In a game that featured four all-stars, Collison shined brightest as he scored 18 off the bench, igniting the crowd with his pull-up jumpers and fastbreak baskets. Crawford, who also had 18 as a sub, hit a three to give the Clippers their first lead of the game, and they never looked back. The Clippers went on to tie the series 2-2, but would eventually fall in six games.
Tier 2
Post-Trade Deadline Clippers Beat Boston After Falling 28 Down
After an eventful trade deadline, the Clippers faced the Boston Celtics in their first game without forward Tobias Harris, who was traded just moments after he hit a game-winner. A game that featured the debuts of Landry Shamet, Garrett Temple, JaMychal Green, and Ivica Zubac was seemed to be a scheduled loss. Or perhaps a trap game? The Celtics built a 28-point lead and the game seemed to be over before it started. But the Clippers were not dead.
While Zubac and the other new acquisitions had good games, Shamet stole the show. After hitting a couple of threes, Clipper fans were reminded of former Clipper JJ Redick with his off-ball movement and Rivers’ play calls for the young guard. His performance was finished off by a four-point play that got the entire bench fired up, capping off an unlikely comeback from a ragtag group of fighters.
Clippers Rally From 27 Points Down to Steal Game One in Memphis
The Clippers made their return to the postseason after a six-year absence. And they made it worth the wait. A raucous crowd in the FedEx Forum aided their Memphis Grizzlies to a 27-point lead. With the hometown team up 24 late in the fourth, it seemed that the Clippers should just pack it up and prepare for game two. But the players on the court felt otherwise.
Blake Griffin didn’t stop attacking the basket, Eric Bledsoe had a layup and key jumpers, but Nick Young erupted. A team-high 19 points off the bench, he scored nearly half of his total in just over 60 seconds to cut the Grizzlies’ lead from 12 to three in a blink of an eye. A couple of clutch Griffin and Paul free throws and a Reggie Evans layup later, and the Clippers had their first lead. They went on to win the game 99-98 in a postseason classic.
Tier 1
Warriors Can’t Kill “Roaches”, Clippers Win After Trailing by 31 Points
“We’re roaches. You can’t kill us”, head coach Doc Rivers said to his team in the locker room, following their historic comeback. The title-favorite Golden State Warriors took a commanding 31-point lead in the third quarter, but the Clippers proved their head coach right by never dying. A thunderous JaMychal Green dunk didn’t really sway momentum, but perhaps it was the conception of the historic comeback.
Sixth-man extraordinaire Lou Williams then went on to do what he does best. Get buckets. He attacked the rim, finishing with layups, floaters, and reverses. Not to mention his patented fading left jumper. But it wasn’t just his scoring that led him to a team-high 36 points that were on display, but his passing. Williams directed the Warriors’ defense with a plethora of pick and roll passes, finding most notably center Montrezl Harrell. Harrell’s soft hand and finishing were one of the main reasons that Williams finished with 11 assists. The two had chemistry unlike any bench duo in NBA history, and it was on full display that night.
Clippers continued to chip and chip away. Williams led them the entire way, hitting difficult shots and orchestrating the entire offensive attack. He dominated the game. So much so that the Warriors elected to double him on the last possession, leading to an unselfish pass to rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who then found fellow rookie Landry Shamet for the go-ahead three. Which gave the Clippers the first lead of the game. The Clippers then got a stop on the best shooter of all time, Stephen Curry, and Harrell drained two clutch free throws to seal the deal.
It is not just the comeback itself that was impressive. But who it was against, with what the Clippers had. The dynasty Warriors with prime Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Curry. Against a team that had no all-star and traded away their leading scorer midway through the season. It is moments like this in which this team became one of the favorites among Clipper Nation.
Clippers Comprise the Greatest Comeback in Franchise History in the Nation’s Capital
Anyone that watched the first half of the Clippers and Wizards game deserved financial compensation. A half in which the team posted one of the most lackluster efforts in the team’s history, the Clippers could not buy a basket. Similar to how they went down against the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers within the same month period. The first-half performance was so poor, that head coach Ty Lue tinkered with the starting lineup to start the half. Batum experienced back spasms and Jackson and Zubac were pulled from the game. None of the three saw a minute in the second half.
It was evident from the start of the second half that the Clippers felt their pride kicking in. The first couple minutes saw a lineup of Bledsoe, Kennard, Mann, Coffey, and Hartenstein inject life into the game. They were competing and starting to find a groove. Hartenstein fought for loose balls, protected the rim, and worked the glass.
But what may have been the most surprising contribution was second-year guard Jay Scrubb. Scrubb, seen more as a scorer, contributed to other areas to aid the comeback effort. In addition to his three buckets, he found Hartenstein on a nice drive baseline and drew a clutch charge on Wizards star Bradley Beal.
Amir Coffey continued his spectacular season with a career-high 29 points. Coffey poured in bucket after bucket and showed that he is one of the premier options on the current Clippers team. There is uncertainty as to how far the Clippers will go this season, but the development of Coffey is one of the bright spots that the team can look back on.
Finally, that brings us to the clutch hero of the game. Luke Kennard. Kennard notched 25 points, including 5-8 from three. Two of which are as impressive as they come. One came from 32 feet which cut the Wizards’ six-point lead in half. Following a five-second violation, Kennard drained another clutch three off a Justise Winslow hand-off while being fouled. Kennard capped off the four-point play, thus completing the greatest comeback in franchise history and the second-biggest comeback in NBA history.
Terance Mann Sends the Clippers to Their First Western Conference Finals
What better way to cap off the tier list than the biggest win in franchise history? And, of course, it was an epic comeback. After losing star forward, Kawhi Leonard, in game four, the Clippers marched into Utah and got a huge win led by the brilliance of Paul George. George scored 37 points and snagged 15 rebounds giving the Clippers a 3-2 series lead, going into game six in Los Angeles. What would happen in that game, appeared to be divine intervention.
The Clippers couldn’t contain Jordan Clarkson to start, as the backup guard torched the team to build a 20 point lead. Shortly after the second half started, Donovan Mitchell drilled a logo three to push the lead to 25. The Clippers could’ve packed it up and rested their main players to gear up for game seven in Utah. But Ty Lue ceased to concede that early.
George had a good game, notching 28 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. But it was the role players that took the Clippers over the top. It started with Mann, who got going in the first half after seeing a couple of threes fall. Additionally, the second-year guard had a putback dunk to give STAPLES Center life early. Mann ran the floor in transition, finishing in the paint for easy scores. But the three-point explosion shortly followed as the small-ball Clippers drew Jazz center Rudy Gobert outside of the paint. Thus, exposing the Jazz guards as numerous drive-bys collapsed the paint and led to open threes.
Mann contributed to seven(!) threes alone, en route to a career-high 39 points. His performance was so unbelievable that he earned elite calls “Oh, what a Man!” and “Terance Mann is unstoppable!” from the hall of fame broadcaster Mike Breen.
Threes continued to fall. First, Mann. Then, Batum. Then, Jackson. It was a pure avalanche of archery from the sharpshooting snipers of LA. Each three carried the weight and momentum of the one before. And Utah could not stop it. As someone who was in the building that night, it felt as if God willed the ball in every time the Clippers needed it. It gave Clipper Nation a warm heart to see the player who did not even see the rotation the season prior, play a pivotal role in leading the team in a historic performance.
The threes kept falling, but Jackson single-handedly broke down the Jazz defense, possession by possession. He finished with threes, floaters, and layups. He eventually finished with 27 points and 10 assists, appropriately earning the nickname “Mr. June”, given his stellar play in the postseason.
But what may be the most fitting finisher to this game, was guard Patrick Beverley hitting two huge threes to seal the deal. Beverley, one of the pillars that changed the Clippers’ culture, left his imprint on the game. Some may argue that he, along with Williams and Harrell, were the main reasons for Kawhi Leonard choosing the Clippers. It was poetic that he finished off the night that sent the franchise to its first-ever conference finals.
Though, it is not an NBA championship or even a Finals appearance. There was something in the air that night that felt special. Call it divine intervention, or call it a hot shooting night. That comeback, that game, will forever live on in the memories of Clipper Nation.
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Main Photo
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