Rest is always a regular topic of conversation for comfortable playoff teams at this point in the season. It has surrounded recent discussion of the history-seeking Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, with the former committed to putting their names in the record books and the latter focused on little more than putting themselves in the best position to win a championship. But teams that do not have much at stake can rest without looking into wracking their brains for the best answer. Why wouldn’t a team with a solid sense of its seeding rest veterans and key players in meaningless games?
The Los Angeles Clippers followed that path Thursday night for their visit to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team 4 1/2 games ahead of them for third place in the Western Conference. Unlikely to close that gap with only eight games left on the schedule, head coach Doc Rivers opted to rest Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, and J.J. Redick alongside the unavailable Blake Griffin, who would serve the final game of his four-game suspension. That appeared to be very good news for the Thunder, who ended an eight-game winning streak on Tuesday (while resting Kevin Durant, because they also have little to play for) and would hope to continue to end the regular season playing well.
Perhaps OKC eased up a bit, because the Clippers scored 97 points in the first three quarters behind terrific offensive showings from fill-in starters Jamal Crawford (10-of-20 FG, 5-of-8 3FG) and Austin Rivers (12-of-19 FG, 7-of-9 3FG), who both scored 32 points on the night. L.A. shot an absurd 55.3 percent from the field and 15-of-29 from beyond the arc on the night to dice up the hosts.
The Thunder righted the ship a bit in the fourth quarter to hold the shorthanded Clippers to just 20 points and not surprisingly gained control over the game. Russell Westbrook made two key baskets in the final minutes to tie, setting up two big possessions down the stretch with the score at 117-117. The first came after a Wesley Johnson turnover at the other end. Westbrook tried to create a look and missed, but Steven Adams was there to clean up the mess:
The Clippers struggled to create their own clean look in the fourth quarter, perhaps finally missing the possession-by-possession genius of Paul. Rivers missed his shot, and Westbrook was there to rise high for the game-clinching rebound:
The 119-117 win improves the Thunder to 53-23 and effectively ends any chance that the Clippers will catch them for the No. 3 seed. Yet it’s hard to call this an especially exciting win for OKC, because the defense struggled mightily to contain players who are typically asked to provide a spark off the bench. The offense was fine — the Thunder shot 51.7 percent from the field and 57 points combined from Westbrook and Kevin Durant — but the defense will need a lot of work to take this team deep into the postseason. It was a reminder that the recent winning streak was more a product of offensive excellence than defensive stinginess.
The Clippers likely won’t rue the loss considering few would have expected them to keep the lead as long as they did. For that matter, the team’s focus should now fall squarely on the task of re-integrating Griffin, who will make his long-awaited return to the lineup after a 45-game absence (41 for injury) on Sunday against the Washington Wizards. Rivers will be happy that his reserves put in some confidence-raising performances on Thursday, but Griffin means so much more to what this team can achieve this spring.