The Los Angeles Clippers bench does damage in their win against the Houston Rockets.
Montrezl Harrell had a career night in the Los Angeles Clippers 133-111 win over the Houston Rockets.
Harrell’s career high 30 points contributed to the Clippers’ bench taking over the game as they scored 85 points in the game. Harrell finished with 30 points, six rebounds, two steals, and two blocks.
Harrell’s two-pointer in the paint opened the fourth quarter as they were up 98-83. Harrell had his print on the game as he was being aggressive and ready on the offensive end, while also being active on the defensive end of the floor.
The former Houston Rocket was one of six Clippers’ players to score in double digits. His hook shot early in the fourth quarter extended their lead to 26.
Harrell was not alone in having a productive night. Lou Williams, another former Rocket, finished the game with 23 points off the bench. Williams made a driving lay-up to give the Clippers a 118-91 lead with 5:56 left in the game.
The Clippers were able to lock into their defense and blow the game open in the second half. Los Angeles ended the third quarter on a 15-5 run with Harrell’s running lay-up finishing the quarter as they led 96-83.
Los Angeles also got contributions from their rookies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson. Gilgeous-Alexander’s play helped keep the Clippers ahead in the early fourth quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander scored seven straight points in the opening minutes of the fourth.
Gilgeous Alexander’s steal on the defensive end led him to make an easy two-point shot to give the Clippers a 107-83 lead. He finished with 10 points, one rebound, one assist, and two steals in this contest.
Robinson played his first NBA minutes in this matchup. His first shot of the game came late in the fourth quarter as he made a three-pointer to extend the Clippers’ lead to 26, 129-103 with 3:24 left in the contest. He had just three points in his season debut.
Avery Bradley was a force on the defensive end of the floor and backed it up with 14 points, three rebounds, and one steal. Bradley scored five straight points halfway through the third quarter to extend the Clippers’ lead to nine as they lead 81-72.
The scoring tandem of Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari had a combined 31 points. Harris finished the game with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Gallinari had 16 points and five rebounds in the game.
Milos Teodosic also provided a spark for Los Angeles in under 18 minutes of play as he scored eight points and had seven rebounds along with five assists. Teodosic made a three-pointer for the Clippers to extend their lead to 114-87.
The Clippers got to the charity stripe 38 times and finished with a 92.1 percentage from the free throw line. Los Angeles was better from the three-point line than Houston as they finished with 52.2 percent in contrast to the Rocket’s 36.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The Rockets were without James Harden as he is out with a hamstring injury. Carmelo Anthony scored a season-high 25 points in this contest as he started in place of James Ennis.
Off the bench, Gerald Green scored 19 points and had five rebounds and one assist. Green went on a tear in the fourth quarter with 11 points to try to cut the deficit down.
Chris Paul was also back from serving his suspension as he finished the game with 12 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.
This loss for the Rockets drops them to 1-4 as the Clippers now move to 3-2 on the season. The season series is now in Los Angeles’ favor as they are 2-0 in their matchups with Houston.
Los Angeles will take on the Washington Wizards at Staples Center on Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. PT.
