LOS ANGELES — It was an inauspicious start to a foreboding week. The Clippers trailed by as many as 11 to the Chicago Bulls less than four minutes into Saturday’s matinee game.
It was not the kind of start the Clippers envisioned against a middle-of-the-road team. It was not the start they could afford with the Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves waiting to visit Crypto.com Arena over the next three days.
But that was the scenario the Clippers found themselves in before pulling out a 112-102 victory behind a balanced scoring attack.
Paul George, who with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden was listed as questionable leading into the game, finished with a team-high 22 points. Leonard had 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots, and Harden posted his second triple-double of the season with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
The victory turned out to be a tough task against a team fighting for a playoff spot – and it’s about to get tougher.
The Clippers (41-21) are in the middle of early back-to-back games and a stretch of five games in seven nights that ends next week in New Orleans. Among those opponents are the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves and Bucks, who are second in the Eastern Conference. There are no games the Clippers can afford to lose.
“The players and coaches are putting on our hard hats and picking up our lunch pails,” associate head coach Daniel Craig, who handled pregame duties for an ailing Tyronn Lue.
Lue, wearing a black mask, was on the bench for the game.
“In general, we have 17 games just this month alone, so we know it’s going to be a tough stretch of games and everyone is doing their due diligence to make sure we are ready and prepared,” Craig said.
At times, it was difficult to determine whether the Clippers were ready for the Bulls (31-33).
They turned the ball over 10 times in the first half that the Bulls turned into nine points. They struggled to find the basket and gave…
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