Clippers are latest victims of Rockets’ newly tough defense

Holding a microphone at halfcourt before Wednesday night’s game at Staples Center, Clippers guard Patrick Beverley thanked fans for their support during the team’s upstart season.

“It’s been a hell of a run,� Beverley said, “and we’re just getting started.�

Over the course of the 21/2 hours that followed, however, the Clippers couldn’t get anything going against a potential playoff opponent.

With Houston’s defensive switches leading to unforced Clippers turnovers and Rockets guard James Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, effective as ever despite playing with two early fouls, the Clippers quickly trailed by double digits and never recovered in a 135-103 defeat.

It marked the Clippers’ largest margin of defeat at home this season, and only the third time the franchise has lost by 32 points or more at home since 1995.

“Do we have any questions today after that?� coach Doc Rivers said to open his postgame news conference. “I mean, really. They just kicked our butts all around the floor.�

Harden scored 31 points, Chris Paul had 29 and Clint Capela added 24 points and 15 rebounds in the rout, which came one week before the regular-season finale. Instead of the promising postseason tuneup the Clippers hoped for, Wednesday night quickly devolved into a beatdown.

Clippers rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a team-high 20, but the Rockets scored 33 points off 18 Clippers turnovers.

“It’s tough, but if we face them in the playoff, it’s definitely going to be different,� said forward Danilo Gallinari, who scored 16 points.

The Clippers had won both previous matchups but both were played within the season’s first five games, and the Rockets were without Harden or Chris Paul in each October matchup. In the five months since, the Rockets have transformed from an oft-injured defensive sieve to a team that, at full strength, has been a problem for nearly everyone in the Western Conference.

Harden’s scoring barrage hasn’t been the only reason Houston entered Wednesday with the West’s third-best record. Houston owns the second-best defense in the NBA over its last 15 games.

The Clippers, of course, had turned over nearly half their roster at February’s trade deadline and gotten only better because of it.

Wednesday, then, was the best look yet at how a playoff series between these teams might unfold, even with the caveat that Beverley, the Clippers’ defensive linchpin, did not play on account of rest.

It did not go well for the Clippers (47-32).

“Just from the start,� said Clippers guard Garrett Temple, who started in place of Beverley, “I didn’t think we played with enough fight.�

Harden was called for his second foul with three minutes remaining in the first quarter after charging into Montrezl Harrell in the paint, but the MVP candidate’s absence did not provide breathing room for Los Angeles. In Harden’s nearly seven minutes off the floor, Houston (51-28) extended its lead from six to 14.

“It’s rare I would say this about this team,� Rivers said. “I thought [the Rockets] were more physical of every aspect of the game on both ends of the floor. Maybe I’ve said that a couple times this year. Tonight it wasn’t even close.�

Though the Clippers were smothered offensively, Capela found little resistance while catching six alley-oops, five of which were delivered by Harden. The star’s scoring ability forced the Clippers into a “completely different game plan� defensively, Temple said, which led to opportunities for his teammates en route to 53% shooting by Houston.

“We finally got a rhythm going,� Harden said.

As the Clippers, the NBA’s second-best three-point-shooting team, struggled en route to eight-of-23 shooting from deep, Paul ended the third quarter by making a 61-foot buzzer-beater to lead by 29. It was one of 18 three-pointers Houston made, giving them 1,256 on the season to tie their NBA record, set last season.

“I know we’re a much better team than we played tonight,� Rivers said. “We still got to prove it. I thought they were locked in, they were ready for the game tonight and for whatever reason I didn’t think we had that type of urgency.�

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