OCEANSIDE, Calif. – After returning from a short road trip, the San Diego Clippers (5-5) took on the Santa Cruz Warriors (7-3) at Frontwave Arena, and lost 92-87.
Specifically tonight, the Clippers were short handed, with typical roster players such as Cam Christie, Trentyn Flowers, and typical two-way guys Kobe Brown, Kai Jones, and Jordan Miller all active with the Los Angeles Clippers in their matchup against the Boston Celtics.
The Clippers only had nine players active for the matchup. “We knew going into the matchup they wouldn’t be here, we had a few full practices without them, we just didn’t get our flow offensively,” said Braxton Key postgame. Jalen Adaway noted, “We got a lot of pieces here, I think everybody saw that too, it just ultimately comes down to execution at the end of the day.”
Santa Cruz got off to a 13-6 lead with 6 minutes left in the first quarter. Neither team was shooting well.
At the end of a very mundane first quarter, San Diego was down 24-15.
After a Warriors bucket, Jordan Lathon responded for the Clips’ with a 3 pointer to start the second frame. Those were his only points of the first 24 minutes.
Jackson Rowe was absolutely torching San Diego though, keeping a double-digit lead for the Warriors. He had 19 points through 5 minutes in the second quarter, where San Diego was still down 26-36.
San Diego went on a 19-10 run to end the half, cutting Santa Cruz’s lead to just one, the score being 46-45.
A frankly disappointing first half from Lathon and Key, who were expected to be the primary scorers, yet in the first two quarters combined for just 9 points on 4-20 shooting.
It was the Clippers’ defense that kept them in the game, as while they only shot under 32% from the field, they held Santa Cruz to under 39% as well.
A momentum shift clearly happened while in the locker room because Lathon and Key had 6 of the first 8 points to start the third, the game tied at 53.
San Diego went on a 10-4 run to take the lead, 63-57. The key to their success through two-and-a-half quarters was their rebounding, specifically offensive. They had 16 offensive rebounds to Santa Cruz’s 7.
At the end of three, the Clippers led 69-68.
With the game that close, it really came down to the fourth quarter. Adaway hit a corner 3 pointer on the first possession. He had been playing well this game, a much needed scoring output.
After a monster dunk, then a clean layup by Key on near-sequential possessions, the Warriors had to call timeout to talk things over. San Diego was up 78-73.
KEY TO THE RACK! 🔑 pic.twitter.com/bGMIrjC1qT
— SD Clippers (@sandiego_clips) January 23, 2025
A technical foul was assessed to Lathon after a foul call on Kevin Knox II, who hit both the technical and regular free-throw. Game tied again at 82.
This gave the Warriors momentum to go on a 7-0 run with under 4 minutes left. Key stopped the bleeding with a floater, but Santa Cruz still up 89-84.
A late in the shot clock 3 pointer by Kevion Nolan cut the deficit to two; Santa Cruz still led 89-87 with 26 seconds to play.
Key missed a baseline layup, and had to foul Knox who missed the first free throw, but made the second. San Diego down 90-87, with just under 18 seconds left.
Unfortunately, on the inbounds pass, Nolan caught the ball while his foot was out of bounds, which resulted in a turnover.
The Clippers lost in heartbreaking fashion, 92-87.
“They gave us a lot of chances to win the game. It just came down to our execution. We got the shots we wanted, we just need to execute a little bit better down the stretch,” said Key.
Key finished with his sixth double-double of the season, 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Adaway had a season-high 18 points for the Clippers. “Putting in time; practice, all the extra hours. It’s a combination of doing all that and just staying focused,” he said.
Knox, a former NBA lottery pick, and Rowe, combined for 50 points for the Warriors. Key said,” It’s always good playing against (Knox), super talented, he puts the ball on the floor and hits tough shots.
Up next on the schedule for San Diego is on the road against the Austin Spurs in a back-to-back on January 24 and 25. Tip-off for the first game will be at 5 p.m. pacific and will be played at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
Adaway said, “We know what we need to do (as a team). I’m confident we can go on this road trip and pull-out hopefully three wins – at least two. I believe in us and I know all the other guys here believe in us too.”