INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Los Angeles Clippers came out like a distracted team on the second night of a back-to-back. The Philadelphia 76ers came out red hot behind All-Star Tyrese Maxey, knocking down 3-pointers like they were shooting in an empty gym.
The result was the 76ers racing out to a 13-2 lead less than four minutes in — and their lead was never in single digits the rest of the night.
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Philadelphia’s lead ballooned up to 23 points, and while the Clippers made some runs, Maxey and Joel Embiid always had an answer. The result was a comfortable 128-113 win by the 76ers to start their West Coast Road trip. Maxey led the way with 29 points.
During the game, news broke that James Harden was pushing for a trade out of Los Angeles, and the Clippers were in talks with the Cavaliers about a possible deal to bring All-Star guard Darius Garland to LA. Harden was not in the building for this game, missing his second consecutive game for what the team listed as “personal reasons.”
When asked if the rumors might have been a distraction to his players, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said he didn’t know. To a man, the Clippers players said they knew nothing about it until after the game.
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“It’s a surprise…” Kawhi Leonard said. “Respect his decision, or whoever’s decision it is. That’s still gonna be my boy. Trust the front office.”
The Clippers looked like a distracted team to start the game, not to mention one on a back-to-back (they played in Phoenix the night before) and one without its starting point guard. Philadelphia came out hot and raced out to a 16-2 lead, and everything snowballed from there.
By the end of the first quarter, Philly had doubled up the Clippers 38-19 behind 16 from All-Star starter Tyrese Maxey.
Maxey didn’t score in the second quarter and Leonard scored 13 in the frame, but the Clippers could not get stops or close the gap, and the 76ers still led by 19 at the half, 72-53.
The 76ers’ tradition of struggling in the third quarter continued, and the Clippers found their sea legs, closing the gap to 11 points for a moment. Still, the game never felt in doubt — every time the Clippers got close, the 76ers answered. Sometimes emphatically.
Two-way player Dominick Barlow had a career-high 26 points for the 76ers — 11 in the first quarter — along with 16 rebounds, and helped set the tone. Joel Embiid scored 24 points with five rebounds.
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“It was good, everyone contributed, Dominick Barlow was great, Tyrese [Maxey] was great,” Embiid said postgame. “The rest, everybody did their job, that was good to see.”
Leonard led the Clippers with 29, while Jordan Miller scored 21 off the bench for LA.
Leonard and the Clippers face the Cavaliers on Wednesday, in a game that suddenly became a lot more interesting.
