Paul George and Kawhi Leonard went out of their way to go head-to-head with the Big Three of the Brooklyn Nets.
But during the Nets ’124-120 victory over the LA Clippers visitors in a game that lived up to the hype before the game, the Clippers star duo couldn’t keep up with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, especially on the foul line. The Brooklyn star trio combined to go 16-on-16 from the line.
Leonard was 8-on-9 on the strip, but George went to the line only once in 36 minutes.
“I mean, I think it was a disrespect to have a free kick attempt today,” said George, who had 26 points and six assists. “I’m going to leave it that way.”
The Clippers went on the line just 17 times compared to the Nets ’26 trips.
George’s only free-kick attempt came when he drove and scored against former teammate Landry Shamet under the basket with 6 minutes left, 58 seconds left to finish. George had to start contact almost before leaving the smaller Shamet to receive the whistle. His three-point play gave the Clippers a 102-97 lead with 6:58 left.
But in a game with five perennial All-Stars on the ground, George felt he was receiving no respect from the official crew.
“The amount of plays I started or created contacts,” George argued. “And to be sent to the line [one] time … “
The Nets bounced back from their 149-146 loss to the Washington Wizards to overtake a Clippers team that had won 10 of their previous 11 games. Irving led all scorers with 39 points, Durant had 28 points and nine rebounds and Harden scored a 23-point triple, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.
“Like I said the other night, I realized I couldn’t guard anyone,” Irving said of the loss to the Wizards, who scored 41 points from Russell Westbrook and 37 from Bradley Beal.
Leonard added 33 points with 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
Although George was unable to reach the line, he and the Clippers discovered in a span of 2½ minutes the explosive that is the super trio of the Nets.
Durant hit a 7-footer. Irving scored eight points in a row. Harden drilled a 3-step back to complete a 13-0 blitz.
When asked what the Clippers learned by defending the Big Three from the nets that can help them in the long run, Nic Batum responded immediately.
“One thing’s for sure: we’re missing Pat Bev tonight,” Batum said of injured Patrick Beverley, who is injured in the knee. “I think we forget a lot about this guy. It would be huge for us tonight, so Pat Bev, come back, please.”