The Brooklyn Nets have defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in the Orlando bubble, clinching the seventh position in the Eastern Conference. The finals result of the game was 129-120 for Jacque Vaughn’s side.
Nets opened the match furiously, dropping 45 points in the first 12 minutes, while on the other side, the Clippers managed to score just 24. The team from the East Coast missed only three of their 21 shots from the field in the opening period, making it their best sequence since the start of the campaign.
Joe Harris, who scored 25 points, delivered 16 during that stretch without a single miss, shooting 6-for-6 and adding four threes.
Everything was looking perfect for the Nets, but the LAC responded with a god second quarter, before completely freezing the rivals. After 74-63 at the halftime, Leonard and the boys made an 11-0 run, which would level the score, and from that moment on the game was pretty tight in the third period.
Eventually, after a solid start of the final 12 minutes, the Nets managed to pull away and maintain a gap between them and one of the biggest contenders for the title. This was their fourth win in the Orlando bubble, along with two defeats.
Caris LeVert had 27 points, shooting 10-for-17 and adding 13 assists. Harris ended the game with 25, while Tyler Johnson scored 21 off the bench, 5-for-9 for three.
Garrett Temple had four threes, for 19 points and also grabbed 6 boards, while Jarrett Allen posted a double-double with 16 points and rebounds each.
The Nets were superb from downtown, with 20 hits in 43 attempts. They also outrebounded the Clippers, 46-39, and had more assists 32-23.
[embed]https://twitter.com/BrooklynNets/status/1292664808769310721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]Meanwhile, Kawhi led the way for the tired LAC who had an exhausting game against the Portland Trail Blazers the night before. The Claw scored 39 points, with 6 assists and four steals, adding four threes and 14 hits from the field in 25 tires.
Lou Williams scored 18 from the bench, and Marcus Morris Sr. added 15. Terance Mann had 14, while Ivica Zubac delivered 8 with 15 boards. Paul George didn’t play this one.
The Clippers have one game of an advantage over the third-places Denver Nuggets. It appears that their opponents in the first round are going to be Dallas Mavericks.
One the other side, the Nets clinched place No.7 in the East, and they are playing against the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs.