LA Clippers @ Detroit Pistons
Friday, February 2, 2024 at 7:00 PM ET
Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI | Game ID: 22300688
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
DET 33 26 31 35 125LAC 27 38 36 35 136
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Westbrook reaches 25,000 career points and Leonard scores 33 to lead Clippers past Pistons 136-125
DETROIT -- — Russell Westbrook scored 23 points to become the 25th player in NBA history with 25,000 points, Kawhi Leonard had 21 of his 33 points in the first half and the Los Angeles Clippers put on an offensive show in a 136-125 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.
Westbrook, who also had nine assists, joined teammate James Harden on the list of players to score 25,000 points after Harden accomplished the feat in December. Westbrook reached the mark on his final basket, a running layup with 2:44 left.
“I’m so grateful to be on this team,” said Westbrook, who immediately fouled Cade Cunningham after his basket and celebrated with his teammates at the bench. “I don’t take any of this for granted.”
Los Angeles got off to a slow start while trailing by as many as 14 points in the first quarter, but scored 109 points in the final three periods. They shot 59.6% from the floor and 48.3% on 3-pointers.
“We had a bunch of defensive mistakes at the start of the game," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. "We weren’t guarding their shooters the way we planned, but we started paying attention to detail after the first timeout. Monty (Williams) has the Pistons playing pretty good basketball, but it is tough to close games with such a young team.”
Paul George added 18 points for the Clippers, who have won seven of eight.
George played 27:20 after missing the previous game with groin soreness.
“He looked good,” Lue said. “We were going to play him more minutes, but we didn’t need him.”
Jalen Ivey had 28 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 26 for Detroit, which is 4-41 after a 2-1 start. Marcus Sasser added 21 points.
“You can’t have turnovers and some of the undisciplined errors we had against a team like that,” said Williams, whose team allowed 25 points on 17 rebounds. “It’s something that has hurt us all season long. When we take care of (the ball), we have a better chance of success.”
The Clippers led 65-59 at the half and their scoring pace didn’t let up in the third. Leonard reached 30 points with five minutes left in the quarter when he put Los Angeles ahead 89-80.
Detroit answered with an 8-0 run before Westbrook hit a 3-pointer. Norman Powell’s last-second 3-pointer gave the Clippers a 101-90 lead going into the fourth.
Powell started the fourth with another 3, and Los Angeles led 108-90 after the first minute of the fourth. Detroit got within 116-109, but the Clippers scored nine points in 74 seconds to ice the game.
Westbrook and Ivey had a brief conversation at the end of the game.
“I actually got to work out with Russ before the start of my rookie year,” Ivey said. “He gave me a lot of advice. He’s just a great, humble dude. He took me under his wing a little bit.”
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
LACAC A. Coffey
BB B. Boston
DT D. Theis
JH J. Harden
KB K. Brown
KL K. Leonard
MP M. Plumlee
NP N. Powell
PG P. George
RW R. Westbrook
TM T. Mann
DETAB A. Burks
AT A. Thompson
BB B. Bogdanović
BO Bogdanovic
CC C. Cunningham
DG D. Gallinari
JD J. Duren
JI J. Ivey
JW J. Wiseman
KK K. Knox II
MM M. Morris
MS M. Sasser
LAC/DET the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur