LA Clippers choke away 24 point lead in loss to Wizards

WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 20: aLou Williams #23 of the LA Clippers shoots the ball against the Washington Wizards on November 20, 2018 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images)

After having a 24 point lead in the first half, the LA Clippers laid an egg in the second half and lost to the Washington Wizards.

Just when everything looked right, everything went wrong. Despite having a 24 point lead in the first half, the LA Clippers lost to the Washington Wizards 118-125 on Tuesday night.

A Tale of Two Halves

The Clippers and Wizards both looked like completely different teams in each half. The Clippers came out shooting early, connecting on 65.2% of their shots in the first quarter in route to scoring 40 points to the Wizards 21.

The team looked surprisingly fresh, especially considering they were on the second night of a road back-to-back. Tobias Harris was a huge part of this first quarter run, scoring 18 of his 29 points.

In the second quarter, both teams scored 33 points, keeping the lead safe heading into the half.

However, once the second half started, all hell broke loose for the Clippers.

In the second half, LA had 12 turnovers compared to only 5 in the first. Their shooting percentage also dropped off from 58.3% in the first to 43.9% (including only 20% from deep) in the second.

Fans who had booed Washington in the first half quickly got back into the game and it seemed like the Clippers just couldn’t rally enough to close out the game. It all culminated in Lou Williams losing his cool during a late timeout and being ejected.

Lou’s reasoning?

"”I felt like we were playing through a lot of contact and I didn’t think that Washington was playing through a lot of contact, and I wanted a real answer why that was”"

The Clippers did commit 28 fouls to the Wizards 20, but the issue was shooting fouls. In total, the Clippers only shot 18 free throws to the Wizards 39.