What we learned from the LA Clippers’ win over Washington

The LA Clippers defeated the Washington Wizards 135-119 Sunday afternoon, bouncing back from a nasty loss to the Milwaukee Bucks and getting back on track.

After a poor showing on offense Friday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, the LA Clippers looked energized in Sunday’s 135-119 victory over the Washington Wizards.

Granted, the Wizards aren’t the team the Bucks are. But Washington does boast one of the league’s top offenses, and they kept things interesting until the fourth quarter of this game.

LA jumped on Washington early, building a double-digit lead less than four minutes into the contest. By that point, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard had already scored 13 of the Clippers’ 17 points — almost half of what they combined to score against Milwaukee.

The Clippers finished the first quarter up 35-25, but their lead wasn’t safe for long.

Washington began the second quarter on a 20-9 run, and with a little more than seven minutes to play until halftime, the Wizards took their first lead of the game.

Davis Bertans was a big reason for Washington’s success on offense. The 27-year-old forward had already accumulated 14 points by the end of the first half, connecting on three of his six attempts from three-point range.

With two quarters down, the Clippers led by just one — and the Wizards had momentum.

Fortunately, LA killed Washington’s shot at a comeback in the second half. The Clippers scored 70 of their 135 points in the third and fourth quarters while allowing just 55 from the Wizards over the same time.

With the win, the Clippers moved to 17-7 overall and 4-6 on the road. They’ve gone 1-1 on their current six-game road trip, which includes matchups later this week against the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Minnesota Timberwolves. LA can bring its road record back up to .500 by winning three of the final four, but that’s going to be a challenge.

For more in-depth takeaways from LA’s win over Washington, continue to the following slides.