The LA Clippers finally broke their seven-game losing streak on Sunday, beating the New Orleans Pelicans 139–123 at Intuit Dome. The score was emphatic, but the more revealing number was 34: that's how many assists the Clippers produced while finding the attacking rhythm that had deserted them during a miserable opening fortnight. Darius Garland finished with 24 points and 10 assists, and Los Angeles moved to 2–7. Reuters' game report confirms the result and the key numbers.
The Clippers didn't simply ride one hot hand. Brook Lopez scored 20 points, while Gradey Dick and rookie Keaton Wagler supplied 15 apiece. Rui Hachimura added 14. Garland's double-double set the tone for a more connected offence: the ball moved, the supporting cast finished possessions, and the Clippers made 54.8 per cent of their field-goal attempts. Their 42.1 per cent shooting from deep meant New Orleans couldn't afford to pack the paint and wait for the misses.
That collective approach matters because the team's early problems weren't confined to poor shooting. In the club's official pregame comparison, Los Angeles entered averaging 20.1 turnovers a night, a damaging figure for a team already struggling to string together wins. Against the Pelicans, it committed just 11. Fewer wasted trips gave Garland and his teammates more chances to attack an organised defence rather than repeatedly scrambling back after giveaways. The 34–23 assist advantage over New Orleans underlined how differently the two attacks functioned.
It still wasn't a comfortable night throughout. New Orleans stayed within seven at half-time and pushed back in the third quarter, briefly threatening to extend the Clippers' losing run. Kobe Sanders' three-pointer put Los Angeles ahead 94–93 late in that period, and the hosts didn't surrender the lead again. Instead of another fourth-quarter collapse, the Clippers opened the final period with a 15–6 surge and created breathing room. The Associated Press account details that closing burst, a welcome change after Los Angeles had let double-digit fourth-quarter advantages slip in its previous two defeats.
New Orleans had enough individual scoring to make the result uncomfortable. Trey Murphy III scored 26, while Zion Williamson and Jeremiah Fears contributed 25 each. But the Pelicans' 17 turnovers and 23 assists tell a less flattering story about their ability to turn those performances into a coherent team attack. Their defence also couldn't contain the Clippers' variety of options once the home side began moving the ball with purpose.
For Garland, this was a useful example of influence beyond his own points. Ten assists in a 139-point performance meant the Clippers could score through multiple combinations rather than demanding a difficult isolation shot on every important possession. Lopez's 20 points provided another outlet, and the bench production from Dick and Wagler gave Los Angeles enough depth to keep pressure on New Orleans across the game.
The Clippers' next assignment is at Phoenix on Tuesday, where the same priorities will travel with them: protect the ball, share the creation load and avoid surrendering control late. One victory doesn't erase a 2–7 start, but this one supplied something more useful than relief. It showed a practical route out of the slump, built on possession discipline and passing rather than waiting for a single scorer to rescue the night.
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