The Los Angeles Clippers erased a 25-point deficit to take down the Utah Jazz 121-115 on Tuesday night at Staples Center. Los Angeles finished the game on a 34-12 run.
And leading the comeback charge for the Clippers was Paul George, who returned to action after not playing since Dec. 22 due to a torn UCL in his right elbow.
George scored 34 points (10-of-20 from the field, 8-of-11 from the line), dished out six assists, and swiped five steals in the victory. He scored 20 points in the third quarter, and he made several key plays as a scorer, passer, and defender in the game’s final minutes.
Paul George is officially back!
pic.twitter.com/6LHFaIEbWL — The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 30, 2022
The Clippers also caught a break when Donovan Mitchell had a Chris Webber-esque moment with 10 seconds remaining and Los Angeles leading 119-115. Mitchell tried to call a timeout on an inbounds play, but the Jazz were out of timeouts. That resulted in a technical foul.
Donovan Mitchell with a Chris Webber moment. pic.twitter.com/EZmplWXUkl
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) March 30, 2022
Utah has now lost five straight games and currently would be the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, but the 6-seed Denver Nuggets have the same record (45-31).
The Clippers are almost certainly locked into the West’s 8-seeding, which means a trip to the Play-In Tournament. However, with the return of George, Los Angeles is a very dangerous team that’s much better than their 37-39 record suggests, as Tuesday night showed.
Here’s a sampling of how the hoops world reacted to George’s return and the Clippers’ wild victory:
the jazz look like the post-game six collapse clippers team that eventually had to get blown up
— jason concepcion (@netw3rk) March 30, 2022