INGLEWOOD — Anyone wondering how newly acquired Bennedict Mathurin would fit into the Clippers’ offense, all they had to do was check the box score of Thursday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
In his fourth game in a Clippers uniform and his first at the Intuit Dome, Mathurin tied his career high with 38 points and played solid defense, then knocked down two free throws with 9.1 seconds left that seemingly iced their first victory in three tries against the Nuggets this season.
But in the waning moments, Derrick Jones Jr. fouled Nuggets All-Star guard Jamal Murray on a last-ditch 3-point attempt, sending him to the line with 0.9 seconds left. He made the first two free throws before the third rattled out to give the Clippers a 115-114 victory that moves them within one win of a .500 record.
Mathurin, who came to the Clippers (27-28) along with Isaiah Jackson in the trade that sent Ivica Zubac to Indiana, posted his 11th career 30-point game on 12-of-22 shooting from the field and a 12-of-13 effort from the free-throw line.
He also had five rebounds, four assists, two steals and one technical foul as the Clippers improved to 21-7 since Dec. 20.
Clippers rookie center Yanic Konan Niederhauser got tangled up with Jonas Valanciunas while both were going after a rebound early in the fourth quarter. Niederhauser then pushed Valanciunas and as things got more heated, Mathurin and Kris Dunn dashed over to help.
Dunn, Mathurin and Valanciunas all received technical fouls, with Denver making one technical free throw to tie the score at 83-all with 10:27 left.
The Clippers didn’t back down then or down the stretch. Trailing 96-91, Mathurin scored on a driving dunk followed by a cutting dunk by Brook Lopez with 5:01 left to play. After Denver’s Murray made one of two free throws, Jones connected on two foul shots to get the Clippers within 98-97.
With Mathurin playing with four fouls, Jones came up big, driving in for a layup to pull the Clippers back to within one, then he gave them a 101-100 lead on another layup with 3:12 remaining, getting fouled on the play. He missed the ensuing free throw, and the Nuggets (35-21) came back with two free throws.
Jones hit a 3-pointer for a 104-102 lead and Mathurin added another 3-pointer to give the Clippers a five-point lead before Nikola Jokic cut the lead to 107-105 on a floater with 1:23 left. The Serbian big man then tied the score on a 6-footer, but Mathurin got to the foul line and made two more with 35 seconds remaining for a 109-107 lead.
Jones added two free throws to give the Clippers a four-point cushion with 25 seconds left, but they couldn’t rest yet. Murray’s dunk cut the lead to two before Lopez caught a long pass from Mathurin for a booming dunk with 13 seconds left.
Murray again found an opening and buried a 3-pointer to keep the Nuggets in the game.
Jones finished with a season-high 22 points and Kawhi Leonard had 23 points (his 34th consecutive game of 20 or more) to go with four rebounds and three assists.
Before the game, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue suggested throwing all three centers, including Niederhauser, at Nikola Jokic, hoping to slow the three-time NBA MVP. The Clippers wanted to avoid a repeat of the last time the 6-foot-11 Nuggets center visited the Intuit Dome, when he scored 55 points.
“We knew we could score at a high clip, but you don’t want to give him scoring and passing,” Lue said. “It makes it hard for you all night long.”
As it turned out, the Clippers didn’t have to worry too much about Jokic, who struggled to find his shot early but still finished 22 points and 17 rebounds on his 31st birthday. He also had six turnovers, which have been a problem recently. He had 16 in his last two games before the All-Star break.
Nuggets coach David Adleman said Jokic was still trying to find his rhythm after missing 16 games because of a knee injury and said last week he wasn’t “looking like the MVP.”
Lue should have been more focused on shutting down wing Bruce Brown, and forwards Julian Strawther and Cameron Johnson, who combined for 55 points.
Brown finished with 19 points, five rebounds and six assists, while Johnson and Strawther both had 18 points.
Behind Mathurin, the Clippers overcame a slow start that led to a nine-point deficit in the first half to take a brief lead (35-34) on a three-point play by Leonard at the 7:22 mark of the second quarter.
But the Clippers couldn’t hold on as the Nuggets went on a 12-6 run to grab a 49-41 lead and led 52-45 at the intermission.
_More to come on this story._