Back to the wall and led by 18 points during the third quarter, the Clippers made a superb comeback in Portland to finally snatch the victory. Hero of the day: Norman Powell.
For the stats of this match, we invite you to look here.
Remember last February! While Portland decides to explode a large part of its workforce, Norman Powell is sent to Los Angeles with Robert Covington in a trade that will not go down in history. A hell of a snub for the player, who had decided at the Free Agency 2021 to stay in Portland by extending his 5-year contract. A loyalty that was not enough to save his place alongside Damian Lillard. A few months later, so it’s time for the reunion and Norman Powell did not do things by halves for the occasion. While his team was chasing the score, the Clippers’ sixth man literally caught fire, multiplying brilliant actions and more complicated baskets than each other. Cart ? The size of a swimming pool and an Olympic swimming pool huh, no joke. If we must also mention the phenomenal work of the rest of the group (Jackson, Covington, our French Batum and Diabaté (we will come back to this), it is really Powell who was the key to this victory.
32 points off the bench is already monstrous, 22 in money time, that lays the foundations for the importance of the guy in the final comeback of his team. Ah yes, in just 24 minutes… The boss, quite simply. A performance that will further fuel his record of potential sixth man of the year. If others may have more impressive stats at the moment (Mathurin in particular), the LA bench match proves night following night (14.9 points on average in 25 minutes, 46% in shooting and 38% by far) that he can embody this role of X factor and take the lead in the City of Angels when Kawhi and Paul George are on the sidelines or in an evening without. Asked by Chris Haynes in a post-match interview, Powell obviously had no resentment towards his former franchise. He even managed to place that his house was still for sale on the spot! Given his perf of the day, we have the right to have some doubts as to the fact that he had not circled this date on the agenda.
Norman Powell found his ex and he obviously wanted to make a strong impression. Huge game from the sixth man who got the Clippers out of a great mess in Oregon.