That night, at the Staples Center, the fans were packed.

Although it is approaching the end of the season, the enthusiasm of the fans is still undiminished.

The Clippers players are looking forward to the win, as are the fans in Los Angeles.

The Clippers are still on shaky records right now, and fifth through eighth are all possible.

If they play the Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs, they will have a huge psychological advantage, as well as the divisional semifinals and finals.

Even if they can't play, becoming the only team to double kill the first team in the league is enough for them to blow for a while.

Amid the cheers of the fans, the starters of both sides were introduced one after another.

On the Pelicans' side, as Stevens said before the game, Ariza still started.

On the Clippers' side, Beverley and Redick on the outside, Pierce and Griffin on fronts, and Jordan Jr. at center.

Davis jumped to beat Jordan Jr. to kick off the game.

Jokic responded with a high position, Tang Tian cut into the catch and layup, and Pierce on the weak side directly contracted the clip.

Knowing that Ariza doesn't feel good, the Clippers are very resolute.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Ariza with a beautiful non-looker.

Ariza catches the ball and makes a three-point shot.

"Bang dang!"

Three-pointers smashed out of the frame.

This kind of thing is not something you can definitely get back if you practice.

Rivers nodded in satisfaction from the sidelines.

Stevens is a little stubborn, so let him seize this point and take the Pelicans in one go!

"The Pelicans should make a change."

On the commentary seat, Miller also spoke.

Ariza's hand really doesn't work, and it will hurt the Pelicans' offense a lot.

Brin, who was on the side, didn't speak, but nodded his head.

Stevens said that he wanted to help Ariza find his form, but it was definitely not a way for the whole team to accompany him to find it.

The Clippers' offense, Griffin's high play, and a ground-and-pound pass to Pierce, who cut in.

Pierce flew to the basket, but he was getting older and slower than he was at his peak.

Ariza chased into place and flew to interfere with the shot.

Pierce's layup slid out of the basket, and Jokic protected the defensive rebound.

Although the offensive touch is not good, Ariza's role on the defensive end is obvious.

The Pelicans counterattacked, and the Clippers quickly retreated and didn't give a chance.

Counterattacking and turning positional battles, Tang Tian held the ball and made a new tactical gesture.

Instead of waiting in the bottom corner, Ariza cut into the baseline to pull the Clippers' interior defense.

At the same time, Davis mentioned that he was blocking and dismantling in the high position, and Tang Tian cut into the basket and gave the ball to Davis after the clamp.

Davis hit a mid-range jumper to open the scoring for the Pelicans.

Griffin drove through the basket with the ball and was nailed by Davis.

The Pelicans counterattacked, and Tang Tian jumped out of bounds with Beverley in the front court, and stuffed the ball from behind to Ariza who followed up.

Ariza hit a flying basket to score his first two points of the game.

Stevens wanted Ariza to find his form as soon as possible in the game, and so did Tang Tian.

He and Stevens share the same understanding that Ariza's 3-and-D wing is made for the playoffs.

So after seeing that Ariza didn't feel good, he made some tactical adjustments.

That's what he can do as a privileged player.

Ariza himself is also very competitive, and if he can't shoot, he will work harder to defend and work harder to break fast.

Griffin scored on a gliding layup to score for the Clippers.

Tang Tian's emergency stop and dry pull back to color.

Coming back, Griffin returned for a mid-range jumper from Pierce.

The first shot didn't affect his mentality, and he was in a bit of a good state tonight.

4-6, the Clippers opened the game with the Pelicans in a stalemate.

The Pelicans played a wonderful match in the frontcourt, Jokic faked a left-handed shot and passed to Tang Tian, who was cutting in the air, and Tang Tian saw Griffin help defend and threw the ball in the air.

Davis leaped to his feet and smashed the ball into the basket past Griffin.

There was a lot of restlessness on the sidelines.

In the past, when Paul was there, the Clippers were called the empty city, and now that Paul is gone, is this being picked up by someone?

The fans can't stand it, and neither can Griffin.

After he arrived at the front court and signaled to pull away, he directly held the ball in the low post and chiseled Davis.

Davis is tough, but Griffin is also smart,

He took a fake turn and then turned back, pushed Davis away with a small left hand that the referee couldn't see, and then took to the air.

Paul is the boss of the team when he leaves.

If someone puts it on his head, he will take it back.

The Shiba Inu way of thinking is as simple as that.

And he did.

"Smack!"

But just as he was about to buckle it, he felt a lightness in his hand.

Ariza didn't know when to shrink the basket and seized the opportunity to slap the ball out of his hand!

This time he was caught off guard, and he was unable to get the ball back in the air.

After Ariza controlled the ball, he immediately gave it to Tang Tian, and the Pelicans counterattacked, this time Tang Tian drove straight in, squeezed Beverley to complete the dunk 2+1!

Tang Tian hit the penalty with a boo.

9 to 4.

This round is critical.

Stevens nodded in satisfaction.

In fact, he didn't pay that much attention to how many goals Ariza scored, he focused on defense.

In the first two games, Ariza not only didn't find his sense in attack, but also was a little out of shape in defense.

But now it seems that he has been recovered.

Practicing may not be able to regain the feel, but it will definitely improve the state!

Ali played 8 minutes in this quarter, made 3 shots, 2 three-point line and a fast break, made 1 of 3, and scored only 2 points.

However, he also contributed 2 steals and 1 block, limiting Pierce on the opposite side to not score a single point.

His form also played a positive role in the Pelicans' on-court situation, and the Pelicans led the Clippers 31-22 at the end of the first quarter.

That performance also allowed Stevens to continue to trust him, putting him on the court with Davis at the start of the second quarter.

It's about seizing the opportunity to continue to extend the lead.

Reaves Jr.'s first three-point shot came up and missed, McGee protected the defensive rebound to Dinwiddie, and the Pelicans played a defensive counterattack.

Dinwiddie saw Ariza following up on the counterattack and passed the ball directly with his hand.

Ariza catches up with a three-point shot.

"Huh!"

He missed his first two three-point attempts from the outside, but he took advantage of the third time!

It was also his first three-pointer since his comeback!

The goal made him a little excited, and he waved his hand and roared after the goal.

Reeves Jr. was late to the defense, and his brow furrowed at the sight of Ariza's celebratory move.

Ariza's previous war of words on Twitter had left him depressed.

In the Clippers' frontcourt positional battle, Reaves Jr. took advantage of Johnson's block to break inside.

Ariza was very close to the ball and hugged the ball when Reeves Jr. was about to make a layup.

It was a decisive and wise choice.

Reeves Jr. couldn't get up, and he and Ariza held the ball together.

The referee quickly blew the whistle to signal that it was a scrum.

The referee's whistle had already blown, but Reeves Jr. seemed upset, slamming the ball over and babbling at Ariza.

The referee saw that he was about to blow the warning whistle, and Ariza, who was originally calm, suddenly burst out, pushed Reeves Jr., and punched directly in the next second!