One painful play symbolizes Clippers' entire miserable season

Late in a hard-fought game against the Houston Rockets, a missed free throw gave the Los Angeles Clippers a chance to tie the game with 8.7 seconds to go. Unfortunately, no one was interested in taking the inbounds pass.

Nic Batum was forced to take a five-second violation as the Clippers, out of timeouts and trailing by three, simply ignored a fundamental part of basketball: Passing the ball in. They turned the ball over, and even with the Rockets missing two free throws and turning the ball over in the final 17 seconds, the Clippers fell, 115-113.

The Clippers are lacking in hustle stats

In their disastrous 2025-26 season, the Clippers have struggled with effort plays. According to the NBA's own "hustle stats," the Clippers recover the fewest loose balls on offense in the NBA. They force the fifth-fewest turnovers. In 25 games, the Clippers have drawn only one single charge, by Kobe Sanders.

Thursday night, Harden scored 22 points and made four three-pointers, including a game-tying shot with 37 seconds left. On the ensuing Rockets possession, Reed Sheppard missed, but the Clippers proceeded to give up four straight offensive rebounds before Amen Thompson finally converted an and-one. While the Rockets are the NBA's best offensive rebounding team, it was a bad look to see a number of Clippers simply standing in the paint as Alperen Sengun played volleyball with Thompson and the rim.