An awakening on defense shook the Clippers out of their third-quarter slumber that saw them go down by 18 points. An offensive outburst by Lou Williams and Blake Griffin in the third catapulted the Clippers into a lead they had to hold onto until the very end.
But when the Clippers 10-point lead in the fourth was cut to a 95-95 on a Buddy Hield three-pointer with 14.8 seconds left, the Clippers still had to answer the call.
Griffin did, knocking down a jumper with 3.2 seconds that helped the Clippers escape with a 97-95 win over the Kings only after Hield missed a wild shot to end the game at Golden 1 Center Saturday night.