Lou Williams
Lou Williams is a contender for Sixth Man of the Year award. In this picture, Williams #23 of the Los Angeles Clippers looks on during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, March 4, 2019. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Clippers are not going down without a fight despite many writing off their chances of progressing in the NBA Playoffs after being drawn against title favorites Golden State Warriors in the first round. But Doc Rivers’ team has taken the series to the sixth game after beating Steve Kerr’s team 129-121 at the Oracle Arena on Wednesday night.

Clippers sixth man Lou Williams was the destroyer in chief as Rivers’ team recorded its second victory at the Oracle Arena to make it 3-2 in the seven-game series. The shooting guard led the way with 33 points and 10 assists and was ably backed by Danilo Gallinari and Montrezl Harrell, who scored 26 and 24 points respectively.

Rivers reserved special praise for Williams after the game and even compared his shooting ability to Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant – who are arguably among two of the best in the NBA at the moment. He also praised the sixth man’s ability to close out a game after he scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to turn a 1-point deficit into a seven point lead.

“He is a great scorer just like [Stephen] Curry, just like [Kevin] Durant. In the games in LA they were trapping him a lot and so we took the pick away a lot tonight and isolated him with space and that allowed him to do his work,” Rivers said after the win, via NBA TV.

"When Lou gets his rhythm, he is tough to guard. His mentality in the fourth, he believes he is a closer, he is a closer. And he did that for us tonight,” he added.

The Los Angeles franchise had five players in double digits for the night and will now look to protect their home court when they welcome the Warriors to the Staples Center for Game 6 on Friday night.

Coach Kerr’s team, on the other hand, had just three players in double digits and it included playoff career-high 45-points for Durant. The other two in the double digits were Curry with 24 and Klay Thompson with 22 points.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Stephen A Smith was so impressed with Williams’ display against Warriors that he is certain there is no other candidate in the running for the Sixth Man of the Year award. The shooting guard averaged 20 points and 5.4 assists in just 26.6 minutes coming off the bench during the regular season.

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