Despite trailing by a seemingly insurmountable 35 points, Amir Coffey continued to pour it on. And then Luke Kennard poured it on. And before they knew it, Tyronn Lue‘s Los Angeles Clippers were just one 3-pointer away from tying the game against Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards.

With eight seconds remaining, the Clippers ran a designed play for Kennard coming off a curl from the wing to the top of the key. Justise Winslow handed the ball off to his sharpshooter, who took a few dribbles to get himself a more open look before firing.

The shot by Kennard rolled in, plus the foul by a reaching Beal, for a potential 4-point play.

Luke Kennard's fifth triple of the game was the biggest, tying the game at 115 apiece. The ensuing free throw gave the Clippers a one point lead with just 1.9 seconds remaining, their first lead of the game.

The Clippers would hold on to the meager lead and win, 116-115. Amir Coffey finished with a career-high 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting. Kennard added another 25 points off the bench on 8-of-13 shooting and 5-of-8 from 3.

“That might be my first game-winning shot in the NBA,” Luke Kennard said after the game. “In my NBA career, it definitely might be at the top [of my career highlight ranks] for sure.”

Head coach Tyronn Lue elected to sit Reggie Jackson, Ivica Zubac, and Nicolas Batum in the second half after a lackluster first half that saw LA trail by as many as 35 points, 66-31. With it also being the first night of a back-to-back set, Lue decided to try and let the young, energetic Clippers try to make a game of it against the red-hot Wizards.

“Our team keeps scrapping, me and my coaching staff, we just find ways to find combinations that's gonna scrap and get it done,” a drenched Tyronn Lue said postgame. “I thought our stars came out in the first quarter — they had some good shots around the basket, some open shots, they couldn't make it and they just didn't have a lot of pop tonight. So, we just had to get 'em out. Kept Amir in there, kept Terance in there 'cause they're young and they can scrap and try to claw our way back into the game, and I thought starting that second unit in the second half really propelled us to this win.”

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The 35-point comeback by the Clippers became the second-largest comeback in NBA history, behind only the Utah Jazz's 36-point comeback in 1996. It was also the largest comeback in franchise history, and the Clippers recently had a 31-point comeback against the Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant-led Golden State Warriors in the 2019 postseason.

On top of that, this win give the Clippers their third comeback of at least 24 points this season, all of which have come in the last 14 days. This shouldn't be any surprise given who the Clippers' coach is.

Tyronn Lue made a name for himself as a coach when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit against the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals. In the 2021 playoffs, Lue's Clippers also became the first to overcome two 2-0 deficits in the same postseason and win.

Tyronn Lue's gritty and adaptable attitude is something he has been able to hand down to his team over the last few years.

“Just the guys, we have the mentality that they have,” Lue said. “And, like, I'm not going to quit, I'm never gonna give up. You know, no matter how hard the circumstances are, just for me coming from Mexico, Missouri, you never give up. You always try to fight and keep pushing through, and like I said, I want to instill that in these guys and a lot of these guys have that. So it's good to have guys that's gonna continue to compete and fight to the end no matter what the score is. And that's the kind of culture that we want to set here. So you know Lawrence Frank, Mark Hughes, Trent Redden, Mr. Ballmer, [Michael] Winger, they've done a good job of getting us those kind of guys that are going to compete every single night, so hats off to those guys for doing that.”

A 24- and 25-point comeback is incredible, but not something totally shocking considering today's NBA and how quickly teams can heat up from beyond the arc. A 35-point deficit, however, is an entirely different animal. It took a monumental collapse from the Wizards, but belief started to set in that they could come back in the third quarter.

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Photo: Silhouette of Jordan Poole in Wizards jersey, Tommy Sheppard

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“During the third quarter, we cut it to, I think, 22 by like the eight-ish minute mark,” Luke Kennard added. “I remember talking to T-Mann about it and I’m like, ‘Just a little bit at a time.' They answered a few times, got the lead back up to 22, 24, around there, but we just stayed with it and got it back down to like 18 or 16 at one point. And, yeah, I mean once it got down to that, a couple 3s and you’re right back in it in an NBA game. That’s how it is, it happens a lot. A 15-point game is sometimes nothing in the NBA and once we kinda got into it, said let’s get a couple more stops, a couple more baskets, and guys stepped up and made it happen.”

The three comebacks in the last 14 days have all come against playoff teams: The Denver Nuggets (25), Philadelphia 76ers (24), and Washington Wizards (35).

Amir Coffey, who had the game's highest-scoring mark, was asked if the Clippers have it easier when they get down in a game as opposed to when they lead.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Coffey remarked with a large grin. “I just think that this team has a certain grit about them that if we do get down, the game’s not over. Obviously you don’t want to go down 20 or 30 anytime, but I think with this group we have here, it’s a statement that we could come back.

Amir Coffey, Clippers

The bounce-back Clippers have done all of these over the last few weeks without the services of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Both of their stars' timetables for a return are unclear at the moment, but guys like Amir Coffey and Luke Kennard are gaining invaluable experience and confidence this season.

Any celebrations the Clippers had Tuesday night will be short-lived as the team travels to Orlando to take on the Magic on Wednesday night.