Clippers Crush 76ers by 45 Points for Largest Win in Franchise History
Even Peyton Manning would have been embarrassed by the Philadelphia 76ers' effort against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.
In a meeting that featured a team 17 games over .500 and a team 21 games under .500, things went exactly how you might expect.
Only way worse.
The Clips jumped out to a 13-0 lead and coasted for the next 45 minutes to a 123-78 victory, which, as ESPN pointed out, was the biggest win in franchise history:
After the game, Sixers swingman Evan Turner put it the only way he possibly could have, via ESPN's J.A. Adande:
L.A. was up 46-15 after one quarter and 69-30 at halftime. The 39-point lead after 24 minutes wasn't enough to set another record, but according to ESPN Stats & Info, it was the tied for the second biggest in 20 years:
Sixers coach Brett Brown couldn't rally his troops with a rousing halftime speech, as the Clips went on a 20-3 run to start the second half, extending their lead to a silly 56 points. At 89-33, they weren't far from tripling the Sixers' score.
Philly went on a quick run after a timeout, but as ESPN's Arash Markazi noted, that really only added to the humor:
Los Angeles ended up shooting 56.2 percent from the field, while Philly shot 27.0 percent. Turner Sports' Matt Winer and Sports Illustrated's Andy Glockner noted a few other unbelievable numbers for the Sixers:
The Clippers got double-doubles from Blake Griffin (26 points, 11 rebounds, six assists) and DeAndre Jordan (10 points, 20 rebounds, four blocks), while Philly endured a combined 1-of-16 shooting night from Turner and Spencer Hawes.
Chris Paul scored seven points to go with eight assists and four steals in his return to the lineup, while rookie point guard Michael Carter-Williams shot 5-of-18 from the field to go with eight turnovers.
If none of the numbers do the trick, this All-Star-game-esque sequence just about sums up the entire game:
As evidenced by Antawn Jamison and Sasha Vujacic logging considerable minutes in a 2014 game, there aren't a lot of takeaways from this one. The Clippers are a very good team, and the Sixers are a really bad one.
With Paul back and healthy for a team that stayed afloat without him, the Clippers are a serious threat in the West. But give it up for the Sixers, who have taken their tanking game to a completely different level.
