This might be the most Clipper loss of all-time

The ghosts of Clipset past come to haunt Los Angeles. PLUS: we have reached the thrilling conclusion of the inaugural NBA Cup group stage.

Good morning.

Two Trees; Hercules Seghers; 1620-30

Let’s basketball.

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Scores

Lakers 94, Sixers 138 — Just an innocent 44-point win for Philadelphia against what is believed to be a title contender. The Sixers’ offense consistently smashed up the Lakers’ well-reputed defense. The Lakers’ mediocre offense couldn’t do much of anything.

Anthony Davis is a very good player. Joel Embiid made him look really bad. 30-point triple-double in 31 minutes for the Big Fella.

Blazers 114, Pacers 110 — Portland is not good. But the team usually competes. And sometimes, due to a mysterious swirl of forces, that results in a road win against a much better team.

Wizards 126, Pistons 107 — Rock bottom for Detroit. They lost by 19 at home to a fellow 2-14 team whose star does stuff like this.

Crown him as the Shaqtin MVP. It’s over. It’s over.

Pelicans 112, Jazz 114 — Extremely ugly finish. The Jazz ran good looks and missed shots. The Pelicans … I don’t know, those last two possessions didn’t look great.

The reason the Jazz were in position to win in the first place was the ol’ NBA math problem. Utah took more than twice as many threes as New Orleans, and hit 17 to the Pels’ seven. It’s hard to make up that 30-point gap from deep on twos, free throws, offensive rebounds and turnovers. They almost did it! But it was just too much.

Keyonte George is finding his way in the starting five. He’s also dunking the everloving life out of the ball.

Nuggets 113, Clippers 104 — I harbor no ill will toward the Clippers organization, the Clippers fandom, Paul George or Kawhi Leonard. But holy s—t if this isn’t the funniest result of the season.

The Clips had won four of five to begin to clean up the mess from the James Harden trade aftermath. They received some fortuitous news before this game: Nikola Jokic would sit out due to back pain. With Jamal Murray already out and Aaron Gordon also sitting, and with the Clips having their full complement of stars available and playing at home, this seemed like a surprisingly easy set-up for a win.

And then Clipper legend DeAndre Jordan had his best game in years in the spot start for Jokic.

And Clipper legend Reggie Jackson destroyed James Harden.

This is objectively funny. Paul George was off all game. Kawhi Leonard didn’t make an imprint. They got destroyed by DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Jackson.

I hope someday even the Clippers can laugh about it.

If the Clippers miss the No. 6 seed or (gasp) the No. 10 seed by a single game, remember this moment. Remember DeAndre Jordan and Reggie Jackson.

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The Thrilling, Insanely Confusing Conclusion of the First-Ever NBA In-Season Tournament Group Stage

Tuesday night marks the end of the group stage of the 2023 NBA Cup. Six of the eight berths in the knockout round, which begins next week, are up for grabs.

The two teams that are in:

• Indiana Pacers, who have clinched a home game in the East quarterfinals

• L.A. Lakers, who have clinched a home game in the West quarterfinals

Fourteen of the 30 teams (including the two mentioned above) are done with group play already. That means we have 16 teams playing eight games on Tuesday. All eight games have legitimate stakes.