LA Clippers rally from 35 down to stun Washington Wizards in latest comeback win

Trailing by 35 shortly before the half, point guard Reggie Jackson joked that the LA Clippers were «right where we want to be» against the Washington Wizards.

Still, the Clippers could hardly believe what they had done when the buzzer sounded. Despite playing without the injured Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers tied the second-largest NBA comeback in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) and stunned the Wizards 116-115 at Capital One Arena.

The Clippers trailed 66-31 with 1 minute, 20 seconds left in the first half. Their 35-point comeback tied the Sacramento Kings' win over the Chicago Bulls in 2009 and is second only to the Utah Jazz overcoming a 36-point deficit against the Denver Nuggets in 1996.

The Clippers, though, are starting to become accustomed to improbable comebacks. They are the first team in the past 25 seasons to have erased a deficit of 24 or more points and win three times in a season. And they've managed to do so all in the month of January, with comeback wins over the Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers and now Wizards.

«Why do we keep doing that to ourselves?» Clippers guard Luke Kennard said after the win. «I don't know. I don't want to do it anymore though.

»Man, that was crazy."

Down 66-36 at the half, Clippers coach Ty Lue opened the third quarter with several of his starters on the bench. Lue didn't play starters Jackson, Nicolas Batum and Ivica Zubac in the second half, opting to go with guys such as Amir Coffey (29 points), Kennard (25 points) and Terance Mann (16 points).

The Clippers (24-25) kept telling themselves they could come back, having erased a 25-point deficit to beat the Nuggets 87-85 on Jan. 11 and a 24-point deficit to shock their old coach Doc Rivers and the Sixers in