Agua Caliente Clippers rally in 4th quarter to pick up 1st G League win

The Agua Caliente Clippers bounced back from their season-opening G League loss Thursday with a late rally in the 4th quarter to defeat the Iowa Wolves 96-94 on Friday in Orlando.

LA Clippers two-way player Amir Coffey lead the team with 20 points, and Agua Caliente’s guard play led the way to notch the first win of the season.

A.C. Clippers head coach Paul Hewitt named an unchanged starting lineup of Coffey, Tyrone Wallace, James Palmer Jr., Donte Grantham and Emanuel Terry to start the game against the Wolves.

The first half was decidedly lackluster by the Clippers, who went down as many as 20 points in the 2nd quarter, with Ky Bowman giving them a flicker of hope with this drive to stay in the game.

After wrapping up the first half down 60-47, the 3rd quarter wasn’t too much better, although the Clippers outscored the Wolves by a point to not let the game get out of hand. By that point, however, there were few indications Agua Caliente would be turning over the result in the final frame.

That’s just what happened, however, as Agua Caliente outscored Iowa 30-16 in the final quarter. It’s worth noting the Wolves were missing five players due to coronavirus protocols, and the tight eight-man rotation appeared to run out of gas as the minutes wore down.

Grantham hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with just under six minutes to play, but the game wasn’t fully decided until Terry scored one of two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to ice the game.

Here’s a selection of Coffey’s highlights from the game, as he set the tone to lead the Clippers again.

Now 1-1 in the Orlando G League bubble, the Clippers get a day off before getting back at it Sunday, when they’ll play the Delaware Blue Coats at 12 pm PT. You can watch the game on ESPN+, live or on demand.