By Clipper Nation Insider (@ClipNationIns) | Nov. 13, 2026 | Intuit Dome, Inglewood
The LA Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-112 on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, at Intuit Dome in an NBA Cup West Group B game, closing on a 7-0 run over the final 2:43 while OKC missed its last four shots. Darius Garland's driving layup and free throw with 50.4 seconds left put LA ahead for good, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 20-footer with 2.0 seconds left missed. LA won the three-point line 48-33 (16-of-41 against 11-of-35), the free-throw line 17-21 against 13-19, and committed only 11 turnovers, after 26 in the Oct. 25 loss to the Thunder. Oklahoma City won the paint 58-40 behind Gilgeous-Alexander's 40 points and Isaiah Hartenstein's 21 and 16. The Clippers improve to 3-8; the Thunder fall to 8-5 (3-5 on the road). The CNI pick was Clippers 113, Thunder 109.
Why did the Clippers beat the Thunder?
Ball security and the arc. In the Oct. 25 meeting, OKC turned 26 Clipper turnovers into 38 points. Tonight LA had 11 turnovers and OKC scored 15 points off them, while the Clippers scored 11 off OKC's 13 (12 player, 1 team). That kept the possession math close enough for a 15-point edge from three and a 4-point edge at the line to cover an 18-point deficit in the paint. LA's effective field-goal percentage was 54.5% (40 makes plus half of 16 threes, over 88 attempts) against OKC's 52.7% (44 makes plus half of 11 threes, over 94 attempts). Oklahoma City outrebounded LA 45-41 and took six more shots, but shot 31% from three and 68% at the line.
Game flow: Clippers vs Thunder by quarter
First quarter (LAC 33-27). LA committed one turnover to OKC's five and won points off turnovers 8-0 in the quarter. Oklahoma City answered inside, winning the paint 16-6 and the boards 13-8, and Hartenstein made 6 of his first 8 points at the rim.
Second quarter (LAC 24-17, LAC 57-44 at half). After a timeout at 33-33, LA ran off eight straight. OKC shot 2-of-17 from three in the first half, and Derrick Jones Jr.'s 24-foot three off a Max Strus feed made it 55-40 with 2:56 left, LA's largest lead (15). LA did turn it over three times in 64 seconds midway through the quarter (five turnovers in the period), the only stretch of the half where ball security slipped.
Third quarter (OKC 40-25, OKC 84-82 after three). The Thunder opened on an 8-1 run in 74 seconds and shot 16-of-24 in the quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 14 in the period and assisted on four more baskets, and Jared McCain hit from deep repeatedly, including a 30-footer at the buzzer that put OKC up two. The 13-point halftime lead was gone by 6:37.
Fourth quarter (LAC 31-28). With Gilgeous-Alexander sitting, Keaton Wagler's two bad passes on LA's first two trips became four OKC points, and two Garland turnovers in 35 seconds later became a Kenrich Williams basket and a Gilgeous-Alexander three for a 98-91 lead. Hartenstein scored five points in 10 seconds (a floater, a free throw on Brook Lopez's flagrant 1, then a tip-in dunk), and Alex Caruso's three off a Josh Dix offensive rebound made it 105-101. OKC led 112-106 after two Caruso free throws at 2:43. It did not score again. Lopez hit a layup and a 12-foot pull-up, both assisted by Garland, Garland finished the and-1 with 50.4 seconds left, and LA held from there: Gilgeous-Alexander missed a step-back with 36.6 seconds left, Jones missed a driving layup at 0:16.5, and Gilgeous-Alexander's final 20-footer with 2.0 seconds left was rebounded by Rui Hachimura.
Clippers team analysis: shooting, rebounding, turnovers
- Shooting: 40-of-88 (45%), 16-of-41 from three (39%), 17-of-21 at the line (81%). Forty-one three-point attempts cleared the 35-attempt threshold in the CNI pick.
- Turnovers: 11 total, down from 26 on Oct. 25. Four came in the fourth quarter, and OKC scored nine points off LA's fourth-quarter giveaways, so the late squeeze was real.
- Rebounding: OKC 45-41, offensive boards 11-10. Hachimura had 12 rebounds.
- Paint: OKC 58-40. Hartenstein went 9-of-10 and Aday Mara 5-of-6, so the rim was the Thunder's whole case.
- Bench: Wagler 14 (4-of-7), Gradey Dick 13 (5-of-7, 2-of-2 from three), Isaiah Jackson 5, Kobe Sanders 5, Strus 3.
Player breakdowns
Darius Garland: 24 points, 7 assists. 8-of-17 from the field, 3-of-7 from three, 5-of-5 at the line. He had three turnovers, two in the fourth-quarter stretch that let OKC take a seven-point lead, then assisted both Lopez baskets in the closing run and scored the go-ahead three-point play.
Brook Lopez: 26 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists. 11-of-21, 3-of-8 from three. A starter tonight after coming off the bench on Oct. 25, he made two of LA's three field goals in the final 2:43 and assisted Garland's winner. The cost was a flagrant 1 that gave Hartenstein a five-point sequence.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC): 40 points. 15-of-26, 8-of-11 at the line, 5 assists. He scored 14 in the third quarter, but went 0-for-3 after his three at 3:01 of the fourth, including the final shot.
CNI prediction: how it held up
The pick was Clippers 113, Thunder 109, conditioned on LA keeping turnovers in the mid-teens and taking 35 or more threes. LA scored exactly 113, turned it over 11 times and took 41 threes. The miss was OKC's scoring: Gilgeous-Alexander's 40 and a 40-point third quarter pushed the Thunder to 112.
What's next for the Clippers
LA hosts the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, at 1:30 PM PT at Intuit Dome.
Sources
- ESPN game page, box score and play-by-play: Thunder at Clippers, Nov. 13, 2026 (game ID 401909304).
- ESPN Clippers schedule (next game).
- Clipper Nation Insider, Clippers vs Thunder Keys to the Match, Nov. 13, 2026 (CNI pick and Oct. 25 meeting figures).