Hope you didn’t fall asleep at halftime and miss the Clippers’ historic comeback vs. Warriors

If you are a normal, reasonable person — and especially if you are a normal, reasonable person who lives east of the Rockies or in Europe or western Africa — you may have decided Monday around halftime of Game 2 of Warriors-Clippers was a safe point to check out and get some sleep. Golden State led by 23 at that point, Stephen Curry was firing on every cylinder he’s got, and this series looked over.

Folks, if you are a normal, reasonable person who decided to go to bed at halftime, I’m here to tell you that you made a mistake.

The Clippers executed the biggest comeback in NBA PLAYOFF HISTORY after falling behind by 31 midway through the third quarter. They won the game.

LA cut the lead to roughly a dozen by the fourth quarter, and then whittled it away further, getting to within one possession with 5:34 left in the fourth. Lou Williams tied the game with a long fadeaway with 1:10 left, hit a shorter jumper the next time down. Then, after a Klay Thompson miss with the Warriors up one, Landry Shamet nailed a three (off a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pass — rookies!) with 16 seconds left to give LA its first lead since the first quarter. Curry missed a go-ahead three, Montrezl Harrell hit his free throws, and suddenly we had the most shocking finish in recent NBA playoff memory.

From the 7:30 mark of the third quarter until the end of the game, the Clips outscored the Warriors by 35 points. Williams had 26 on 11-17 shooting and seven assists in that stretch. Harrell had 17 on 5-5 shooting (7-8 from the line). LA couldn’t miss. Meanwhile, during the comeback the Warriors had 14 turnovers (in less than a quarter and a half — Kevin Durant and Curry had eight of them) and shot less than 30 percent from the floor. LA found another defensive level, inspired by a Very Online Patrick Beverley. Also, DeMarcus Cousins suffered a potentially serious quad injury in the first half. Without him, Harrell feasted inside.

What a win. WHAT A WIN.

Nets 123, Sixers 145
Series tied 1-1

Clippers 135, Warriors 131
Series tied 1-1

Magic at Raptors, 8 ET, TNT
Orlando leads 1-0

Spurs at Nuggets, 9 ET, NBA TV
San Antonio leads 1-0

Thunder at Blazers, 10:30 ET, TNT
Portland leads 1-0

The Sixers jumped the Nets from the opening tip behind a mighty aggressive Ben Simmons. Philadelphia is just way, way better when Simmons plays with that edge, as Kristian Winfield writes.

Zion Williamson is officially entering the draft. Who’s is going No. 2? Ricky O’Donnell has a fresh NBA mock draft.

Paul Flannery on the Celtics’ deep need to win ugly.

I wrote about the incredible, and probably unfair, stakes in the Thunder-Blazers series.

The Lakers are still doing it all wrong. Can’t blame Magic Johnson now.

Kevin Arnovitz on learning how to play point guard in the NBA, starring Trae Young and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

C.J. McCollum made Jennifer proud.

Michael Powell on Mike Budenholzer’s basketball roots.

Chris Murch offers up the funniest on-court moments of the NBA season.

How the Spurs held Nikola Jokic to 10 points in Game 1.

How the Pacers need to tweak the Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis pairing for Game 2 against Boston.

Kyrie Irving picked up his defense in Marcus Smart’s absence.

And finally: Serge Ibaka made some penis pizza for Kawhi Leonard on his streaming cooking show. If this is part of the Raptors’ free agent pitch, well things are just a little bit different up there.

Be excellent to each other.