During the playoffs, I got in the habit of writing takeaways after games, but I think following last night’s Clippers vs Lakers game it might make more sense to start a new series: player grades. The idea behind playoff takeaways is that in a series, you have (at most) 7 games, between the same two teams, where both are constantly learning and tweaking and adjusting with a tiny margin for error. With a magnifying glass on every possession from the game prior and extremely high stakes on every possession of the next game, you sometimes have to be willing to make reactive decisions based on small samples–and Doc Rivers’ unwillingness to do that cost the Clippers a number of winnable playoff games.
The regular season is a different game. It’s about process, not results, and you have the opportunity to test out players, roles, lineups, and schemes over extended sample sizes. Really, we shouldn’t have a bunch of big takeaways from one game, and Ty Lue should hopefully not make multiple significant adjustments on a game-to-game basis–that would prevent the team from building anything consistent long-term. So instead, let’s just check in on how each guy did last night:
Clippers Starters Grades
- Patrick Beverley: B-. Bev really shouldn’t get a B-, because he took himself out of the game with easily avoidable fouls and was only able to play 22 minutes. He’s always going to have a high foul rate because of his constant defensive engagement at the point of attack, which is exactly why unnecessary fouls–like his two moving screens in the first half–are particularly egregious mistakes. But his four offensive rebounds, including some that came in big moments in the second half, give him a bump.
- Paul George: A-. Harsh for the player of the game? Maybe. But on a night where a player of George’s caliber is as red hot as he was tonight, he should be scoring a lot more than 33. In OKC in 2019, he had 13 games with 40+ points. Last year, he only had one. If he wants to make 33-point nights consistent instead of rare outlier shooting performances, he needs to get to the rim and free throw line more consistently instead of having quiet halves like the first half tonight. Plus, his 5 turnovers were a big part of LAC’s second quarter stagnation.
- Kawhi Leonard: C+. He had some redeeming moments in the third quarter, but I think Kawhi might have been the main culprit in the team’s second-quarter collapse. After the ball moved freely in the first, Kawhi responded to a bit of pressure in the second by calling his number repeatedly with little success. All in all, he shot less than 40% from the field while taking way more shot attempts than any other Clipper, and just 3 assists to his 3 turnovers.
- Nicolas Batum: B+: Okay, obviously we’re grading on a curve here, but Batum was really solid tonight starting in place of Marcus Morris. I’d still rather see a player of his caliber in a bench role, but 3 points, 6 rebounds, a team-high 6 assists, 2 steals, and just 1 turnover in 28 minutes is nothing to roll your eyes at. With performances like this he will quickly become this team’s clear 9th man.
- Serge Ibaka: B+: It’s easy to like what Serge brings to the Clippers as an offensive threat at center, but he struggled a bit defensively tonight (though LAC’s switch-heavy scheme did him no favors by leaving him on an island against LeBron James). Ultimately Zubac’s superior defending kept Serge to just 21 minutes.
Clippers Bench Player Grades
- Reggie Jackson: F. It’s hard to grade just 3 minutes, and I debated not giving him a grade for this game because he played so little. But since the reason he was pulled so quickly and didn’t return in the second half was because of how awful he was, I think it’s worth a note. Simply put, Reggie has no place on an NBA court if he can’t somehow stop being the worst decision-maker at guard I’ve ever seen.
- Lou Williams: B. A perfectly solid night for Lou, who was somewhat quiet with 11 points and 3 assists but had an efficient outing. If LAC can get this out of him on the “off” nights, it’s gonna be a great year.
- Luke Kennard: C-. I’m giving Luke this grade based on his performance, with the caveat that he deserves and exceedingly long leash after going over a full calendar year between his last NBA action and now. But he missed all three of his threes, was overall too passive offensively, and while he made some plays defensively (2 steals and a block), the Lakers made a point of picking on him at that end. This was definitely a below-average outing for Luke.
- Patrick Patterson: D. It wasn’t Patrick’s night, as he was a major liability defensively and missed a bunch of open threes, including one really awful brick on a wide-open kick-out that didn’t even draw iron. There will be nights where he hits more shots and has more favorable defensive matchups, but while the Clippers survived his minutes he didn’t look like a player who would warrant minutes when Marcus Morris returns.
- Ivica Zubac: A-. This was a great Zu game, as he came in and bolstered the team’s defense while also contributing to the attack. 11 points on 4-5 shooting from Zu is gravy, while his main contributions came as a deterrent at the defensive rim. Ty Lue noted postgame the impact that Zubac made on the game, posting a team-best +17 in 27 minutes, playing more than starter Serge Ibaka. Single-player +/- is always a noisy number but there’s something to be said for Zu’s knack to always make the team better when he’s on the floor. A slight knock for only having 3 defensive boards in 27 minutes, well below his norm.
No Grade
Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, and Mfiondu Kabengele all got on the court for a couple of possessions in the final minute but it wasn’t even a solid enough chunk of minutes to be considered garbage time. Mann also played one defensive possession to close the 1st quarter. For Coffey, it was the first of 50 games he’ll be allowed to spend on the active roster this year. Rookie Daniel Oturu stayed on the bench when the garbage time crew came in. Marcus Morris didn’t play with right knee soreness.
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