In another big win this week, the Clippers got the best of the Suns last night and have earned some favorable player grades as a result. Overall, I wasn’t thrilled with this game–I thought Phoenix, on the second night of a back-to-back after their core guys went for 40+ minutes against Utah last night, outplayed the Clippers through 36 minutes but ultimately went down thanks to a big disparity in three-point percentage and running out of gas in the fourth quarter. But, things don’t have to be perfect to be good, and the Clippers got a good result against a very good Suns team, keeping them alive in the hunt for the 2-seed.
Clippers Starter Grades
Patrick Beverley: F. It wasn’t enough that Pat didn’t make a real impact on the game in his limited time on the court, but he went and got himself thrown out in the fourth quarter for a really dumb non-basketball play where he fouled Chris Paul in the open court and threw a rough elbow. You gotta be smarter in those situations, and even though a Flagrant 2 felt a bit harsh, Pat made his own luck by running in to make a completely unnecesasry foul and throwing a dirty elbow while he was at it.
Paul George: A. Yeah, Paul is having a great year, but he clearly really likes to play against the Suns. A game-high 33 points on 12-19 shooting, including 7-9 from three? Whew. I think Devin Booker might see Paul George in his nightmares. One slight knock on this game from George: a foolish (and obvious) third foul chasing down a fastbreak midway through the second quarter where he should have let the play go. I would have kept him in the game, though.
Kawhi Leonard: B+. Kawhi had an “A” second half, but he was really, really bad in the first half. In fact, he was the main reason why the Clippers trailed going into the break: his four first-half turnovers and overall offensive sloppiness not only limited LAC’s scoring potential, but compromised their defense by allowing the Suns to get into transition and early offense. So even his fantastic second half–20 minutes, 19 points, 7-13 shooting, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover–can only lift him to a B+. And oh yeah, I almost forgot the dunk of the season.
Marcus Morris: B-. It wasn’t a flashy game for Marcus Morris, who finished with just 8 points on 3-8 shooting and 6 rebounds to his name. He contributed (modestly) in some other areas, but also struggled at bit in a few defensive moments where he ended up on quicker guys. Overall, probably a B-level game that gets knocked to a B- because he got himself tossed at the end of the game. Unlike Beverley, though, Morris made his departure with a 16-point lead on the board and 1:24 on the clock, so he didn’t leave the Clippers exposed.
Ivica Zubac: C. Zu lost his individual match-up with DeAndre Ayton, but a good amount of that was by design–the Clippers played higher on Paul and Booker in the pick and roll to prevent them from getting high volumes of mid-range looks (which they’re lethal on). Whether rolling to the rim or crashing the offensive glass, Ayton always had a step on Zu because of that–and when the Clippers attempted to help the helper, Ayton’s massive size advantage over guys like Marcus Morris rendered the challenges ineffective. Zu deserves his share of credit for Paul and Booker getting up just 24 FGA (short of their average of 32) and combining for just 37 points (short of their average of 42). But despite the scheme directing Zubac to focus his attention on stopping the guards and funneling the ball to Ayton, I was still left a bit underwhelmed with his individual impact, especially as DeAndre went on a tear in the third quarter.
Clippers Bench Player Grades
Nicolas Batum: A-. Batum has been making really good impacts in his bench role lately, despite not being super hot from deep. He was 0-3 from beyond the arc in this game, but still added 8 points, 4 rebounds, and good defense. I have to admit that the effectiveness of the Batum-at-C lineup vs Ayton in the fourth quarter feels a bit flukey–again, Phoenix ran out of gas on the second night of a back-to-back and scored just 8 points in the first 7 minutes of the final frame. Morris and Batum together at the 4-5 is still a legitimate weapon, just perhaps not quite as dominant in this matchup as it seemed last night.
Reggie Jackson: B. Reggie followed up his dominant game Wednesday with a quieter performance Friday, but he still played well and made a positive impact on the game. It was just quiet enough, though, that with 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 24 minutes and the Clippers losing the energy battle and failing to get to the free throw line, you begin to wonder if Terance Mann might have gotten a more serious look in this game. This is the impossible situation Ty Lue has been put in: whoever he chooses from Jackson, Mann, and Kennard to play this role, the other two have had enough great games in recent weeks to make the decision second-guessed unless the guy chosen is fantastic every night.
Rajon Rondo: A. Much like Jackson on Wednesday, Rondo clearly stepped forward to be the third guy to have a great performance alongside LAC’s stars vs Phoenix, contributing 15 points, 9 assists, and 0 turnovers. I will caution everyone–just like I have with Terance Mann and other Clippers–to avoid flying too close to the sun celebrating a player’s best game of the season. But without trying to make big, overarching statements based off of one regular season game, this performance defenitely deserves to be appreciated. Obviously the offensive production was great, but through three games, Rondo’s defense has been more significant. Not only is he just a capable individual defender, but it seems like he always wins his gambles to disrupt the offense. Even a seemingly-ill-advised trap off of Cameron Payne led to Payne missing a wide open lay-in and the Clippers breaking the other way. It was that kind of night for Rajon.
Patrick Patterson: B+. PatPat has finally had his most consistent run of NBA-quality play lately, although he has still fallen far short of redeeming his contract when the Clippers could have used their bi-annual exception to add another above-minimum free agent. But despite more solid play, his impact as an alternative to Zubac in keeping Ayton off the glass is being greatly overstated. Ayton had 4 offensive rebounds in this game; 2 came in his 4 minutes against Patterson, 2 came in his 23 minutes against Zubac. Overall, though, Patterson did as well as you could reasonably expect in his second-unit small-ball matchup with Saric, and you can’t hold Ayton getting offensive rebounds over him against him.
No Grades
Terance Mann got another 4-minute shift in the second quarter as Lue manages minutes for his veterans, but he isn’t getting any kind of real role or opportunity to evaluate. He was joined for the final minute of garbage time by Luke Kennard, Amir Coffey, and Daniel Oturu. DeMarcus Cousins was the Clippers’ sole unused sub (I expect we’ll see a bit more of him when LAC plays teams that have traditional backup centers, unlike Portland and Phoenix), and Serge Ibaka and Jay Scrubb remain injured. Malik Fitts, who the Clippers are signing to a 10-day contract, didn’t official join the team until today.
