In what was likely their worst performance with Kawhi since their big losing streak, the Clippers are handed their first loss of 2024.
Game Summary
First Quarter:
The Clippers came out of the gates strong. They started off with great defensive intensity blitzing Reaves and LeBron on nearly every PnR they ran. This led to turnovers for the Lakers and points for the Clippers. After building up a 9 point lead, things started to stagnate as the Clippers found themselves in a nearly 4 minute scoring drought plagued by turnovers of their own and bad shot attempts. The quarter ended with both teams shooting a meager 8 for 22 with really nothing good for the fans to watch.
Second Quarter:
Unfortunately for everyone who likes watching good Clippers basketball, the second quarter did not have much of that. The Lakers played inspired basketball keeping it close all throughout. They found success imitating defensive schemes they were all too familiar with last year, as they ignored Russ and comfortably sent doubles all around the court. To make matters worse, Kawhi and Harden struggled with getting the ball through the hoop, ending the half shooting a miserable 4-14 between them. The Clippers ended the quarter up by 4 points, with Zubac being LAC’s player of the half with a solid 14 points and 7 rebounds.
Third Quarter:
In case you thought the Clippers would come out with better intensity and rhythm, I’ve got some bad news for you: they did not. In fact, they looked even worse this quarter than they did in the last one. Tough shots, tons of turnovers, weak defense, and Russ chucking up 3s. If that wasn’t bad enough, some pretty favorable officiating for the Lakers capped off by an egregious non-take foul call led them to a 4 point Lakers’ lead to end the quarter.
Fourth Quarter:
Luckily, the Clippers didn’t have a third bad quarter in a row, right? Wrong. The Lakers came out hot establishing a 10 point lead, but the Clippers fought their way back with Norman Powell leading the way with big back to back 3s. If I had to describe the end to the game in one word, the first thing that comes to mind is “inexplicable.” The play calling and offensive execution would make one believe that Ty Lue was trying to save Darvin Ham’s job. To note a couple of the more head scratching decisions:
- Harden had Reaves switched onto him for multiple possessions, and he didn’t even look to score. Consistent with most of his night, Harden was frustratingly fixated on passing on the majority of possessions.
- Kawhi also had Reaves switched onto him for multiple possessions, and while he did look to score, he did so slowly and without much force. He settled for a few jumpers that weren’t bad, but he almost certainly could have gotten better looks.
- Ty Lue burned his final timeout at the 2:47 mark in order to sub in Mann for Kawhi due to a previously unshared minutes restriction. I can understand wanting to adhere to a minutes restriction, but to burn your final timeout to get him out (only to sub him in for the final possession) seemed less than ideal.
- PG tried to hunt AD on multiple possessions, which he failed at every time. With D’Lo and Reaves on the court, going at a DPOY candidate was a really sub-optimal decision.
- On two of their final possessions while they were playing down, the Clippers burned through a significant amount of shot clock to get their shot attempts up. The lack of urgency was again, not great.
Overall, this was one of the worst games the Clippers have played in a long time with Kawhi. The defensive intensity, decision making, and offensive execution was just all around bad. This loss gives their cross town rivals some life, which is never something you want to do in such a competitive race to the playoffs. If you want to take something positive away from this game, then the one bright beacon we had was Zubac. He finished with 22 points and 19 boards.
The other good news is that the Clippers can right their wrongs tomorrow night, as they face the Phoenix Suns in LA!
Additional Notes:
- Plumlee and Theis: Wood’s size unsurprisingly gave the Clippers a hard time in his minutes matched up with Daniel Theis. This is a trend that we’ve seen from the start of his LAC tenure, and though Theis has been a great pickup, it’s a bit baffling to see Plumlee seemingly out of the rotation.
- Mann: Mann was 2-3 from deep tonight, but his offense continues to be a real issue for the Clippers. Despite his (limited) shots going in, his continued reluctance to shoot led to awful offensive execution. The Lakers comfortably ignored him at the 3 point line all night, and on multiple occasions, he’d find himself wide open from deep with limited shot clock. Instead of taking the shot, he would drive in and make poor plays.
- Russ’ Struggles: The Lakers were all too familiar with Westbrook’s offensive deficiencies, and their defensive gameplan showed this loud and clear. They ignored him all night and baited him into shooting four 3-pointers. Arguably the biggest turning point of the night was when Russ launched back to back 3 pointers in the 3rd quarter. Both were bad misses that led to back to back 3s from D’Lo.