In a one-point loss for the Clippers to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, the biggest gut punch didn’t come at the final buzzer, but with 4:38 to play, when Paul George fell to the court after a collision with Lu Dort while securing a defensive rebound. Replay showed a particularly concerning combination of contact on George’s knee as he landed from his leap, resulting in the knee bending noticeably backwards. He was helped off the floor and wouldn’t return. Tomorrow, we should get an update that will determine the Clippers’ hopes for the remainder of the season. On the optimistic side, a hyperextension could see him return for the first round of the NBA Playoffs (if the Clippers can avoid/survive the Play-In Tournament). We all know what the worst-case scenario looks like. In the meantime, here are a few notes and updates from this game:
The Thunder Worked the Clippers
George’s injury aside, this was not LAC’s best night. They jumped out to an early 17-4 lead behind aggressive play against OKC’s weak interior defense, but nonetheless found a way to lose the first quarter by 1 point and fail to make up ground in the remaining 3 periods, ultimately losing by 1. The Thunder are not a bad or tanking team by any means–they’re nearly .500 and have a wealth of talented players. They’re still an under-.500 opponent visiting Los Angeles, and one that is eerily close enough to the Clippers in the standings that this game warranted some degree of urgency. But as has so often been the case for this Clippers team, it was either missing or fleeting, even in a game that had a frenetic flow at times. LAC was just 6-31 from deep, though chalking it up to a poor shooting night would excuse some bad process that as resulted in them getting a worse diet of three point attempts in recent games. Even worse, they went 12-21 from free throw line, missing 9 free throws in a 1-point loss. Oklahoma City made one more free throw on two-thirds the attempts, 13-14.
Paul George did a 360 dunk in traffic
One Officiating Mistake Spiraled
It feels trivial in light of how George’s injury will impact this team going forward and how much of tonight came down to the team playing poorly, but there was a truly egregious sequence of bad refereeing in the second quarter that undeniably changed the trajectory of this game. Kawhi Leonard was fouled on a drive to the rim, but the official missed the call. These things happen. Leonard, frustrated, clapped and yelled “foul!” Still fine. The referee curiously decided that this mild reaction warranted a technical foul (someone needs to find a clip of this guy officiating one of the games where Draymond Green dances around screaming without getting a tech), and then immediately gave Terance Mann not one but two technical fouls for reacting to Leonard’s tech. The first, according to the officiating crew postgame, was for “pointing at” the referee, while the second was for profanity following the first tech. In an instant, a missed call that was an officiating mistake to begin with was compounded into three free throws for the Thunder and the ejection of Mann, who was in the midst of a very good second quarter.
Like I said, this feels trivial against the backdrop of both how LAC could have still comfortably won this game with better play and how George’s injury influences this team’s future, but it mattered. OKC made 2 of those technical free throws in a game that they won by 1. Kawhi Leonard didn’t get a free throw that he deserved on the initial missed call. And Mann’s disqualification cost the Clippers one of their best players, particularly in games that were as open and helter-skelter as this one.
Robert Covington is the 10th* Man
While his shift tonight was less than impressive, it appears that Covington is Ty Lue’s go-to 10th* man regardless of if a guard or wing is unavailable (*technically, if Norman Powell was healthy, RoCo would then be 11th, but you get the point). While Lue has been consistent with his 9-man rotation recently, when Kawhi Leonard missed last weekend’s game against Orlando, Eric Gordon started and Covington replaced Gordon on the second unit ahead of much more obvious like-for-like scoring guard options in Bones Hyland and Amir Coffey. Again, today, a second unit guard was unavailable in the second half, and Lue opted for Covington to enter the 9-man rotation for a shift instead of one of this depth guards.
And what an absurd shift it was–in a strange offensive delirium, Covington put up 8 shots in 7 fourth quarter minutes after not playing in the first 3 quarters. He only made one, and while several of the attempts were perfectly justifiable ones that you’d trust him to take and make consistently, it was clear that he was gunning. I’m not sure if this was a guy who has played sparingly just trying to get his shots up, but he didn’t do the Clippers any favors as they tried to reestablish control of this one.
Thursday’s Game is Massive
The Clippers have a rematch against these same Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, this time presumably without Paul George. With the backdrop of George’s injury looming large (we should at least know Wednesday if there is hope of him returning this season or not), Thursday will be a massive game in the Western Conference playoff race. The Clippers still hold sole possession of 5th place, but things are ever so perilous behind them: four teams (Golden State, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Utah) each have just one more loss than LAC, and three more (Minnesota, the Lakers, and New Orleans) sit two losses back of the Clippers. Win on Thursday to stay ahead of that pack in the loss column while knocking the Thunder back a step, and the Clippers would be in strong position to avoid the Play-In Tournament with a 4-4 finish or better in their last 8 games.
But losing to the Thunder would pull you into a virtual tie with them, and the Clippers’ tiebreaker situation isn’t good. They’ve lost their season series with Oklahoma City, Minnesota, and Utah, and tied with Dallas and Golden State, meaning that they lack two-way tiebreakers with the teams closes behind them and would be likely to lose multi-team tiebreakers as well. It’s such that according to PlayoffStatus.com, the Clippers would have a 70% chance of avoiding the play-in tournament if they win Thursday drop to 42% with a loss, even opening the door to finishing outside of the top 10 with crucial head-to-head games remaining against current outside-looking-in teams like the Pelicans (x2), Lakers, and Trail Blazers. It would be a stretch to call this a true must-win for the Clippers, but it is unquestionably a game of playoff-level importance. It would be nice to see a playoff-level urgency, especially against an opponent that, while talented, should really be the type of young squad that this veteran-laden, win-now Clippers squad can put away when the pressure is on.
