The Clippers lost to the Jazz 101-96 in their preseason opener in Hawaii. Russell Westbrook and Nic Batum were ruled out for rest prior to tip-off, while Marcus Morris was sidelined with a groin injury, pushing Bones Hyland and Terance Mann into the starting lineup alongside Paul George, Kawhi, and Zu.
Notes
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George played around 15 minutes apiece, and both looked healthy, confident, and as smooth as ever. Business as usual for the stars, just fingers crossed on the health.
Ivica Zubac, Mason Plumlee, Robert Covington, and Terance Mann also all just played in the first half, with mostly solid play across the board, especially defensively. Plumlee saw about nine minutes, Zubac 15, Mann 18, and Covington five. The Clippers clearly treated this as a super warm up and didn’t need to see extended looks of any of these guys.
Bones Hyland started and played 24 minutes, the most of any Clippers’ rotation player by far, and was the most impressive player for the Clips. He scored 18 points on 7-14 shooting (0-6 from deep but 4-4 from the line) and added three rebounds, four assists, a steal, and two blocks to only two turnovers. He had a few miscues, but for the most part played under control while still excellently pushing the pace. Bones even took Collin Sexton to the post a few times, demonstrating improved strength and footwork in getting clean shots over the top. It was an impressive showing.
KJ Martin played 17 minutes as the reserve small forward, and brought some great energy despite an inefficient 3-9 shooting night. He had a couple monster dunks, nailed a corner three, and pulled down eight boards. A nice showing for the youngster.
Brandon Boston played just 30 seconds before leaving with a knee contusion. Interestingly, those 30 seconds were in the first quarter with the Clippers’ second unit, where he checked in alongside Norm Powell, KJ Martin, and Mason Plumlee. When subbed out, it was for Robert Covington. It’s unclear whether Boston has won a spot in the second unit, whether this was just to get a look at him with other rotation guys, or whether it was a result of rotations being adjusted with Russ out and Bones starting. There wasn’t a ton of Boston buzz in camp, but it will be interesting to see where he places the rest of preseason (if his injury is minor).
Norm Powell played 16 minutes, the most of the Clippers’ veterans, but that was probably just because Boston didn’t play in the second half. Honestly, Norm was pretty dreadful, going 0-7 and playing with his usual head-down blinders approach, but it’s meaningless for him considering his track record. Still, the Clippers ran their offense through him with no PG, Kawhi, Russ, or even Bones – and it was very ugly.
The rest of the Clippers’ young guys and end of bench pieces played in the 2nd half exclusively, which was garbage time even for preseason. Honestly, there weren’t a ton of flashes, though Kobe Brown has a nice handle and vision for his size and Jordan Miller had a few great defensive plays and a couple sweet dishes of his own. Moussa Diabate was very energetic and active, but the roughness on offense remains.
Final Takeaways
It’s hard to have strong takeaways from a preseason game, especially with a starter in Russ out impacting rotations. However, it seems quite clear that the Clippers have four core bench guys in Bones Hyland, Norm Powell, Kenyon Martin Jr., and Mason Plumlee. Terance Mann would seem to be the fifth starter, and the last player in the 10 man rotation is one of the vet forwards.
