Kawhi Leonard and Paul George returned from quarantine and starred as the LA Clippers would outshine the Orlando Magic, 116-90. The Clippers didn’t even have to shoot well to do it.
Game Recap
24 hours ago, this looked like it could be a contest. With the jubilant and somewhat unexpected return of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, announced only this morning, it was nothing close to that.
The Clippers welcomed back their stars from a brief two-game absence and followed up their win against the Miami Heat with another victory as they overwhelmed the Orlando Magic, 116-90.
Given the state of these rosters, this result shouldn’t be shocking, even with the Clippers playing on the business end of a Florida back-to-back. While they were still without the injured Patrick Beverley, Orlando was missing Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, both lost for the season, as well as capable role players Michael Carter-Williams and Al-Farouq Aminu. With the dominating victory in the books, let’s take a walk through what you need to know:
Star Power: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were excellent. Sure, they’re excellent a lot, but I refuse to take them for granted. Ty Lue’s franchise stars returned from a week’s rest to submit complete, if measured, performances.
Paul George paced the Clippers with a game-high 26 points. He attacked with purpose and ferocity, piercing the squishy Orlando defense and putting Nikola Vucevic on the bottom half of a poster. When he wasn’t feasting he was setting the table, using his dangerous positions to serve his teammates open shots on a platter. His five assists were a team-high. He added nine rebounds and two steals for good measure.
Kawhi was his best bully-ball self, leaning into his physical nature and into overmatched defenders. He shouldered his way to his favorite spots, and when that got old, he slithered there instead. He earned a team-best six free throws the bruising way and converted them all. His three-point splash at the halftime buzzer was a sweet addition.
Clippers on parade: The Magic entered tonight’s game 20th in defensive efficiency and 22nd in paint-points allowed. They haven’t been good, but they haven’t been terrible. Unless you’d never seen them before tonight, when they were nonexistent.
Vucevic and company were powerless against a Clippers squad that was rolling decidedly downhill. Not only did Orlando allow 52 points in the paint, but all those Clipper forays to the rim scrambled their rotations, sucking arms and feet away from the perimeter.
The weird thing is, the Clippers didn’t capitalize much, at least not to the extent to which we’ve become accustomed. They converted just 13 of their 37 three-point attempts, a ho-hum 35% rate that reminds you they also played last night. No matter. The 26-point margin of victory explains how effective they were when shooting closer to the basket.
The Terrence Ross Show: The punchless Magic lived up to their reputation, looking mostly helpless when they possessed the ball. Terrence Ross, one-time Clipper tormentor, was the one man who stepped into the void. The journeyman wing had one of those games, converting his first seven field goal attempts and all seven of his free throws to lead Orlando with 24 points in 23 minutes off the bench. Take Ross’ line away and the rest of the Magic combined to shoot just 24 for 75 (32%) overall and 9 for 30 (30%) from deep. They assisted on just 20 baskets while turning it over 17 times (which became 24 Clipper points). Only one non-Ross Magic player also broke double-digit scoring, and that was possible All-Star Vucevic, who scored exactly 10 while wearing Serge Ibaka like a poncho. Ibaka stopped the rain.
There Will Be Runs: Sure, to this point it might seem like it was all fun and frivolity, but the Clippers didn’t totally dominate from tip-to-final-buzzer.
After riding a 12-0 run to a 14-3 first-quarter lead, the Clippers turned to their bench, who turned the ball over, letting the Magic find their breath and a little rhythm. In the box score you’ll see that the frame ended in a 26-26 tie.
After the Clippers restored order in the second to the tune of a 14-point halftime lead, they backslid with an 11-0 Magic start to the third quarter. But, of course, we know the third quarter is the Clippers’ quarter, and they responded with a 15-2 counterpunch, punctuated by a hastily improvised Kawhi-to-Reggie-Jackson alley-oop turnaround jumper at the third-quarter buzzer. (Yes, it actually happened that way.)
Ty Lue, having allowed an all-reserve unit to play as his own spoiler in the first half, staggered his two stars through the second and benched a largely ineffective Terance Mann to ensure the Clippers could complete an early fourth-quarter knockout. Garbage time ensued, as did the official victory shortly thereafter.
Notes
- More Clipper Standouts: Reggie filled in ably for Beverley again, scoring 10 and splashing two treys with three assists and two steals. Marcus Morris Sr. took some unadvisable shots but led the bench with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting. Ibaka, as alluded to, was a monster. He barricaded the rim and gobbled up boards. He even got some shots to fall, scoring 13. All Clippers starters finished plus-23 or better.
- More Magic Flameouts: Aaron Gordon made many curious decisons, generally looking incapable of handling his heavy creative responsibilities, struggling his way to a pedestrian 9/7/2 line on 4-of-13 shooting. He had six turnovers. Cole Anthony and Evan Fournier combined for just 14 points on five-for-23 shooting. Fournier finished minus-29.
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