I’d give Ty Lue a ‘C’ for this series so far. He can get an A if he gets LAC through the next 2 games with wins. It’s going to require adjustments analogous to what he did during the Dallas series in 2021, but perhaps less drastic because we are in a better position and the margins are very small.

Kawhi is trending towards a B-/C+. He’s had only 1 really great game and he probably cost us Game 1 and Game 4 with untimely mid performances. Hasn’t been great through 4Qs except Game 2. On an optimistic note, this sort of parallels his progression in March. He really didn’t get going until after the two Laker games in early March and his signature, ‘I’m that guy’ game didn’t come until Cleveland in mid-March. That suggests that he may get better in these final 2-3 games now that he has 4 under his belt. Obviously, a better Kawhi Leonard likely means 2 more wins for LAC. The margins in this series are so small that a few more shot attempts, FTs or FGs will earn the Clippers a first round win.

Harden was great in Games 1/3. He’s been more impactful than Kawhi.

Norm is trending up, but he needs to get unlocked earlier and that, to me, means a lineup change.

Dunn passes the eye test but not the analytics test in terms of overall impact. He’s been a net liability through 4 games. Can it change? Only if Norm/Kawhi/James get a magnet ball going early. But the data tell us that Norm simply does better when the court is better spaced. Probably true for Kawhi/James, but it’s quite pronounced with Norm.

What we’ve learned through 4 games? We need to think of the team as a big 4, not a big 3, because Kawhi and James are probably not good enough to carry the team through a full series. They can perhaps each give us 2 games each (which does equal 4), but things get a lot easier if Norm gives us 1-2 big games per series. That way, the team can get through series more quickly with less wear and tear and deal with the weird scheduling issues (like Game 4 being less than 48 hours after Game 3).