The Clippers gained their best victory of the season in a near wire-to-wire rout of the Celtics, featuring an unstoppable Kawhi Leonard.
Summary
The Clippers started off the game playing some of the best offensive basketball they’ve played all season. They moved the ball quickly and smartly, made swift decisions, and attacked the basket against Blake Griffin’s non-existent rim protection. Unfortunately, the defensive side of the ball was less sound, and the Clips gave up a ton of wide open shots to the Celts, who fortunately missed a good chunk of them. As the benches came in, the Celtics truly froze up, and while the Clippers’ offense slowed too, they were able to bring their lead up to 12. At hat point, Ty Lue went very small with Batum at center alongside Wall, Luke, Mann, and PG (back for Kawhi), and the Celtics immediately cut the lead to four going into the end of the quarter.
The Celtics continued to push, swiftly gaining a small lead. However, the Clippers fought back, keyed by great energy, defense, and rebounding by Nic Batum and Terance Mann, and took the lead once more. The Clippers’ starter held onto a narrow advantage, but were not able to advance it much, as both teams struggled with shooting the ball and some turnovers. However, the Clippers were finally able to gain a tad bit more separation late in the period with some Kawhi buckets, and led by seven at halftime.
The Clippers’ stars roared after halftime, with both Kawhi and PG nailing a three and a two in the first couple minutes to only scant Celtics answers, resulting in a 16 point lead and a Celts timeout. The Celtics played better defense after the break, but could not narrow the lead much, as the Clippers answered every bucket. After Zu picked up his 5th foul the Clippers went small, and the Celtics finally got going offensively, getting the lead down to 11. However, with both PG and Kawhi out, the Clippers went on a 7-0 run, with the swing play being a Mann block on Tatum that led to a Luke three. The Clippers led by 16 going into the 4th and had all the momentum.
The Clippers continued to go star-less for 90 seconds, but some disorganized offense brought PG back into the gam for Reggie. Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams kept the Celtics hanging around, but the Clippers pushed again when Kawhi Leonard came back into the game, and the Celtics had no answer. In a blink, the Clippers were up 24 with 7 minutes to go, and the game seemed effectively over. The Celtics went on a 6-0 run over the next two minutes, forcing a Ty Lue timeout with the barest chance for a comeback still alive. The Clippers answered with a Mann three, the Celtics missed their next couple looks, and the game went into garbage time at the 3:30 mark and the Clips up 20.
Notes
Kawhi and PG Staggering: Ty Lue has mostly opted to keep Paul George and Kawhi Leonard together this season. In the first quarter, the Clippers’ broadcast even said that Kawhi has played 150 of his 177 minutes with PG. That changed a bit in this one, as PG was brough out early in the first (6 min mark) for Luke Kennard, and then came back in at the 2 min mark for PG. Thus, one of PG or Kawhi was on the court at all times. This, in conjunction with a shortened nine-man rotation, did mean that George played 20 of 24 minutes, which is entirely too much, but I do like the staggering, as that’s how the Clippers will need to go when the games really matter. And the stars lived up to it, as Kawhi had by far his best game of the season with 25 points on 10-12 shooting, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists in 29 minutes and Paul George played great as well with 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. They thoroughly outplayed the Celtics’ star duo of Tatum and Brown, and that was the deciding factor in the game.
Small Ball Works: The Clippers, as mentioned above, went with a nine-man rotation, and didn’t play Robert Covington, Moses Brown, or Moussa Diabate (at least until garbage time), meaning they went small with their second unit. Not only that, but due to Zu’s foul trouble, he played only 17 minutes, so the Clippers were small for over half of the game. It worked tonight, against a Celtics’ team down their two best centers (and oh boy Blake Griffin was awful in this one), but I hope Ty Lue doesn’t take the wrong message and play very small three-guard lineups too frequently. They’re probably better against most teams than playing Moses Brown at all, so it’s a wash there, but it will be interesting to see who leaves the rotation when Norm Powell returns.
Nico & Mann, Great Again: The Clippers’ bench was effective mostly because of the efforts of Mann and Batum, who played excellent defense and contributed seven rebounds apiece while making 6-11 shots. Nic Batum has been magnificent all season, Mann has for most of it, and it’s clear that the Clippers need both guys on the court for significant minutes to keep their defense effective, and to act as connectors on offense.
