The Clippers dropped a tough, close game to the Celtics, where key mistakes will impact tonight’s edition of player grades.
Clippers Starter Grades
Reggie Jackson: D. Reggie was pretty dreadful tonight, from picking up two early fouls to going 0-4 on the field on poor shot selection to committing boneheaded turnovers to dying on screens defensively. It was a worse outing than his last two games against Brooklyn and Cleveland, which is saying something since he didn’t really make a positive contribution in either of those games. That’s also now three straight games where he’s given the Clippers nothing in his starter’s minutes, which is a worrying sign going forward. He’s definitely earned continued opportunities through his struggles, but 21 minutes of Reggie tonight was brutal. Going forward, I’d consider starting Terance Mann and Lou Williams together at the guard positions while George is out to bring some balance of the pick-and-roll playmaking and perimeter defense that PG normally provides.
Luke Kennard: C+. Luke had a fine night on total, but overall it was disappointing. In the box, you’d be happy to get 13 points from him on 9 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and no turnovers in 26 minutes. But 8 of those points came in the opening minutes, all 13 came in the first half, and he didn’t score and had just 1 assist on two shot attempts in 10 minutes in the second half. In what was a B night in the box score, Luke gets demoted to B- for his disappearing act… and then moves down to C+ for an awful blunder late in the game where he committed an extremely late foul on a missed Carsen Edwards three to give away the Clippers’ lead after they had clawed back from a double-digit deficit.
Kawhi Leonard: B+. It was a good-but-not-great outing for Kawhi, who was clearly the Clippers’ best player but maybe not quite in the mode you need him to be when he’s the only star in the lineup. He finished with 28 points on 8-19 shooting, getting to the line 14 times and pulling down a team-best 11 rebounds. He had 5 assists but 3 turnovers, which was a bit disappointing considering how much the team’s offense has to center on him with George unavailable. Particularly disappointing was coughing up the ball after a Nic Batum steal in the last minute, when the Clippers had a chance to have a two-for-one to extend their one-point lead. Leonard was good tonight but Celtics forward Jayson Tatum was just a bit better, and the Clippers probably need Kawhi to be the best player on the floor to win games while PG is out.
Nic Batum: A-. Nic flew a bit more under the radar tonight than normally, but still finished with an efficient 16 points on 6-11 shooting, 7 rebounds, an assist, and 2 steals. In this iteration of the Clippers, he can’t just be a spot-up shooter on offense, though. He’s going to have to use his court vision to create good shots for his teammates, and he’s only had more than 2 assists twice in his last 11 games: with Pat, PG, and Kawhi all sidelined in Atlanta and during the team’s onslaught in Orlando. For comparison, he had more than 2 assists 8 times in the team’s first 12 games.
Serge Ibaka: B-. In an atypical occurence, Serge was better on defense than offense tonight, where he finished with just 7 points on 3-7 shooting and 2 assists to 3 turnovers. It would have been nicer if he had a better night shooting the ball from deep, where he was just 1-4, but I try not to punish guys for having cold shooting nights–generally, I’m glad to see good shooters putting more threes up, make or miss.
Clippers Bench Player Grades
Marcus Morris: B+. One of Morris’ valuable NBA skills is his ability to create his own shot from the mid-range–something the Clippers often don’t need him to do because of their high-powered attack, but something that came in handy several times tonight. He had 13 points on 5-11 shooting, hit a hat trick of threes, and picked up a couple of assists. But to really reach the higher standards, I’m still looking for Marcus to make an impact in more areas than his scoring. Don’t get me wrong, his shot-making in isolation and as a spot-up guy have been valuable, but he just hasn’t done enough on defense or the glass to consistently earn top marks. Particularly with the rebounding, it feels like Ivica Zubac is constantly battling multiple opponents while his teammates watch, and Morris is typically the second-biggest player on the floor who you’d expect to pitch in a bit more.
Lou Williams: A-. Not a classic 30-point Lou Williams outing, but a very, very good one. He was the Clippers’ second-best player on offense tonight after Kawhi, and their third best overall behind Zubac. Lou contributed 18 points on just 10 shot attempts and added 6 assists, with 14 of his points coming in the fourth quarter as he led the Clippers back from a double-digit deficit, including a huge three to take the lead back with 46.1 seconds to play. He’s pretty clearly the Clippers’ third-best playmaker behind Paul and Kawhi, and after struggles early in the year the Clippers are going to need him to continue rounding into form.
Ivica Zubac: A. Zu was dominant in the lane tonight, with 14 points on 7-7 shooting and 6 rebounds in his 20 minutes of play. He caught some really tricky passes in the pick-and-roll and finished some powerful dunks in traffic, and was exceptional defending at the rim. After some really dreadful performances to start the year, Zu has been absolutely dominant in almost all of their games in the last two weeks, with this being his 6th A in the last 10 games. That’s a guy who is a star in his role, just like the Zu we knew last year.
Terance Mann: B+. Mann made a nice, well-rounded contribution in his 19 minutes tonight with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. It actually could have been 7 points–he moved nicely off the ball to find an open corner three and made it with confidence, only for the shot to be taken off the board later at the next break when replay showed that he had stepped on the sideline. He came in early in the first quarter when Jackson picked up a pair of fouls, and things ran smoothly on both ends with Terance on the floor.
No Grades
Paul George, Patrick Beverley, and Jay Scrubb are all injured. Daniel Oturu remains on the inactive list as Agua Caliente gears up for G-League bubble play to begin next week. Mfiondu Kabengele and Patrick Patterson were unused subs.
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