Despite missing three starters, the Clippers trumped in Miami in an up-and-down game. Check out our full set of Clippers vs Heat player grades.
Clippers Starter Grades
Reggie Jackson: B-. I was really waffling between a B and a B- for Reggie here, as he had a solid game with enough warts to keep him from earning effusive praise like he did Tuesday. I don’t love a 6-15 shooting night, but it’s far from horrible. I don’t love his shot selection, but it wasn’t egregious. I didn’t love his turnovers, but 6 assists to 3 turnovers is still fine. Defensively, he was a bit of a mess, especially when put on Tyler Herro to close the game–but what can you expect from a third string point guard thrust into a starting role? Overall, it was a solid B performance from me, maybe even a B+ considering reasonable expectations for a min guy. But I can’t look the other way on his late game errors. He almost single-handedly turned an 11-point lead with 3 minutes left into a loss with not only poor defense on Herro but a series of bad offensive decisions which culminated in calling a timeout when the Clippers didn’t have one left, giving Miami a free throw and possession back.
Luke Kennard: C+. Luke had a rough night shooting the ball, but he was actually pretty solid all-around aside from that. He was mostly solid on defense, shot 3-4 inside the arc, and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists. The problem is that while we have to live with the fact that Luke’s biggest contribution right now, by far, is his floor-spacing, so his value takes a pretty big hit when when he’s cold from beyond the arc. At least he shot though–6 3PA in 27 minutes still isn’t high enough volume, and he was still too gun-shy tonight, but it’s at least in the right territory.
Terance Mann: A-. Terance was the Clippers’ only real positive defensively on the perimeter tonight, a fact that was most glaring when he was off the floor. In the fourth quarter, with the Clippers going for a more offensive lineup, Tyler Herro was free from Mann and went off for 12 points on 5-10 shooting in the fourth after having just 7 points on 3-11 in the first three periods. In addition to that defensive impact, which doesn’t show in the box score, Terance made a good-but-not-great mark on the box score, with 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on 3-6 shooting. Not quite the Terance gold standard (see Tuesday’s game for that), but he was very effective in his role tonight.
Nicolas Batum: A. If I had to guess which Clipper player was going to lead them in scoring in order for them to win a game without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Nic wouldn’t be at the top of the list (Lou Williams). He also wouldn’t be second (Marcus Morris), or third (Serge Ibaka), or fourth (Luke Kennard), or fifth (Reggie Jackson). But that’s what he did tonight, with 18 points on 6 made threes, including an absolutely ballistic 4-5 from deep in the third quarter as LAC surged to a 40-point period and a 19-point lead.
Serge Ibaka: C. Honestly, I think Serge is lucky to get out of this one with a C. Maybe because he was better defensively in the second half until the Heat found a way to exploit him and Reggie in pick and roll defense late in the fourth, maybe because he hit a couple of threes in the Clippers’ barrage from downtown, definitely because they got a win instead of a loss tonight. But he was atrocious finishing around the basket tonight and pretty awful defensively as well. The Clippers easily lost 10 points on one end with Serge missing easy lay-ins and 10 points on the other where he was nonexistent defensively.
Clippers Bench Player Grades
Lou Williams: B+. This wasn’t a vintage Lou Williams game, but it was a good Lou Williams game. The Clippers’ third-quarter three-point shooting is going to get all the headlines tonight, and deservedly so, but Lou was instrumental in both keeping the game close enough in the second quarter to make that run possible, and scoring enough in the fourth quarter to hold off Miami’s run. He had 17 points on just 9 field goal attempts, earned trips to the free throw line whenever the Clippers were in dire straits, and even added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
Marcus Morris: B. Marcus had a rough night shooting the basketball, but he made a number of key improvements from Tuesday’s performance: he shot more, he took more threes, and he got into the lane. A 5-13 night isn’t great, but I’ll happily take Morris shooting the 8 threes that he put up tonight any game. Take out his 2-8 on those shots, and he was 3-5 inside the arc–3-3 inside ten feet and 0-2 on long mid-range pull-ups. Those two questionable shots aside, he did exactly what you’d want him to do offensively–the shots just didn’t fall from beyond the arc for most of the game. But they did in the fourth quarter, where he had 10 of his 16 points and shot 3-4 from the field and 2-2 from deep. The Clippers only managed 21 points in the final frame; they simply don’t win tonight if Morris doesn’t come through in the clutch.
Ivica Zubac: A. Much like with Lou and Marcus, Zu’s biggest contributions came not while the Clippers were surging in the third quarter, but while they were struggling. After dreadful team defense to start the game, Zubac came in and immediately righted the ship and really single-handedly set the tone. Time after time he stepped up and protected the rim, hustled after loose balls, and worked the offensive glass relentlessly. Even when the Clippers didn’t get a second shot, his tireless workrate in that department forced Miami to crash multiple defenders to box him out on every play and secure rebounds off of deflections, slowing down their transition attack.
Amir Coffey: A-. There’s a steep curve here for being pressed into duty on a two-way contract, but Amir gave the Clippers 16 mostly solid minutes on the wing. He had some gaffes defensively, especially against Gabe Vincent, but he was active off the ball and came up with 3 steals. Offensively, he found his way to 5 points on 5 shots, which isn’t spectacular in volume or efficiency, but what’s important is that it’s playable. The Clippers have needed him to be playable this week and he’s been that.
No Grades
Patrick Beverley, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Jay Scrubb all remain on the injury report. Patrick Patterson, Daniel Oturu, and Mfiondu Kabengele were once again unused substitutes.
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