After the Clippers’ season-high 38-point blowout win vs the Sacramento Kings, it’s time to assign some player grades.
Clippers Starter Grades
Reggie Jackson: A. Anytime a guy goes from second string to out of the rotation, and then is asked to come back in and start as an emergency replacement, you basically just have to take what you can get. That kind of pressure to perform and earn your spot back, coupled with the lack of comfort associated with an inconsistent role, is difficult for any player. But Reggie’s game tonight wasn’t one of understandable struggles, or even of adequacy–he was legitimately good. He largely played within his own limitations, he avoided turnovers, he was as active enough on defense to do as much as you could possibly ask of him against De’Aaron Fox, and he stepped right into the selection of wide-open threes that normally go to Patrick Beverley and knocked down 3 of his 6 attempts (one was a late shot clock heave so he was really 3-5 on good spot-ups). Reggie didn’t play a perfect game, but he did exactly what this Clippers team needed on a night where they were missing Beverley and Lou Williams.
Paul George: A-. I gave PG an A- for a B+ night because the Clippers built a 30-point lead and he got some well-deserved fourth quarter rest. He was, of course, very good tonight, just as he has been all season. But I want to save the A for his best individual performances–not when he only has 26 (extremely efficient!) points and 2 assists to 2 turnovers.
Kawhi Leonard: A-. Kawhi gets and A- for an A- night, where his 27 points on 15 shots and 6 assists to 1 turnover were just stellar contributions to the team’s offensive output, and his 11 third quarter points were the catalyst in the team jumping out to a 30-point lead and coasting to the finish line. But, like with PG, I don’t want to overstate a good (but not great) line against a historically awful Sacramento Kings defense. We’ll keep the A in our pocket for games that truly number among Kawhi’s best of the season.
Nicolas Batum: B+. As Batum games go, he wasn’t particularly impactful offensively tonight–just 6 points and 2 assists, with 1-3 shooting from deep. But, in addition to his three steals, he was part of the lockdown team defense in the third quarter that held a high-powered Kings offense to 8 points in 9 minutes. And, of course, he was part of the high-powered Clippers offense that scored 30 points in the same timespan, blowing the game wide open. He gets credit for participation in that stretch even if it wasn’t necessarily quantified in the box score.
Serge Ibaka: B. Six points is a curiously low outing for Serge, especially because he was 3-4 from the field. Only playing 18 minutes due to the blowout helped, but you wouldn’t expect the Clippers to put up 138 points in a non-Lou Williams game with Serge only contributing 6. But I love to see him finish with 5 assists for just the fifth time in his 821 career NBA games (Serge could easily get 7 at one point this season to break his career high), and his passing out of the short roll has been huge for the team’s offense. Defensively, he was only mediocre in the first half but, like Batum, gets credit for the team’s stellar third-quarter run.
Clippers Bench Player Grades
Luke Kennard: B+. Is this harsh? Luke had 14 points on 6-8 shooting, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 0 turnovers. That’s his best line of the season. But I’ve set a precedent in these grades that, in blowouts, plays a player makes when the game is still close or while the Clippers are pulling ahead are more important than what happens in the closing minutes. And, for Luke, 8 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds came in the fourth quarter with the team already up 30. He deserves credit for being the focal point of the garbage time offense as they scored 32 fourth-quarter points and actually extended the lead, but if the Kings’ normal defense is historically bad it’s safe to say their garbage time unit wasn’t really putting up NBA-quality opposition. Luke wasn’t bad before garbage time, but he was only ok. I’m hoping that his garbage time performance might give him a confidence boost going forward, but I’ll wait until we see the results and give him the credit in future games if he earns it.
Terance Mann: A. Much like the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves a few weeks ago, the Clippers were able to survive Terance’s weaknesses against a poorly-coached team. In games like tonight, he thrives, and he had probably the best real game of his NBA career (remember, his near-triple-double to end last season was essentially a minor league game with both teams resting their entire rotation). In the first half, he helped the Clippers pick up the pace a little and played inside the arc as a slasher, earning several extra possessions with activity on the offensive glass. In the second half, he even had a couple of corner threes! That is the shot that is going to make or break his NBA career. With 13 points, 9 rebounds, an assist, and 3 steals, Terance joins Reggie in taking the game ball tonight.
Marcus Morris: A-. There probably isn’t anything to Marcus only being a +7 in a 38-point win beyond rotations that saw him play most of his minutes in the first half, watch the starters run the Kings off the floor in the early third, and then call it a night early with the game securely in hand. His three-point shooting definitely had a huge impact on the game as the Clippers built their initial first-half lead. He had 14 points in a 5-minute stretch of the second quarter. But beyond shooting well, I’m not sure that Marcus played particularly well. I didn’t love what he did creating for himself on offense tonight, and I don’t love him having 0 rebounds in 22 minutes (a lot of the time when we blame Serge and Zu for opposing bigs getting offensive rebounds and putbacks, it’s actually on the forward who didn’t come crash the glass when the center had to step up in help D).
Ivica Zubac: B. Continuing my thought from above, I think a lot of the criticisms that Zubac draws aren’t totally fair. When there’s a defensive breakdown, he’s often at the scene of the crime, so observers think they’ve caught him red-handed. In reality, you can’t really ask him to both rotate over and protect the rim on a drive and stop said driver from dumping it off to a waiting big for a dunk. If Zu doesn’t step up, he gets blamed for not protecting the rim on an open layup. If Zu does step up, he gets blamed because his man got an open dunk. In reality, the defensive issue came earlier in the play, putting him in a position where he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. That being said, tonight really felt like a weird mixture of good and bad moments for Zu, making it hard to evaluate. He had some big stops at the rim and good rolls to the basket, but some of the issues defensively were the result of him making mistakes and not just him being put in a bad position. I understand that it’s hard for him to play against small, quick guys but Chimezie Metu pretty handily won the first-half matchup between the two. Fortunately, Zu bounced back over the course of the game. A B+ would be kinder here because he’s the backup and he’s struggled lately, but a B is a reflection of the standard I’m holding him to: he’s a starting-caliber center.
Amir Coffey: A. This might be some low-expectations generosity, but Amir did everything you’d want him to do tonight. He came in with the Clippers up 33, played the last 9 minutes of the game to give rotation guys a rest, and helped extend the lead to 38. It’s nothing earth-shattering but 5 points, a rebound, an an assist are a good contribution to maintaining and extending a garbage-time lead.
Daniel Oturu: A-. A little more scrutiny here for a guy that the team used a draft pick on and gave a roster spot to, though everything I said for Amir essentially applies here as well: Oturu came in up 31, played 7 minutes, and extended the lead to 38. And he had a couple of moments, too, including a nice step-through for his only field goal of the period (he got his other 2 points on the free throw line after a clumsy move was bailed out by an equally clumsy foul). Add in four rebounds and an assist and you’ve got a nice shift.
Mfiondu Kabengele: C. A stretch big comes into the game for 7 minutes and misses 2 threes, doesn’t grab a single rebound, and can’t defend without fouling. I’m not gonna act like a 2 point on 1-4 shooting, 0 rebound, 0 assist, 0 block, 0 steal, 2 foul in 7 minutes performance is a nightmare or anything–it was garbage time, the Clippers extended their lead, and they won a massive blowout. But this was a sub-par shift by garbage time standards for a guy who is probably not even running out of time to prove himself, but already out of it. The Clippers need more from this roster spot, and I expect in the next month or two they’ll make a series of moves to do just that.
No Grades
Patrick Beverley was unavailable tonight due to personal issues (all the best to Pat & his family). Lou Williams was out with left hip discomfort after being unable to play in the second half on Wednesday. Both of their statuses for Sunday against the Pacers are unclear. Patrick Patterson was the team’s sole unused available substitute, while Jay Scrubb remains out after his foot surgery.
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