After another double-digit Pacific Division victory saw the Clippers move into first place in the Western Conference, let’s take a look at how each player fared in our Clippers vs Kings player grades.

Clippers Starter Grades

Patrick Beverley: B. It was an unspectacular outing for Pat, whose only offensive contributions were a pair of made threes that went along with 3 rebounds, a block, a steal, and 4 fouls in 24 minutes of action. But he overall was a good cog in the team’s machinery on both ends and avoided making mistakes.

Paul George: A-. An almost perfect performance through the majority of the game turned into a poor ending for PG as he saw a 10:1 assist:turnover tally turn into 12 assists and 6 turnovers in the final box score. Still, he was spectacular for most of the game and orchestrated the team’s offense as they built up their original big lead.

Kawhi Leonard: A. I get a little grumpy when Kawhi slows down a flowing offense to take mid-range turnarounds, but you can’t really complain too much when his final offensive output is 33 points on 12-23 shooting and 5 assists. Kawhi was also dominant on the defensive end with a monstrous 6-steal outing. He just kept ripping the ball away from Kings players, directly leading to a lot of easy Clipper points in transition. The slowest team in the NBA doesn’t have 22 fast break points often, and Kawhi helped a lot in that department tonight.

Nicolas Batum: A-. I’m not super thrilled that this makes two straight 0-assist games for Nic, but I do like that he’s been a consistent enough offensive weapon that he’s now averaging double digits on the year. He also continues to be an indispensable part of the Clippers’ successful team defense, and deserves credit for that–LAC has held opponents under 100 points twice this season, both in the last two games. Batum had 3 steals and a block in the second half as LA held the Kings to 40 second-half points.

Serge Ibaka: C. It’s been a bit rough spell for Serge offensively, as he was just 1-6 from the field tonight and only attempted one three, which he missed. A lot of the ways in which he diversified LA’s early-season offense as a pick-and-pop threat seem to have evaporated as the year has gone on, and he’s adequate but not great defensively and on the glass. His defensive limitations are what they are, and everyone is going to have good and bad nights shooting the ball, but he needs to be more consistently involved in the offense as a passer in the short roll and floor-spacer in the pick and pop (at least stretching the defense and attempting threes, even if he’s not hitting).

Clippers Bench Player Grades

Marcus Morris: B. Much like Beverley, it was a quiet night for Morris in his role as he shot just 2-8 from the field to finish with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. But without stealing the show, he did what he’s supposed to do: come in off the bench, space the floor, and contribute to the team defense. He won the team a couple of possessions with hustle in transition defense, and his lone assist was a great lob to Paul George for a backdoor dunk.

Luke Kennard: B. We’re hitting a bit of a theme with the role players tonight. Guys were solid but didn’t necessarily jump off the page, and Kennard was among that group. He certainly seems more confident offensively than he was in the early-going, and 9 points on 4-6 shooting, 5 rebounds, an a nice assist where he drove a closeout and found Marcus Morris in the corner amount to a solid outing. And even though he’s still not a great defender (nobody can blame him for struggling on switches with De’Aaron Fox, but it would be nice if Cory Joseph hadn’t burned him on a fake dribble handoff), it’s been a lot less glaring as he’s settled into better lineups.

Ivica Zubac: A. After a brief slump to start the season, we stopped looking for whether Zu had a good or bad night and started just hoping that he’d look like himself again. Tonight, he wasn’t just his normal self–he was his best self. One late closeout against Chimezie Metu aside, Zu was fantastic on both ends, protecting the Clippers’ defensive rim and scoring inside on the other end, finishing with 11 points on 4-5 shooting, 12 rebounds (4 offensive), an assist, and a block (plus several other altered/contested shots at the rim). It’s this Zu, once he gets going consistently in his new bench role, who will give the Clippers a real asset in their playoff rotation after being the sole competent big man last year.

Lou Williams: B. A lot of people are freaking out about Lou Williams tonight and I don’t really get it. Yeah, he didn’t shoot very well (2-8 from the field in his return from injury), but he mostly played within the offense, hit a couple of threes, and actually didn’t cause any issues for LAC defensively. He may be having a late-career evolution from “bad defender” to “crafty defender,” with his experience and smarts giving him the positioning and anticipation to force turnovers. It’s a nice way for a very undersized guy to make up for plays where he might rotate to the right spot but simply be unable to hold his own against a bigger player cutting to the basket. I wasn’t thrilled with Lou tonight but I thought his performance was fine, just like Morris’ similar 2-8 night off the bench. This is probably a B- night in a vacuum but I’m giving him a bit of a break for it being his first game back from injury.

No Grades

I chose not to assign grades to Reggie Jackson, Terance Mann, Mfiondu Kabengele, and Daniel Oturu, even though all four played the final couple of minutes as the Clippers pulled their starters (Mann also got his typical call to play defense on the last play of the quarter earlier in the night). I just didn’t feel like I saw enough of any of them to offer any kind of assessment–it was the dying moments of the game against a defeated Kings group who was pressing to try and force turnovers but not really committed to the cause. The whole crew deserves recognition, though, for doing their jobs and making a 15-point lead with 2:20 to play a 19-point victory, instead of allowing a quick Sacramento spurt to end the evening on a sour note. Shoutout to Fi for hitting a wing three, as well as Reggie for making a nice cut and pass to create that shot for the young big.

Patrick Patterson was the sole available Clipper who did not appear. Amir Coffey was put on the inactive list to preserve the games available on his two-way contract–I assume they’ll want him available to keep the starters’ legs fresh during the upcoming 6-game road trip. Jay Scrubb remains out and will be for some time.

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Lucas Hann

Lucas Hann

Lucas has covered the Clippers since 2011, and has been credentialed by the team since 2014. He co-founded 213Hoops with Robert Flom in January 2020.  He is a graduate of Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, CA and St. John's University in Queens, NY.  He earned his MA in Communication and Rhetorical Studies from Syracuse University.

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