With Paul George and Kawhi Leonard returning to the lineup, the Clippers coasted to an easy win over the Orlando Magic. Check out our full Clippers vs Magic player grades below.
Clippers Starters Grades
Reggie Jackson: B+. I’ve been very clear from the beginning that these grades aren’t given in a vacuum, but are weighted according to expectations. Think of it as a sign of respect and acknowlegement for how well Reggie has played this season that I’m starting to shift his curve from “minimum salary third string point guard” to a higher standard based on his play through 20 games. Reggie was fine tonight, and did his job–10 points on 4-7 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and only 1 turnover–but he also was pretty much just the fifth guy plugging a hole on one of the best lineups in the entire NBA. He plugged the hole well and did his job, but didn’t make a noticable impression to the eye test or jump off the page in the box score.
Paul George: A-. It’s remarkable how much easier the Clippers manufacture offense with their two All-NBA players back in the lineup. Sure, they managed to put up respectable offensive outings in their two games shorthanded, but they still didn’t break 100 in Atlanta and relied on a heavy carry from Lou Williams and Marcus Morris in the fourth quarter vs Miami. Tonight, throughtout the game, George had no issue getting Ty Lue’s prized paint touches before disbursing the basketball to LAC’s shooters. He finished with 26 points on 10-19 shooting, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 4 turnovers in 28 minutes–an impressive night, but not the exceptional kind of game required for an A on his rubric.
Kawhi Leonard: A-. Ditto everything I said above, except Kawhi complements PG’s downhill production and three-point shooting by playing out of the post and hitting mid-range jumpers and finding assists out of double teams. The contrast between their offensive preferences has really been highlighted under Ty Lue in a way that diversifies LAC’s offense beautifully. Kawhi put up 24 points on 8-15 shooting and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists, not quite compiling the scoring, rebounding, passing, or defensive contributions needed to warrant an A but overall dominating the game, getting whatever he wanted.
Nicolas Batum: B. Nic had a quiet night, but did what he needed to do–and I am ideologically opposed to holding a 1-4 three-point shooting performance against him when it comes in a blowout win after he went 6-9 from deep the night prior. He finished with just 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, doing just what was needed to keep the trains running on time for the starting unit’s offense and defense in his 28 minutes of court time.
Serge Ibaka: A. On its own, I thought this was more of an A- performance from Ibaka than an A–he was good-but-not-great in most categories, with 13 points on 6-10 shooting, 9 rebounds, and 3 big blocks along with some lacksadasical help defense on other possessions. But the Orlando Magic are a solid, but not quite good, team without a real star, and if there’s one guy on their roster who could be considered an All-Star talent it’s Nikola Vucevic. Serge not only was the primary defender responsible for holding Vucevic to 10 points and 6 rebounds on 4-13 shooting, but he clearly got under Vuc’s skin (even if Nikola’s technical foul was after a clear missed call where Serge fouled him) and overall outplayed him. If the Clippers play a team whose best player is a center, and Serge wins the center match-up, the Clippers are winning that game. Period.
Clippers Bench Player Grades
Marcus Morris: B. I considered making this a B+ for Morris, since he had a nice medium-volume shooting night and put up 13 points on 5-10 shooting. But I ultimately kept him down to a B, not because I necessarily wanted a bigger scoring performance from him, but because he only had 1 rebound in 24 minutes of playing power forward, and I noted several instances where his assignment was responsible for one of Orlando’s 12 offensive rebounds.
Luke Kennard: C. Luke’s performance tonight was probably the epitome of a C for me. If an A is outstanding, a B is a solid performance, a D is a bad night, and an F is a disaster, then a C is the perfect grade for a performance that was as inoffensive as it was unimpactful. Luke finished with 6 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 assist on 2-5 shooting in 23 minutes, including a made three in garbage time–an almost nonexistent statline accompanied by no real errors either.
Ivica Zubac: B. You can’t have an A-level performance every night, so it only makes sense that Zu’s run of near-perfection game to an end tonight. But he was still solid in his 21 minutes, putting up 5 points and 7 rebounds and helping an otherwise porous second unit defense play the Magic even while the starters built and then extended their lead. I also like that the team is trusting Zu a little more offensively, even if it results in some reduced efficiency. A few 3-foot jump hooks, even if he misses them, help get him a little more involved in the flow of the game and force the defense to reckon with the big, strong center dominating the restricted area on both ends of the floor.
Lou Williams: B-. After playing a crucial role in the Clippers’ win Thursday night, Lou had a much more low-key outing against Orlando. He shot a bad-but-not-terrible 4-11 from the field, and notably missed all 5 of his shots from the left side of the floor, where he’s typically been far more comfortable. Take flawed shot chart data with a grain of salt, but it looks to me like Lou is just 5-24 this season on shots taken inside the three-point line but to the left of the lane line. He shoots way too much for me to count the Xs and Os on shot charts from past seasons, but he typically shoots more like 40% from the mid-range than 25%. Hopefully those numbers revert to normalcy going forward. Lou continues to be one of the few players in the Clippers’ supporting cast who can consistently create for others by turning the corner in the pick-and-roll. That’s why the Clippers won his minutes by huge amounts in the playoffs despite him being ice cold, and it’s why he still adds value on nights like tonight.
Terance Mann: D. Terance finished with a perfectly respectable line after getting some fourth-quarter run with the game in hand, but the precedent has been established in this column that when a player sees time in real minutes and then more in garbage time, the meaningful minutes are weighted very heavily. Tonight, he played just 4:19 in the first half, missed an open three, missed a shot in traffic after an offensive rebound, and guarded Terrence Ross during the beginning of his hot stretch–including a bad foul on a three-point attempt. He earned the right to stay in the rotation with great performances earlier this week, and promptly earned a seat back on the bench before completing his first-half shift tonight. Terance has a lot of promise for a second-year, second-round prospect, and this week has left me more optimistic that he has a future ahead of him with the Clippers. But tonight wasn’t his night.
Mfiondu Kabengele: A. We’re setting a new precedent tonight: one guy can earn a grade in four minutes of playing time while the others walk away without being evaluated. Fi, along with Daniel Oturu and Amir Coffey, came in with 3:43 to play, but Fi did all of the heavy lifting during that shift. The Clippers tied the Magic 7-7 during that stretch, and Fi was involved in all of LA’s points: two made shots at the rim off of assists from Mann, and an assist to Luke Kennard for a three. It’s a little harsh to give Fi credit for garbage time but not Mann, but Fi doesn’t have any real rotation minutes to weigh against his garbage-time production. All we can assess is his 4 minutes at the end of the game, and he was responsible for the third string holding the line on the Clippers’ 26-point lead.
No Grades
Daniel Oturu and Amir Coffey both got on the floor for the last 3:43 of the game, but neither did much. Patrick Patterson was the Clippers’ sole unused substitute, while Patrick Beverley and Jay Scrubb both continue to be out with injury.
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