All of this is moot however if Kawhi is having another one of those chronic inflammation issues and can’t go on Thursday. Our record is too terrible to survive any length of time without him against the better teams.

I was wondering where Jordan Miller was, as he had only played 12 mins in the first half. My guess is Ty wanted to reduce his mins after playing 40+ the night before and a back to back tomorrow vs Chicago, but we needed every Jordan Miller minute to win this one. I’ve enjoyed watching him play. He’s not fearful and does not have happy feet when he’s in the paint. He’s relaxed, keeps his feet moving in place, throws that right arm into a defender and creates space. I think he got a little unlucky on a couple of finishes at the rim, but the openings were there and he created them. Miller is a legit scorer for this team. He’s capable of credibly replacing a good chunk of Kawhi’s offense, because like Kawhi he doesn’t need that much help to get his shot off. Just get him into a 1 v 1 matchup and he’s able to work himself into the paint and get a good shot off or draw the defense in and kick it.

LAC played a great Q4 with James on the bench as the defense got a lot of turnovers and Miller was able to convert. It felt like we had full control of the game when Zu made a nice floater to get the lead up to +5, but things got ragged as Miller and Zu missed what I thought were sure baskets and James was a bit ragged with his execution, while Batum gave up a 3 FTs on a foul on Middleton behind the arc. LAC got very lucky at the end but I do think they had done enough to earn this win at both ends. Collins got a key board at the end that helped close this out and he was solid in his return.

James manufactured a win here, hitting 18 FTs and some key floaters and layups off drible drives to go along with 9 assists. Zu was solid at 14/12, despite 5 TOs. He shot 70% from the field for the 2nd straight game and really should’ve had more looks. I think it would’ve made for an easier win. I’m looking to see more time with Jordan Miller on the court with Zu. I think that can really open things up as Miller is a good passer and has a strong handle and patient approach to where he can see the court.

In this game, the struggles were really due to poor 3 pt shooting (5/28) not getting enough offense out of the shooting guard spot until Miller got on the court.

Winning tomorrow vs Chicago will be tough, but I think Miller probably needs to play 35 mins for LAC to have a shot, and a lot of it should be with Zu on the court to open up the post game more.