After a spirited Game 4 performance, the LA Clippers gave home court advantage right back to the Mavericks, losing a pivotal Game 5 123-93 at home.

Summary

The game had the feel of a matinee game, as the Clippers stars started off very slowly. Thankfully, the Clippers supporting cast of Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac scored 15 of LA’s 24 points in the first quarter. Paul George and James Harden were ice cold, combined 2 of 10 in the quarter, though Harden was at least finding the role players to finish plays. Meanwhile Dallas was led by a hobbled Luka Doncic and the high-jumping Derrick Jones Jr., with contributions from Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively.

The second quarter was all Dallas. Dallas’ game plan was clearly to push the pace, and it was working. Poor defensive gambles by Russell Westbrook and Mason Plumlee often left the Clippers scrambling, leading to 4 (!) wide open three pointers made by Maxi Kleber for 12 points in the frame, and 8 easy points for Daniel Gafford. For the Clippers, Paul George looked invisible on offense (up to 7 for the half) and disengaged on defense. The dynamic duo of Terance and Zu were up to 24 points, with Norman Powell contributing 6 points as well. But it wasn’t enough as the Clippers found themselves trailing by 10 at halftime. 

The third quarter was more of the same. The Clippers scored 4 points for the large majority of the period, largely thanks to Paul George somehow further retreating into his shell. The lead swelled to 25 before Ty Lue inserted PJ Tucker into the game with 2:50 left in the period. Tucker immediately had an impact with his energy. The Clippers managed to cut the lead to 16, thanks to a series of stops and George finally finding his shooting stroke, before Plumlee committed a backbreakingly stupid foul, giving up a 4-point play to Josh Green and leaving the Clippers trailing by 20 again.

In the fourth quarter, the Clippers came out with desperate energy, but it wasn’t enough against the comfortable and disciplined Mavericks. There were multiple possessions with multiple attempts that ended up fruitless, and that pretty much ended the night for the Clippers. With 7 minutes left in the game Ty pulled the stars. More than any other game this series, the Clippers sorely missed Kawhi Leonard’s steadying presence and star power tonight.

Notes

Where’s Pauldo?: Aside from a brief stretch at the end of the third quarter, Paul George was the most frustrating version of himself: the one that seems to prefer being a role player standing in the corner and giving the ball to the team’s actual stars. He was constantly throwing grenades to his teammates, forcing Amir Coffey and Norman Powell to create something out of nothing with less than 5 seconds on the clock. Paul would often look like he was going to make something happen, and then the briefest hint of defense would send him backpedaling. It might seem harsh, but he’s supposed to be the best scorer for the Clippers right now. Credit to the defense of course, but there was just no effort and drive tonight. The Clippers absolutely cannot survive another performance like this from him. 15 points in a must-win game on 31% shooting with 0 steals and 0 blocks. Paul can—no, Paul must be better.

The Harden Roller Coaster: After a masterclass in Game 4, we knew the other side of the Harden coin was coming at some point. Harden’s shot wasn’t falling all game, but at least in the first half he was finding his teammates. But in the second half he completely lost the plot, with 0 assists and 3 turnovers. I’m in no way blaming this loss on Harden because the Clippers can survive nights like this from him, as they have many times this season, even when short-handed. But the Clippers can’t survive nights like this when they’re also getting the goofy version of Paul George.

Defending the Role Players: The Clippers got solid games from Zu, Terance, and Norman, but the Mavericks’ role players outplayed them. Kleber was a flamethrower from deep, hitting timely three after timely three, DJJ was blocking shots left and right, and Lively was a constant lob threat. The Clippers had been defending the Mavericks’ stars well enough all series, making them score the hard way. But their inability to stop the Mavericks’ role players tonight was what doomed them. And it’s not like Dallas’ supporting cast is particularly adept at scoring, but poor rotations and puzzling defensive decision-making led to a lot of wide open shots.

Luka Doncic Flu Game: After telling the media he was sick, Luka proceeded to put up 35 points on 54% shooting. Next time I’m going to need to see a doctor’s note because I call BS.

And that was Game 5. Let’s never, ever speak of it again. Fortunately for the Clippers, they’re better on the road than at home this year. So by my estimation they’ve still got a puncher’s chance at tying up the series 3-3 and sending this thing back to LA for Game 7.

Clippers vs Mavericks Game 5 Recap: Clippers Stars Vanish in 123-93 Loss at Home
Erik Olsgaard

After taking back home court advantage from the Dallas Mavericks in an instant classic Game 4, the Clippers are back in Los Angeles for Game 5, hoping to take a 3-2 advantage in the series.

Game Information

Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch: TNT, Bally Sports SoCal, AM 570

Tickets: For great deals on Clippers tickets, check out Barry’s Tickets!

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: James Harden – Terance Mann – Paul George – Amir Coffey  – Ivica Zubac

Mavericks: Kyrie Irving – Luka Doncic – Derrick Jones Jr. – PJ Washington – Dereck Lively II

Injuries

Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee)

Mavericks: Luka Doncic Probable (Knee), Tim Hardaway Jr. Out (Ankle), Daniel Gafford Questionable (Back), Olivier Maxence-Prosper Out (Ankle)

Notes

Kawhi’s Health: Before Game 4, when Lawrence Frank noted that Kawhi was out for the game, he said that the team wouldn’t put a timetable on Kawhi’s return and that the Clippers’ star wouldn’t be back until “he can make all the movements that he needs to make.” So there’s a good chance that Kawhi is not coming back during this series. And even if he does try to will himself back, is that actually the best thing for the team? The Clippers have found success without Kawhi on the court, thanks to the heroics of James Harden and Paul George. For any real championship run, the Clippers will need a healthy Kawhi Leonard. And so getting past the first round without him, giving him that time to heal, is probably their only realistic path.

The Mavs’ Next Chess Move: What cards do the Mavericks have up their sleeve? Our instincts tell us that surely a Luka master-class is coming, but if his knee continues to be an issue, maybe it’s not such a guarantee. And we’ve already seen one Kyrie explosion in game 4. But what else can Jason Kidd get out of this Dallas roster? The Mavs had been best going small, but in Game 4 James Harden repeatedly carved up the smaller lineup with short floaters that he’s been practicing, a shot which Jason Kidd appears comfortable to let him continue to take. So do they go big again? It hasn’t been working when they have, largely because neither Gafford nor Lively can pull Zubac away from the paint, and both have been doormats for Big Zu in the post. Right now the pressure is all on Dallas to adjust because they can’t just assume Kyrie will be able to produce another Steph Curry impression, and Luka is already doing all he can.

Luka’s Knee: Luka’s listed as probable for Game 5, which isn’t surprising, but his sprained knee clearly isn’t 100%. He’s been a step slow offensively, and he’s got limited lift on his usually terrifying step-back three ball, shooting just 26.5% from three in the series (and 17.4% in Games 3 and 4). That said, “struggling” Luka is still averaging 29-10-9 and is still incredibly dangerous inside 15 feet. The Clippers can’t let his health disarm them, but they’d also be fools to ignore it. The game plan should continue to be to attack him at the point-of-attack with playmakers who will keep him working hard on both ends.

Following Up Game 4: Game 4 was probably the most entertaining game of these 2024 playoffs. The shot-making was off the charts, the System was in full effect, and everyone had their turns shining. In the final minutes Kyrie Irving and Paul George each took the lead from one another with two of the most insanely difficult shots of the year. But despite coughing up the 31-point lead, the Clippers still have plenty of momentum after holding on to Game 4. And we know Paul George loves his Game 5’s, so we can expect a similar level of swagger. If he can be as decisive as he was in the first half of Game 4, if Harden can continue to pick his defenders wisely, and if the Clippers can stay the course with their mostly-effective Luka strategy, they have a good shot.

Disclaimer: 213Hoops may receive compensation for some links to products and services in this post.

Clippers vs. Mavs Game 5 Preview: Protecting Home Court
Erik Olsgaard

Our player preview series for the 2024 Clippers season continues with Paul George, the Clippers’ best podcaster and second best player.

Basic Information

Height: 6’8″

Weight: 220 pounds

Position: Shooting Guard/ Small Forward

Age: 33

Years in NBA: 13

Key Clippers Stats: 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.1 turnovers in 34.6 minutes per game across 56 games on 45.7/37.1/87.1 shooting splits with 58.8% TS in the regular season.

Contract Status: $45.6M this season; player option for next season ($48.7M); currently extension eligible.

Expectations

Paul George is still a fantastic player who can take over games on both sides of the ball at the same time. The Clippers organization, Clippers Nation, and Paul George himself should expect another fringe-all-star season; specifically, he ought to be top two on the Clippers in scoring and be towards the top in steals, rebounds, and assists.

Recently, on ESPN, it was said that Paul George is moving with a “quiet confidence” this summer. Whether or not that is true is mostly irrelevant; the Clippers should, however, expect George to be a bit stronger as a “leader.” The last few years have been a roller coaster for several reasons, but George is entering his fifth season with the Clippers: it is time for George to be more vocal and more confident in himself and his teammates.

It has become a recurring joke (some would say, nightmare) to say that Paul George is the shadow General Manager of this team: Patrick Patterson, Reggie Jackson, John Wall, and, now, Russell Westbrook have been added to this roster at George’s urging. This year, the Clippers’ organization should expect George to take on the responsibility to elevate this roster instead of searching his rolodex for another friend to add to the team.

Strengths

Again, Paul George is still a two-way monster. His shooting efficiency remains strong, especially considering how many shots he takes per game, and he contributes in the less-valued categories like rebounds and assists (see more on his passing below, though). Along with his efficiency, George also has a great variety to his game: he is a true “three level” scorer, and can create his own shot as well as catch-and-shoot within the flow of the offense. Paul George simply does not have many on-court weaknesses as a basketball player, and is easily a top 25 player in the NBA when healthy.

Off the court, Paul George has mitigated his liability a lot this summer through, of course, his hit show Podcast P. How George became so hated within NBA Twitter is a mystery (although I am sure it is rooted in the fact he plays for the Clippers instead of the Lakers) but it was indisputable that he was the butt of several jokes. Through the podcast, however, one sees that is a much more thoughtful person than his reputation would suggest. He is also really funny, as his impressions of Doc Rivers, Charles Barkley, and more have gone viral. For a team whose “vibes” have been extremely ugly at time over George’s tenure, a more relaxed and light-hearted PG would be a good step in the right direction.

Weaknesses

First, Paul George is a turnover machine. Last season, he averaged 3.1 per game but it, sincerely, felt like he averaged six or seven. And his turnover issues had a real effect on the team: he averaged 3.4 turnovers in losses and only 2.9 in wins. Of players who played at least 50 games last season, George was 15th in turnovers. After the All Star break (around the time Westbrook joined the team), George’s turnover average went down, but the Clippers should remember that George as the primary ball handler is not a safe bet.

Second, George has availability issues. No, he is not the load manager people think he is. But it is undeniable that he has been unlucky with injuries (whether or not he is “injury prone” is not for me to say). Going into his fourteenth season at the age of 33, there is only so much the Clippers can do to keep George on the court; over time, the body is more likely to succumb to injuries.

Summary

In sum, Paul George is still a great, great player. But the Clippers need George to be (1) consistently available and (2) more focused on what he can control. That means less recruiting of friends and trying to negotiate what his role on the team should be. He simply needs to be the two-way monster that he has been 75% of the time and turn the dial up to 95%+ of the time. At 33 years old, this might be one of the last seasons in which he can count on his elite athleticism, so hopefully he plays and is still the star Paul George we all think he can be.

Clippers 2023-2024 Season Preview: Paul George
Kenneth Armstrong

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Clippers star wing Paul George suffered a sprained right knee in last night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and will be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks.

This is ultimately good news for the Clippers, who had much greater fears after George had to be helped off the floor following a scary collision with Lu Dort that saw his knee bend backwards slightly. Still, it’s definitely not ideal–currently in 5th place and just one loss ahead of the play-in tournament pack and two losses ahead of 12th place, the team needs to find wins in their remaining games and will be tasked with doing so without their second-best player. They have 9 games remaining, perhaps none bigger than tomorrow night’s rematch against the Thunder, who currently sit in 7th and are among several teams competing for what are essentially 2 up-for-grabs top-6 playoff spots, currently occupied by the Clippers and Warriors.

A two-week re-evaluation for George would come on April 5th, which is the day of the Clippers’ third-to-last game. Their regular season finale is April 9th. A potential 7-8 “first round” play-in tournament game would be on April 11th. A three-week re-evaluation for George would come on April 12th, the same date as the 9-10 play-in tournament game. The final play-in games will be held on April 14th, with first round playoff series kicking off on April 15th and 16th. Obviously the “re-evaluation” is the key term here–what if they look at it in 3 weeks and decide he needs another 2 weeks? That would put him out until the second round of the playoffs, which wouldn’t be an easy place for the Clippers to get without him. Still, there’s some level of hope: a 5-4 finish to the regular season without George feels reasonable and would probably leave the Clippers in the top 6, depending on how other teams finish. Then, they’d have the play-in week off during his re-evaluation window to hopefully take another look and start ramping him back up for the first round.

In the meantime, the Clippers will need to lean more heavily on Kawhi Leonard to be a consistent 30+ point scorer. Look for Eric Gordon to move into the starting lineup, with sixth man scorer Norman Powell hopefully returning soon and rediscovering his January form to bring a scoring punch off the bench. Clippers coach Ty Lue is also likely to continue leaning heavily on Russell Westbrook and Marcus Morris, who offer higher-volume offensive creation than the alternatives at their position. I’d also love to see the team use this opportunit as an excuse to feature Ivica Zubac more on offense, as he’s been effective in limited post-up touches this season.

We’re far from out of the woods, but this is a good piece of news. If nothing else, it hopefully can assauge concerns that this injury could cost the Clippers a significant piece of next season as well.

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Paul George to be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks with sprained right knee
Lucas Hann

In a one-point loss for the Clippers to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, the biggest gut punch didn’t come at the final buzzer, but with 4:38 to play, when Paul George fell to the court after a collision with Lu Dort while securing a defensive rebound. Replay showed a particularly concerning combination of contact on George’s knee as he landed from his leap, resulting in the knee bending noticeably backwards. He was helped off the floor and wouldn’t return. Tomorrow, we should get an update that will determine the Clippers’ hopes for the remainder of the season. On the optimistic side, a hyperextension could see him return for the first round of the NBA Playoffs (if the Clippers can avoid/survive the Play-In Tournament). We all know what the worst-case scenario looks like. In the meantime, here are a few notes and updates from this game:

The Thunder Worked the Clippers

George’s injury aside, this was not LAC’s best night. They jumped out to an early 17-4 lead behind aggressive play against OKC’s weak interior defense, but nonetheless found a way to lose the first quarter by 1 point and fail to make up ground in the remaining 3 periods, ultimately losing by 1. The Thunder are not a bad or tanking team by any means–they’re nearly .500 and have a wealth of talented players. They’re still an under-.500 opponent visiting Los Angeles, and one that is eerily close enough to the Clippers in the standings that this game warranted some degree of urgency. But as has so often been the case for this Clippers team, it was either missing or fleeting, even in a game that had a frenetic flow at times. LAC was just 6-31 from deep, though chalking it up to a poor shooting night would excuse some bad process that as resulted in them getting a worse diet of three point attempts in recent games. Even worse, they went 12-21 from free throw line, missing 9 free throws in a 1-point loss. Oklahoma City made one more free throw on two-thirds the attempts, 13-14.

Paul George did a 360 dunk in traffic

One Officiating Mistake Spiraled

It feels trivial in light of how George’s injury will impact this team going forward and how much of tonight came down to the team playing poorly, but there was a truly egregious sequence of bad refereeing in the second quarter that undeniably changed the trajectory of this game. Kawhi Leonard was fouled on a drive to the rim, but the official missed the call. These things happen. Leonard, frustrated, clapped and yelled “foul!” Still fine. The referee curiously decided that this mild reaction warranted a technical foul (someone needs to find a clip of this guy officiating one of the games where Draymond Green dances around screaming without getting a tech), and then immediately gave Terance Mann not one but two technical fouls for reacting to Leonard’s tech. The first, according to the officiating crew postgame, was for “pointing at” the referee, while the second was for profanity following the first tech. In an instant, a missed call that was an officiating mistake to begin with was compounded into three free throws for the Thunder and the ejection of Mann, who was in the midst of a very good second quarter.

Like I said, this feels trivial against the backdrop of both how LAC could have still comfortably won this game with better play and how George’s injury influences this team’s future, but it mattered. OKC made 2 of those technical free throws in a game that they won by 1. Kawhi Leonard didn’t get a free throw that he deserved on the initial missed call. And Mann’s disqualification cost the Clippers one of their best players, particularly in games that were as open and helter-skelter as this one.

Robert Covington is the 10th* Man

While his shift tonight was less than impressive, it appears that Covington is Ty Lue’s go-to 10th* man regardless of if a guard or wing is unavailable (*technically, if Norman Powell was healthy, RoCo would then be 11th, but you get the point). While Lue has been consistent with his 9-man rotation recently, when Kawhi Leonard missed last weekend’s game against Orlando, Eric Gordon started and Covington replaced Gordon on the second unit ahead of much more obvious like-for-like scoring guard options in Bones Hyland and Amir Coffey. Again, today, a second unit guard was unavailable in the second half, and Lue opted for Covington to enter the 9-man rotation for a shift instead of one of this depth guards.

And what an absurd shift it was–in a strange offensive delirium, Covington put up 8 shots in 7 fourth quarter minutes after not playing in the first 3 quarters. He only made one, and while several of the attempts were perfectly justifiable ones that you’d trust him to take and make consistently, it was clear that he was gunning. I’m not sure if this was a guy who has played sparingly just trying to get his shots up, but he didn’t do the Clippers any favors as they tried to reestablish control of this one.

Thursday’s Game is Massive

The Clippers have a rematch against these same Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, this time presumably without Paul George. With the backdrop of George’s injury looming large (we should at least know Wednesday if there is hope of him returning this season or not), Thursday will be a massive game in the Western Conference playoff race. The Clippers still hold sole possession of 5th place, but things are ever so perilous behind them: four teams (Golden State, Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Utah) each have just one more loss than LAC, and three more (Minnesota, the Lakers, and New Orleans) sit two losses back of the Clippers. Win on Thursday to stay ahead of that pack in the loss column while knocking the Thunder back a step, and the Clippers would be in strong position to avoid the Play-In Tournament with a 4-4 finish or better in their last 8 games.

But losing to the Thunder would pull you into a virtual tie with them, and the Clippers’ tiebreaker situation isn’t good. They’ve lost their season series with Oklahoma City, Minnesota, and Utah, and tied with Dallas and Golden State, meaning that they lack two-way tiebreakers with the teams closes behind them and would be likely to lose multi-team tiebreakers as well. It’s such that according to PlayoffStatus.com, the Clippers would have a 70% chance of avoiding the play-in tournament if they win Thursday drop to 42% with a loss, even opening the door to finishing outside of the top 10 with crucial head-to-head games remaining against current outside-looking-in teams like the Pelicans (x2), Lakers, and Trail Blazers. It would be a stretch to call this a true must-win for the Clippers, but it is unquestionably a game of playoff-level importance. It would be nice to see a playoff-level urgency, especially against an opponent that, while talented, should really be the type of young squad that this veteran-laden, win-now Clippers squad can put away when the pressure is on.

Clippers Lose George, Game vs Thunder
Lucas Hann

Lucas, Rob, and Shap joined by Law Murray of the Athletic, Mirjam Swanson of the OC Register, and Andrew Greif of the LA Times for TLTJTP’s annual Around the Beat series! Pt 2 coming tomorrow. Questions included our expecations for PG, will Kawhi come back, breakout LAC player, and hot takes.

Check out the pod here! Be sure to rate and review us five stars on whatever platform you listen to us on, and give us feedback in the comments below!

Around the Beat Pt 1 with Law Murray, Mirjam Swanson, and Andrew Greif
Shapan Debnath

Lucas, Shap, and Rob answer your Twitter questions in this week’s TLTJTP. Fun topics include the ceiling of the 21-22 Clippers, what we expect from Luke/Zu/Terance, and what the DeAndre Jordan signing to the Lakers means for the Clippers prospects with Marc Gasol.

Checkout the podcast here! Be sure to rate and review us five stars on whatever platform you listen to us on, and give us feedback in the comments below!

Twitter Questions Episode!
Shapan Debnath

Well that was rough. Facing their third 0-2 deficit of the playoffs, the Comeback Clippers will have to set yet another NBA record to make it to the NBA Finals.

Game Recap

So as it turns out, mostly everything from my preview was wrong (that’s what you get for asking me to write, Lucas): the lineups changed, small ball was a no-show until mid-way through the second quarter, and the dreaded Rondo-Cousins lineup returned.

The Clippers started Patrick Beverley (to match up with Devin Booker) and Ivica Zubac (to match up with DeAndre Ayton). And finally without a rest disadvantage, the Clippers came out firing, breaking out to an early 8-2 lead. But that was as good as the offense looked in the first half. After answering with their own 9-0 run, the Suns joined the Clippers in looking like a train with no engine, scooting lackadaisically down the track. But the stagnant offense on both sides was because of the tremendous defense being played on both sides.

George saw a mix of defenders from Mikal Bridges to Torrey Craig, and Booker was hounded incessantly by Patrick Beverley and then Terance Mann. Both were ice cold, but to his credit, Paul George stopped shooting contested jumpers and started attacking the paint. Reggie, Mann, and Rondo (huh?) were effective offensively, but curiously Nic Batum barely played. Due to the stagnant offense, Marcus Morris Sr. found himself constantly taking low percentage bail-out shots. And DeMarcus Cousins was just lost on both ends.

The first half was just plain weird. There was a peculiar Suns challenge, an even more peculiar double technical (hi Scott Foster), and a battle between the two most surprising playoff stars, Cam Payne and Reggie Jackson. The sluggish half ended with your Clippers trailing 47-48, but given they shot a paltry 41.9% from the field compared to the Suns’ 46.5%, it was hardly a bad spot to be in. To take control of this game, the second half would need more ball movement (only 5 assists in that first half, which we heard Ty Lue lamenting in the locker room), continued focus on rebounding, and maintained pressure on Booker who could break out at any time. And maybe less DeMarcus Cousins, who just looked lost.

The second half started off as the Cam Payne show. Booker picked up his third foul because Scott Foster will not be denied (but also Paul George was constantly getting him on switches), so Cam Payne just took over. Payne was making every shot imaginable in a very Lou Williams kind of way, which just makes no sense when you consider what he played like before he joined the Suns (hard not to be happy for the guy). Then later in the 3^rd quarter it was the Deandre Ayton show, as he terrorized the Clippers on both ends. But no matter how many runs the Suns went on, as is typical of this Clippers team, they would find a way to answer, with big threes coming from Mook and Reggie.

Then a potentially pivotable play happened: Pat Bev reached in on Booker on the perimeter and their heads unintentionally collided. Booker’s nose was bleeding profusely and Beverley’s forehead was bleeding as well. Both players went to the locker room, but fortunately both returned later in the game and seemed to be fine (though Booker’s nose appeared to be broken).

The Cousins experiment thankfully never returned as the Clippers opted to go small against the Suns’ backup center Dario Saric, and Saric seemed not to mind as he bullied the Clippers in the paint (you’d love to have a Serge Ibaka in situations like this). But the Clippers, as usual, hung around on big buckets from all the role players, particularly Luke Kennard who had all 10 of his points in the 4^th quarter.

The Clippers trailed the entire second half, until a Paul George layup with 30 left on the clock, giving them a 101-100 lead, and a chance to break Lawler’s Law. Devin Booker then hit his favorite Kobe-esque elbow jumper to put Phoenix up 102-101, followed by Paul George doing the exact same thing on the other end to give the Clippers a 103-102 lead. With Booker coming downcourt with 21 seconds left, Pat Bev poked the ball out of his hands, and in the most technical of technicalities, the ball was touching Booker’s pinky last.

Paul George, who’s played the most minutes of any player in the playoffs and grimaced earlier in the game when he fell on his shoulder, shockingly missed both free throws. Mikal Bridges missed a wide open three to tie, and the Suns retained the ball with 0.9 left. In what was one of the most impressive plays of these playoffs (drawn up by Monty Williams during the millionth video review of this game) the Suns ran a truly fantastic baseline inbounds play that resulted in Deandre Ayton throwing down an alley-oop over Ivica Zubac. Why Cousins, who was guarding the inbounder Jae Crowder, didn’t deny the lob is beyond me. And with 0.7 left, the Clippers threw up a last second heave that Paul George couldn’t get off in time. Suns win 104-103.

Final Thoughts

This was a really disappointing loss given that the Clippers had chance after chance to close it out. After carrying this team through the playoffs after Kawhi Leonard went down, Paul George seemed to hit a brick wall against Phoenix tonight. George finished with 26 points and scored 10 of them in the final frame, as has been typical of him. But he was only 1 of 8 from deep and 5 of 10 from the charity stripe—including those 2 huge misses late. The Clippers need Paul George to be THAT MAN Paul George again, and they need it all game long. But with no more than a day’s rest in sight, the team will need help him by finding ways to get him easier buckets.

Being down 0-2 for the third series in a row just doesn’t feel like a death sentence though, does it? They absolutely can make history (again) with this squad. We’ve seen in two very close contests in Phoenix that the Clippers can play horribly and be right there at the end. This feels familiar because this was the same story the first two series. So, again and again and again, they’ve got their work cut out for them, but this is a team that likes to work and lives for these moments.

Onto the next one.

Suns stun Clippers to take a 2-0 lead, 104-103
Erik Olsgaard

It’s like deja vu all over again–the LA Clippers and Dallas Mavericks will meet in the first round of the NBA playoffs, just as they did last year in the Orlando bubble. For both teams, who made upgrades but kept their cores relatively intact, the re-match will be a test of how effectively they tweaked in the margins in the last year.

The Big Picture

Would you believe me if I told you that the Clippers were worse this season than they were last season? They went 47-25, winning 65.3% of their games, after winning 68.1% of their games last year and posting a record of 49-23. In terms of advanced numbers, their net rating decreased slightly from 6.3 to 6.1. The team finished third in offensive rating after coming in second last year (though they still improved markedly on offense as part of a league-wide scoring surge), but dropped off from 5th to 8th in defensive rating. And while Paul George and Kawhi Leonard both missed substantial time, it was more or less level with last season: George played in 6 more games this year compared to last while Leonard played in 5 fewer.

Of course, there’s a difference between measuring what has happened so far and predicting what is to come. That the Clippers had a worse record and worse net rating than last season is fairly easy and uncontroversial. There are also some pretty easy ways to offset those concerns–starting with the fact that the two-game difference in win-loss could have easily been made up if the Clippers had been at all interested in winning their last two games of the season against the tanking Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder. But the organization, seemingly convinced that the path to playoff success was easier from the 4-seed, out-tanked some of the most shamelessly tanking franchises in the NBA (mostly by feeding the ball to Daniel Oturu a ton), and the result was a pair of losses and a dent in advanced metrics.

Still, LAC was far from dominant this season. It’s times like this that I start to be a bit wary of the success that the Canoes–as coined by Brian Cullen, the second- and third-string Clippers who provided the best moments of the season in some severely shorthanded wins. Luke Kennard going 8-8 in the second half against the Atlanta Hawks and Reggie Jackson having 29 points and a gamewinner in Detroit may have been the two most fun moments of the year for Clippers fans… and neither is particularly relevant for how LA will play in the postseason. The good news is that as the Clippers shorten their rotation and play George and Leonard each around 40 minutes a night in the playoffs, that the team has a +17.6 net rating when that duo shares the court this season. Last year, that number was +13.2, in over 100 fewer minutes.

The increased success in George and Leonard’s shared minutes is likely twofold: first, because of the other three players on the floor (Marcus Morris and Nic Batum manned the PF position all season this year instead of Moe Harkless up until the trade deadline last season), and second, because new head coach Ty Lue has deployed his stars in a more complimentary fashion than his predecessor, Doc Rivers. Leonard works more frequently out of the post, coming off of cross-screens from a guard to create size mismatches that force defenses to help and scramble to the Clippers’ elite three-point shooters. The result was more shots in the paint for Kawhi than last season, converted at a higher rate. In total, he shot 55.7% on two-point attempts this season, his highest mark as a high-usage star, after a career-worst 50.6% last year. George is the de facto point guard, running a ton of pick-and-rolls that allowed him to step up his dribble penetration (33.1% of his FGA came from within 10 feet, compared to 27.5% last season and 29.5% career average) and distribution (his 7.6 assists per 100 possession blew his previous career high, 6.2 last season, out of the water).

But as each star’s new role produced greater highs, some warts have been magnified. George in particular is often sloppy with the ball, giving away 5 or more turnovers 14 times this season in sometimes particularly careless fashion. When Leonard plays without George, the team’s offensive flow tends to become a bit stagnant, with Kawhi holding on to the ball and hunting mid-range shots as static shooters watch. As much as the discourse surrounding this Clippers team will focus on changes to its role players–the undeniable upgrade from Montrezl Harrell to Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum’s redemption arc, and Rajon Rondo’s presence as a battle-tested veteran guard–it’s most often the case that a team’s success or downfall in the postseason has to do with its stars rising or shrinking away from the moment. While his reputation as a playoff failure is dramatically overstated, George clearly has more to prove in this regard than two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard–but at the end of the way, neither guy rose well enough to the occassion in the team’s second-round collapse against the Denver Nuggets, even as we rightfully blame that series on the Doc Rivers-Montrezl Harrell dynamic. If LA, with Paul and Kawhi performing at their bests, runs into another contender headlined by superstars performing at their bests, then the impact of role players in the margins will be significant. But if Ty Lue can’t maximize his stars, it’s unlikely that a good weak-side rotation and extra pass from Nic Batum is swinging a series.

The Antagonist

Clippers fans, naturally, will already be familiar with the Dallas Mavericks, in particular young superstar Luka Doncic, after the two teams ran into each other in the playoffs last season. It didn’t help matters that Dallas came out firing in the teams’ next meeting, running the Clippers off of the STAPLES Center court by 51 points in an outright embarrassing post-Christmas effort.

A lot of what we’ll see from Dallas in this series will be similar to what we saw from them last year. After all, Luka Doncic, now 22 years old, isn’t going anywhere any time soon. He’s among the most dominant individual offensive players in basketball, and he’ll once again get some down-ballot MVP votes and an All-NBA berth after leading the Mavericks to the 5th seed in the Western Conference. Doncic only averaged 36 minutes per game in this series last season, but trips to the locker room with a nagging ankle injury and extra rest during garbage time of game 5 makes that number a bit untrustworthy–in reality, Luka will be on the court for almost the entire series, and the ball will be in his hands for most of Dallas’ possessions. The first question of any gameplan against the Mavericks has to be how you hope to contain Luka… and the second might be how to make damn sure you win the non-Luka minutes. The advantage that the Clippers have with their ability to stagger Paul George and Kawhi Leonard should give them a notable advantage in that regard.

Beyond Luka, two of Dallas’ most important players will be back in the lineup this time around. Kristaps Porzingis, who played the first three games last year before being sidelined with a knee injury, is the Mavs’ second most prolific scorer, but nearly 80% of his shots are assisted. He’s the primary beneficiary of Doncic’s creation–and with 14 30+ point games in the last two years, including game 3 of this match-up last season, he’s capable of producing big scoring nights playing off of Luka. In terms of shot creation, Jalen Brunson, who missed the entire series last year, will play crucial role off the bench in running the offense and helping buy Luka rest. While Brunson isn’t necessarily likely to have explosive scoring outings, his hard-nosed defense and heady offensive leadership make him one of the most valuable Mavericks.

Supporting scorer Tim Hardaway Jr., who has shot the ball at a blistering rate in recent weeks (40.7% on high volume over his last thirty-four games), is the most likely third Maverick to have a huge scoring game. He’s broken the 30-point threshold 5 times this season, including a 42-point outing. And just a couple of weeks ago against Miami, he made 10 three pointers in a game. Hardaway did have a solid series against the Clippers last year, scoring 17.8 points per game, but they kept his efficiency in check (just 42% from the field and 35% from deep). Other key rotation fixtures for Dallas include two-way wing Josh Richardson, 3-and-D forward Dorian Finney-Smith, and versatile 4/5 Maxi Kleber–one of my favorite role players in the league. Dwight Powell also played a larger role down the stretch of the season, but it’s hard to see where he fits against the Clippers. If Powell plays at PF next to Porzingis and guards Morris, that necessarily forces Doncic to defend Patrick Beverley (they won’t assign him to one of the stars), leaving Rick Carlisle in a position where he either has to move Hardaway Jr. back to the bench or put him at a major disadvantage defensively against Paul George.

From where I sit, the Mavs should probably start Doncic on Morris, Hardaway on Beverley, Porzingis on Zubac, and two of Richardson, Finney-Smith, and Kleber against George and Leonard. Kleber drew the Leonard assignment last season, and while Kawhi still had a strong series I thought that Maxi did as good of a job as anyone on Dallas’ roster. Then, the third defender, Brunson, and Powell should make up the core of Carlisle’s bench rotation. We should expect a sprinkling of spot minutes for other players as well, though: Trey Burke had a fantastic series against LAC last year with Brunson injured and is still with the team this year as an extra scoring option on the bench, former Clipper sharpshooter J.J. Redick joined the Mavs in a mid-season trade and figures to make an impact at some point, and Boban Marjanovic and Willie Cauley-Stein give the Mavs two completely different utility center options.

Sub-Plots

• Redemption: While Paul George’s body of work in the playoffs is dramatically underrated, there’s little doubt that he had a really, really bad series against Dallas last season–most notably in games 2, 3, and 4 (LAC lost games 2 and 4), where he averaged just 11 points and shot a cumulative 10 of 47 from the field. After a resounding bounceback in game 5, he revealed that being isolated in the NBA’s Orlando bubble had caused him mental health struggles that contributed to not feeling like himself on or off the court. PG hasn’t been shy about having a chip on his shoulder coming into this year, and after a stellar regular season campaign, this series is yet another important proving ground. I’ll say this: the upgrade from 2020 round 1 Paul George to normal Paul George would be more significant for LAC than having Porzingis back in the lineup will be for Dallas.

• Doc, Trez, and Boban: In a bit of foreshadowing, one of the Clippers’ most glaring weaknesses in their series against Dallas last year was, sure enough, Montrezl Harrell. Rick Carlisle (along with everyone else in the universe except for Doc Rivers, apparently) knew that Boban’s sheer size had a history of overwhelming the small but energetic and skilled Harrell, whose inability to step outside and hit jumpers led to general ineffectiveness against a guy 8 inches taller than him. It’s not even really Trez’s fault at that point. In the 65 minutes that Boban and Trez shared the floor last time around, the Mavericks won by 25 points. And remember Luka’s iconic game 4 buzzerbeater? (How could we forget?) One lost piece of context is that in that game, the Clippers had a 21-point lead… and lost Harrell’s 17 minutes by 19 points (Doc really never did learn from his mistakes). That won’t be a factor this time around.

• Big Zu: In this space 9 months ago, I asked “Can Zu stay on the floor?”, worried about Dallas’ floor-spacing bigs and Zu’s foot speed defending the pick and roll. But Zu was fantastic in the series, punishing Dallas on the offensive glass and walling off Doncic’s drive in help defense as Rivers smartly switched Zubac onto Finney Smith and encouraged him to leave the corner shooter and allow other Clippers to rotate when they forced Luka to kick the ball out. Consider the following:

• Grudge Match: The Clippers and Mavericks had a tense series last year, and both teams will definitely be ready to pick up right where they left off. In the meantime, Dallas gave the Clippers a historically embarrassing home loss. Plus, former Clipper J.J. Redick has since joined the Mavs, and even more notably, much-maligned former Maverick Rajon Rondo joined the Clippers. There’s bad blood here… but at least we won’t have to hear about how Doc Rivers paid for Seth Curry’s wedding every game of the series, with that pair united with Philadelphia this time around.

• Preview Podcast: Out tomorrow, we’ll have a special series preview episode of The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast with The Athletic’s Dallas Mavericks Beat Writer, Tim Cato. In the meantime, check out our season recap episode with voice of the Clippers Brian Sieman–it was a treat to get him on the show and he was wonderful, as always.

Clippers and Mavericks First Round Prediction: Clippers in 6

As much as we can get into the nitty gritty of who is going to guard whom, and what the rotations and strategies will be for each side, the ultimate reality of this series is that the Clippers are just the better, more talented, deeper team–just like they were last year. Each team has some reasons to feel like they’re stronger (George’s mental state + the removal of Doc/Trez vs the health of Porzingis, Powell, and Brunson), but the overall calculus doesn’t seem to have changed.

That said, Dallas is fully awake. After a slow 8-13 start to the season, they finished 34-17 and had won 12 of 15 to close the year (against a very soft schedule). They’re going to show up to STAPLES Center Saturday afternoon and punch first. The Clippers… just don’t feel there yet. Even as they won 17 of 20 from March 20th thru April 23rd, they did so with a rotating group of players (George and Leonard only played together in 9 of those 20 games). Serge Ibaka and Patrick Beverley both missed a huge swath of the season and only returned in the closing games. Neither has gotten much time at all alongside Rajon Rondo, who joined the team at the trade deadline. Beverley in particular has not looked like himself since returning to the team. The playoff rotation hasn’t gotten together and gone through a few battles intact yet. I think that as they round into form, they’ll drop one of the first two games in LA and then a second later in the series when an unstoppable Luka performance comes at the same time as a barrage of threes from the supporting cast. In fact, the Clippers winning games 1, 3, 5, and 6–just like last year–wouldn’t surprise me at all.

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2021 NBA Playoffs Series Preview: Clippers and Mavericks Meet in First Round
Lucas Hann

Led by the trio of Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Reggie Jackson, the L.A. Clippers (34-18) picked up their 20th win of the season against a Western Conference opponent, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 133-116 Tuesday. George played one of his best games of the season with 36 points, 5 assists and 6 threes. As the first Clipper off the bench, Jackson knocked down four triples while tallying 16 of his 23 points in the second half. Leonard flirted with a triple-double, putting up 29 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Norman Powell had a strong showing for Portland (30-20) with a team-high 32 points, while converting on 14 of 15 trips to the free throw line. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Trail Blazers game recap.

Summary

As might have been expected from two of the NBA’s elite offenses this season, both teams got off to a blazing start. At the game’s first stoppage nearly five minutes in, the Clippers carved out a 20-12 advantage with four triples en route to a perfect 9-for-9 shooting start. In his first minutes since March 11, Patrick Beverley reminded Clipper Nation why he’s so beloved with a steal and two threes to set the intensity for L.A. early. Aside from poor boxouts on Enes Kanter and a personal 11-point scoring run from CJ McCollum, the Clippers’ scorching offense overshadowed just about all other concerns. While Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac picked up some bad fouls early, Paul George dominated with four threes and 22 points (7-9 FG)—the most in the first quarter for a Clipper since March 2014. When all was said and done, the Clippers finished the opening frame ahead with a season-high 47 points compared to the Blazers’ 32.

The second quarter started off with more of the same as back-to-back 3-pointers from Leonard and Nicolas Batum swelled L.A.’s lead to 20 and prompted a quick Terry Stotts timeout. Moments later, the Clippers really started to dance as DeMarcus Cousins checked in for the first time for LAC. Boogie didn’t miss a step in his brief stint, hustling for a putback layup and knocking down a long corner two for his first pair of buckets. After trailing by as much as 26, however, Portland began to make its run. Down 36-62, the Blazers held the Clippers to 3 of 11 (27.3%) shooting from three, forced two costly turnovers and went to the line 12 times to salvage the halftime score 66-73 after a 30-11 run.

Battling out the Blazers 28-23 in the third, however, the Clippers recovered the momentum in dueling banjos fashion. After coming out cold as a pair of Beverley and Leonard early-shot-clock threes missed the mark, the Clippers fueled an 11-2 run by attacking the rim for three consecutive layups to go back up by 14. The Blazers then retaliated with a 12-0 run behind jumpers and free throws, which was met by the heroics of Reggie Jackson. Scoring in isolation, connecting with Batum on a nice give-and-go three and pitching in on the Frustrate Damian Lillard Committee with Rajon Rondo, Jackson and the Clippers led 101-89 through three.

In the fourth, the Blazers came within as much as seven with 9:37 left, but were denied by the combined 22 points of George, Leonard and Jackson the rest of the way.

Clippers vs. Trail Blazers Game Notes

• Switching Up the Minutes: As Lue folds Beverley, Rondo and Cousins into the mix, it’ll be interesting to see what this means for the younger guys as Zubac (24:01), Terance Mann (9:53) and Luke Kennard (3:18) took quite the minutes hit in this one.
• Successful Defensive Stand on Dame: After mentioning pre-game that he wanted his team to blitz Damian Lillard from the jump, Lue’s Clippers held the potential MVP candidate to 11 points on 2-for-14 shooting.
• Up Next: The Clippers will host the Phoenix Suns at Staples Center for their second matchup of the regular season Thursday, Apr. 8 at 7 p.m.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs. Trail Blazers Recap: PG Scores 36 in Big Win
Ralston Dacanay