What we learned from the LA Clippers’ loss to the Utah Jazz
LA, unsurprisingly, struggles without its stars
The LA Clippers have been one of the best teams in basketball so far this season, reaping the rewards of having one of the best players in the league on the roster. Before Wednesday night’s contest against the Utah Jazz, the Clippers had the best offense in the Association, and a lot of that has to do with what Kawhi Leonard has been able to achieve in the early goings of the year.
Through his first four games with the Clippers, Leonard has averaged 27.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the floor. The points, while expected, are currently a career-high. His high number of assists weren’t anticipated though, and they seem to be here to stay.
Leonard has been a phenomenal playmaker thus far and has already registered a new career-high for assists in a game twice — he logged nine against the Golden State Warriors and 10 against the Phoenix Suns two night later.
It’s not surprising, then, that the Clippers would struggle on the offensive end without Leonard on the floor.
LA’s 96-point performance marked the first time they were held under 100 points all season. They didn’t run a lot of plays, and the lack of a shot creator — outside of Lou Williams — didn’t help the team achieve any sort of consistency on the offensive side of the floor.
That said, the Clippers did get some solid contributions from JaMychal Green and Ivica Zubac.
Green, who may well be one of the league’s most underrated signings of the summer, poured in 23 points on a career-high 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range and grabbed eight rebounds as well. The 29-year-old big is now shooting 15-of-23 from deep, or 65.2 percent. That number is far from sustainable, but Green will remain a threat from range all season long.
Zubac was able to hold his own against one of the league’s best centers in Rudy Gobert, recording eight points, eight rebounds, an assist and two blocks in just under 18 minutes of play. It’s also worth noting that he connected on all four of his field goal attempts, which isn’t easy to do against someone as defensively sound as Gobert.
So is this loss, which came against the league’s best defensive team and was played without either of the Clippers’ two stars, something to worry about?
Not even close.