LA Clippers Grades: Sloppy shooting vs. Utah outweighed by great defense
Bigs – A
The second-best player on the court for the Clippers last night was none other than Montrezl Harrell. Yet again his hustle led to points and the Jazz had no answer. Yes, it helped that Rudy Gobert stayed in foul trouble most of the game, but Trezz took advantage. He was very efficient in scoring, most notably going 5 of 8 from the free-throw line.
Defensively, he took two charges and recorded a block. He also pulled down eight rebounds. What’s even more astounding though is that six of those eight were on the offensive end. If he keeps this play up all season, Trezz is going to get PAID this summer.
JaMychal Green finished the night with 12 points, six rebounds, and one assist. He didn’t shoot particularly well, but his presence was felt on the court. He was a plus thirty on the night, which (other than Trezz) was an extreme outlier. Green will probably see more minutes over Patrick Patterson once Paul George returns to the court and deservedly so.
Speaking of Patterson, he was scoreless for the second game in a row. His start to the season had a lot of us hoping that he had found his shooting stroke, but apparently he is regressing to the mean. Stats wise, he had one rebound, one assist, one turnover, and a foul. Not a lot of positives here last night.
https://twitter.com/LAClippers/status/1191184358658363392
The unsung hero of the night was Ivica Zubac. He came out of the gate hot, scoring eight of his eleven points in the first quarter. The young center looked unafraid of Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and continually attacked him, which led to Gobert being in foul trouble. Zu added in nine rebounds, a steal, a block, and even an assist. So far in this young season, he has looked like a starting-caliber center and fans are already vocal about him getting more than his 18 minutes per game.
That’s a tough decision, however, as he and Trezz never play together. More minutes for Zu ultimately means less for Trezz who has been the better player. Still, when the team needs size, it’s nice to see that Zubac can be relied on.
Next. What we learned from the LA Clippers comeback versus Utah. dark
The LA Clippers are off today and tomorrow as they prepare for Giannis Antetokoumpo and the Milwaukee Bucks to visit on Wednesday in the first game of a back-to-back. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and to check back here for all your coverage of that game and more!