LA Clippers Takeaway #3: The Big Man Rotation Looks Solid
The LA Clippers have now faced two of the absolute best bigs the NBA has to offer in Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic. I’m not going to imply any nonsense about the Clippers “stopping” those guys; they’re so good that there really isn’t a “stopping” them.
But our rotation of Ibaka and Zubac, with the occasional Patrick Patterson sighting at the 5, has held its own. Jokic had 24/10/9 (again, I’m not gonna pretend they stopped him), but he also had 5 turnovers and was a game-low minus 20. Conversely, Ibaka was a plus 10 and Zubac was a plus 9.
The most noticeable effect our bigs had on Jokic was that he had to work for his production at all times. He couldn’t take it easy and score at will, like we saw when Montrezl Harrell was tasked with guarding him for far too long in the playoffs.
He also was only 1-4 from three. In the playoffs against the Clippers, he shot 5.4 threes per game and made 39.5 percent of them. He’s already deadly enough in all other aspects of offense, the Clips can’t let him shoot a ton of threes at a high percentage too. Having a big rotation that can defend his three ball is huge.
When we’re on offense, all of our big men can punish Jokic and make him work. Ibaka went 6-9 and Zu went 2-2 (but shot 11 free throws). Both Serge and Ivica can work in the pick and roll / pick and pop game and make Jokic uncomfortable. On the whole, we’ve got to feel good about how our bigs look after two games.
What were your takeaways from this game? How do you feel about the Clippers this early in the season? Let us know on social media, and keep following along here on Clipperholics!