The LA Clippers Addressed Some of Their Problems Vs. OKC
It wasn’t always pretty, but the LA Clippers took care of business against the Oklahoma City Thunder by a final score of 108-100. Everything wasn’t peachy keen, but some of the questions we’ve had about the team had answers in this game.
The true title contenders can win in a variety of ways, and until recently the anatomy of a Clippers win has been pretty similar each game. Shoot the lights out from deep, struggle to defend and have the starters clean up when the bench gives up a lead.
Against OKC, the LA Clippers played a different game than usual.
To start, the LA Clippers won a second consecutive game in which they didn’t shoot well from three. After leading the league in three point percentage despite only shooting 35 threes a game, the Clips pulled out the Uno Reverse card on that stat. They hoisted 46 shots from deep against the Thunder but only hit 30% of them.
Despite that, they found ways to attack the basket and create shots in the midrange to keep the offense flowing. Part of that was the great performance from their bigs – another issue for them early in the season.
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Serge Ibaka and Ivica Zubac combined to shoot 12-14 from the field, putting up a combined statline of 27 points and 17 rebounds; Zu added 2 blocks and Serge hit both of his attempts from deep.
You tell me going into our game that we’re gonna get a super efficient 27/17 with quality defense from our center position, and I’m putting my money on a win. Sure enough, that was the case today. And it was needed; in another departure from the norm, Paul George was not an effective player today.
These are the times you want that to happen, though, if it’s going to happen. Overcoming a rough performance from one of our superstars now gives the LA Clippers more confidence in an important game that they’ll be able to do the same.
Not everything was addressed, of course. A lead that was as big as 17 at times would also decay to 5 in the third quarter, before Kawhi Leonard took over with 7 straight points. Putting teams away and holding onto leads is going to be an important thing for the LA Clippers to work on.
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The Clippers will face off against the Hawks next, and you hope to see these positive improvements continue as the Clippers push ahead into the season.