The LA Clippers and Utah Jazz just played a heck of a Game 1, and look poised for a great Western Conference Semifinals series.
In the regular season vs. the Jazz, the Clippers were 1-2. One of those losses was with both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard not playing, but in the two games with both of them on the court, they could’ve been better.
They also could’ve been better in Game 1, where the two of them struggled on offense.
The LA Clippers can’t afford bad shooting nights from Paul George and Kawhi Leonard if they are to win this series.
In the first game of this season between the LA Clippers and Utah Jazz, the Jazz won by 6.
Unlike the first game of this playoff series, Donovan Mitchell struggled, scoring just 15 points on 6 of 14 shooting, and making just 3 of 10 three-point shots. Mike Conley, who didn’t play Tuesday night, hit 11 of 20 shots (7 of 14 from three) on his way to a 33-point performance.
Conley will be someone the Clips will have to look out for when he returns to the series. He also shot well in his other game vs. the Clippers this year, where he hit 5 of 11 shots, and two threes out of five attempts.
Conley wasn’t a world beater, he totaled 7 assists in his two games vs. the Clippers. He shot the ball well though, so the Clippers need to take care of business when he’s out there. That’s where Patrick Beverley can make his mark on the series.
Going back to the first regular season game between the Jazz and Clippers, Paul George was 6 of 22. His 5 threes out of 13 three-point attempts wasn’t too shabby, but only hitting one out of his remaining nine field goal attempts was a problem.
His performance in Game 1 of this playoff series was eerily similar. He went 3 of 8 from beyond the three-point line, which again, isn’t bad at all. But, he once again went 1 of 9 on his remaining field goal attempts, which hurt the team.
Leonard struggled in that first regular season matchup too, going 8 of 19. In Tuesday’s game, he was a disappointing 9 of 19 (one for four from three). George and Kawhi struggling on offense in the first game of this playoff series led Ty Lue to have to leave Luke Kennard in the game even when he was struggling on defense.
If Kawhi and PG were better on offense, Lue wouldn’t have been forced to keep Kennard in the game when Mitchell was eating him up. He couldn’t rely on George and Leonard offensively on Tuesday and that was a problem.
In the third regular season game between the Clippers and Jazz this year, the Clippers won, but George and Leonard still had off days.
George was 6 of 14 from the field and one for four from three. Kawhi put up 29 points, but was 10 of 24 from the field and 0 for 4 from beyond the arc. They won, but they’re capable of so much more efficiency on offense.
It’s something to look out for, because it needs to be different if they want to win this series. Game 1 of this series proved how important it is for those two to be at their best.
It was a tough loss, but the Clippers were one made shot away from sending it to overtime. If the Clippers could get their two stars shooting just a little bit better, it’ll be a different story for the remainder of the series.