With Kawhi Leonard out indefinitely with a potentially injured right ACL, three LA Clippers in particular will need to step up.
The LA Clippers are all tied up in their Western Conference Semifinal series at 2-2 with the Utah Jazz, and were really counting on the First-Team All-NBA selection to lead the team through the rest of the series.
‘Out Indefinitely’ doesn’t mean ‘Out for Season,’ but either way, the Clippers around Kawhi need to bear down and prepare to up their games.
No. 1 LA Clipper who needs to step up with Kawhi Leonard out: Paul George
Paul George has returned to ‘Playoff P’ for the LA Clippers in these past couple of games. In the two LA games of this series, George has averaged 31 points per game and he’s grabbed six rebounds per game.
He’s shooting a nice .477 from the field, and a deadly .500 from three. He can’t be stopped right now.
All PG needs to do is be that version of himself and the Clippers absolutely are still in this series.
George is making almost $35.5 million this year. This is a huge opportunity for him to earn it. PG has what it takes to carry a team.
Heck, he almost more-or-less carried the Pacers to a playoff series win vs. LeBron James in 2013. George is 31 now, and absolutely can and should be up for the challenge.
No. 2 LA Clipper who needs to step up with Kawhi Leonard out: Marcus Morris
Marcus Morris is going to have to be the Morris he was in Game 4 of this series offensively, and he needs to step up defensively if the LA Clippers want to win this series.
The Jazz have some pretty good offensive players on the wings if you haven’t heard. Jordan Clarkson just won Sixth Man of the Year, and Donovan Mitchell is a rising superstar who needs no other introduction.
In fact, Mitchell has been averaging an absurd 37.3 points per game while shooting a good .468 clip from the field and draining 45.1% of his three-point shots. He’s a lot to handle.
So, regardless of whether Morris is going to pick him up or not, a lot of the Clippers’ attention in general will be on Mitchell. Therefore, in whatever Morris’ assignments will be, he’ll need to be better with Kawhi out.
Kawhi isn’t there to help out with Mitchell and the Jazz offense runs through him. That means everybody will need to lock-in on defense, and that applies to Morris in particular as a veteran who’s one of the better defensive players on the team.
And offensively, he played great in Game 4, nailing 5 of 6 threes and finishing with an outstanding 24 points. Those types of performances need to happen more often than not if the Clips want to win this series. Morris is important.
No. 3 LA Clipper who needs to step up with Kawhi Leonard out: Terance Mann
Doesn’t it feel like Terance Mann is destined for a moment like this? He’s been knocking on the door of reaching that next level, and now he’s going to have a spike in his minutes.
T-Mann just hasn’t had the minutes to make the impact we all know he can make, as he’s only averaged 11.7 minutes per contest in this series. But, anyone who’s watched this series has seen how contagious his energy has been and has noticed that he does impact games beyond the box scores.
The Clippers are going to need good minutes from a two-guard who hasn’t played a ton in this series yet because PG can’t shoulder all of the load by himself.
There are going to be times where he needs rest, and to be able to bring in a high-energy guy like Terance Mann could be just the thorn in Donovan Mitchell’s side that the Clippers need.
At the end of the day, everybody’s going to have to step up. This is one of the deepest rosters in the NBA, and we’ve overcome injuries all season.
Losing a top-five player in this league in brutal, but the Clippers can do this if everybody can rise up to move past this obstacle.