LA Clippers: 1 stud and 1 dud from home opener vs. Memphis Grizzlies

Paul George has been a straight menace for our LA Clippers this year.

In our season opener, George went for 29 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Not only that, but he hit clutch shots (including threes) to continue to keep us in the game when the times got tough. He went 12 for 23 from the field and an incredible 5 for 11 from downtown.

He looked even better in our home opener Saturday night, drilling 15 of 25 shots. Another five of those were threes, going five for 12 from deep. He had an absurd line of 41 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and another two steals.

The Clippers lost their home opener to the Grizzlies, but PG13 gave us much to marvel at. He’s been a walking highlight reel on both sides of the ball so far this season, and has proven himself to be an MVP candidate as long as we can start flipping some of these games to wins. Not everything went as smoothly as we would have liked for the rest of the team, however.

The LA Clippers could not contain Ja Morant in their home opener on Saturday night.

Paul George put on a show for the LA Clippers, but Ja Morant dominated the Clips. It’s the second time in a row that the Clippers have been absolutely gashed by a star point guard.

Morant put up 28 points on 10 of 19 shooting, and had eight assists and a steal to go along with that scoring.

This was just one game after Steph Curry went beast mode on LA for 45 points on 16 of 25 shooting (8 of 13 from three). Curry even had a perfect quarter in that game, scoring 25 points on nine of nine shooting (five for five from behind the three-point line).

The stud that we saw from the game was George. He was everything we could have hoped him to be. The dud, however, was our continued inability to contain opposing star point guards.

The Clippers have good personnel, but clearly need a game plan adjustment to find ways to stop these great guards. Facing off against Damian Lillard in two of their next three games, the Clips will need to make the adjustments fast.

If there’s anyone who’s proven that they know how to make necessary changes to be successful from game to game, however, it’s nobody other than Clipper Head Coach Ty Lue.