The Clippers won a thriller against the Lakers on Friday, and couldn’t have done it without the services of Marcus Morris Sr. and Serge Ibaka.
So far in the season, those two hadn’t been playing their best ball since they came back from injury. Morris came into the contest averaging just 8.3 points per contest, and 3.5 rebounds per game. He was shooting 24.1% from three, after finishing with the second-best three-point percentage in the game last year (47.3%).
He was converting on an awful 32.2% mark on field goal attempts. As for Ibaka, he hadn’t been much of a factor in the games he had played in; averaging just 13.1 minutes per contest. Scoring 4.5 points per game, 3.3 rebounds per game, 0.4 blocks per game, and shooting 34.2% from the field, he wasn’t the Ibaka we’re used to.
The two of them flipped that script in major ways against the Lakers.
Serge Ibaka and Marcus Morris Sr. got the job done for the LA Clippers against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Serge Ibaka and Marcus Morris Sr. needed to return to form if the LA Clippers wanted to beat the Los Angeles Lakers. And as for Ibaka, he certainly passed the test. He, Ivica Zubac, and Isaiah Hartenstein put together a really good center rotation for Clip City, and Ibaka his all three triples he took.
He was a major reason as to why the Clippers shot at an elite level. They shot 50.6% from the field, and 45.7% from deep.
Someone else who was great beyond the arc? Morris. Morris was six for nine from behind the three-point line, seven for 12 from the field, and hit the lone free throw he took.
He looked like the sharpshooter we all know and love. And he did it at the most important time too. In a 116-113 ballgame with seven seconds left, Morris hit the dagger from three to put the Lakers away:
MARCUS MORRIS DAGGER! pic.twitter.com/cocRyCvF3F
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 4, 2021
119-115 was the final, and the Clippers proved that they are indeed the best team in LA again.
Even more remarkable, they’re doing this without Kawhi Leonard back from injury yet. If the Clippers continue to get performances like this from role players like Morris and Ibaka, they’ll be a tough team for anyone to beat. That needed to start with a huge, much-needed victory against the crosstown Lakers.