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Look at how easy this looks. Harden gets the ball up top and obviously you gotta have a guy next to him. Also you gotta cover Kawhi in the corner, PG of course, and the big man down low, so the spacing is great.
Russ sets a screen for Leonard to curl down the middle, and as we let it roll, Brunson is indecisive and doesnt switch, the help is late and we got the dunk.
Again, on the high screen, Robinson has to come out because of the shooting threat from James, so you know that Harden is gonna blow by him forcing the help to step in.
And that’s exactly what happens here as the beard finds Kawhi in the corner all alone and he knocks it down.
But despite everything looking so simple and unstoppable for LA, they still lost the game.
And there were some issues that we need to point out. First, the good things.
Harden is a master in the pick and roll. He already has the chemistry with Zubac.
Early on in the game, James finds him with this sick pass between Robinson’s legs, and the Clippers get some free throws out of it.
Seeing that this works fine, moments later he goes for it again, and this time it ends with a bucket.
Harden had a solid game as he didn’t try to force anything. 17 and 6 on 66% from the field.
You see all the attention that he draws on the pick and roll, kind of making the defense fall asleep here and completely overlook Norman Powell who just slides along the three point line and is wide open for this shot which of course goes down.
James actually spent a lot of time with some of the bench guys, which to me was a surprise since I thought that the best thing for the Clippers would be to have Westbrook out with the second unit.
And this is how we get to some of the issues in that starting lineup.
At times things just looked too stagnant with Russ and Harden taking turns 1 after the other on who has the ball in his hands.
And there are possessions where Kawhi and PG, literally the 2 best shot makers and scorers for this team, are on the side just watching them dribble.
Paul George was 2 for 11 in this game and some of it was because of forced up shots looking like PG was saying- okay it’s my turn to shoot now.
There was some movement on like 2-3 plays where Westbrook set some screens, but before you even try to tell me that this looks good, just listen:
The stagnant play when either guy is off the ball has been an issue ever since their time in Houston, so I’m afraid that it’s going to be the case here as well.
These 4 guys spent just 19 minutes together, and scored just 37 points on 39 possessions. Their offensive rating of 95 points per 100 possessions would be dead last.
On defense they gave up 47 points on 39 possessions with a defensive rating that would also be dead last.
And I get it, I shouldn’t be overreacting after just 1 game, but seeing the same issues coming back to bite them is telling, and the Clippers have some work to do if they want to be a contender, instead of just relying on the big names that they’ve acquired.
I actually warned you guys about this, and predicted all the good stuff that it could open up for Philly. It’s all in this video so check it out. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.