Finishing fifth in the Western Conference is the assurance of facing the Suns in the first round of the playoffs. Challenging Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul, without home advantage, is clearly not a gift.
Still, that’s the path the Clippers seem to be taking. Tyronn Lue and his band could have dropped the game against Portland on Saturday night, like the one against the Suns this Sunday, to try to slip to sixth place and finally cross swords with Sacramento.
But no, Los Angeles will play seriously since Kawhi Leonard will be in uniform this evening, when Monty Williams will most likely do without his stars, before finding the Clippers in Phoenix, for Game 1, next weekend.
“If you don’t respect the game, the basketball gods will make you pay for it”assures the coach at Los Angeles Times. That’s why Lue woke up his players at the break against the Blazers’ C team. The Clippers were trailing and had conceded 70 points…
“There were a lot of insults…”, Lu says. “We have to be professional in our approach and we realized that our first half was not good. We didn’t play well. The players reacted in the third quarter. »
In addition, winning this match, then perhaps the one against Phoenix today, is also preparing for the first round of the playoffs as well as possible.
“We are a team of veterans and we know what type of basketball we must practice, at what level we must evolve. It’s about being focused,” assures Norman Powell. ” I’m confident “, adds Kawhi Leonard. “We have to be optimistic, we know where we are. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Paul George | 56 | 34.6 | 45.7 | 37.1 | 87.1 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 5.1 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 23.8 |
| Kawhi Leonard | 50 | 33.7 | 51.4 | 42.3 | 87.1 | 1.1 | 5.2 | 6.3 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 23.7 |
| Norman Powell | 58 | 26.0 | 47.6 | 40.4 | 81.5 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 16.7 |
| Russell Westbrook | 19 | 30.0 | 48.5 | 33.3 | 65.2 | 1.1 | 3.6 | 4.7 | 7.6 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 15.1 |
| Eric Gordon | 20 | 25.4 | 48.1 | 44.9 | 84.2 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 11.5 |
| John Wall | 34 | 22.2 | 40.8 | 30.3 | 68.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 5.2 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 11.4 |
| Marcus Morris | 65 | 28.1 | 42.6 | 36.4 | 78.2 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 11.2 |
| Bones Hyland | 12 | 18.8 | 40.9 | 38.1 | 72.2 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 10.9 |
| Reggie Jackson | 52 | 25.7 | 41.8 | 35.0 | 92.4 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 10.9 |
| Ivica Zubac | 74 | 28.7 | 63.1 | 0.0 | 69.5 | 3.1 | 6.8 | 10.0 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 10.7 |
| Terance Mann | 79 | 23.1 | 51.9 | 39.3 | 79.3 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 8.9 |
| Luke Kennard | 35 | 20.7 | 46.4 | 44.7 | 95.0 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 7.8 |
| mason plumlee | 21 | 19.8 | 71.8 | 0.0 | 76.9 | 1.8 | 5.4 | 7.2 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 7.2 |
| Bj Boston, Jr. | 21 | 11.7 | 42.1 | 41.4 | 76.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 6.8 |
| Nicholas Batum | 76 | 21.9 | 42.0 | 39.0 | 70.8 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 6.2 |
| Robert Covington | 46 | 16.3 | 44.0 | 38.8 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 6.1 |
| Moses Brown | 34 | 8.5 | 63.5 | 0.0 | 45.8 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 4.6 |
| Amir Coffey | 49 | 12.7 | 38.6 | 27.5 | 77.8 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.5 |
| Jason Preston | 13 | 9.4 | 43.9 | 27.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.2 |
| Moussa Diabate | 21 | 9.2 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 62.5 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| Xavier Moon | 3 | 6.0 | 25.0 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 |
