Even though Jayson Tatum and his teammates have taken off at the top of the NBA standings, the Celtics have not been the fittest team in the league since December 1st. Over the period, no one has a better winning record than the Clippers. The California franchise won 80% of its games (28 wins – 7 losses) with the most dangerous offense in the NBA, in first place in Offensive Rating over the period. After a more than sluggish start, the trio Kawhi Leonard – Paul George – James Harden now seems on the same wavelength.
After starting the Harden era with five straight losses, Tyronn Lue reviewed his plans, and his leaders with them. Russell Westbrook sacrificed himself, and after some serious trial and error, Los Angeles now knows what his identity should be. With four players used to holding the ball, responsibilities had to be shared.
“ Everyone sacrificed themselves.”explained Paul George at NBC Sports on the sidelines of All-Star Weekend. “ But that wasn't something we had to ask. We knew what we had to do. »
More general efficiency
“ It's just constant communication »said Tyronn Lue in comments reported by the Los Angeles Times this Thursday. “ I think these guys talk a lot, they interact a lot with each other. Just talking about how they want the ball, how they want to run the systems, how they see different things. And when you have three players like that – four with Russ – it's very important that they talk and communicate and understand that the sacrifice is going to be important if you want to get to the next level. And I think they did a good job in that regard. »
Very good work indeed. The plan is quite simple, the scorers are Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, while James Harden takes care of being the conductor of the band.
Kawhi Leonard thus went from 21.9 points at 47.4% shooting before December 1, to 25.4 points with exceptional percentages (55.9% shooting, including 49.3% at 3-points!) after. Paul George certainly lowered his points average – from 23.2 to 21.9 – but by increasing his efficiency: from 44.2% to 46.7% shooting, and from 37.5 to 40.3% at 3-points. As for James Harden, more and above all better involved, he saw all his numbers explode, while seriously limiting his lost balls (9.2 assists for only 2.7 turnovers).
One goal in mind
“ It's just about understanding who we are.”, details the former leader of Houston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. “ I run the show, in the sense that I know what systems to call, how much time is left in the game and on possession, who hasn't had a shot… 'T-Lue' does a great job of helping me on that. It varies every game and that suits us well. We have a balance on what makes sense game by game, and it's something beautiful to see. » « We know we have something special » even says Paul George.
The Clippers stars are in total synergy, and the whole team benefits. To the point of reestablishing itself as a very serious contender for the title while the lead in the West is only two victories away. And Paul George assures him, the major Californian quartet has only one goal in mind. “ We made money, we had recognition and awards, now we just want to win. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Kawhi Leonard | 48 | 34.3 | 52.7 | 45.3 | 89.1 | 1.2 | 5.0 | 6.2 | 3.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 24.1 |
| Paul George | 50 | 33.7 | 45.8 | 39.3 | 91.0 | 0.5 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 3.6 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 22.5 |
| James Harden | 48 | 34.6 | 45.0 | 42.1 | 87.4 | 0.4 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 8.4 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 17.5 |
| Norman Powell | 53 | 25.2 | 49.5 | 45.3 | 84.3 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 13.4 |
| Ivica Zubac | 43 | 26.5 | 65.6 | 0.0 | 66.4 | 3.1 | 6.4 | 9.5 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 11.9 |
| Russell Westbrook | 53 | 23.2 | 46.3 | 28.1 | 66.1 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 11.4 |
| Terance Mann | 47 | 24.9 | 46.0 | 30.1 | 75.9 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 7.4 |
| Mason Plumlee | 23 | 17.6 | 65.5 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 1.5 | 4.3 | 5.8 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 6.5 |
| Daniel Theis | 39 | 17.0 | 54.1 | 42.1 | 72.1 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 6.3 |
| Amir Coffey | 41 | 17.9 | 56.2 | 45.0 | 89.1 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 6.3 |
| Bones Hyland | 19 | 13.2 | 36.7 | 31.3 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 6.2 |
| Kj Martin | 2 | 15.7 | 40.0 | 20.0 | 50.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 |
| Bj Boston, Jr. | 16 | 7.4 | 37.9 | 30.0 | 91.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.8 |
| Robert Covington | 3 | 23.1 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 3.0 |
| Moussa Diabate | 10 | 5.8 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
| Nicolas Batum | 3 | 18.0 | 37.5 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2.7 |
| Jordan Miller | 5 | 4.2 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 2.2 |
| Joshua Primo | 1 | 5.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Kobe Brown | 32 | 8.7 | 37.1 | 30.8 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.8 |
| Pj Tucker | 12 | 14.4 | 28.6 | 27.3 | 100.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 1.2 |
| Xavier Moon | 2 | 5.8 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
