In one of the biggest upsets of the night, the LA Clippers lost their third game in the bubble to the Brooklyn Nets. With no Paul George in the team, the Clippers were relieved that Kawhi Leonard was able to play after missing the previous game. But that wasn’t enough to prevent them from losing to the weakened Nets team, who are missing 4/5 of their starters in the bubble.
In the post-game interview, head coach Doc Rivers was asked, “What do you think about the level of your team so far going into the Playoffs? Are you satisfied?”
“I think we’ve been inconsistent,” Rivers replied. “We’ve had a lot of guys in and out. Obviously not the way you would plan on heading into the playoffs. But it is what it is. We just have to make the best of it. We’re hoping by playoff time we have our entire roster in the same state, that would be nice. Hopefully, we can find some kind of rhythm because right now we’ve been very inconsistent.”
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LA Clippers need to improve before playoffs hit
Out of the six games, they have played so far, they have won just thrice. They are struggling to find consistency like their rivals Lakers, who are currently 2-4 now. Their biggest problem so far has been the absence of Montrezl Harrell. They are missing his aggressiveness and have been forced to use only Ivica Zubac as the center after Joakim Noah struggled in his three games.
The first game they lost to the Lakers, they didn’t even have Lou Williams on the team. So that affected them offensively. But even after arriving in the team, he has looked like a shadow of himself. This could also be due to the fact that he missed two out of the three scrimmages due to quarantine.
The Clippers need more from their other players. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard can only do so much. They will also be expecting the Sixth man of the Year candidate, Harrell, to return soon so he can get at least one game of the bubble atmosphere instead of directly finding out in the playoffs.
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They next play against the Denver Nuggets, who also have had a mixed bag so far going 3-2.
Sources:
2019-20 Los Angeles Clippers Schedule and Results
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