LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Clippers decided to hang back inside their locker room and avoid watching LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate their 2020 NBA championship. Then, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the Clippers sent a message to their crosstown rival.
The Clippers defeated the Lakers 116-109 to open the 2020-21 NBA season, leading wire-to-wire en route to their first win of this unique 72-game season. Paul George poured in a game-high 33 points on 13-of-18 shooting from the field. Kawhi Leonard added 26 points for LA. On the other end, LeBron James scored 22 points, dished five assists, and grabbed five rebounds, while Anthony Davis scored 18 points for the Lakers.
“I thought it was great,” Paul George said after the win. “I thought we got great shots. Time after time, we got the shots we wanted. Again, it's being aggressive, we put the ball on the ground and we attacked and we found the open man.”
Leonard and Serge Ibaka came out and led an effort that punched the Lakers in the mouth. Seven Clippers scored in the first quarter as they shot 70% and took a 39-19 lead after one quarter of play. Their lead, which was as much as 22 early, quickly disappeared in the second quarter as the Lakers fought back. By halftime, the Clippers' lead was just two points.
“We turned the basketball over, and they got out in transition,” Tyronn Lue explained. “I think they had 15 points off our 11 turnovers at halftime. That was one of our emphasis coming into the game, we have to take care of the basketball, don't let them get out in transition. Then I thought we got some good shots that we didn't make, and they were able to get out in transition and get some easy baskets.
“But overall, I thought we did a great job, only having five turnovers in the second half. And then also, only giving up eight offensive rebounds and Trez had four of those and anytime you keep AD to zero offensive rebounds we've done a pretty good job. So with their size, and their length, we wanted to do a good job on the glass, so we did that.”
Paul George's struggles have made their way throughout the basketball world over the last few months. When the Clippers needed him most last postseason, he struggled to knock down shots. This time, George stepped up to the plate and single-handedly carried the Clippers to victory.
With the Clippers clinging to a 77-76 lead with 2:27 remaining in the third quarter, George checked in for Kawhi Leonard and proceeded to score 12 straight points on 5-of-5 shooting to get the lead back up to double digits. He scored 26 of 33 points in the second half on 10-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from 3.
“This is him, I just think playing free, just playing his game,” Lue said. “We need him to do that, but then it's also good for us to be able to stagger him and Kawhi. He comes out early, when he comes back he's playing against those second unit guys. I mean, PG against second-unit guys is gonna be tough to handle so you know right now, a good win, a great Clippers win for us. But we got a lot more work to do to continue to keep building getting better, it's going to be a process. This is a good start for us.”
Reporter: “What did Paul George show you there in the second half?”
Ty Lue: “That he’s unstoppable.”#Clippers pic.twitter.com/bEsKSvdTv0
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 23, 2020
George mentioned that he has been wanting to take scoring and defensive pressure off Leonard. This was a good first step in that direction for the duo, who are still learning one another. Kawhi Leonard even defended Paul George when asked about his leadership in the big game.
“Just because somebody makes shots, it doesn't mean that they're a leader,” Leonard said. “You can’t just say that. Last year in the playoffs when he was missing shots, he was still talking, communicating, playing the right way, playing defense, they just didn’t fall for him. And tonight, his shots fell but obviously he is making my job easier by talking to people and like I said, giving instructions on missed assignments or if we are not running the plays right. You just can’t say a leader because you are making shots. I don’t think that’s fair.”
“Just because somebody makes shots, doesn’t mean they’re a leader. Last year when he was missing shots, he was still communicating, playing the right way, playing D, they just didn’t fall for him. You just can’t say a leader because you are making shots.”
– Kawhi on Paul George pic.twitter.com/CK8BMEX3af
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 23, 2020
Paul George had been hinting at a revenge season type of year. He's fully healthy and also returned to his trainer from his near-MVP season in 2018-19. That's bad news for the rest of the league if his troubles with consistency subside.
“Last year coming into the season I didn’t get a chance to have a summer to work out. I basically was inactive for about three months, three to four months with no basketball whatsoever. And so I just really got thrown into the mix when the season came around last year. I had all season to train, to get back on the floor, to move around and work on my craft so it’s different coming into this season.”
Newest additions Serge Ibaka and Nicolas Batum both started for the Clippers, while Luke Kennard came off the bench to provide playmaking and shooting for the second unit. Ibaka scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. Batum finished with just three points, but he had a team-high six assists and tied for the most rebounds with six. Kennard had four points, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals on 2-of-6 shooting.
In his first game since being pushed to the backup center spot, Ivica Zubac played very well, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds in 27 minutes for LA. Together, he and Ibaka formed a unique challenge for the Lakers to deal with.
“Zu is good,” Kawhi Leonard claimed when asked about the team's versatility at the center position. “He started all last year for us, throughout the regular season, the playoffs, he plays defense well. Zu does a great job of protecting the rim, making guys change their shots. He might not get a lot of blocks, but he’s trying to contest layups and dunks and putting his body in front of point guards, whoever is driving the ball into the paint. That’s big for us to have a guy like that coming off the bench.
“Serge is doing a good job too. The past decade, he was a leading shot blocker. That’s a bit underrated right there. A lot of people don’t know that. He is a good rim protector, a good big that can stretch the floor, very focused out there. It is going to go a long way and we just want to keep building off of that.”
Tuesday's game between the Lakers and Clippers marked the fifth straight game in the last two years that LeBron James has really struggled to find his shot in this matchup. In five games, James is averaging just 21.4 points on 37.5 percent shooting from the field and 26.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Up next for the Clippers is a Christmas Day date with the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City. Denver defeated the Clippers in the 2020 Western Conference Semifinals and did their job in preventing the highly anticipated Clippers-Lakers showdown.
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