Subscribe
Follow Us
LOS ANGELES – The L.A. Clippers have won four of the last six games to close out December, but rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is struggling with what most rookies struggle with at one point or another: consistency.
Gilgeous-Alexander has scored in double figures almost every other game over the last month of the season. Over his last 16 games, SGA has seven games of 10 or more points, none consecutively, as well as nine games with nine or fewer points in between.
In addition to the shooting struggles, Gilgeous-Alexander is not allowing himself to get off to good starts by getting into early foul trouble. Against both the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, he threw himself off his game by committing two early, first quarter fouls and sitting on the bench sooner than expected, throwing off his game.
Head coach Doc Rivers says he's not worried about the rookie's struggles, however, as the team heads into 2019 with a 21-15 record.
“I think he's just struggling,” said Rivers. “He’s playing hard, he’s working on his game, he’s doing all the right things, but he has struggled. He needs help. He doesn’t know his way out of the woods yet. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what the coaches and the players try to do.”
Ironically, as Rivers was answering this exact question prior to the Clippers' final practice of 2018, we took a look in the direction of Gilgeous-Alexander standing near-mid-court and there was Sam Cassell, Sindarius Thornwell, and Ty Wallace, guys he was working out with, staying in his ear.
“Every second, just glanced to see, I could guarantee someone is talking to him. Every second, you see someone is talking to Shai. The great part about him is he listens. I was probably better in some ways because I was hardheaded enough to be like, ‘OK, whatever.' But Shai doesn’t and that’s probably good.
“He'll find his way overall.”
Over his last two games, Shai is 4-of-11 from the field; over his last four, he's 11-of-25. Confidence has never been an issue for him, but this is the NBA, and guys are going to struggle some nights. That's a fact Rivers has come to terms with in his nearly 20-year career as an NBA coach.
“I don't worry about many offensive guys. I never have… It'll come at some point, but one thing I'm afforded from coaching for a long time is I know they're human. They don't make shots every night.
“It has to be some confidence. I don't actually know that for a fact, but if you're missing shots, I don't care who you are, you [know] you're missing shots. And if you don't, then someone's going to tell you that you're missing shots. There's always got to be a little bit of that involved. I don't care how good you are. I think the better you are, the less you lose your confidence, probably, but that's always a factor.”
The road for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Clippers doesn't get any easier as they begin 2019 against Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and the Philadelphia 76ers on New Year's Day.
