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Howdy, folks. Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s your boy Sykes ushering you into the weekend. This time with a word on the Clippers.
The Clippers’ 122-91 loss to the Nuggets on Thursday night is absolutely the low point for LA’s season. The 31-point deficit is somehow not indicative of how lopsided that game was. Their stars didn’t even play in the 2nd half.
The Clippers looked listless throughout the game. Every problem they’ve had all season surfaced in one game. Their offense was too slow. They went dreadfully cold from deep, shooting 5 of 37. They weren’t healthy. And, most importantly, Kawhi Leonard didn’t look like himself at all in the 14 minutes he played.
And that’s the crux of the issue, right? Point guard is a popular issue to talk about with the Clippers. Reggie Jackson just doesn’t feel like the answer the Clippers have wanted for the last few years. And John Wall hasn’t stepped up to be the player the Clippers need him to be. Their offense still feels unorganized and slow. The Clippers are still mostly a jumpshooting team with no north-to-south rim pressure.
But none of that matters if Kawhi Leonard is Kawhi Leonard. If he’s the star that he was two seasons ago prior to tearing his ACL, then LA’s issues get pushed to the margins. Without him being that player, those issues become much larger.
But Leonard hasn’t even gotten an honest chance to be that player. He’s only played in 17 games this season so far and a chunk of that was been coming off the bench. He’s not close to being himself.
If he can’t get there, the Clippers’ season is over. Will it happen? Only time will tell. In the immediate future, there’s a possibility that he’ll play the second leg of a back-to-back for the first time this season on Friday night against the Timberwolves.
So there’s that, Clippers fans.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
NBA All-Star voting is here and, yes, it is completely ridiculous. My colleague, Cole Huff, picked out some of the most ridiculous selections from the first returns here.
Somehow, there’s no Julius Randle, for example. Which is completely ridiculous. And no Bam Adebayo or Domantas Sabonis? What’s going on, man.
But there’s one that has me bothered in particular. How is Tyrese Haliburton not a top 4 vote-getter in the East at the guard position? Not only that, but he’s behind Derrick Rose of all people. Fam. What is wrong with y’all?
Bryan Kalbrosky detailed this particular travesty. He nailed it.
“Rose has yet to exceed more than 13 points or 6 assists in a single game thus far. Haliburton, meanwhile, has already exceeded 13 points in 31 games and he has only failed to reach 6 assists in two of his 37 appearances.
Fans are presumably giving Rose some love as a legacy candidate, which makes sense. But let’s leave that to commissioner Adam Silver, who decided to name Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki as special team roster additions during their final seasons in 2019.”
Enough said.
I can’t imagine there are too many people out there who anticipated a potential NBA Finals matchup between the Nuggets and Cavaliers, but we’re here. The Nuggets might have the best player in the NBA in Nikola Jokic, but the Cavaliers have the league’s best defense statistically and two dominant bigs in the frontcourt with two dynamic guards. This is going to be a good one. And with the Nuggets coming off of a back-to-back, give me the Cavs +5.5.
Shootaround
— Jayson Tatum is teasing the release of his signature sneaker coming soon.
— Bones Hyland has the meme of the NBA season so far. Hands down.
—Klay Thompson has returned to his roots in the midrange and it’s working for the Warriors
—Anthony Davis is on the steady road to improvement for the Lakers
