Glancing at a field rating from his crew’s victory in opposition to New Orleans late Sunday night time, a glad smile crossed Tyronn Lue’s face.
“Zero makes an attempt from three for Valanciunas,” the Clippers’ coach mentioned, nonetheless studying the paper in entrance of him. “How ‘bout that?”
In three earlier matchups in opposition to the Clippers this season, Pelicans middle Jonas Valanciunas had operated at will, making 14 of his 30 three-pointers, even when his hazard behind the arc was on the scouting report. However Sunday, when the Clippers defeated the Pelicans 119-100 to clinch the West’s eighth-best file, Valanciunas was unable to interrupt free for a single three-point try.
To Lue, Valanciunas’ 0-for-0 line within the stat sheet represented a couple of matchup gone proper — it additionally mirrored the renewed affect of Paul George.
Within the three video games George has performed since coming back from an elbow harm that price him three months, Lue has observed an uptick within the crew’s defensive mentality, notably to start out video games. With 4 comebacks of 25 factors or larger this season, the Clippers have proved they'll deal with a late rally, but counting on resilience is a shaky method for postseason success, and George mentioned he challenged teammates upon his return in opposition to Utah to take the following step towards their playoff preparation by understanding the sport plan and being sharp in implementing it from the beginning.
When George backed up his problem by instantly ripping away the dribbles of Utah’s Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell, it started a trickle-down impact, teammates realizing they wanted to match George’s depth with the postseason looming.
“Particularly in our first sport in opposition to Utah, first quarter he had just a few steals to start out the sport, just a few strips, once you see your No. 1 man go onerous like that on protection you’ve bought to observe the lead,” middle Ivica Zubac instructed The Occasions. “And that’s it. PG’s our chief on the market and he’s diving for the balls, he’s giving 100% effort every possession. There’s nothing else you may actually do, you’ve gotta do the identical.”
The Clippers (39-40) broke open Sunday’s win within the second quarter by holding New Orleans scoreless for almost 5 minutes and permitting simply 13 factors.
“Our protection hasn’t been nearly as good as we'd like it to be, however the previous few video games, we’ve been in a position to step our protection up, in order that’s been nice,” Lue mentioned.
In a season the place the Clippers have often performed short-handed, there have been nights once they did focus in however couldn’t maintain it due to jumbled rotations stuffed with gamers unfamiliar with each other. Reinserting George into the lineup “makes it simpler on everybody else,” Zubac mentioned.
“I really feel like we had been doing it earlier than however some nights we had been lacking guys and it was robust and typically we didn’t have sufficient,” he mentioned. “It simply didn’t present. Now with PG, we good.”
Greater than rejuvenating the Clippers’ defensive potential, it has additionally infused a confidence that belies their file. And with guard Norman Powell understanding on the Crypto.com Area courtroom earlier than tipoff Sunday within the newest step towards his restoration from a fractured foot bone, ahead Marcus Morris Sr. mentioned they don’t really feel like a typical eighth-seed. Ought to Powell and Kawhi Leonard, whose return has not been dominated out, come again, the Clippers would change into one of many postseason’s most fascinating groups.
They're already one of the crucial assured.
“We’re a assured group and we really feel we are able to match up and play and beat anyone,” George mentioned. “I feel it was simply robust for them going by way of that stretch with out me within the lineup. Like I’ve been saying it’s simply a variety of guys that needed to carry and tackle totally different positions, totally different roles and extra stuff on their plate that they needed to play by way of and provides.
“However I assumed they did an ideal job of managing our season up so far. However we’re a assured group and I feel me coming again undoubtedly offers our locker room simply extra of that assurance that we are able to put collectively one other nice postseason.”
The second-seeded Grizzlies have been a matchup nightmare for the Clippers all season with their bully ball model that punishes the Clippers contained in the paint. The Clippers have performed onerous in opposition to top-seeded Phoenix and draw confidence from taking the Suns to 6 video games in final 12 months’s Western Convention closing, regardless of taking part in with out Leonard and with Zubac and Morris hobbled and George, Reggie Jackson and Nicolas Batum operating on fumes.
The fluidity and lack of rust proven in George’s 34-point, four-steal efficiency in his first sport again from harm to spark a 25-point comeback in opposition to Utah shocked even teammates. Like their coach, the gamers mentioned they took it as an indication larger than just a few numbers in a field rating. If George had returned all-business, he would anticipate the identical from them with the postseason looming.
“Simply being a vet himself, and understanding how you can maintain his physique in the correct situation and understanding how you can keep mentally into it and being across the crew, that simply confirmed me he’s a pacesetter,” Morris mentioned.
And does that present added confidence coming into the playoffs?
“Hell yeah,” Morris mentioned. “Hell. Yeah.”
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