The Los Angeles Lakers could win the 2020 championship, but the opening night clippers for the 2020-21 season were. The defending champions got their help just before the start, but their younger brothers at Staples Center took a break from the stellar Paul George outing with a 116-109 win. The superstar forward dropped 33 points to help the Clippers take the season-opener over the Lakers for the second consecutive season.
Almost all of last season’s games between these two teams were close. On Tuesday it wasn’t exactly. The Clippers took a 22-point lead in the first quarter, but the Lakers fought back in the second quarter and tied it in third. But George’s hot shooting was enough to seal the victory.
It fines the Lakers. With the advent of short-term se fisson in NBA history, they were very wary of their superstars. LeBron James played just 28 minutes, and Anthony Davis played 31. These teams should meet in the postseason, but at the current stage the Lakers are content to return to the season. The result was a victory for comfortable clippers. Here are three main takeovers from that win.
1. Primetime p
How many players can say that they have taken the court with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the poet Leonard and left them all behind? Paul George can now add his name to that list of potential survivors with his stellar-33-point performance. George not only managed to shoot 72 percent from the floor in front of the NBA’s best defense, but he did most of his damage in the second half of the 26-point.
Do all the jokes you want, but it’s no small feat. The Clippers advanced to a 22-point lead in the first quarter and will hit most of it in the second quarter. The whole internet is preparing their evolving lead jokes, and the storyline around this year’s Clippers would have started on a bad foot that ended last season. George, whose self-proclaimed “playoff P” nickname turned into a more distorted “epidemic P”, was a major factor in last season’s fall.
Tonight? He was the one who stopped the sequel. It’s not exactly like the playoff stage, but the open night in front of your archives, which is the defense champion, is no joke. Such games come with pressure, and George delivers. It remains to be seen whether he will do it again when the playoffs arrive, but he passed his first exam of the season with flying colors.
2. Slow and steady
Can you guess who led the Lakers in the minutes of the opening night? I believe you can’t, because he hasn’t even started the game. Montreal Herrell played 32 minutes, most of which is the entire team. It was somewhat coincidental in terms of the game. Mark Gasol picked up five fouls up in 12 minutes. Harel is the backup center. Of course, it will play a lot. But how many minutes does any backup lead his team to a game that closed in the third quarter?
It’s a rarity, but this condensed season is a must. LeBron James played only 28 minutes. Anthony Davis was not far ahead at 31. That will be the plan for the early part of this season. Why run on the ground when two of your best players won the championship just 73 days ago? The Lakers are working at a serious competitive disadvantage due to the short-term se fee. They are trying their best to compensate, and the results should be minimal. Why do the Lakers need a home-court advantage if their biggest rival shares their arena? How many playoff games have LeBron won anyway?
It does something racing on this win for the Clippers. The Lakers weren’t exactly trying. They are experiencing ease in the season and experimenting with new lineups as they try to integrate many new players. It’s not just right to move away from the way they’ve played because it will be very different when they play when it’s important. They lost a game they had no interest in winning. They are back at Christmas when Luca Donic and Mavericks arrive in town. But right now, the thing that really matters is the health of their two best players. They created it through Game 1 with Integrity.
3. Trust the numbers
The Clippers attempted 40 3-pointers on Tuesday. Last season, they went 9-1 in games in which they tried at least 40 3s. Surprisingly, they won again on Tuesday. If you have chosen the Clippers to win the championship, that number should prove to be very encouraging. The Doc Rivers lost their jobs as they blew a 3-1 lead, but the truth is that statistically speaking, they aggressively left the meat on the bone throughout the year. That 9-1 mark shows how good the Clippers were when they were shooting enough 3s. They were 14-1 when they took at least 38, and 27-5 when they took at least 34. This is not rocket science. Three is a bigger number than two, and the Clippers have a lot more players with the ability to make more 3s than allowed last season.
But Ty Lew gives his teams the green light. Both of his full asons at Cleveland ended with the top-five Cav Villiers for a 3-point effort. Serge Ibaka will add another layer of distance to the roster in place of the Montreal Herrell. That’s the best argument for the Clippers as a potential 2021 champion. Last season’s roster was poorly optimized on many levels. Liu is going to improve the biggest. The Clippers are just going to add a few free points by improving their shot-selection. Tuesday was proof of that.
