Coach Doc Rivers has spent the better part of the past year planning for this moment. His LA Clippers entered the 2019-20 season with legitimate championship aspirations for the first time. So what if it took a nearly five-month detour from early March to the July 30 season restart to get this point?
The goal remains the same for the Clippers, who boast the league’s deepest and most complete roster led by reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and All-NBA swingman Paul George. That depth and star power are reasons why none of what has transpired the past 12 months matters much from this point on. The measure for these Clippers comes now, in a delayed postseason that contains a simple pass-or-fail edict.
Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis have the makings of one of the NBA’s best dynamic duos. They are an international pair of young talents, the likes of which the NBA has not seen working together this well so early in their careers. Doncic is already the brilliant conductor of the most efficient offense in NBA history, while Porzingis is a matchup nightmare for big men. Coach Rick Carlisle has blended a supporting cast beautifully around his two young stars. Yet for all the promise, the Mavericks seem to be slightly ahead of schedule.
With two win-now behemoths in Los Angeles and an equally if not more dynamic duo potentially down the road in Houston come the West semifinals, now might not be the time for the Mavericks to crash the Western Conference playoff party.
Three things to watch
1. Can the Clippers find roster continuity? While some teams used the seeding games to polish things and get their playing rotation into rhythm, the Clippers dealt with more of the injuries and player unavailability that plagued their overall season. Rivers had his full roster intact for all of seven games before the hiatus, and that was seven more than he had his full roster available during the seeding games portion. Super subs Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, who both missed time while tending to personal matters, won’t need much runaway to get back to normal. For all the talk about who hasn’t been available throughout the course of this season, Rivers will have some tough decisions to make about who fits into this series’ playing rotation.
2. Is Doncic ready for his first NBA playoff showcase? Doncic is prepared for the playoff burden, especially given the high level he performed at in Europe before he entered the NBA. You don’t go from a resounding Kia Rookie of the Year to legitimate Kia MVP candidate in the span of two seasons without being capable (and fully aware) of the terrain ahead. It’s foolish to think he’ll wilt in the face of pressure from a Clippers team that boasts elite perimeter defenders and two-way superstars in Leonard and George. If his eight-game bubble performance (he averaged 30.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game) is any indication, Porzingis is primed for a breakout postseason showing of his own. And that would certainly ease some of the pressure on Doncic.
3. Can the Clippers handle the higher expectations? From Williams’ exit to social media beefs with Damian Lillard to various family issues some players had to deal with, the Clippers have endured an entire postseason’s worth of drama of late. It’s fair to question whether or not they have the mettle to grind through until The Finals in October. Few coaches are better equipped to handle it the way Rivers and his staff will. But there is no mistaking the raised expectations the Clippers are facing. As the No. 2 seed, this is their highest seed since the playoffs expanded to 16 teams in 1983-84.
The number to know
12.7 — The Clippers were 12.7 points per 100 possessions better with Kawhi Leonard on the floor (plus-12.2) than they were with him off the floor (minus-0.5) this season. That was the second biggest on-off differential among players who played at least 1,000 minutes. In the restart (with Montrezl Harrell missing most of the Clippers’ eight games), Leonard’s on-off differential was more than 30 points per 100 possessions. In the season series, the Clippers outscored the Mavs by 38 points in 103 minutes with Leonard on the floor, while Dallas was a plus-5 in 41 minutes with Leonard off the floor. Paul George missed one of the three meetings and the Clips didn’t fully stagger the minutes of their stars (so that George was on the floor whenever Leonard stat) in the other two. That could be different in the playoffs.
— John Schuhmann
The pick
Wicked defense versus breathtaking offense usually results in compelling basketball, for as long as both sides can hold up. The Clippers swept the regular-season series, 3-0, but the contrast in styles should prove to be as entertaining as any first-round series this postseason. Don’t let Leonard’s quiet nature fool you: He is on a mission to prove he’s the league’s best player and is eyeing his third title with a third team and back-to-back Finals MVPs. He leads a rugged crew on the same championship mission, a group confident that they have what it takes to keep owner Steve Ballmer dancing through mid-October. Doncic and the Mavericks are good enough to make this an entertaining series. But the Clippers’ playoff gear will prove to be more than the upstart Mavericks can handle. Clippers in 5.
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Sekou Smith is a veteran NBA reporter and NBA TV analyst. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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