In January of this year, the Clippers started a series of crazy winning streak, and one of the keys was to let Paul George “release the ball.”Give up the side of yourself as a star, and no longer be the all-around forward in the 2021 playoffs. On the contrary, spend more energy on running positions and off-ball threats, and become the super shooter who can best liberate the Clippers’ sense of space.

When talking about Paul George’s peak moments with the Los Angeles Clippers, the iron-clad Superman in the 2021 playoffs can never be forgotten. After Kawhi Leonard fell, he averaged 29.6 points, 11 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. He was the Clippers’ only remaining scoring ace, core ball handler, and a key rebounder in the small-ball lineup. He played up to 41.6 minutes, across the sea and across the screen. You can feel the tired body. Despite this, George still led the Clippers to the only two victories in the Western Conference Championship Game in team history.

In the past two or three years, the Clippers have spent a lot of time waiting for Leonard to return from injury. This has also forced the Clippers, which is supposed to have a dual core, to rely on George, giving them a lot of ball rights that they have never had in their career, and pursuing a positionless basketball. Philosophy, the Clippers have long ignored the gap in point guards and allowed George to be the main ball handler. However, there is still a significant difference between being able to control the ball and being able to control the ball. Although he recorded a career-best 5.7 assists in the 2021-22 season, he also left a worst 4.1 turnovers. I once thought that the 2021 playoff version of George would return one day. With Leonard’s return and new players, it would be able to change the original George’s high turnover rate and physical exhaustion. But in fact, this may not be Paul George. The best way to use players.

After the trade deadline of the 2022 season, George was the first person to say that “the Clippers need a traditional ball handler.” Not only did he want to recruit his good brother Russell Westbrook, but more importantly, George also knew that he really We can’t continue fighting like this.

This season is not just Westbrook, the Clippers also welcome James Harden, the strongest point guard in team history after Chris Paul, finally freeing George from holding the ball as a substitute. He was supposed to be the beneficiary of the trade, but he was pulling out a lot of balls. Quan then began to adapt poorly. He tried to become a supporting role focusing on defense and rebounding, deliberately reducing his desire to take shots and his rhythm. As a result, in the first three games with Harden, he only hit 12 goals in 43 shots. Ty Lue was so angry that he yelled at him: “You “He’s not a glue player,” because the Clippers need George to understand that no matter what, he is one of the dual cores of this team and a player who should have unlimited shooting rights.

After only scoring 8 points against the Dallas Mavericks on November 11, George scored 26 points and 35 points respectively on the 13th and 15th of the same month. In January, the Clippers began to gradually figure out the winning formula, one of which was to let George “releases the ball.”

The Clippers finished 11 games and lost 3 in January, a record that was almost impossible to criticize, and jumped into the first half of the Western Conference. When everyone focuses on the chemical effect brought by Harden, they often ignore that during this period, the Clippers felt the hottest. Not Leonard, but George. He scored 24.3 points with a 49% shooting rate. He changed from a frequent ball-handling style in previous seasons to more like a Green Leaf shooter. He said goodbye to organizational work. His assists dropped to only 2.4 times in a single month, and 48% of his shots were 46.3% of the shots within two seconds were completely without dribbling (for reference: the proportion of zero dribble shots within two seconds in 2022-23 was about 30%), and the average number of touches per game dropped to 2019-20 A new low since the beginning of the year, only 56.5 times, and the past three seasons have been more than 68 times.

Judging from George’s usage rate this season, 26.7% is also the lowest since joining the Clippers. However, he has maintained an average of 22.2 points per game and created an effective field goal percentage of 55.1, which is second only to the 2020-21 season in his career. %. In addition, he also has a career-high two-point assist rate of 58.8% (excluding only 6 games due to injury in 2014-15 with the Pacers), which is much higher than the average of about 40% in the past few years. To put it simply, This season, George was so happy being fed the ball for the first time in his career.

Not holding the ball does not mean that George loses his scoring ability, but it opens up another offensive mode. When Harden takes the ball away, George can move more freely. As soon as the opponent chooses to double-team Leonard or tilt the defense too much to one side, George can immediately move over to absorb the defense for his teammates or use it to attack. Score points from outside. Not to mention other skills, at least in Catch & Shoot, his accuracy is top-notch. This season’s effective field goal percentage is 63.5%, ranking seventh in the league (the screening standard is more than 100 shots), only slightly behind Kevin Durant by about 0.4%. In the past, George complained that former Clippers head coach Doc Rivers always used him as Ray Allen, but with his shooting coordination, release height, speed and accuracy, every coach will definitely draw several sets of shooter tactics.

2024-03-05 14:58:29

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The Los Angeles Clippers will eventually encounter the familiar “injury” demon. First, Paul George was on and off the disabled list frequently due to knee and meniscus soreness in February. He finally returned to the team. However, the Clippers were caught with another scapegoat today. Russell Westbrook unfortunately broke his left hand while copying the ball. Watching the same plot over and over again makes me feel helpless and powerless.

The Los Angeles Clippers will eventually encounter the familiar “injury” demon. First, Paul George was on and off the disabled list frequently due to knee and meniscus soreness in February. He finally returned to the team. However, the Clippers were caught with another scapegoat today. Russell Westbrook unfortunately broke his left hand while copying the ball. Watching the same plot over and over again makes me feel helpless and powerless.

Although the expected time to return to the team has not yet been confirmed, judging from past experience, the same injury will require 4 to 8 weeks of recovery time. With good luck, Westbrook can return to the team during the regular season. If not, he will be on summer vacation. Westbrook is not only a fourth star, backup ball handler, but also the Clippers’ core leader in the lounge, small-ball center and best defender. These roles are impossible to find in Bones Hyland.

This season, Westbrook is no longer the ball-dominant ball-handler he used to be. He transfers all the ball rights to James Harden. He will be accustomed to lurking in the corner or Dunker Spot to wait for opportunities to make empty-handed cuts or support the second wave of offensive rebounds. The interesting data is that among all Westbrook’s shots this season, the proportion of empty-handed cuts (Cut) reached a career high of 6.9%. In previous years, it was only between 1-2%. He even had 6.5% of his goals coming from tip-ins. There were more than 30% of pick-and-roll offenses in his peak period, but now only 11.4% remain, averaging 1.4 times per game. Westbrook’s transformation and sacrifice not only solved the four-star ownership, but also was a key to the existence of the subsequent two-guard lineup with Harden.

Continuing the wonderful scene of guarding Devin Booker in Game 1 of the 2023 playoffs, Westbrook has put more focus on the defensive end this season, and it is not empty talk to say that it wants to compete in the defensive lineup. The DFG% is 43.5%, ranking first in the team. When opponents are marked by him, their shooting percentage will drop to 3.3% on average, ranking second in the Clippers behind Ivica Zubac. And beyond the data level, Westbrook is one of the few Clippers lounge leaders who can raise morale through actions and words.

Even if Hyland can provide better outside firepower, the Clippers may need “tool man” Terance Mann to fill the holes. Whether it is empty-handed cutting, offensive rebounding or defense, these are tasks he is familiar with and has even played on behalf of others. Mann controls the ball, but Mann’s talent is there, which will inevitably increase the ball-holding burden on George and Harden. This will not be a situation the Clippers like to see.

After all, since the All-Star Game, the Clippers have faced injuries to George and Ivica Zubac one after another, and their manpower is already tight enough. At this time, head coach Ty Lue began to “experiment with the lineup” again, drastically changing rotations and playing styles, even if he wanted to dig out more feasible or usable soldiers. However, judging from the results of the current small sample, fans can only see P.J. Tucker’s amazing “destruction ability” and the league’s sixth-worst defensive efficiency in February really didn’t see much gain.

Subsequently, the Clippers have a schedule that ranks sixth in the league, as well as a series of injury challenges. If they cannot regain their January form, the only 3.5 wins difference between them and the fifth-place Suns may soon be overdrawn. The lack of bench depth also means that the remaining three stars will not have much rest time. George, who is playing hard with injuries, and Kawhi Leonard, who has always had a fragile body, or James Harden, if any of the stars is out of shape. , the season can probably be declared over.

2024-03-02 06:46:58

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