“We were thinking in the office earlier today if we ever had two (stars) getting ready to play in a game, and they never had one practice together,” Rivers said. Because of injuries, the Clippers, George and Leonard simply haven’t had that chance. It’ll take more practice sessions to clean that up and gain a clearer understanding of roles, situations and flow. We’re trying to get the ball to guys instead of trying to score.” We were trying not to get in each others’ way. “Twenty-three turnovers,” said Clippers coach Doc Rivers, with a sense of resignation. George and Leonard are the clear alpha dogs and not only were they too deferential to each other during stretches, so were their teammates, mostly to a fault. Therefore, the Clippers will reek of training camp smell until their stars develop better harmony and the rotation gets in sync.īecause at times in the 107-104 win over the Celtics, the Clippers passed up shots and were careless with their decision making and passing - perhaps in an effort to please one another. Perhaps these sketchy performances will be expected from the Clippers here in the early season because George missed the first 11 games and Leonard six. They did so haphazardly (at times) before showing enough spunk in the fourth quarter and overtime to confirm their arrival as a team to be believed. Given the club’s zero championships, that glowing projection had never been written or spoken by anyone before.Īnd, predictably, the league will not be conquered in a day or more accurately, a night where the Clippers defeated a Celtics team holding the East’s best record. It was an event that shook the league and made the Clippers the title favorites. Before that, the only significant time spent in each others company in uniform was this summer when they were introduced as the newest and most important members of the franchise. They were finally whole on Wednesday when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George shared the floor together, suiting up against the Boston Celtics. LOS ANGELES - It took three weeks and 15 games into the season, but better late than never for the LA Clippers to finally hold their real Opening Night.
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