The Clippers have had their season up and down, and their trade deadline has been quite big, with trades for Gordon, Prapleley, Highland, and Wilson from the buyout market, and their rotation has once again been significantly improved.
However, after completing the roster upgrade, the Clippers' record did not rise but declined, especially after Wei Shao was placed in the starting lineup, although the personal data is very good, but the team suffered 5 consecutive losses, and the ranking also fell directly to the play-off area, fortunately, the Clippers' roster is thick enough, and they recently played a 2-game winning streak against the Grizzlies and Raptors.
Today, against the Knicks, who have been in very good form this season, the Clippers showed their competitiveness, and Lu seems to have slowly found instructions for using Wei Shao. The game was a white-knuckle battle between the two sides, with a high defensive intensity, only a low score of 19-20 in the first quarter, and a small climax at the beginning of the final quarter of the second quarter to build up the advantage, but Randle's score still helped the Knicks close the score, and the Clippers had a two-point advantage at halftime.
After switching venues, the two teams could not open a clear gap, Leonard scored 19 points in a single quarter, and the Knicks blossomed more and dealt with it steadily. In the final quarter, the Knicks' offense was blocked, and the Clippers seized the opportunity to directly widen the point difference to double digits, and after that, although the Knicks had the intention to turn over, the Clippers played steadily, and finally defeated the Knicks 106-95 to get a three-game winning streak.
After winning this game, the Clippers look relatively stable in the West, ranking 5th in the West, one win ahead of the Lone Rangers behind them. In addition to winning, the Clippers were even more pleased that the team showed the defense they had always hoped to play, forcing the Knicks to score only 95 points, and in the last two games, the Clippers limited opponents to 100 points and 95 points, respectively, and in the upcoming playoffs, the Clippers duly raised the intensity of the game to a notch.
George performed well in this game, 10 of 21, got 22 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, George has played really well recently, the energy at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is full, and in the absence of Wei Shao, his dominance is also very good, as he himself said after the game, "We are playing the performance we should have at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends." ”
Leonard broke out again today, shooting 14 of 22, got 38 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal, the recent Clippers' 3 consecutive wins, Leonard can be said to be the biggest contributor, during the 3-game winning streak, he averaged 32 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, stretching the timeline a little longer, in the last 24 games, Leonard averaged 28.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, during which the Clippers played a 15-9 record.
Now Leonard looks like the familiar robot before, whether on or off the court, he has spared no effort on both ends of the court recently, and today's post-game interview still looks so calm, when talking about the Clippers' current rankings, Leonard said: "I won't look at the team's rankings because that won't save us." Talking about the next game against the Warriors, Leonard said a few more words, "It was a challenging game, they won everything last season, and now Curry is back." ”
In any case, the current Leonard, after fully recovering, has become a barometer for the Clippers, and his performance on the court determines the trend of the Clippers' game, and the Clippers' recent winning streak is more derived from Leonard's influence on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
Wei Shao's recent playing time has dropped significantly compared to when he first came to the Clippers, and in the last quarter of today's game, Lu did not use Wei Shao, Wei Shao only played 22 minutes in the whole game, got 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, with 3 assists Wei Shao also completed the surpass of the smiling assassin Isaiah Thomas, and came to the 9th place on the NBA all-time assist list.
Wei Shao didn't seem to care about this milestone, saying: "I didn't think about this ranking, but I am honored to be on the same list as these people, but the most important thing is that we won today." "Now Wei Shao, in the face of a significant decline in ability, he is not entangled in his position in the team and his playing time, he seems to just want to win.
After being drastically reduced in playing time and becoming a pseudo-starter, Wei Shao's mood did not seem to be the slightest unhappy, but he was also willing to use his various influences to help his teammates, and when talking about Mann, Wei Shao said: "It's important for me to help him, I want to give him some confidence, and I hope to help him and let me be a springboard for his future success." "It can be seen that Wei Shao is now very peaceful and he has no complaints about the team's placement of his role.
Lu also said after today's game: "Wei Shao showed his obedience, he just wants to win, he cheers on his teammates, he constantly communicates with Mann, he also communicates with me, he brings us a lot of things. Many people may think that this is all a scene between the two sides, but from the current inside of the Clippers, Wei Shao is indeed very relaxed, and he has a smile on his face in the post-game interview, and the Clippers reporter also said that even if Wei Shao's playing time has plummeted now, he is still very happy in the locker room.