It was clear as day that the Los Angeles Clippers needed more firepower on offense and better players on defense. The Dallas Mavericks are on the brink of sending the trio of Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Paul George home. While 48 minutes is a long time, there needs to be a lot of adjustments such that they force a Game 7. But, a boost in personnel with Kawhi Leonard coming back could be of great help. Will he be able to play in this crucial NBA Playoffs matchup?
Will he play?
The answer is no. Kawhi Leonard will be out for the sixth game of Mavericks vs. Clippers, per Ohm Youngmisuk. He is still nursing a knee injury that has kept him out for the vast majority of this series. This injury even caused him to miss the last games of the Clippers’ regular season. Moreover, the ACL that he tore back in 2021 also remains to be an issue because it keeps getting sore when he gets fatigued.
The Clippers did play him in the third game. But, the Mavericks picked him apart and exposed his lack of lateral quickness. He got to play for 25 minutes but that could only go a long way for the Clippers. He ended up turning the ball over four times but tried to make up for it by scoring nine points and getting into good positions under the glass for nine rebounds.
It has also been made abundantly clear that the Clippers would not field Kawhi Leonard against the Mavericks unless he has shown better lateral movements. But, the injury report did make Terance Mann questionable to play for the game. This could mean that the Clippers get a deeper rotation if he recovers. Moreover, Amir Coffey gets more help playing the two-way role. This is only if Mann does get to return in the next NBA Playoffs clash.
Clippers need some signs of life
To say that the Clippers did a horrid job in Game 5 understates how badly they played. The Mavericks only allowed them to sink 37.9% of their field goal attempts. They got suffocated on the perimeters which made any hope of a comeback nearly impossible. The Clippers ended the game having only knocked down 25.7% of their shots from way out. This is despite attempting 35 of them.
A lot of these flaws popped up because the offense was stagnant and predictable. The ball would be in the hands of Paul George, Russell Westbrook, or James Harden for too long which meant that not a lot of people were getting touches. It was also easy to clog up passing lanes and cut off any sorts of drives being made by the Clippers in this game. The evidence behind this was the fact that they could not start up their offense through passing because they ended the game with only 18 assists.
The Clippers’ ball security was also not great. While James Harden, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook got to dribble a lot in their previous teams, the dynamics in this squad are different. There is not much off-ball movement to keep the Mavericks defense on their feet. Instead, the static offense becomes easier to blitz which caused 15 turnovers.
