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Pacific Notes: Clippers Arena, Randle, McGee, Kawhi

September 8th, 2020 at 7:46pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Clippers‘ forthcoming Inglewood arena has received the final approval necessary from the Inglewood City Council, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). The team, which announced a joint deal to buy the publicly-owned property on the arena site, now has the go-ahead to begin building its new arena in 2021.

In a press release on the club’s official site, the team notes that construction is scheduled to commence next summer. The Clippers are expected to move from the Staples Center, an arena they share with the Lakers, to their new home ahead of the 2024/25 season.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

Suns coach Monty Williams has added Brian Randle to his staff as an assistant coach, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Randle is a former player development coach for the Timberwolves.
Lakers starting center JaVale McGee has been cleared to play in tonight’s pivotal Game 3 against the Rockets, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). McGee turned his left ankle in Game 2 of the Lakers’ series with the Rockets and was limited to just eight minutes of action. An MRI on the ankle came back negative. Mark Medina of USA Today tweets McGee will not have a minutes restriction tonight. Medina adds that bench guard Dion Waiters will not be available for Game 3.
Meanwhile, Rockets forward Danuel House Jr. will be unavailable tonight for personal reasons, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. Feigen adds (Twitter link) that Houston center Tyson Chandler will also miss tonight’s game for personal reasons, but that both players remain on the NBA’s Orlando campus.
Clippers All-Star Kawhi Leonard‘s stellar Game 3 performance showcased just how valuable he is as a two-way player, and why he was the top priority for Los Angeles in free agency ahead of the season, notes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Leonard was named to the 2020 All-Defensive Second Team earlier this afternoon.

NBA Announces 2019/20 All-Defensive Teams

September 8th, 2020 at 6:26pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has officially announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2019/20 season. Unsurprisingly, Defensive Player of the Year (and possible repeat MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo was the leading vote-getter with 195 total points. Players receive two points per First Team vote and one point per Second Team vote.

This is the Bucks forward’s second consecutive appearance on the All-NBA First Team. Antetokounmpo was listed on 98 of 100 ballots from the 100 broadcasters and writers who comprised this year’s voting panel. 97 of those voters awarded him a First Team vote.

Lakers forward Anthony Davis was featured on every ballot and received a total tally of 187 points (including 87 First Team votes). Sixers guard Ben Simmons tallied 185 points with the third-most votes this year. Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the 2018 and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, was fourth with 95 total votes (85 First Team), for 180 total points. Celtics guard Marcus Smart rounded out the All-Defensive First Team with 152 points, including 57 First Team votes.

Gobert’s inclusion on the All-Defensive First Team has earned him a $500K bonus, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Antetokounmpo’s Bucks teammates Brook Lopez (67 points) and Eric Bledsoe (59 points) each made the All-Defensive Second Team.

Here are the full voting results for the All-Defensive First and Second Teams, with each player’s point total noted in parentheses:

First Team:

Giannis Antetokounmpo, F, Bucks (195)
Anthony Davis, F, Lakers (187)
Ben Simmons, G, Sixers (185)
Rudy Gobert, C, Jazz (180)
Marcus Smart, G, Celtics (152)

Second Team:

Kawhi Leonard, F, Clippers (128)
Brook Lopez, C, Bucks (67)
Bam Adebayo, F/C, Heat (61)
Patrick Beverley, G, Clippers (60)
Eric Bledsoe, G, Bucks (59)

You can find the full voting results right here.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Patrick Beverley Fined $25K By NBA

September 7th, 2020 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers guard Patrick Beverley has been fined $25K by the NBA for “verbal abuse of a game official,” the league announced today in a press release.

The incident occurred near the end of the Clippers’ Game 2 loss to Denver on Saturday. Beverley was hit with a pair of technical fouls and ejected from the game after he took exception to back-to-back personal foul calls against him. The veteran guard continued to shout at James Capers following his ejection.

Beverley, who missed most of the Clippers’ seeding games and first-round series against Dallas due to a nagging calf strain, has returned to action against Denver.

He played well in a limited role last Thursday, chipping in eight points, six rebounds, and a pair of three-pointers in just 12 minutes. However, he struggled to make an impact on Saturday, scoring just two points in 15 minutes as he racked up five fouls.

Clippers Notes: Harrell, Williams, Zubac, Game 2 Loss

September 6th, 2020 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Montrezl Harrell‘s late grandmother was on his mind when he accepted the Sixth Man of the Year award, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Harrell left the Disney World campus for nearly a month when she died earlier this summer, returning just in time for the start of the playoffs.

“This is for my grandmother, who is not here with me today and isn’t going to be able to see this,” he said. “She isn’t going to be able to see me do something that she instilled in me as a young child, a game that she brought to my attention as a young man and I fell in love with and worked my tail off at.”

Harrell is the first big man in nearly a decade to capture Sixth Man honors. Heading into unrestricted free agency, he posted career highs this season with 18.6 PPG and 7.1 RPG. He recalls a conversation with coach Doc Rivers shortly after the Rockets traded him to L.A. in 2017.

“From day one, coach told me that this is not one of those things that we kind of just did to package this,” Harrell said. “‘No, we want you here. We’ve seen you play. We know the type of intensity and motor that you bring to the game. This isn’t one of those things that you’re going to be coming here and leaving back out. We want you here.’ To hear the head coach of an organization say you don’t have anything to worry about, you can get comfortable here, and this is a team that wants you, it means a lot.”

There’s more Clippers news to pass along:

The award was presented to Harrell by teammate Lou Williams, who won it the past two seasons, Buha adds in the same story. A three-time winner overall, Williams finished third in this year’s voting. “For him to come out and just hand me the trophy, it was special,” Harrell said. “It was a huge surprise. … To see that trophy come out from the back and actually coming towards me, it was a tremendous honor and just a complete, complete tremendous thank you to my teammates, to Doc and Lou, everybody.”
The Clippers need a strong performance from center Ivica Zubac, who is the only player on the roster who can match up physically with Denver’s Nikola Jokic, observes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Zubac had 15 points and nine rebounds in Saturday’s loss, but he remained on the bench late in the game as L.A. opted to use a smaller lineup.
Game 2 exposed bad habits that have plagued the Clippers all season, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. L.A. showed little energy to start the game and trailed by 19 points after the first quarter.

Montrezl Harrell Named Sixth Man Of The Year

September 4th, 2020 at 5:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers center Montrezl Harrell has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award for the 2019/20 season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Harrell beat out fellow finalists Dennis Schröder and teammate Lou Williams for the award.

Harrell, 26, enjoyed the best season of his career in 2019/20, averaging 18.6 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 1.1 BPG on 58.0% shooting in 63 games (27.8 MPG) for the Clippers. Although he was technically the team’s backup center behind Ivica Zubac, Harrell was typically relied upon in the team’s closing lineups.

As Fred Katz of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), Harrell’s win represents a deviation from the norm, as the award almost always goes to a high-scoring guard. In the last decade, Williams and Jamal Crawford have won the award multiple times, with Eric Gordon, J.R. Smith, and James Harden also taking it home. Lamar Odom was the last non-guard to be named Sixth Man of the Year in 2011.

The Sixth Man of the Year was one of the few NBA awards this summer whose outcome was in doubt, as Schröder and Williams also submitted strong cases. The Thunder point guard averaged 18.9 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 3.6 RPG on .469/.385/.839 shooting, while Williams – who won the award in 2018 and 2019 – put up 18.2 PPG, 5.6 APG, and 3.1 RPG.

Harrell received 58 of 100 potential first-place votes for the award, with Schröder getting 35 and Williams receiving the final seven. Here are the full voting results, per the NBA:

Montrezl Harrell, Clippers (397 total points)
Dennis Schröder, Thunder (328)
Lou Williams, Clippers (127)
Christian Wood, Pistons (17)
George Hill, Bucks (17)
Goran Dragic, Heat (6)
Derrick Rose, Pistons (5)
Davis Bertans, Wizards (2)
Dwight Howard, Lakers (1)

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rivers Discusses Passing On MPJ In 2018 Draft

September 4th, 2020 at 2:58pm CST by Luke Adams

With the Nuggets and Clippers facing one another in the second round of the postseason, Michael Porter Jr. is getting an opportunity to play against a team he feels played a major role in his slide in the 2018 draft. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN details, the Clippers’ team doctor was pessimistic in his assessment of Porter’s back injury and L.A. passed on the forward twice in the lottery before he was selected by Denver at No. 14.

“Their doctor was the one that wrote the report on me,” Porter said of the Clippers. “I think he wrote some stuff like he thought that I would never play basketball again, so I didn’t think they’d pick me.”

While Doc Rivers acknowledged that Porter’s health was a concern for the Clippers, he said that the decision to pass on him with the No. 13 pick after trading up for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at No. 11 was a tough one, according to Youngmisuk. The team opted instead for Boston College guard Jerome Robinson.

“We got the one guy we wanted in (Gilgeous-Alexander),” the Clippers’ head coach said. “And the second pick, when (Porter) was on the board, it was a brutal pass because everyone in the room knew his talent but it was more the injury concern. That was the only other concern.”

Patrick Beverley To Play In Game 1 Vs. Nuggets

September 3rd, 2020 at 6:33pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Clippers head coach Doc Rivers asserts that point guard Patrick Beverley will play in tonight’s first game of the team’s conference semifinals series against the Nuggets, per Ohm Youngmisuk (Twitter link). Beverley was officially listed as questionable to appear as recently as yesterday, though Rivers seemed fairly confident Beverley would be able to play.

Beverley, the club’s nominal starting point guard, has been battling a left calf strain during the league’s Orlando summer restart. The injury has limited him to just four games overall, including just one playoff appearance, in Game 1 of the Clippers’ first-round series against the Mavericks.

Point guard Reggie Jackson and off-guard Landry Shamet both started in Beverley’s stead for portions of the series. Shamet started the final four games. The Clippers went on to beat Dallas 4-2.

Nuggets head coach Mike Malone noted the challenge of Beverley’s addition to the active roster, according to Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). “He’s a very good defender, we all know that,” Malone said. “Last time we played them, in L.A., Patrick Beverley-Paul George–Kawhi Leonard, three elite defenders on the perimeter… they all took turns guarding Jamal Murray.”

Rivers Pulling For Lue To Get A Head Coaching Job

September 3rd, 2020 at 5:01pm CST by Luke Adams

While he has appreciated having Tyronn Lue on his staff this season, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers is rooting for Lue to get a head coaching job, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post details. “It’s a joke that he’s not a head coach, but it’s to my advantage that he’s not,” Rivers said, adding that he has no problem with Lue taking interviews during the playoffs. “… He’s been absolutely (great). He’s just a wonderful guy to be around. His IQ, his feel, he’s made this year really enjoyable for me.”

Poll: Who Will Make Western Conference Finals?

September 3rd, 2020 at 2:36pm CST by Luke Adams

It has taken them a little longer to get underway due to a pair of Game Sevens in the Western Conference quarterfinals, but the second round of the Western playoffs are finally set to tip off tonight. The No. 2 Clippers will face the No. 3 Nuggets on Thursday, with the No. 1 Lakers playing the No. 4 Rockets on Friday.

The Clippers will enter their series against the Nuggets as overwhelming favorites. Of the 19 ESPN experts who made predictions for the series, not a single one picked Denver to win — and not one thinks it will take the Clippers more than six games to dispatch the Nuggets.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George figure to be major problems for Denver. It’s unclear if the Nuggets have defenders capable of slowing down the duo; and on the other end of the court, top Denver scorers like Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. will face more resistance from Leonard, George, and company than they did from Utah’s defenders in the first round.

The Lakers also open as heavy favorites over Houston. The 16 ESPN experts who made picks for the series were once again unanimous in projecting an L.A. victory, though in this case at least a handful predicted it will take a full seven games.

The well-rested Lakers will have the size advantage over the Rockets, as forwards like P.J. Tucker, Jeff Green, and Robert Covington will be tasked with guarding Anthony Davis and LeBron James. L.A. also had one of the NBA’s best defenses all season long and may force Houston’s role players to beat them with outside shots.

Still, while an all-L.A. Western Finals looks – as it has all year – to be the likeliest outcome, the Nuggets and Rockets have the star power to make things interesting. Nikola Jokic, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook aren’t about to bow out quietly. And as we’ve seen in the two Eastern Semifinals so far, a solid game plan and some well-timed hot shooting streaks can quickly put a series favorite on its heels.

What do you think? Are you penciling in a Clippers/Lakers showdown already, or do you think the Nuggets or Rockets are capable of pulling off an upset?

Vote in our poll below and head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts on both series!

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Beverley Listed As Questionable For Game 1 Against Denver

September 2nd, 2020 at 7:45pm CST by Jovan Alford

The Clippers have officially listed starting point guard Patrick Beverley as questionable for Thursday’s Western Conference semifinals Game 1 against the Nuggets, per Mark Medina of USA TODAY (Twitter link).

The veteran point guard has missed five straight games for Los Angeles with a nagging left calf injury. In his absence, the Clippers turned to second-year combo guard Landry Shamet, who started in four games against the Mavericks in their first-round series. As a starter, the former Wichita State standout averaged 11.5 PPG and shot 50 percent from three-point range.

Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was asked about Beverely’s potential return on Wednesday. “You’ll see him for sure (in the series),” he said (h/t Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN). “I’m pretty sure tomorrow (for Game 1), but I can’t guarantee that.” Los Angeles will be hoping that the defensive-minded point guard can slow down Denver’s dynamic point guard Jamal Murray.

Eddie Sefko of Mavericks.com looked at three keys areas in which Dallas needs to improve at in the offseason. Sefko suggested that the Mavericks need an enforcer like Marcus Morris of the Clippers, who was a factor on the boards and gave Dallas fits in the first round. While they showed improvement from last season in the rebounding department, the Mavs were outrebounded by three rebounds per game in their first-round series versus Los Angeles, Sefko notes.