Clipper Playoff Hopes Hang in the Balance as Stars Remain Sidelined

The playoff series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns have been a roller coaster.

Heading into the first game of the series, the Suns were 7.5-point favorites to beat the Clippers. Despite this, Kawhi Leonard and company took care of business in Phoenix. They won by five points, taking a 1-0 series lead over the Suns.

The second game of the series was going well for the Clippers at the start. At one point, the Clippers held a lead of 13 points midway through the second quarter. Despite this, the Clippers lost with a score of 123-109.

Even though the Clippers lost, there was a sense of optimism in the air for the team. Stealing a game in Phoenix was enormous for them in their pursuits of moving on to the next round, as the next two games would be in L.A., giving the Clippers a home-court advantage. This is where things get, well, disappointing.

Ahead of the game three matchup against the Suns, it was announced that Kawhi Leonard would not take the court for the team. Citing Leonard had a knee sprain dating back to the first game of the series.

“I think this is the last straw for me,” one Reddit user said regarding the news Leonard would miss game three. “We need superstars who can stay healthy, end of story. We have an owner with unlimited money and a good front office, a new stadium coming; I say we blow it up and find some stars who can stay healthy. We can’t keep doing this.”

In the absence of both Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers went on to lose game three by five points. It’s apparent that if either of the two had played in game three, the Clippers likely could have won, taking a 2-1 series lead over the Suns.

A notable stat from game three that caused some stir among Clippers fans was the number of free throws the Suns took compared to the Clippers. The Suns shot a total of 46 free throws in comparison to Clipper’s 25 free throw attempts.

“The officiating crew of David Guthrie, Bill Kennedy and Jacyn Goble was so bad that even Suns fans on their SBNation blog are laughing that they were gifted with so many calls… like the Lakers,” said one Reddit user. “In every other job, there are repercussions for screwing up multiple times. That crew needs to be banned from this postseason. Period.”

To improve their chances of winning the series, the Clippers have to make a couple of adjustments heading into game four.

The first and obvious adjustment is Leonard needs to join the rotation in some sort of fashion. Leonard’s impact on the defensive side of the ball was surely missed in game three, as the Suns went on to score a series-high 129 points in Leonard’s absence.

However, at this point, it’s still unclear whether or not Leonard will be available for game four of the series. When asked about Leonard’s injury, L.A. Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank provided little insight.

Next, the Clippers need to shorten their rotation. Shortening a rotation is one of the most common strategies coaches use when playoff time arrives. It involves taking the minutes away from role players, sometimes even not playing some of them at all, and giving them to the stars.

While the Clippers have practiced this in a sense, as Leonard played an average of 40.5 minutes across games one and two, it doesn’t match up well against how the Suns have been playing their stars.

So far in the playoffs, Kevin Durant is averaging 43.3 minutes, Devin Booker is averaging 44.3 minutes, and Chris Paul is averaging 39 minutes. To compare, the only other player on the Clippers to reach 40 minutes played is Norman Powell in game three, an obvious bump just due to Leonard’s injury.

Lastly, the Clippers must leave everything on the floor for game four.

Sure, that sounds simple. If a team wants to win a playoff series, they should be doing that every night. But game four will be the most critical game of the series for the Clippers if they want to make a deeper playoff run.

Suppose the Clippers can win game four and extend the series. In that case, it gives their injured stars, Leonard and George, more time to recover and possibly take the court later in the series. Despite the mystery behind Leonard’s injury, George has seen positive strides in his recovery related to the right knee sprain he retained back in March.

Ultimately, without their two-star players on the court, the Clipper's playoff success hangs in the balance despite their impressive performance thus far in the postseason.