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What We Learned From Clippers’ 1-2 Start to Season
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- What We Learned From Clippers’ 1-2 Start to Season
The Los Angeles Clippers were a team that was looking to be competitive heading into this season, but sudden injuries have derailed their initial plans for how they wanted to approach the season.
Veteran players Darius Garland and Rui Hachimura have been asked to take on a more commanding role in running this offense. Garland has been able to score the ball frequently, but he has also put himself in position to turn the ball over more often.
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Rui Hachimura, on the other hand, has had a slow start shooting the ball this season. He's shooting just 26.3 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from long range. After their game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Hachimura told the media he's not used to having the other team's best defender guard him.
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Last season with the Lakers, Hachimura spent most of his time being an off-ball threat, but due to the Clippers' lack of depth on the roster right now, he's asked to do more than usual.
While this team does not look as cohesive as they would like to be, there are still some positives to take away from the first three games of the year. Players like Kris Dunn and rookie Keaton Wagler have been able to give this team productive minutes and could make this team look much better when healthy.
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Wagler is the first Clippers rookie since Terry Cummings in 1982 to start his career scoring at least 10 points and 3 assists in each game. Wagler is still a developing player, but he has made plays that have to be encouraging to Tyronn Lue and the coaching staff.
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In their most recent game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Clippers guard Kris Dunn put together an impressive game, scoring 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field. He also had an impressive posterizing dunk over OKC's Chet Holmgren.
Overall, the one thing that can help this Clippers team is time. The more time these players spend around one another and find a way to build chemistry, the better it will be.
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This team could not foresee having Rui Hachimura and Darius Garland as their first and second option on opening night, and clearly the coaching staff is having issues navigating through that.
If the Clippers can find ways to make life easier for Garland and Hachimura to limit turnovers and find open looks, they could find themselves back in the mix by the end of the season.
