Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers' move to the city's Inglewood neighborhood took a major step forward Tuesday with the approval of construction to build a campus housing a new 18,000-seat arena, team offices and practice facility.

The Clippers' Inglewood Basketball & Entertainment Center received final approval from the city of Inglewood to have a campus that will include an 18,000-seat basketball arena, team practice facility and corporate offices pic.twitter.com/XT0xRwnbOw

— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) September 8, 2020

In a statement from the Clippers, the team said the Inglewood city council's vote was unanimous, with the plot of land selling to the property developer for $66.25 million. 

"Today is a new chapter for the Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center, as we move from the land use entitlement process and look toward construction," Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker said. "Every part of IBEC is being designed with purpose—with an unapologetic intensity that will define the experience together for players, musical talent and fans alike."

The proceeds from the sale will be shared by the city, the Federal Aviation Administration, Los Angeles World Airports and other "local entities" such as the Inglewood Unified School District, per the Clippers' statement. 

The project will be privately funded, and construction is expected to begin next summer with plans for the team to move in ahead of the 2024-25 season. Naming rights to the arena are currently for sale through CAA Sports. 

According to the Clippers, the campus will be a "one-of-a-kind facility set within an open, indoor-outdoor atmosphere that showcases what the world loves best about Southern California," located just south of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers' SoFi Stadium.

"My goal is simple. I want the Clippers to have the best home in all of sports," Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said last July. "What that means to me is an unparalleled environment for players, for fans, for sponsors and for the community of Inglewood. Our goal is to build a facility that resets fans' expectations while having a transformative impact on the city we will call home."  

The franchise estimates it will generate a $260 million economy for Inglewood annually and $100 million in tax revenue during the initial 15 years of operating.

Los Angeles has played at Staples Center since 1999, and its current lease expires in June 2024.

Playoff switches are reserved for the NBA's longest-tenured ecosystems. The notion that any team can "turn it on" or talent its way to wins and championships is thrown around often, bordering on haphazardly, but the actual concept tends to be most accurate when looking at entrenched cores—nucleuses consisting of players familiar not only with postseason stakes but one another.

None of this, apparently, applies to the Los Angeles Clippers. And, apparently, it shouldn't. They showed us why, again, during their Monday night victory over the Denver Nuggets, a 113-107 win during which they went through the motions, hinting at both dominance and vulnerability and seesawing along in a way that would've cost lesser teams the game long before crunch time.

To say this performative fluctuation is the Clipper way goes a smidge too far. It also isn't entirely inaccurate.

Nearly no aspect of their success this season is owed to continuity. Though they won free agency last summer without obliterating their supporting cast, they still brought in two superstars who upended an egalitarian pecking order. And if roster turnover wasn't an actual issue, availability soon became one. 

Paul George missed 24 games with right shoulder and left hamstring issues. Patrick Beverley racked up 21 absences with a combination of groin, wrist and calf problems, in addition to a concussion. General career maintenance and a bruised left knee cost Kawhi Leonard 15 games. Landry Shamet missed more than a month with a sprained left ankle.

This is not a squad that enjoyed much better availability later in the season, either. Montrezl Harrell needed to leave the bubble. Lou Williams needed to leave the bubble. Shamet and Ivica Zubac arrived late to the bubble. Beverley's left calf strain left him sidelined for the final five regular-season games and then limited him to just once appearance against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.

And yet, despite the Clippers' relative newness, despite the stop-and-start roster complexion, they are afforded a benefit of the doubt most recently ascribed to the dynastic Golden State Warriors and former Eastern Conference czar LeBron James. They will be fine because they just will be. They have the talent, the depth and the experience. They have Kawhi. Not only that: They have Kawhi and PG. 

This optimism isn't impenetrable. It's easy to deviate from such warm-and-fuzzies midgame when the Clippers look disengaged and aren't defending nearly up to their talent level. Even the most established teams aren't immune to critiques of their motor. The pre-gap-year Warriors and every LeBron team from, like, 2011 through 2018 faced their share of inquiries.

These Clippers haven't won anything together, though Kawhi is a two-time champ and Finals MVP, and you can rather effortlessly question their stability. One of their starters, Marcus Morris Sr., didn't even arrive until the trade deadline. He, Beverley, George and Leonard appeared in a whopping 11 games together prior to the playoffs.

That infusion of disbelief is almost always rendered premature. It isn't a stretch of games or even a span of quarters that changes the tide. It is a collection of moments, sometimes strung together in succession but also frequently packaged together in small bursts separated by minutes, if entire quarters. 

In the Game 3 victory over the Nuggets, it was mostly the latter. George largely kept the offense afloat by detonating in streams (32 points on 12-of-18 shooting). Leonard continued to struggle with his three-ball, but he still managed to navigate Denver's pressure and facilitate out of the pick-and-roll, finishing with 23 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

The Clippers defense tightened up in the second half, holding the Nuggets to under 50 points—which is saying something—while making their lives hell in the fourth quarter. Leonard's one-to-three-fingered block on Jamal Murray is a pretty good summation of their effort down the stretch:

DENIED BY THE KLAW. https://t.co/HlfmFrJeXW

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 8, 2020

This has sort of become a trend for the Clippers. They have a 113.1 defensive rating in the first half of postseason games. That mark improves to 106.5 over the final two frames.

For this series specifically, you've been able to set your watch to the Clippers' second-half uptick:

In Game 1, the Clippers held the Nuggets to a 95.8 Offensive Rating in the second half.

In Game 2, the Clippers held the Nuggets to an 84.4 Offensive Rating in the second half.

In Game 3, the Clippers held the Nuggets to an 88.9 Offensive Rating in the second half.

— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) September 8, 2020

It is fair to wonder whether they can keep winning this way. The Nuggets missed a good amount of quality looks and are putting up more of a fight than most anticipated, and the level of competition won't get any easier from here.

Shouldn't it be concerning that so many of the Clippers' wins feel like games they've survived or stolen? Particularly when they'll have to beat the Los Angeles Lakers or Houston Rockets and then the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors or Boston Celtics to earn a title?

And that's assuming they close out in the second round. A 2-1 series lead is an encouraging indicator but not exactly a be-all harbinger. The door at least appears open for Denver to make it out of this series. Game 3 goes a different way if Jamal Murray hits more shots (5-of-17) and Jerami Grant doesn't go cold from deep (1-of-6).

At the same time, it gets kind of tiring wondering about the Clippers' capacity to win and framing their victories as escapes. This team is built to have a margin for error, even against the very best.

Leonard's own switch is impugnable. It exists. He flipped it in Toronto last season while dealing with a bum left knee and emerged from the playoffs with a championship and Finals MVP. George became a punchline for much of the first round because social media revels in the reflexive, but he's still that guy—the one who can turn in next-level defensive outings against star scorers and float your offense for stretches.

If the superstar angle doesn't do it for you, the Clippers' depth should.

Nuggets put together a better gameplan, executed it better, have better chemistry.

But the Clippers have Paul George and Kawhi Leonard which is why they’re the title favorites.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) September 8, 2020

Williams isn't always going to give them solid defensive minutes—the end of the first half on Monday night, anyone?—but he will put pressure on defenses in perpetuity, even when his shot isn't finding nylon at exceptional clips. It can be tough to separate myth from fact when it comes to Beverley's defense, and his minus-13 in Game 3 isn't any easier to discern. But he is a workaholic on the floor and should have more of an impact as he works his way back from that calf strain.

Zubac fouling out might've crippled other teams. He is that important to how the Clippers are defending right now and has developed some pick-and-roll synergy with Leonard. It didn't feel like he was a plus-10 in Game 3 (he was), but even when Nikola Jokic is getting by him or popping or putting him in foul trouble, he so clearly matters.

He's also not irreplaceable. Not to the Clippers. Head coach Doc Rivers could've gone any number of directions once he fouled out. He has Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell. He has JaMychal Green. He has Morris-at-the-5 arrangements in his back pocket. In this case, he chose Harrell, who hasn't looked great this series, and it went just fine.

PG: “We were not gonna be the team that lost tonight.”

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) September 8, 2020

Overwhelming opponents with talent and in segments isn't the soundest championship strategy on its face. For the Clippers, it works. Their status as one of the foremost title favorites would be stronger if their postseason successes felt more thorough, their efforts more complete. Right now, they don't need them to be. And if they get to a point at which that changes, Kawhi will probably just flip another switch, and the rest will follow.

Just as the Clippers are built to do.

                 

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and listen to his Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by B/R's Adam Fromal.

The Los Angeles Clippers already defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs and are competing for a championship, but Luka Doncic is clearly still on their mind.  

After Monday's 113-107 victory over the Denver Nuggets to take a 2-1 lead in the second-round series, Clippers guard Patrick Beverley took a shot at both Doncic and Nikola Jokic in one comment:

Clippers’ Patrick Beverley on Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic after Game 3 win: “He presents the same thing Luka Doncic presents: a lot of flailing. He puts a lot of pressure on the referees to make the right calls.” pic.twitter.com/KB7Hs8dTsr

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) September 8, 2020

As was the case against Doncic in the first round, L.A. had few answers for Jokic in Monday's contest. The Nuggets big man threatened a triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists and dominated for a three-minute stretch in the third quarter with three made three-pointers and an incredible full-court pass to Jerami Grant on a one-handed rebound.

Still, the Clippers excelled down the stretch and finished the game on a 23-10 run to secure the victory and series lead.

There is a level of irony in Beverley complaining about other players flailing and pressuring the officials to make calls considering his style of play is basically designed to annoy the opposing point guard and let the refs know when they miss calls.

He was ejected during Los Angeles' Game 2 loss for picking up back-to-back technicals and let the officials hear about missed calls multiple times in Monday's contest.

One wonders how animated he would have been going up against Doncic in the first round considering he played in just one of the six games because of an injury. Marcus Morris Sr. took over the role of agitator, fouling Doncic hard with a flagrant, yelling at the Mavericks superstar and even stepping on his foot near his injured ankle. 

Still, Beverley was focused on how both Doncic and Jokic try to manipulate the officials after his team's key win Monday.

The Los Angeles Clippers finished Monday's 113-107 victory over the Denver Nuggets with a 23-10 run to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference second-round series.

During that stretch, Kawhi Leonard made one of the biggest plays of the game when he swatted a Jamal Murray dunk attempt with just his middle finger.

"That's an extra-long middle finger—it kept growing or something," Paul George said after the win:

“That’s an extra-long middle finger—it kept growing or something.”

PG on Kawhi's block 😂 https://t.co/Q7O4OIDtZA

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 8, 2020

There’s a reason why they call him “The Klaw” 🖐 pic.twitter.com/uEF2DaAvVk

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) September 8, 2020

KAWHI BLOCKED THAT WITH ONE FINGER. pic.twitter.com/ZJpyvKVuNw

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 8, 2020

It was just one of a number of impressive plays from Leonard in the final five minutes. He also found Ivica Zubac with a perfect pass for an and-1 dunk to take the lead, hit a key shot from mid-range and spearheaded the overall defensive effort.

Leonard finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocks, while George impressed as well with 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range.

It was a dominant performance from the two stars and a reminder they are capable of taking over a game at a moment's notice and leading the Clippers to the championship.

Even if it means giving some opposing dunks the middle finger along the way.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley has been fined $25,000 for "verbal abuse" of an official during Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Denver Nuggets, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium. 

Beverley was ejected in the fourth quarter of the 110-101 loss after arguing with referees following two quick foul calls against him. He quickly earned two technicals and was sent off.  

Pat Bev got ejected after receiving back-to-back techs 😳 https://t.co/on1S6d2CWl

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 6, 2020

Beverley, 32, missed five games of the team's first-round series win over the Dallas Mavericks due to injury but returned to the starting lineup for a Game 1 win against the Nuggets. 

While the Clippers have eased him back into the rotation—he played just 12 minutes in Game 1 and 15 minutes in Game 2—he instantly made a difference with his defensive intensity. 

"He gives us energy," head coach Doc Rivers said Thursday, per Farbod Esnaashari of SI.com. "We're not a particularly loud team on the floor defensively. Pat is, in a lot of ways, with that starting lineup, he's a defensive captain with his voice. He calls out coverages. He holds everybody responsible. And to have that voice to start games is just invaluable."

"He's such a contagious guy with energy and effort that it just flows through the team," Paul George added. "It was great to have him back on that floor with us."

That energy perhaps got the best of him at the end of Game 2, however. 

And I say that as someone who’s loved watching him play for years. There’s a time and place for everything. But it seems like that nuance blurs for him a bit too much at times

— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) September 6, 2020

Having a player like Beverley to help slow down Jamal Murray in particular—the Nuggets star is averaging 28.9 points per game in the postseason and has scored 50 or more points twice in these playoffs and 35 or more points five times—is crucial for the Clippers. 

Few teams can rotate a number of high-end perimeter defenders onto opposing scorers like the Clippers can offer with Beverley, Kawhi Leonard and George. Beverley doing the dirty work on the defensive end is important for a Clippers team with title aspirations. That means keeping him on the court is just as important. 

Los Angeles Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell has been named the 2019-20 NBA Sixth Man of the Year, unseating teammate Lou Williams, who won the award each of the last two seasons.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium first reported Harrell won the award. 

Jay King of The Athletic passed along the full voting results: 

I wonder where Marcus Smart would have ranked on this list if the Celtics had been healthy enough for him to actually play the Sixth Man role as expected before the season. pic.twitter.com/Ip2hmyoifi

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) September 4, 2020

A Clipper has won the honor in five of the last seven seasons.

Harrell averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds during the regular season and seeding games, helping the Clippers earn the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. He and Williams were by far the NBA's most dynamic one-two punch off the bench.

"I've been telling people, I'm the modern-day [Dennis] Rodman, for real," Harrell said on the Knuckleheads podcast (h/t Farbod Esnaashari of SI.com). "I'm the modern-day Rodman. That's it. Rodman, man. Just to watch his whole process in general, man."

The 26-year-old did most of his damage playing as an undersized 6'7", 240-pound center against opposing bench lineups, using his hustle and athleticism to pull down boards and do damage in transition. 

A free agent this offseason, Harrell will be hitting the open market at the best possible time from a production standpoint, but the Louisville product is facing an uncertain future because of COVID-19.

The financial implications of the pandemic are expected to impact nearly every free agent who hits the market, which could make it likelier for the North Carolina native to return to the Clippers next season. 

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers is reaching deep into his playbook to fully utilize Kawhi Leonard.

Rivers told reporters Friday he's using some strategies he deployed during his nine seasons with the Boston Celtics along with sets that featured Paul Pierce in his previous stops:

Doc Rivers said he watched all offensive sets from San Antonio and Toronto when preparing what to run for Kawhi Leonard. He says he dusted off some plays from his Celtics playbook from 8 years ago that he ran for Paul Pierce to get Kawhi open in mid-range spots.

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) September 4, 2020

Rivers' experience with Pierce has probably come in handy when it comes to coaching Leonard. The two aren't carbon copies of one another, but Leonard's ability to hurt teams from mid-range mirrors how Pierce would do so much of his damage on the offensive end.

According to Basketball Reference, the 6'7" forward shot 41.3 percent between 10 and 16 feet and 41.5 percent from 16 feet to the three-point line. Those figures are 46.4 percent and 44.1 percent, respectively, for Leonard, who's also listed at 6'7".

Mid-range jumpers have fallen out of vogue in the NBA because it simply isn't an efficient shot for a lot of players. Teams are telling their players to either shoot closer to the hoop or camp out behind the arc instead.

The Death of Midrange pic.twitter.com/bp0182jfOZ

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) February 13, 2020

Leonard is one exception because he's an effective scorer from just about anywhere.

Kawhi so far tonight:
9/11 inside the arc
1/2 from outside
4/4 at the line

With how he creates in the mid-range, he's the best three-level scorer in the game not named Kevin

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) September 4, 2020

The Clippers signed Leonard in the hope he'd take over in the postseason like he did last year during the Toronto Raptors' championship season. The need for the two-time Finals MVP to replicate that form is even more acute since the COVID-19 pandemic made the process of building a cohesive collective even more difficult for Rivers.

Leonard has been excellent so far in the 2020 NBA playoffs. He's averaging 32.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists while shooting 56.2 percent from the field through seven games. In last year's postseason, the 28-year-old averaged 30.5 points in 24 games.

He can probably thank his coach's exhaustive research for some of his success on offense.

Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers says he expects Patrick Beverley to return for the team's Game 1 matchup against the Dallas Mavericks.

"You'll see him for sure," Rivers told reporters Wednesday. "I'm pretty sure tomorrow [for Game 1], but I can't guarantee that. But he looked pretty good [in practice]."

Beverley has appeared in just four games since arriving in Orlando, Florida, because of a calf strain. He attempted to return for the Clippers' first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks but missed the last five games after aggravating the injury in Game 1.

Landry Shamet and Reggie Jackson have started in the point guard role in Beverley's place with inconsistent results. Jackson doesn't bring the same level of defensive intensity, but he did give a boost to the Clippers offense by shooting 57.1 percent from three against the Mavericks.

Shamet is a floor spacer whose role fluctuated greatly in the Dallas series. He played only eight minutes in Game 1 but ramped that up to 38 by Game 6.

Beverley's return will put the Clippers back at full strength as they enter Round 2 as a heavy favorite against a Denver team that just went through a seven-game slugfest against the Utah Jazz. It's unclear if he'll be on a minutes restriction. Beverley averaged 26.3 minutes per game during the regular season but hasn't played more than 21 minutes in a game since the restart.

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers can't believe Tyronn Lue—the lead assistant on Rivers' staff—hasn't landed a head coaching gig.

"It's a joke that he's not a head coach," Rivers said, per Mark Medina of the USA Today, "but it's to my advantage that he's not."

Lue was close to becoming a head coach last summer, reportedly turning down the job with the Los Angeles Lakers after they wouldn't offer him more than three guaranteed years on his contract, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Instead, he chose to take a role on Rivers' staff, though it was always likely to be a one-and-done assignment. And a number of enticing teams now have coaching vacancies, including the Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers—and potentially the Houston Rockets if they move on from Mike D'Antoni.

The Nets, Sixers and Pelicans are all reportedly interested in Lue, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The Nets have the superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and a contending roster built around them. The Sixers have Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, though the team is poorly constructed. And the Pelicans, of course, have ascending superstar Zion Williamson and other young stars.

Lue guided the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA title in 2015-16. In addition to his experience working with superstars Irving and LeBron James, another factor that could make him even more intriguing to teams is his relationship with Chauncey Billups, as Wojnarowski reported:

"Teams are aware that Lue has been talking with Chauncey Billups about joining his potential staff as an associate head coach, sources tell ESPN. Billups had been grooming himself for a top front-office role but turned down the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017, and his interest in leaving television for the team side has evolved from the front office to coaching, sources said.

"Owners and executives had courted Billups because of his innate ability to lead men in the NBA, and a belief that his intelligence, instincts and work ethic would translate into front office or coaching—however he decided to proceed. For Billups, an apprenticeship under Lue on a contender likely fast-tracks him into a head-coaching job."

It's just another reason why Lue's time as an assistant will assuredly be short-lived.

If you thought Marcus Morris would be apologetic after his second arguably dirty foul on Luka Doncic in as many games, think again.

The Los Angeles Clippers forward invoked a Justin Timberlake classic in an Instagram response to Doncic's postgame comments:

Marcus Morris responded to Luka on our IG. pic.twitter.com/DZbA8anSB4

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 31, 2020

Here's to hoping Doncic sees this and replies, "What goes around comes around."

Morris was ejected after smacking Doncic in the face on a hard foul in the first half of the Clippers' 111-97 series-clinching victory Sunday. Doncic, who took issue with Morris stepping on the back of his injured ankle in Game 5, had to be held back from charging at the veteran. 

"It was a terrible play. What can I say?" Doncic told reporters. "It's two games in a row he did something like that. I really hoped the first game it wasn't on purpose, but looking back on the foul this game, you know what I think. I don't want to deal with that kind of players. Just move on."

Morris, who has a history of borderline dirty play, denied attempting to hurt Doncic after Game 5 (link contains NSFW language). However, he's remained unapologetic and does not appear to have much interest in changing the way he plays the game.

That could create an issue for the Clippers if Morris accumulates more flagrants this postseason. A player serves an automatic one-game suspension if he accumulates four flagrant points.

What's more, we can probably cross off Dallas as a potential suitor when Morris becomes a free agent after this season.