Clippers fate hinges on stopping Doncic more than Leonard’s offence - Sportsnet.ca

The Los Angeles Clippers are in a boatload of trouble and, boy, don’t Toronto Raptors fans know it.

Following the Clippers’ 127-121 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night that saw them go down 0-2 in their first-round playoff series, and completely concede the home-court advantage they had, Raptors Twitter returned in all its fervent and petty glory as the term “Kawhi” was among the top trending topics Wednesday morning as many Raptors fans pointed out that Clippers star Kawhi Leonard left a championship team in the summer of 2019 for an apparent mess just to return home.

In Tuesday’s Game 2, Leonard was spectacular, scoring 41 points on 14-of-21 shooting, but still fell to the visiting Mavericks.

This was major point of focus that Raptors fans directed their ire to because it looked like Leonard was left alone on an island in Game 2 as the Clippers had just two other double-digit scorers in Tuesday’s affair as Reggie Jackson dropped 15 points and Paul George had 28, which is good, but looks less so because he went 1-of-7 from three-point range.

Compared to the support Leonard got from his teammates during the Raptors’ championship run, it’s a small wonder why Raptors fans are narrowing in on the Clippers’ apparent ineptitude with Leonard.

However, as fun as it might be to rag on the Clippers, putting all blame on the Clippers for the supposed plight they’re putting Leonard under isn’t entirely fair and it doesn’t give credit for the true culprit of the personal hell Leonard and his Clippers are in right now: The Mavericks themselves.

More specifically, the brilliant play of the ascendant Luka Doncic.

Already a top-10 player in the world at just the age of 22, Doncic has appeared to have taken another step towards what, ultimately, be his destiny as the best basketball player on the planet.

Through the first two games against the Clippers, Doncic is averaging 35 points, 8.5 rebounds and nine assists per game while shooting 50.9 per cent from the field and 41.7 per cent from deep on 12 three-pointers per game.

He notched a triple-double in Game 1 and, as that absurd volume and efficiency from deep illustrates, he’s appeared to shore up the one weakness he appeared to have offensively: His three-point accuracy.

The Doncic step-back three is one of the most un-guardable moves in all of basketball. Because of his great length, the high release point on his shot, his excellent balance and the length of stride he takes before launching, its virtually always an uncontested shot for Doncic and all defenders could do is hope he misses, which happened more often than he and the Mavericks would’ve liked.

However, in this playoff series against the Clippers, Doncic is now firing away from three with nearly reckless abandon and thanks to his improved accuracy is nearly single-handedly bombing the Clippers into oblivion.

This improved efficiency from deep for Doncic has since opened up all other aspects of his offensive game, too, as perimeter defenders like Leonard and George now have to respect his shot and probably play tighter on him than they would like, leading to Doncic able to use his quick first step to get by and into the lane where he can cause all sorts of havoc by either going all the way to the cup or finding teammates to kick out to.

In other words, with the way Doncic is playing right now, there’s basically nothing the Clippers can do to stop him.

So, sure, Leonard likely needs more help than he’s received so far from his teammates, but his team’s tepid play isn’t entirely to blame.

Leonard is, of course, expected to opt out of the last year of his contract in the summer and become an unrestricted free agent where he’s likely to re-sign with the Clippers and get a better, more lucrative deal for himself.

However, you can’t discount the possibility of him testing the market, too, where the Raptors would certainly be interested suitors with cap room to spare.

And at the rate this Clippers-Mavericks series is going with Doncic looking unstoppable, perhaps it might be more prudent for Raptors fans to get Doncic trending on Twitter in Toronto and Canada, because if there’s any one thing that you can point to who could be responsible for returning Leonard to Toronto right now it would be him.

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Clippers fate hinges on stopping Doncic more than Leonard’s offence - Sportsnet.ca
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