Last week: Lost to Milwaukee 129-124, beat Portland 107-101
This week: Monday vs. Toronto, Wednesday at Houston, Thursday at New Orleans, Saturday vs. Atlanta
The LA Clippers had one of the strangest schedules in member last week. Two games in the seven-day period, but on a back-to-back. OoooooK, then, NBA scheduling matrix.
Kawhi was held out of LA’s matchup Wednesday with the Bucks — in case you hadn’t heard — before returning to score 27 points with 13 rebounds in the win over Portland. It was the second back-to-back this season for the Clippers and Leonard has sat out the first game of each so far.
By that pattern, Leonard won’t play Wednesday at Houston, but will return to face the Pelicans Thursday.
Montrezl Harrell did what he could to keep the Clips in the game with Milwaukee and had a solid couple of games overall, with 49 points, 19 rebounds, six assists, four blocks and three steals while hitting 20-of-36 (55.6 percent) from the floor. That included 34 points, 13 boards and five dimes in his first start of the season in 39 minutes against the Bucks.
Last week: Beat Sacramento 124-120, won at New Orleans 122-104, won at Lakers 113-104
This week: Monday at Clippers, Wednesday at Portland, Saturday at Dallas
Kawhi Leonard leaves town? No problem. Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka injured? No problem. No matter what happens, the Toronto Raptors just keep winning. The Raptors posted a 3-0 week, despite losing Patrick McCaw to knee surgery on Wednesday before Lowry fractured his left thumb and Ibaka sprained his right ankle in their win at New Orleans on Friday.
Against the Lakers Sunday night, Norman Powell scored 14 points starting in place of Lowry, while Chris Boucher — last season’s G League MVP — scored 15 points in 24 minutes backing up Marc Gasol in the middle. Nick Nurse didn’t get a lot of support for Coach of the Year last season, but the way Toronto has stayed competitive after Leonard’s departure has been something to see.
Pascal Siakam is still thriving as the new top gun in TO, averaging 30.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in 39,4 minutes per game last week, hitting 51.5 percent overall while going 6-for-21 from 3-point land: 5-for-10 against the Pelicans, 1-for-11 against the Pacific Division.
Siakam scored a career-high 44 points in the victory at New Orleans, canning 17-of-28 overall, and posted three straight double-doubles last week to run his season total to four. Siakam is seventh in the NBA in scoring at 27.4 points per game, more than 10 better than his Most Improved Player run in 2018-19. Back-to-back, anyone?
Last week: Won at Chicago 118-112, beat Miami 95-80, lost to Toronto 113-104
This week: Tuesday at Phoenix, Wednesday vs. Golden State, Friday vs. Sacramento, Sunday vs. Atlanta
The Los Angeles Lakers had their seven-game winning streak snapped Sunday night by the under-manned Raptors thanks to an offensive blackout in the second half. The Lakers shot just 32 percent and were outscored 61-44 after intermission, with LeBron James going just 1-for-8 in the final two periods while playing to a minus-20.
The real culprits in that second half were the guards. Alex Caruso made his only shot attempt in the second half, the only Laker guard to successfully put ball through rim. Avery Bradley was 0-for-5, Danny Green 0-for-3 and Quinn Cook was 0-for-1.
James still had himself one heckuva week for a 34-year-old, averaging 22.7 points, 10.7 assists and 9.0 rebounds in 35.5 minutes per game, shooting 47.2 percent overall and making 6-of-15 from deep. He had two triple-doubles on the week, running his season count to four — all in the last five games — and he leads the NBA with 11.0 assists per game.
He turned back the clock on Tuesday in Chicago, torching the Bulls for 30 points, 11 assists and 10 boards in 35 minutes, hitting 10-of-19 overall and going 8-for-9 at the foul line.