On TV, the limited series is the hot thing these days.
It’s the same on the court, during this coronavirus-compacted NBA season.
The Clippers’ back-to-back set in Memphis this week is one of six “miniseries” – as Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins characterized them – on L.A.’s schedule this season.
Most of them consist of two games in three days, including the Clippers’ first three sets, starting in January, when they split a pair of games against the Warriors and swept Oklahoma City before splitting with Utah this month.
The Clippers’ quick two-games-in-two-days stopover in Memphis this week meant they didn’t have much time to stew about Thursday’s 122-94 loss: “Absolutely,” they were looking forward to a next-day shot at redemption All-Star wing Paul George said Thursday night.
But it also meant they’d need to adjust in a hurry – an experience that could prove a valuable test run for the postseason.
“This is sort of like a playoff game because you get a chance to go home and see what you did wrong, things you can correct, things you can kind of try to attack and exploit, and playing the same team back to back,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said, via Zoom video conference, before tip-off Friday. “Reminds you of the playoffs. So we got to come out with a playoff mentality.”
Jenkins said before Thursday’s game that the chess-like aspect of responding quickly to an opponent’s moves is resonating with his coaching colleagues.
“There’s a lot of talk about these kinds of miniseries throughout the season, a lot of teams have enjoyed it,” said Jenkins, whose Grizzlies are playing just their second such series this season, after the previous three on their schedule were postponed entirely or in part due to health and safety protocols put in place by the league.
Jenkins said his plan was to “attack the first game as if it’s a game by itself … go out there and play the best we can here in Game 1,” and then, like Lue, to “learn from the film afterwards.”
“Playing the same opponent two nights, or two games back-to-back gives you an opportunity to make some tweaks, change some things, emphasize some of the things you did well,” Jenkins added, before his team’s successful opening gambit Thursday. “It’s kind of a chess match, you know, these little mini playoff series. It’s been exciting. It’s allowed our coaching staff to dive in a little bit more.”
The Clippers have two more miniseries lined up in the second half of the schedule, at Dallas on March 15 and 17 and at San Antonio on March 24 and 25.
A ROSE BY ANOTHER NAME
Not long after Ja Morant and his teammates punished the Clippers on Thursday, George put the result aside and raved about the 21-year-old guard who had just gone streaking past or twisting away from L.A. defenders for easy buckets. Or flicking no-look lobs to his teammates for easy makes. Or launching himself off the hardwood for dunks to add to his growing highlight reel.
“He’s so athletic and so gifted, he’s so agile, I could compare him to like Derrick Rose, with his explosiveness and ability to just shift his body, move his body in the air, you gotta compare it to someone like D-Rose,” George said of Morant, who had 16 points and seven assists in the win. “He just makes highlight plays after highlight plays. And just makes it look easy out on there on the court.”
Lue praised Morant too, noting that he’s most impressed by his composure.
“What’s so impressive about him being a young player is that he just takes what the defense gives you, he never tries to force,” Lue said. “You can blitz him and double-team him and he’s going to make the right pass and the right play in transition. When he gets into the paint, he’s making the right play for himself or his teammates.”
That’s what Clippers’ second-year players Terance Mann and Mfiondu Kabengele were saying!
Back in March 2019, they scored 18 and 22 points apiece to lead their fourth-seeded Florida State squad past Morant’s 12th-seeded Murray State team, 90-62, in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament – a game in which Morant finished with 28 points, four assists, five rebounds and two steals.
Mann’s assessment afterward: “He can score the ball at all three levels, he finds his teammates most of the time, and that’s kind of what’s hard to stop him – you never know what he’s going to do.”
That makes Morant difficult to defend – and must-see TV.
“He’s just fun to watch,” George said. “There’s no other explanation for it, Ja’s just fun to watch.”
lol. https://t.co/KzqpMO1uca pic.twitter.com/gucTtIhSpw
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) February 26, 2021
TELL EM GUARD UP
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) February 26, 2021
you asked. you receive. https://t.co/7evKSd1edy pic.twitter.com/EFOQIzmcZa
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) February 26, 2021
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