Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are on the Clippers and have been a dominant NBA duo so quickly, but how? #NBA #Kawhi #Clippers Second Channel-
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Both Kawhi and PG run a good amount of isolations. They have different styles for their iso offense, but they use each other to help their own individual offenses. For example here, Kawhi gets the ball and holds on to it until the defense spreads out a bit. Now, Troy Brown Jr. probably is not the guy to be guarding Kawhi 1 v 1. Kawhi has all this space in the midrange area around the free throw line where he likes to take shots. This is when a double team would be nice, Bradley Beal wants to help, but Paul George is one pass away. This means Bradley Beal can’t help. If he does, he’s giving Paul George an easy shot to heat up or giving him all the space to do whatever he wants. Kawhi spins towards the middle back towards Paul George because the defense can’t help and Kawhi gets an easy jumpshot in his spot.
Although Kawhi is shooting 30.8% from 3 this season, he’s shooting 36% on catch and shoots 3s and last season, he shot 40.8% on catch and shoot 3s. It’s not elite, but he’s going to make you pay. Paul George is shooting 39.2% from 3 this season including 39.6% on catch and shoot 3s so he’s not someone you want to leave open at all. So these two have their own gravity on the perimeter. Kawhi is averaging a career high in assists at 5.3 assists per game in his lowest minutes per game in a full season since 2014. Kawhi likes to hold onto the ball until the defense commits. On a very similar play to Paul George’s, Kawhi gets trapped, but instead of quickly dumping it off to Zubac, he waits till Smart commits to Zubac and passes it to PG who’s open. But these two don’t just score from the perimeter. We know that Kawhi likes to operate in the midrange area in slow motion. Paul George is a smooth operator that changes pace so quickly for a forward. So in these situations, again, they both use each other. Here Paul George drives into the defense after getting by Isaiah Thomas. Otto Porter wants to help but has to stick on Kawhi. Help comes to stop Paul George and now Otto is stuck guarding two shooters and leans towards Kawhi. He’s late to react to the pass in the corner, play’s catch up, and that’s an easy swing to Kawhi. These drives make the defense behind and PG knows that the defense wants to stay on Kawhi so he’s taking advantage of that.
There’s also a lot of attention on both George and Leonard at the same time leading to opportunities for others, especially because players like Louis Williams and even Montrez Harrell can bring the ball up. After all that happens in this game, the Celtics defense is reluctant to help off of PG or Kawhi. Marcus Smart doesn’t even move. It leads to a wide open 3 for Patrick Beverley. That’s the best part of Kawhi-PG.
They also don’t need the ball to change the game defensively. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are some of the best perimeter players in the NBA period. They can guard every point guard, every shooting guard, every small forward and some power forwards and the best part, they understand the level of greatness each one of them have which leads to ultimate confidence in one another to just switch. The Clippers are 3rd in the league in defense. This level of switching is just insane, it’s ludicrous, it’s not fair.
But it’s not like the typical guard big combo like LeBron and AD or a two guard combo like Curry and Klay or Russ and Harden, it’s two guard forward combos like Wade and LeBron, just less athletic, but more defensive. Pair that with the rest of the Clippers pieces like Louis Williams, Montrez Harrell, Patrick Beverley and now we’re talking a good mix of offense mixed with defense. Because Kawhi and PG don’t need the ball to thrive, they are ok with having possessions without the ball which lets their role players bring out their unique abilities whether it’s Louis Williams leaners, Harrell’s drives from the perimeter, they just take turns and go to the hot hand. This is why to me it looks like poetry in motion, because the small subtletities, the IQ, the simple offense and seamless defense that revolves around these 2.
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