Clippers’ Crunch-Time Benching of Russell Westbrook Bears Watching

With Los Angeles desperate for a win in Denver on Tuesday, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue subbed out Westbrook for James Harden. The ripple effects of that were interesting.

The Clippers’ woes are enduring.

Los Angeles lost 108–111 to the Nuggets on Tuesday, their sixth straight loss overall and fifth straight since James Harden entered the starting lineup.

Now, there’s no shame in a three-point loss at Denver. The Clips played really well for most of the night and had a chance to send the game to overtime, except Paul Geroge’s potential game-tying shot literally stuck on the rim.

The game was most interesting as a peek into the Clippers’ fourth-quarter strategy. This was a desperate team clearly pulling out all the stops for a win, so the decisions made by Tyronn Lue on Tuesday are perhaps an indicator of what could come in a potential playoff series (if the Clippers get there, that is). Two things stood out.

Westbrook is averaging 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 30.7 minutes per game for the Clippers this year, but he may end up as the odd man out in Lue’s crunch-time lineup :: Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports

First, with the Clips very much needing to get a win, Lue decided not to close with Russell Westbrook. Russ played the first 6:42 of the fourth, was taken out for Harden, and didn’t play the rest of the way. Instead, L.A. closed with George, Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Terrance Mann, and then a combination of Norman Powell and P.J. Tucker.

The Westbrook decision especially bears watching. He came out of the game with the Clippers ahead by three, and L.A. obviously ended up losing. Is that all because of the Harden switch? Of course not. It likely had much more to do with Nikola Jokić entering for the final eight-and-a-half minutes and torching any defender in his path. But Westbrook has largely been a closer on this team since he joined late last season. And it’s revealing that when looking for its first win since the trade, against a possible playoff foe, Lue decided it was best to split up Westbrook and Harden in a high-leverage moment. If that’s a sign of things to come, then you have to wonder how happy Westbrook will be giving up those minutes for Harden.

Also of note: Lue tried to finish the game by going super small against Denver, with Ivicia Zubac playing only 13 seconds in the fourth. Part of this was out of necessity—Zubac was the only healthy big man for Los Angeles, and the team is reportedly signing Daniel Theis on Wednesday.

Jokić absolutely mowed down anyone in his path, especially when Powell was in the game, at one point posting up Mann, Leonard and George on back-to-back-to-back possessions. I thought the Clips were actually having some success with Tucker, though. The problem was the Nuggets kept getting Jokić switched onto a smaller defender. If Tucker is in the game, he can’t concede that switch, particularly with Jamal Murray out.

Offensively, the Clips generated a couple of good looks attacking Jokić in space, then bizarrely didn’t keep up with the plan. Powell got a wide-open three on the first possession he came in for Tucker. The next time down, Harden got Joker on a switch and blew by him, but missed a layup. The next few times down the floor, the Clippers didn’t do a good enough job of forcing Joker to play on the perimeter, which is the whole point of going small. That brief lack of intentionality can be the difference in a three-point game.

The Clippers are going to figure this out. This team is very talented, and their effort in Denver on Tuesday was ultimately reassuring. Keep an eye on Westbrook and Harden, though, and how much Lue actually wants them on the court together when it matters most. And while the Clips had no answer defensively for Jokić, I think their smallball look against him deserves another few minutes of experimentation, but only if they relentlessly attack him with purpose.