LATIMES.COM/SPORTS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019D5
BASKETBALL
Tracking UCLA’s high-
lights on Wednesday night
involved following the floppy
hair.
It belonged to Tyger
Campbell, the dreadlock-
wearing point guard who
was in the midst of almost
everything the Bruins did
well in their only exhibition
game.
He threw a lob to Jalen
Hill for a dunk, found Prince
Ali for a three-pointer and
made a bounce pass to Alex
Olesinski for a layup. And
that was just on his team’s
first three baskets.
Campbell made coach
Mick Cronin a winner in his
debut inside Pauley Pavil-
ion, the redshirt freshman
carrying the Bruins to an 87-
57 victory over Division II
Stanislaus State a week be-
fore their season opener.
Campbell finished with 14
points, 11 assists and two
steals in 27 minutes in his
long-awaited introduction
to the home fans after sitting
out last season because oftorn knee ligaments.
“I’ve been itching to get
back out there, and obvi-
ously tonight I just felt great
out there,” said Campbell,
who received a loud ovation
from the crowd of 3,221 after
departing the game shortly
after throwing his fourth al-
ley-oop pass, which Jaime
Jaquez Jr. grabbed for a
layup.
The Bruins got a scare
midway through the second
half when Ali hurt his right
ankle and hobbled around
for a few seconds while grim-
acing before motioning to
the bench that he needed to
come out.
Cronin said Ali did notbreak the ankle, but he did
not have any further infor-
mation on the injury.
One of the first things
Cronin mentioned was his
team’s 44 deflections, calling
it “a UCLA stat now” that he
will closely track each game.
He said teams that collect at
least 40 deflections win 95%
of those games.
“It’s the greatest single
indicator of your defensive
effort,” Cronin said, refer-
ring to a statistic that in-
cludes tipped passes,
blocked shots and recovered
loose balls.
UCLA’s offense hinged al-
most exclusively on Camp-
bell in the early going. Hewas involved in his team’s
first 11 points via assist or
scoring (including two Jules
Bernard free throws that
came as a result of taking a
pass from Campbell on a
fastbreak).
The Bruins struggled to
score when Campbell went
to the bench and fell behind
by as many as as four points
in the first half before run-
ning off 11 consecutive points
to take control.
Campbell showed that he
could do more than pass,
tipping a Stanislaus State
entry pass to himself for a
steal and scoring on a variety
of moves.
He used a nifty ball faketo elude a defender before
whirling for a short jumper,
buried an open three-point-
er and made a floater at the
halftime buzzer that earned
him a celebratory body
bump with Hill.
Chris Smith, continuing
to search for an identity after
two inconsistent seasons,
scored 13 points, grabbed
nine rebounds and made
nine deflections.
“I told him if I had his size
and athleticism,” Cronin
said of the 6-foot-9 guard,
“my identity would be de-
flections, defense, blocked
shots, rebounds. ... He’s
really trying to embrace
that.”Point guard Campbell shines for UCLA
Redshirt freshman
delights Pauley
Pavilion crowd in
tuneup to season.
By Ben Bolch
tion among other Western
Conference contenders.
Then he made only nine of
his first 45 field-goal at-
tempts to start this season.
He made 11 field goals
against the Clippers alone,
and six in the third quarter.
“He made I think every
shot he took in the third,”
Clippers center Ivica Zubac
said.
At one point in the third
quarter, the Clippers trailed
by 21 points. Then fought to
within 10 in the fourth quar-
ter, thanks to a bench unit
led by JaMychal Green’s 23
points, but Conley answered
with a 25-foot three-pointer.
On the next possession, he
lobbed an alley-oop to seven-
footer Rudy Gobert and the
night was over.
“Conley made shots, the
third quarter killed us,” Riv-
ers said. “Thought we did a
good job getting back into
the game and then once the
third quarter happened the
game was basically over.”
Three-time NBA sixth-
man winner Lou Williams
was moved to the starting
lineup for his 21st start in 159
games with the Clippers and
finished with 24 points.
Resting stars was a prac-
tice long before Toronto
popularized “load manage-
ment” last season by not
playing Leonard during at
least one leg of all 12 of the
team’s back-to-backs. As
coach in Boston, Rivers once
left his three best players
home for an entire road trip.
Utah is so focused on finding
the right balance of resting
players that they call a sec-
tion of their practice facility
devoted to tracking per-
formance “The Lab.”
“You want to maximize
guys,” Utah coach Quin Sny-
der said “In the end there’s a
scientific component, but
it’s not an exact science.”
But Toronto’s success
with the strategy — winning
the NBA championship be-
hind the fresher legs of Leon-
ard, the Finals most valu-
able player — coupled with
the NBA’s focus on ensuring
fans see stars, has made the
practice a subject of tension.
Teams can be fined at
least $100,000 by the league
for resting “healthy players
for any high-profile, nation-
ally televised game,” accord-
ing to a memo sent to teams
last season. Additionally,
“absent unusual circum-
stances, teams should not
rest healthy players when
playing on the road.”The Clippers listed “load
management, knee,” and
not rest, as the reason for
Leonard sitting out the
ESPN-televised game,
though Rivers said at the
morning’s shoot-around
that the forward “has never
felt better.” A league spokes-
man said the Clippers are in
compliance with league pol-
icy and will not be fined be-
cause they received approv-
al for Leonard’s absence
ahead of time, after provid-
ing information to the
league.
The Raptors were 17-5
without Leonard in the line-
up last season. But that was
in a weak Eastern Confer-
ence. The Clippers won’t
have that cushion in a brutal
West.
“It’s different when you
have guys like that sit out
and you’re playing at home,
you get that energy,” guard
Patrick Beverley said.
“When you have away games
you have to find a way to
build that energy from
within collectively.
“Of course any loss is a
bad loss in the West and es-
pecially in the NBA, but
without our main guys we
did get better today.”Conley breaks
out against L.A.
[Clippers,from D1]CLIPPERSguard Patrick Beverley shoots over Utah
Jazz guard Mike Conley during the first half.Rick BowmerAssociated PressJazz 110, Clippers 96
CLIPPERS
Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A P T
Patterson...........28 1-4 0-0 1-3 2 2 3
Shamet.............32 1-7 3-3 0-1 2 3 5
Zubac...............17 4-4 0-0 2-8 1 1 8
Beverley ............25 4-13 0-0 1-3 0 0 8
Williams ............279-17 5-7 0-3 4 2 24
Ja.Green............278-11 2-2 1-8 0 3 23
Robinson...........18 4-7 0-0 0-2 3 2 9
McGruder ..........17 0-3 0-0 0-1 0 3 0
Harkless ............17 1-3 0-0 0-2 2 1 2
Harrell...............13 5-9 0-0 0-2 0 4 10
Mann................10 2-3 0-0 1-3 5 1 4
Walton Jr. ............1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kabengele ...........1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 39-82 10-12 6-36 19 22 96
Shooting: Field goals, 47.6%; free throws, 83.3%
Three-point goals: 8-23 (Ja.Green 5-6, Patterson
1-2, Robinson 1-3, Williams 1-3, Harkless 0-1, Kaben-
gele 0-1, Shamet 0-3, Beverley 0-4). Team Rebounds:- Team Turnovers: 19 (27 PTS). Blocked Shots: 4
(Zubac 2, Harrell, Ja.Green). Turnovers: 19 (Robinson 5,
Williams 5, Shamet 3, Beverley 2, Harrell, Ja.Green,
Mann, Zubac). Steals: 3 (Beverley, Mann, Shamet).
Technical Fouls: None.
UTAH
Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A P T
Bogdanovic ........305-11 2-2 0-4 2 3 14
O’Neale .............23 0-0 0-0 0-4 1 1 0
Gobert ..............32 5-7 3-8 0-7 0 3 13
Conley ..............3211-17 2-2 0-1 5 3 29
Mitchell .............3410-17 4-4 0-5 2 3 24
Ingles ...............31 4-8 0-0 0-2 7 3 10
Je.Green ............19 3-8 0-0 0-1 0 1 8
Mudiay..............16 4-9 0-0 0-3 5 0 8
Davis ................14 2-3 0-0 3-9 1 1 4
Kidd ...................1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Bradley ...............1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Williams-Goss ......1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Niang .................1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 44-80 11-16 3-36 23 18 110
Shooting: Field goals, 55.0%; free throws, 68.8%
Three-point goals: 11-24 (Conley 5-8, Je.Green 2-4,
Ingles 2-4, Bogdanovic 2-5, Mudiay 0-1, Mitchell 0-2).
Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 14 (13 PTS).
Blocked Shots: 5 (Gobert 2, Davis, Je.Green, Mudiay).
Turnovers: 14 (Bogdanovic 4, Conley 2, Mitchell 2,
Davis, Gobert, Ingles, Mudiay, O’Neale, Williams-Goss).
Steals: 12 (Je.Green 3, Conley 2, Ingles 2, Mitchell 2,
Gobert, Mudiay, O’Neale). Technical Fouls: None.
Clippers 23 28 20 25— 96
Utah 33 19 38 20— 110
A—18,306. T—2:15. O—Derek Richardson, Josh
Tiven, Brent Barnaky
double his previous career
high, while opening eyes
with his ability as a play-
maker. They include those of
coaches such as Charlotte’s
James Borrego and
Phoenix’s Monty Williams,
who remember when plays
like Tuesday’s no-look pass
did not come so easily for the
6-foot-8 forward.
“Nobody saw this coming
in Kawhi Leonard,” said
Borrego, who worked with
Leonard in San Antonio as
an assistant from 2015 to
- “He’s drawing more
coverages than ever right
now, but he’s trying to play
the right way and move the
ball. Did not have that early
in his career.” Said Williams,
who also overlapped time
with Leonard as a Spurs as-
sistant: “You’d be hard-
pressed to find anybody
that’s improved that dra-
matically. He’s just a phe-
nomenal, complete basket-
ball player.”
Leonard’s 30 assists were
tied for second most in the
NBA and are easily his most
through the first four games
of any season in his career —
his previous high: 17.
The Clippers’ road game
against Utah on Wednesday
could have provided a most
intriguing matchup, with
Leonard’s playmaking going
against the Jazz’s league-
leading defense, but Leon-
ard rested as part of the
Clippers’ strategy to man-
age his workload during the
regular season.
Though Leonard entered
the NBA in 2011 as a willing
passer, his playmaking was
not refined. For eight sea-
sons to start his career he
was insulated from exten-
sive ballhandling duties by
the presence of San Anto-
nio’s Tony Parker and To-
ronto’s Kyle Lowry.
Playing primarily off the
ball suited Leonard. Thanks
to his work with San Antonio
shooting coach Chip Engel-
land, Leonard made the first
developmental leap of his
career by becoming a cred-
ible three-point shooter. He
was soon a three-time All-
Star, two-time champion
and two-time most valuable
player of the NBA Finals.
“He didn’t say anything,
and he just put the time in,
the effort, the work, studied
his craft and if you do that
day after day, year after year,
summer after summer, you
can become a special player
in this league,” Borrego said.
“It’s no coincidence that he’s
become this. He obviously
had the tools and some skill-
set, but it’s been the time,
the work ethic.”
Without a traditional
point guard initiating the of-
fense, the Clippers neededsomething different from
their best player. Leonard
has been the primary ball-
handler 37% of the time, a ca-
reer high, and the most effec-
tive way of using him thus far
has been pick-and-roll plays.
Only nine players have aver-
aged at least 10 possessions
per game this season as a
ballhandler in pick-and-roll
situations, according to Syn-
ergy. Eight are guards. The
ninth is Leonard, who has
scored 1.14 points per pos-
session in those situations,
fourth best behind Brook-
lyn’s Kyrie Irving, Portland’s
Damian Lillard and
Boston’s Kemba Walker.
When he passes to the
screener out of pick-and-roll
plays, the Clippers have
been even more lethal, scor-
ing a league-best 1.7 points
per possession.
“That’s an elite player,
man,” said Montrezl Harrell,
the backup center whose
rolls to the rim have helped
him shoot 80% off passes
from Leonard.
In 2017, Leonard’s last full
season with the Spurs, he
handled the ball in pick-and-
rolls on 25% of his pos-
sessions. Last season in To-ronto, that share was nearly
27%.
Through four games with
the Clippers, it’s up to 43%.
“The last two teams I
played on, [there] was a
dominant point guard with
Tony Parker and Kyle, they
did much of our playmak-
ing,” Leonard said. “But I
feel like I have to step in that
role right now and, you
know, get our players open
shots.”
His comfort handling the
ball represents the latest
leap of his career progres-
sion, Williams said. “All the
great ones figure out a way
to get better,” said Williams,
the Suns coach said. “I was
watching the Miami [2014
NBA Finals] series with
San Antonio a few weeks ago
and I was blown away at
how hesitant he was in that
series. He wasn’t the same
guy.
“You watch him now and
he’s like a totally different
player.”
And Williams said that
before Leonard had a ca-
reer-high 10 assists against
Phoenix.
“A lot of guys kind of over-
hold the ball and then pass
it,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It
throws shooters out of
rhythm. He does a great job
— when a guy is open, he gets
the ball. And he just keeps it
simple.”
In turn, so have the Clip-
pers.
“Kawhi’s been easy to in-
tegrate,” Rivers said. “Just
put the ball in his hands. I’m
no fool.”THE CLIPPERS’Kawhi Leonard often draws a group of defenders when he has the ball but has been able to
find his open teammates. “He does a great job — when a guy is open, he gets the ball,” coach Doc Rivers says.
Harry HowGetty ImagesLeonard now brings elite
playmaking ability to court
[Leonard, from D1]
‘You’d be pressed to find anybody
that’s improved that dramatically. He’s
just a phenomenal, complete
basketball player.’
— Monty Williams,
Phoenix coach, on Leonard’s development