The Clippers were supposed to be tanking. All the moves they made at the trade deadline indicated that they were done competing for a playoff spot this season. I could see their reasoning; their Harris/Gallinari/Williams core, while decent, was not quite a playoff team in the West. They moved on from some players, got back some players, and loaded up on draft picks.
Now they came back from 28 points down against the Celtics to win by ten. As a fan of a team in the Eastern Conference, I have to say that this makes the East look like total booty sauce. How can a tanking team beat a team with Finals aspirations just like that?
Landry Shamet had a lot to do with the victory. He came to the Clippers as part of the Tobes trade (why does Tobes always get traded, anyway?) and immediately allowed the spirit of J.J. Redick to enter into his body. While Shamet was direct teammates with Redick in Philadelphia, that was actually a hinderance to Shamet because he assumed that all he needed to do was accumulate Redick’s wisdom from Redick himself. It’s much more effective to allow Redick’s discorporated spirit to mingle with his own spirit (after entering through the rectum) and gain basketball skill that way. I would know; after all, I long ago let the wandering soul of Matt Carroll enter me and provide me with superior jumpshooting ability.