Patty Mills attained a notable statline tonight, scoring 20 points while record 0 each of rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. That kind of nothing-but-scoring performance always captures my heart, because scoring is the whole point of the game and the other things don’t excite me very much. I call it “pulling a Snell”.
Landry Shamet came really close to replicating Mills’ performance, notching goose eggs in most of the major statistical categories besides scoring, but stupidly grabbed one (1) rebound in the middle of the third quarter. He also scored one fewer point, but the problem really is that rebound. Here’s the the thing: the Clippers don’t pay him to rebound. So why was he out there grabbing it? It took a look at it, and he really went up there, aggressively stealing it from Marcus Morris, who was kind of in the vicinity.
This is the reality for Shamet now; he is on the court to score, more specifically to shoot threes off screens. Everything else can be done by someone else. I swear that Doc Rivers is still drastically underutilizing his playmaking ability, but part of that is on Shamet. When you become an ardent disciple of J.J. Redick in your rookie year, don’t be surprised when every subsequent coach for the rest of your career pigeonholes you into that type of role.