You could tell this would be a different kind of game than we’re used to from Landry Shamet when, early in the game, he grabbed a rebound, pushed it up the court, and instead of pulling it back out to wait for someone else to take the ball, he drove it straight to the rim. It didn’t work (except in the sense that Zubac grabbed the miss and put it back in), but it was a sign of things to come. An augury, as it were (get it, because Shamet kinda looks like a bird???? yeah kind of a stretch).
Shamet is not normally an aggressive scorer of the ball. His scoring is about as unaggressive as possible. He’s good for a decent amount of points, usually, but he’s not out there to try and make things happen for himself. He puts pressure on the defense by existing around the three-point line, not by taking the ball and dunking it in the face of the tallest player in the league.
So what changed this game? Was he sensing that the Clippers were in a bit of a slump after their loss the previous game and decided to spark things himself? Did one of the coaches tell him to get more assertive? Was Kawhi moaning loudly and pointedly in the locker room about not having any help and everyone could hear him and it was really awkward and Shamet was thinking silently to himself “yeah, I can be the help that Kawhi needs, yeah”?
That last one sounds like the narrative I’m going with for the rest of the series.