It would have been neat if Landry Shamet’s clutch game-tying three near the end of the first overtime period had given the Clippers the strength to dominate the second OT to come away with the win. You’d think that the jubilation at being given another chance to win the game would have resulted in a better second-overtime effort, but the Clippers ended up losing by eight. They had to put in their scrubbo lineup at the very end. If Motley, Mann and Coffey are out there at the end of an overtime period, you know you screwed up bad.
I bet the entire time that Shamet’s clutch shot was in the air, Kawhi Leonard was thinking to himself, “I should be the one shooting the game-tying shot. I’m the one with experience with clutch shots here. Maybe I should fake another injury so I can get traded to a team where there will be no insubordination. I should call Uncle Dennis after the game.” On the inbounds of that play, Kawhi looked ready to catch the ball, but Shamet got it instead and wasn’t about to defer to the so-called “superstar” that was 1-of-6 from three in the game.
Basically, Shamet = big balls of steel that need no management, load or otherwise. Kawhi = shriveled balls of papier mache that are constantly getting load-managed.