HOUSTON — Despite a scorching stretch from Dec. 20 to Feb. 1 that featured 15 victories in 18 games, the LA Clippers decided to tweak their roster at the trade deadline, getting significantly younger in the process.<\/p>\n
The decision to get younger wasn\u2019t without sacrifice as the Clippers parted ways with their longest tenured player and franchise cornerstone Ivica Zubac. In return for the center averaging a double-double for the second-straight season, LA landed swingman Bennedict Mathurin and center Isaiah Jackson from the Indiana Pacers, changing the complexion of the roster.<\/p>\n
Mathurin particularly made a name for himself in Indiana through his scoring prowess, oftentimes called upon to ignite the Pacers\u2019 up-tempo offense in times of struggle. He succeeded in this role, essentially winning Indiana Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals behind 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting.<\/p>\n
While Mathurin\u2019s shots didn\u2019t fall for in his first two games donning a Clippers uniform \u2014 going 4-of-13 vs. the Rockets on Tuesday and 3-of-10 in the same building Wednesday \u2014 the fourth-year small forward found other ways to impact the game. In his Tuesday debut, he collected seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals in a losing effort, but head coach Tyronn Lue still wanted to see more out of his newest addition.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly on, I thought he was being a little too passive, trying to fit in, I needed him to be more aggressive,\u201d Lue said prior to Wednesday night\u2019s game. \u201cIt was just talking to him and letting him know what I mean by \u2018aggressive.\u2019 It doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s coming out of his shoe. He just needs to be aggressive, get to the basket, and make the right play. He\u2019s gonna get better at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
That conversation paid dividends. On Wednesday night, the Clippers trailed Houston by 13 points in the late third quarter, but Mathurin sparked a 24-4 run by forcing stops and regularly earning trips to the free throw line. He drove fearlessly to the rim through contact, finishing 9-of-10 on free throws in a 16-point showing. The Clippers pulled off the comeback thanks to the former Pacer, who still awaits his first practice in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been good, and he\u2019s gonna get better once he understands the plays and all the different things,\u201d Lue said. \u201cTo come in and play two games with no practices and going through the plays, I think it\u2019s a good job. We\u2019ve gotta keep working with him. We\u2019ve got to bring him in on off-days to get him caught up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mathurin\u2019s ability to routinely position the Clippers on the free throw line was impressive, but his coaches and teammates raved even more about his defensive effort. Mathurin contributed three steals in Wednesday night\u2019s victory, most notably picking the pocket of Amen Thompson with 3:03 remaining and immediately drawing a foul. That pivotal play, combined with Mathurin\u2019s successful free throws, turned a 95-95 tie into a 97-95 Clippers lead, providing the fuel needed to escape victorious.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was really aggressive,\u201d Lue said. \u201cHis shot\u2019s not gonna fall every night. He passed on some open looks early in the game, but we need him to score the basketball, but we also need him to guard the way he did tonight. Stealing the ball from Thompson at halfcourt, getting the foul, and making two more free throws to put us up two was a big play. Defensively, we\u2019re gonna challenge him every night because we know he can score the basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
What will Mathurin\u2019s role look like in LA? His teammates understand his scoring ability will only improve as he gels with the Clippers, but his aggressiveness has shined in a small sample size thus far.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been good,\u201d small forward Kawhi Leonard said. \u201cAn aggressive player on the offensive end. He did a great job tonight on a few possessions on the defensive end, getting some steals in that fourth quarter, getting an open court foul, knocking down his free throws, and getting into the paint \u2014 he\u2019s been great so far for us. He\u2019ll get better as time goes on. It\u2019s only been 48 hours\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON — Despite a scorching stretch from Dec. 20 to Feb. 1 that featured 15 victories in 18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,17907,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,67,4536],"class_list":{"0":"post-600105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-benedict-mathurin","10":"tag-clippers","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-clippers","13":"tag-laclippers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesclippers","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-tst-los-angeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116061186748989812","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}