Giannis Dominates, Bucks Defeat Clippers 137-113

The LA Clippers hosted the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night, and fell by a final score of 137-113. While there were certainly positive takeaways for the Clippers in this game, the starting unit once again dug them in a hole that the bench was unable to dig out of. While the Clippers' bench unit cut the 25-point lead down to just nine at one point, the Bucks were just better down the stretch.

Unsurprisingly, Giannis Antetokounmpo led the way for Milwaukee, finishing with 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. This is standard for Giannis, who can essentially be pencilled in for that stat line on a nightly basis; however, he got some big time scoring help from both Jrue Holiday and Bobby Portis. The entire Bucks starting lineup was dominant, with Holiday dropping 27, Portis adding 24, Connaughton adding 18, and Middleton finishing with 17. The Bucks' starters combined for 114 points, which was quite different from the output the Clippers got from their starting group.

While Marcus Morris was solid, finishing with 20 points on 5/8 from deep, every Clippers' starter had a drastically negative plus/minus, anchored by Amir Coffey's -30 mark. While plus/minus is not always the most indicative stat of a player's overall performance, it can be telling when applied to entire units. It has become a trend now for the Clippers' starters to dig a hole that the bench has to find their way out of. It almost successfully happened in this one, and has successfully happened on multiple occasions, but it is certainly a bad habit to fall into.

The most promising development for the Clippers in this game was the play of their newest addition, Norman Powell. In his first game with the Clippers, Powell finished with 28 points on 9/16 shooting, including 4/8 from deep. He is clearly the best player on this iteration of the Clippers' roster, and showed that in this game. He came off the bench, likely only because it was his first game, because the Clippers could certainly use his scoring in that starting lineup.

Robert Covington, who was also in that deal with Powell, had a great Clippers debut as well. Putting up 13 points on 3/6 from deep, Covington showed his value to this Clippers team, especially while they remain shorthanded.

While this was a frustrating loss, the Clippers were going up against the defending champions who played incredibly well. The flashes of life, led by Norman Powell, were enough to leave this game feeling decent about the team's direction.