Last week, Ty Lue was asked about how he would manage Paul George’s minutes during this current stretch of five games in seven days. First Lue said he didn’t know, but then added, “Everybody has a plan until you get hit and then it goes out the window.”
The Clippers have been hit. Even while knowing they’d be without Kawhi Leonard for much of the season, the injury absences to Marcus Morris Sr. and Serge Ibaka lingered longer than anticipated, and now Nicolas Batum’s stint in the health and safety protocols has further compromised the team’s depth. So if the Clippers had plans to rest George — remember that he sat at least one night of every back-to-back during the last six weeks of the 2020-21 season — those went out the window.