One of the inclusions on the Clippers’ scouting report of New Orleans was a little-publicized guard whose defensive strategy is so unique, and become so well known that the NBA recently spliced together his highlights.
When opponents inbound the ball, the slight, 6-foot guard hides himself in the corner of a court, then races up behind a dribbler unaware of his presence to poke the ball away. When Portland coach Chauncey Billups called his friend, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, on Sunday to warn him against the trick that had recently led to several Trail Blazers turnovers, Lue let him know he was already planning to have his team watch film of Jose Alvarado before tipoff against the Pelicans.
Maybe it was Lue’s reminder. Maybe it was his roster’s motivation of knowing what Sunday was worth. But either way, neither Alvarado nor the Pelicans snuck up and surprised the Clippers in a 119-100 victory that clinched them the Western Conference’s eighth-best record.
