Bennedict Mathurin explains why he's in such a shooting slump.
The Los Angeles Clippers had a tough go of things on Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, losing 128-110.
The Thunder jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, looking the fresher of the two teams, both of whom were on a back-to-back. The Clippers shot the ball well from three, knocking down 44% of their long range shots at 14-31. However, they shot just 47% overall (40-86) compared to the Thunder, who shot only 38% from three (13-34), but 58% overall (48-83).
Chet Holmgren led all scorers with 30 points. Thunder star and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Clippers star Kawhi Leonard each finished with 20 points, keeping their respective streaks alive.
Unfortunately for the Clippers, Bennedict Mathurin failed to make an impact off the bench with his scoring, finishing with 10 points on 3-8 shooting and 0-1 from three.
Mathurin Explains Shooting Woes
Speaking to the media after the game, Mathurin was asked about his tough shooting night.
"Trying to figure it out," he said.
Asked if he was seeing different coverages or teams were playing him differently, he replied, "I wouldn't say that, nah."
Since arriving to Los Angeles at the trade deadline in exchange for Ivica Zubac, Mathurin is averaging 18 points on 43% shooting from the field in 24 games. Those numbers aren't dissimilar to his numbers in Indiana where he averaged 17.8 points on 43% shooting in 28 games.
The differences are that he's getting to the free throw line more, with two extra points coming via the charity stripe, and his three point shooting has fallen off a cliff.
He shot 37% on 5.6 attempts from three in Indiana. He's shooting just 20% on 3.1 attempts from three in Los Angeles.
Toe Injury?
From March 18 to March 23, Mathurin missed four games due to a toe injury.
In the eight games since returning, he's averaging 14.3 points on 42% shooting and takes less than one two threes per game. Prior to the injury, he was taking two more three per game, showing more comfort in taking those shots.
Speaking at the end of March, Mathurin was asked how the toe impacted his shot.
"It definitely had an impact on my shot, for sure. I was able to get in the gym and fix it."
He said he's been dealing with the injury since the second game of the season, and that it's been challenging, but he wanted to play until it started affecting him too much.