Clippers rookie Kobe Brown, like the rest of his teammates, naturally is excited for the playoffs to begin. But unlike most of his better-known teammates, the anticipation is coming from a whole different place.
This will be Brown’s first NBA playoff experience. The closest he has gotten to this level of postseason play was watching games on television or his computer, and he will tell you it’s not like being here.
NBA teams generally don’t come through Columbia, Missouri, where he went to college or Huntsville, Alabama, where he grew up. The closest NBA city to the University of Missouri is Oklahoma City and“it’s like five hours away.”
Brown and his family never made that trek in his four seasons at Missouri, and any NBA games he saw were from afar. This time, the playoffs are at his home arena.
The Clippers’ postseason won’t start for another week, but the 6-foot-8 wing is already getting amped up. It started when he came into the locker room after Friday’s loss to the Utah Jazz and found a half-inch thick packet of detailed scouting reports and statistics on their first-round opponents, the Dallas Mavericks, on his chair.
The Clippers (51-30) and Mavericks begin their best-of-seven series either April 20 or April 21 at Crypto.com Arena.
“I’m really excited to see what it’s like,” Brown said. “We already got the playoff scouting report or whatever it is. Big packet that I’ve never had before. It’s going to be fun, exciting … I want to see how far we go. Hopefully, we can win it all. It will be fun.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue can share in Brown’s enthusiasm. He fondly recalled his first NBA playoff experience as a rookie on the Lakers when they advanced to the 1998 Western Conference Finals against the Jazz.
He said that series for him at the Forum was “overwhelming. It was rockin’ crazy, and the atmosphere was crazy.”
Lue’s excitement increased as he stepped on the court in Game 4 of that series across from former Jazz great and Hall of Famer John Stockton, a point guard like himself.
“My first game was Game 4,” Lue said. “I didn’t play the first three games and in Game 4, I got a chance to play against John Stockton of the Utah Jazz at the Forum. Never forget it.”
Brown isn’t sure he will see any action as the Clippers pursue their first NBA title in franchise history, but he has seen an uptick in his minutes lately. He played 19 and 29 minutes, respectively, in the Clippers’ last two games against the Jazz and Phoenix Suns, scoring a combined 11 points and pulling a total of six rebounds and four assists. He also had a blocked shot and steal in a loss to Phoenix.
Brown, who has averaged 8.3 minutes in his first season, could see more court time in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Houston Rockets.
Brown isn’t new to playoff basketball; his experiences have just come at a lower level. As a senior, he keyed Missouri’s first NCAA Tournament victory in 13 seasons with 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including three 3-pointers, and eight rebounds against Utah State on March 16, 2023.
He scored 12 consecutive points against the Aggies to help the Tigers turn a two-point deficit into a 59-53 lead with six minutes to play.
In 2018, Brown also was the first Missouri freshman to post a double-double in an NCAA Tournament game since Michael Porter Jr., now with the Denver Nuggets.
His accomplishments in college not only earned him first-team All-SEC honors, but an invitation to the NBA Combine last spring. He was named to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List for Player of the Year after averaging a nation’s best 55.3% from the field and 45.5% from the 3-point range and was a first-round pick in the 2023 NBA draft.
The Clippers used the 30th and final pick in the first round on Brown, putting him on the path to his first NBA playoff experience.
Houston at Clippers
When: 12:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV: Bally Sports SoCal/AM 570