Welcome to Season two, episode fifty seven, Borderline, episode fifty eight with
how many times We've had to start this thing over? I am Chuck Buckler,
joined by Adam Oslin. Will Updank. Our usual other host is unavoidably
detained. He's at Doune too. He couldn't make it. He didn't want
to talk about I know we got left out of Timothy shamalot or whatever more
than us challenge. He didn't want to talk about the Clippers collapse, which
we are going to talk about today. We're going to talk the loss against
the Bucks, which no one liked. We're going to talk about the upcoming
must win I guess against the Rockets. Every game feels like a must win
right now. If you're listening Yesterdays was. If you're listening, thanks for
listening. If you're watching us on YouTube, we have a little special treat
for you to If you want to watch us, you can find us on
YouTube dot com, slash at Clippers Podcast and Adam. We have a giveaway
I believe too. We do. We still have the Russell Westbrook bobblehead to
give away. We're doing three keywords. Here's how it works. We've already
dropped two in two previous episodes. May have been a YouTube, may have
been a clips and double dip where one of these fine gentlemen not will because
he's not here. When Chuck joins me postgame after a Clippers loss, typically
so we already gave away two keywords. There's one more to give away after
that. You drop all three in the YouTube comment section. If you are
the first, you're gonna win that Russell Westbrook bobblehead that they gave away on
a night where unfortunately Russell Westbrook broke his left hand. We'll talk more about
that and give you an update on his health. But uh, Chuck,
I know we do have to go back over the last game now, even
though a lot of people are probably wishing we weren't. We gotta talk about
the bad We're gonta learn from last stakes period, And there was a lot
of them. Yeah, that's my that's my thing. Is like it's been
you know, twenty four hours whatever since the horrible loss. Is this more?
Is this a larger concern? Is the process from this loss something we
should be concerned about? They look, gas, it was a second hind
of a back to back. I'm not using that as an excuse. They
didn't have their first and third best player. They were up fifteen. It's
a game you have to win. I'm having deja vu in multiple ways right
now. It's like a deja vu multiverse because I'm gonna say something. I
feel like I've said this before. But you know, every game has its
own story. And while the Lakers game was one where they lost to Lebron
James going off in that fourth quarter leading by twenty one, this was a
little bit different. They scored twenty five points on the fourth quarter as opposed
to just sixteen against Los Angeles Lakers in that one, but they gave up
forty points to the Milwaukee Bucks, and Bobby Portis caught fire late. He
had fourteen of his twenty eight points in that fourth quarter. Dame had ten
of what his forty one in the fourth quarter. Again, no Giannisanna Kuopo,
no Chris Middleton in that game. Not a lot of excuses you can
make for this Clippers team. And I'm gonna say the unraveling of this meltdown
and this collapse this time by the Clippers really occurred just at the end of
the third quarter and through the power of technology. I am now able to
share my screen here on the YouTube for the first time. I figured it
out. Guys, I'm no longer the Caveman and Zulander banging on the computer.
I got this, Jockie, you're seeing what I'm seeing? Can you
confirm? Got it? I got it. We've touched down, all right.
So here's the end of the third quarter for the Clippers, and we'll
go through some of this in the fourth leading to a fifteen point comeback.
But at this point we're talking about a Clippers team that is still up eighty
one to seventy. They were up by thirteen forty sec is left in the
third quarter. They gave up a couple of free throws to Damian Lillard as
the Milwaukee bus attempted fourteen of them in that third where the Clippers really been
defended without fouling. You'll see there the score was eighty one to sixty eight.
They're not gonna show free throws on highlights, So here we go.
Beasley ends up getting Terrence Man up into the air back into the left by
Terrence Man here on the fly by. I don't know if he thought that
this was gonna be the end of not just the shot clock, but the
end of the third quarter with the haste he had going up for that pump
fake like Beasley's gonna fly by him or something like that. Not a great
defensive play there, but the Clippers then would be up by just eight heading
into the fourth. It's eighty one to seventy three. Now the Milwaukee Bucks
start to get hot. Here is Bobby Fortis who misses one. This was
a big play. After the Bobby Portis missed three porn on the far side
corner. Danilo Gallinari comes in and is able to fly amongst the trees.
There's a viza zubats, there a mirror coffee. They did not account for
Gallo who got up and had to put back dunk. That's pretty inexcusable.
But what I will point out here is just how many ridiculous shots that the
Milwaukee Bucks were able to make in this fourth quarter that have somewhat assuaged my
fears of this Clippers team late in ball games, because a little bit of
this was fluky to a degree. I will say too, do you got
a thesaurus page up you want to share that tab? No? The Dorris
Rex here, but here's Bobby ports Now on the far side corner. Same
play from him. You first see Aviza zubats here as I'm pointing to the
screen like you can see me pointing to it. Aviza zubats Here doesn't like
the defensive rotation, so you see that he puts his arms out a little
bit of frustration there. He goes to close out on Portas of the far
side corner. It wasn't a bad close out. He got his hand up,
doesn't matter, it's too late. Portis knocks down that three pointer.
He's doing a little bit of a shimmy. Now they're starting to get it
going. But James Harden, remember as the Clippers were ice cold to start
the fourth quarter. Those were the first points in the fourth by the Clippers.
So we're almost three minutes in and James Harden scored their first ten points
of the fourth. He did not score again after that, though, so
as good as he was early, he couldn't get anything to go late.
James Harden with that little floater there, James Harden once again, a deep
three pointer, A huge shot. I thought shots like that stemming the tide
from the mockey bocks would be the difference, but there's still eight minutes left.
It's a six point game. Here's Damian Lillard a little euro step around
Paul George here for the easy one flexes on him plus an and one.
Look like kind of a weak foul, but I guess it doesn't matter here.
You can't complain if you're the Clippers when you led by fifteen. James
Harden once again getting not one but two and ones, I believe in this
fourth quarter, gets to the free He was doing all he could. Nobody
else was scoring for the Clippers, though at the time it's ninety one to
eighty six. Now with six forty five left in the fourth quarter, the
Clippers have gone small Ofvitza Zubots is off the floor. They're going up against
that zone, which, by the way, Aviatsa Zubots may have been helpful
against breaking because he could get to the middle of the paint. Okay,
we'll talk more about that coming up. Here's Bobby Porters Junior ding up or
Paul George on him. Is this bad defense or just good offense? Well,
he doesn't even get a hand up there in the little spin move for
the hook shot too easy, and now he's in rhythm. He's already knocked
down a three pointer. This Clippers team, though, is on their heels.
They still lead by six with five minutes left. Here, look at
this though from Dame. I don't know what else you do against that.
A mere Coffee contested that three pointer he pulled up after he was trying to
lull him to sleep. It's well contested. I give him mere credit there.
That's not I I'm not gonna call it a bad shot like Paul George
did a few years back in that playoff series. Good. Yeah, it's
not a wide open shot. It's not a clean look. A mere Coffee
was there to contest it. It goes for Dame. He had ten points
on the fourth quarter. It's a three point game. Now the Clippers are
in rotation and scrambling as they try to get ball out of Dame's hands.
It ends up going to Pat Beth. You could say here late, as
I freeze framed this, that Paul George is too late to get a hand
up on Patrick Beverly. He's already into his shooting motion. He has a
clean view and by the time PG can test it, it's probably just you
know, muscle memory. At that point, it's too late. That was
the side of the game. Speaking of George, very next possession for the
Clippers, it's ninety six, all four to twenty two left PG on the
right wing. He's got James Harden. They go to double him as it's
still that little two three zone, but not a traditional one because you know,
you can't have a guy three seconds in the painting more we saw that
with Bobby ports getting called for that and Paul George missing the technical free throw.
This pass, though, can't have just a lazy pass to James Harden.
That's too far out in front of him. He gets one hand on
it. Look where the basketball is. Patrick Beverly's about as close at James
hardness to it. If they're a fifty to fifty ball, that means Pat
beab is probably gonna get to it. He swipes at it again, Dame
gets a hand on it, ball goes bouncing around. Bobby Portis comes up
with it. Dame gets in transition down the right side lane, puts it
up in off the glass. No foul at least this time, But all
of a sudden, the Bucks have the lead at ninety eight to ninety six
with three forty left when the Clippers are up by eight entering the period up
by fifteen in the third, here's more from Dame. The double coms Clippers
are in rotation. This is a ridiculous shot by aj Green. The football
player did not turn out to be a basketball player. I don't know if
you know much about him. Obviously, the Bucks are down a few guys.
He's what thirty feet out at least there? Chuck like, what is
that? I understand where Paul George is. He thinks he might pumpake or
try to drive by him or PG thirteen has to come over and guard Bobby
Portis in the near side corner. That is maybe a bad shot. That's
closer to what Dame did against PG thirteen when he was with the Thunder to
end that series. That's unguardable. If he's making that, there's not much
you can do about it. The momentum has splung. This Milwaukee Bucks team
is now on fire. Bobby Portis junior. Does this look like an easy
jumper over a mere coffee? No, he just turns around and puts it
up. He's got a hand in his face. That's well contested. That's
a tough shot, turn around fade away from Bobby Portis, Are you kidding
me? And the floodgates have opened. There was a twelve zero run at
one point by the Milwaukee Bucks. Now they're up one oh five to ninety
six with a minute forty nine left. Clippers actually got a good look here.
Kawhigo's baseline kicks it out to Norman Palell came forth. He knocks down,
but he had a cold night over. But this Clippers team defensively wasn't
good enough. Now they have Kawhi Leonard on Bobby Portis, so he's taking
up the challenge. He knows they're trying to go to him. This is
well defended too. What are you gonna do there, Bobby Porters, it's
that to go over Kawhi Leonard. I think it was too little, too
late, and by the time the Clippers were playing good enough, dnse Bobby
Porter Junior was hot, and I think he hits one more three pointer here
Norman pal leaves portis Bobby Portis. I should say he goes to pick up
Patrick Beverly. He's already knocked down a three pointer here in the quarter,
and now he's at the top of the key. He's at the top of
the arc. So you got a decision to make nice play by Patrick Beverly.
He burns the Clippers, gives it up to Portis Junior in the near
side corner, who's wide open now because the Clippers were in rotation trying to
get the ball out of Damian Lillard's hands. That's game, that's your kill
shot. They're up by ten. It's just some of these shots that was
wide open. Some of these shots were just insane that the Milwaukee Bucks were
able to hit, some of them from Bobby Portis Junior. And I'm sorry
for going Tim Leagler there and going for way too long, but Chuck the
more, why we watch that again? Why did we have to relive that
again? Well, I guess my point throughout this is it may have been
less to do about the Clippers and more to do with some ridiculous hot shooting
from the Milwaukee Bucks. In some ways, there were at least four shots
there that were so well defended and it doesn't even matter. There was so
there was a lot of great shot making, right. It's it's like the
Lebron thing too. You don't expect Lebron to make those threes, But you
do expect things like Bobby port Is to punish a small ball line up right,
Like we saw that kind of happen. Uh, And now we turn
around feet aways on a mere coffee though okay, not with a long three
poorner on the far side corner over the outstretched hand of Avitza Zubas. Those
are tough shit, those two at least, right, but those two,
But like, it's not like, but there are things the Clippers did poorly
in this game. So they were sloppy with the ball. They fouled a
bunch. They didn't drive the paint in the zone, which we're gonna see
in the playoffs. It feels like it feels like teams are gonna hurl a
zone at the Clippers because of how wonky or like you mentioned Zoo right like
he was. He could maybe do some damage there. He was asking for
the ball early in the fourth quarter against that zone. They didn't give it
to him. And that is becoming a very much a pet peeve of mine,
them not finding Zoo enough and giving him opportunities on offense when I don't
think this team can reach their highest ceiling if they're not exploiting the fact that
if Eatza, Zubots has been much better offensively and him working with James Harden
is one way to execute offense down the stretch. Isn't that what we saw
against the Houston Rockets in that first victory for James Harden the step back three
pointer where he was I think he was fouled at the very end, but
it was the first time in a long time we saw them with a real
system late in a ball game. They were just running pick and roll with
him in a visa Zoo Bots. I'm sorry, Yeah, that's what we
need. And what happened to Zoo closing? That was a thing earlier in
the year and everyone was like, whoa, Zoo's closing. Mostly us,
We're very proud because we love you on the spot, but it's like Zoo's
closing. It gives the Clippers size at the end of the game, which
has been an issue the small ball. You know, the Powell Rangers were
great for that stretch and things like that, but that's not necessarily a defensive
lineup, Like the small ball has been so wonky, and it felt like
that's kind of the process of some of these losses, right is the small
ball lineup not being as effective and still getting run, which also is difficult
to deal with. Mason Plumley's not playing well, so he's kind of out
of the rotation, so like there is some I can see why, but
it's just frustrating to see it cost us a game in the way that it
did. Said postgame, the logic there was they wanted to be able to
rotate easier. Obviously they were doubling Dame, so guys are going to be
flying around the perimeter trying to get back to that wide open man. It's
not like it was completely irrational. They're knocking down some tough threes. When
you see Aj Green hit that thirty footer like that, it's just this team's
going off. I think they were six of eleven from three in the fourth
quarter. It felt worse than that always does. But some of those shots
spread the floor so much. Then you get Bobby portis going to work on
the inside against a smaller guy. So, as Paul George also point out
postgame, they kind of were doing both against the Clippers. It wasn't just
the threes. They were very balanced down the stretch. They were punishing them
for not having size. They were punishing them along the perimeter, regardless of
them going small. And you mentioned the Power Rangers lineup, Well, initially
that included a Visa Zubats. He was part of that five true. Yeah,
well, I don't understand. Look, I'm not gonna say that it
was wild and crazy to not have a beach to Zubats on the floor at
some point, though, I would have thought Bobby Portis, with the way
he was trying to punish them, Big Zoo could have been useful out there
late in the ball game. And it just seems like right now, and
maybe it's because he's been out of the lineup for so long, out of
sight, out of mind. Regarding the players and maybe even the coaching staff,
we've all kind of forgotten how good of eats Zubats was for about a
month and a half straight. When the in this crazy role, it was
him and James Harden doing so much of initiating the offense, and I think
they need to get back to that, especially in big moments like I mentioned
that game against Houston, the first win with James Harden, that dramatic victory,
they were running an offense at the end of the game. Finally it
wasn't just Iso ball Withhi and Paul George. And yeah, the Clippers missed
some good looks too in the fourth quarter. Those aren't going to show up
in the highlight package. They had some open shots, but they attempted of
their twenty shots in the fourth fourteen of them were three pointers. Now,
some of that is because you're playing his zone. You have to bust it
by hitting shots. But another way is to attack the space and either kick
it out or find those crevices in the defense. Find those cracks in the
defense by having a big man in the middle. You know what's funny.
I guess this isn't funny. You know what bums me out now that I'm
thinking about it. You know who helps against his own and cutting into space?
Russ? He doesn't. You know what I'm saying. If there's one
thing he's good at, it's that back door cut and getting the lob from
James Harden. That's a good I'm not at. I'm not saying, you
know, anything crazy here, but like that, losing Russ's cutting is is
rough. That's something where Terrence man because again I think we're gonna see these
zones. Terrence's cutting has to be good. Well, yeah, and Terrence
wasn't out there late. They went with a mere coffee. Now, the
logic there is you're going against his own he's a more willing shooter, So
yeah, I can see why you go with the mere coffee. Also,
he was playing elite defense. He did not get burned by bad defense.
He had a hand up, he was right there. Dame hits that shot.
Bobby portis the fade away. I don't know what you do against that
stuff. It's not like the Lakers game. I thought for sure their offense
is what failed them with just scoring sixteen points in the fourth quarter. Sure,
they did have twenty five in the fourth yesterday against Milwaukee, but I
will say a couple of those three pointers from Paul George late skewed the numbers
some right, and because I over in the fourth, Yeah, oh for
fourth. I think we can all agree Low's listening and watching. That's probably
an anomaly too, to your point of things that were some outlier things maybe
happening. For the most part, he has had his struggles at times,
like the entire Clippers team has had at times, executing lighton ball games and
looking like a well oled machine when you know, you get a bad pass
like that from Paul George to James Harden, it's inexcusable. We've seen too
many plays like that late in games, just sloppy with the basketball mis cues.
I listened to James Harden postgame Cohi post game of Paul George. I
like what James Harden said. He seemed upset. He talked about we need
to execute it starts there. It's not about them, it's about us.
If we do what we're supposed to do, we're winning most nights. He
was completely right about that. There was one thing that I didn't like from
Paul George. They asked him about the nine miss free throws of the ball
game. He said something to the effective that's part of the game, and
I thought, well, five of them came in the fourth quarter and three
of them were missed by Paul George too early. And then the miss technical
free throw off the defensive three second call on Bobby Portis when they were playing
in the zone. James missed one, kauh, I missed one. Can't
happen. That stuff can't happen in a close game. Down the stretch,
nine minutes of bonus time in the fourth. I said this on the double
tap, but that's that's what I've been going to. Nine minutes of bonus
time in the fourth and the second night of a back to back is probably
never gonna happen to the Clippers again. And they weren't able to fully take
advance with the reviews and everything. Just no, they had, but they
were in the bonus for nine minutes they had. I thought you were counting
up how many reviews the game? Yes they were, they were in the
past too, but actually, yeah, they couldn't get the bonus going.
It was like, oh, there's nine minutes of bonus. Let's do this.
Just just dribble straight out there, just you'll get something. Part of
that is they're playing a zone. They're daring you to shoot. Typically,
the Clippers should be able to beat that because they are such great they're such
a great shooting team. But as we have post All Star Break now,
they're not hitting three pointers. In fact, outside of I think two games
right now, they're shooting thirty four and a half percent from three in their
last eleven games, not post All Star Break, post Grammy road trip,
where they are five and six and they're shooting just about thirty five percent from
the outside, when the entire year they have been top two from distance.
That's a little bit shocking. It speaks to the offense and their struggles right
now. Maybe they're not getting as many open looks. I haven't looked at
the advanced numbers. Maybe they're just missing some of those shots. They certainly
did against the Bucks. They even did against Minnesota in that game too,
from the outside. To be honest, and as much as people want to
look to that and say, hey, they beat Minnesota, they did and
they played great defense, I also don't know how repeatable that type of victory
is. When you get out rebounded like that by a team nine times out
of ten, you're probably going to lose. They miss shots Minnesota mission.
It was a rock fight, a slugfest, but it was a third straight
game also where James Harden and Paul George didn't play well against that team.
So if you're looking at things that are repeatable, seems like that is right
now against Minnesota. I don't want to have to rely on them having to
win by one because they had a few less turnovers and yeah, they did
execute well down the stretch and Kawhi Leonard hit some clutch free throws, but
eighty nine points isn't getting it done over. It was the first time since
twenty twenty two a team had won a ball game scoring that few of points
eighty nine. Not just the Clippers, I think anybody. So that's an
oddity that's not that repeatable. So they're just not playing good basketball right now.
They're twenty first in this last eleven games coming post a Grammy trip,
or twenty second defensively last eleven games, and then you account for two collapses
in Milton Downs against a Lakers team they were boy twenty one against against a
team without Johnson and a coop on the Milwaukee Bucks, you're up by fifteen
against. I kept saying, put them away, put period. The whole
timeline was like foot on their throat, let's make this happen. I can
understand running out of gas and that could account for some of the misfree throws
and not having legs. It was another perfect storm of everything that could go
wrong for the Clippers, everything that could go right for the Milwaukee Bucks.
But for it to happen twice in five days now you're wondering is it a
pattern? Is it more concerning Chuck. I don't know. I think it's
it is rough when two anomalies happened to you in five days, right,
like when when two of those things happened? But how many games that away
from the All Star breaks? Six? Something like that. I go Grammy
road trip. That's where I'm at, because that's when it seems like things
change. They were six and one, since then they're five and six.
They got a chance against the Rockets We're going to talk about in a sec.
Which is kind of spooky looking at some of these stats between the Clippers
and the Rockets, who's post All Star break? We are very close in
some categories. You don't necessarily want to be close to the Rockets. And
I thought the legs were really obvious on yesterday, which is really frustrating,
which is something the Clippers that is a pattern. Right, They're an older
team. They just are an older team. Having bones is nice. That
little bit extra juice. He had that like four second bucket I think for
half or something. He like took the ball end of the first quarter.
Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. It was just like, I
don't think there's any other Clipper healthy who could do that, but he's only
playing though right now, when James Harden's off a floor, it's one or
the other, so they're not playing them together at all, like Russ with
James Harden. So bones, if that's the case, he's not going to
get much more than thirteen fourteen minutes a night, right, I think I'm
at I'll say a five and a half out of ten concern as of six
thirty one pm on March fifth. I'm right there with you, just because
crazy. But there's twenty two games left. They're not building great habits at
the moment exactly. You're too close to the finish line for the regular season
and you're playing worst basketball. Now, I'll give you this stat though I
got this from Carlo Amennez earlier. He is too humble to take credit for
it. He said he saw it somewhere on TikTok. But I don't know
who that guy was, and I know who Carlo Amenez is. So Carla
gets the credit. Sorry, Carla's getting the credit whether he won it or
not. The Golden State Warriors two years ago, on their way to winning
the championship, they went eleven and twelve post All Star Break, the Denver
Nuggets last year on their way to win the championship. They went twelve and
eleven post All Star Break. Now, both those teams ended up finishing Top
two or top three. Denver had some distance between them and the second seed
in the Memphis Grizzlies, and I think that's why they took their foot off
the gas a little bit. They could afford to. The Warriors finished third
in the West, and they were a game under five hundred post All Star
Break. I don't know if that years or if it's just there's no comparison
because we're talking about the Clippers and those are two other teams, two unique
situations. I don't know. I'm looking for positives right now. I was
asking for it from callers last night. I just they should be three and
OHO in March right now. But alas the seventeen and oh in March crowd
is in shambles, and I hope they're doing okay. I don't know what
they expected, but I'm sad for them. I guess which really bothers him
is they're getting two games at the end of the season that will not be
forgotten when you look at the final standings in the record the game against the
Lakers and the game against the Bucks yesterday, Everyone's going to point to that
if they finished outside the top three, if they could have finished top two
because of that, It's it's tough. Those are just two inexcusable losses at
the wrong time where it felt like they had ways to win both of those
ball games, and they didn't go to the right game plan. And I
think I y'all just heard me trying to break down some film tape. What
the hell do I know? But it just seemed like, you know,
I'm surprised that the Visa Zubas wasn't back on that ball game, who didn't
play heavy minutes, who likely would have been fresher. And I just don't
understand why they're looking. They're looking, they're looking him off. You gotta
get back up. I mean, I'm down even further now. I'm down
that you are. You are sinking right now. They smoke Houston tomorrow.
They beat Chicago back home on Saturday, and they redeemed themselves against the Bucks.
So they went three in a row and they're five and one to start
off March. I'm going be singing their phrases. There we go and this
was just a one off and anomaly, a bad week, and there's not
much to see here. And look, coming into the Lakers game, they
were what thirty one and one when leading going into fourth quarters. Nobody was
better and they've had two more losses since then in those scenarios. So look,
they're clutch rating. I think it's six now net rating wise after what
happened last night, but I think since December their top to at least in
clutch rating. So maybe we're nitpicking, and you got to go back to
the body of work with this team right now. And because that's a bigger
sample size. Eleven games though, isn't nothing. It's almost fifteen percent of
the season, and they're five and six and the lost eleven, Latoba gets
better. Against the Rockets, we're gonna be talking. We got a Russ
injury update ish and we're talking Clippers verus Rockets. If you're listening on audio,
the ads have been loud for some people. That's been the case where
you go ahead and turn it down. If you're watched on YouTube, you
just gonna see our faces for a little bit. Uh, we got loud
ads and then Clippers versus Rockets top coming up in three two? What welcome
back in It's clips and dip episode fifty seven of season two. I'm Ada
Manslim, weve got check Mockler, No will Updyke. He'd rather see part
two of some movie that's setting records so far this year that is directed by
my favorite director. But I still didn't like the first month. Great,
Yeah, anyway, Yeah, it's it's phenomenon, that's it's happening right now.
It's done. Two is a big deal, But so is the Clippers
team all right? And so is what upen to Russell Westbrook and losing him?
And Chuck made the point earlier of not having that slasher against his own.
A guy can get to the basket, and even if he's not able
to get those to go, he was finding Mason Plumbley the last couple of
games before he got hurt near the basket. He can find it. Beats
a zoobots. Yeah, I think Russ wasn't he against the Bucks? I
think Minnesota is obviously a worst matchup for him. But we do have an
update on Russ coming from Adrian rose Darowski here, Chuck, Yeah, he's
a successful surgery on Monday, the hope is that he'll return for the start
of the playoffs. Not super concrete, right, Also, the timeline kind
of makes sense with what we've been seeing, like four to six weeks.
Playoffs start April twentieth for twenty for those who like numbers, but yeah,
I mean some people like the date with numbers. It'll be interesting to see
what his rehab process looks like, because if you're going from broken hand to
playoffs, that's what it seems like, right. He's not getting any regular
season round. I hope he does. But this timeline initially reported is he's
going to be coming maybe straight back to the playoffs, which would mean six
weeks, which is kind of what we all thought. Their last regular season
game is April fourteenth, so you get that week off if you're not a
playing team. That could be substantial for this Clippers team considering March and just
getting guys rest before the playoffs start. And hey, I totally understand what
most people are saying right now, or a lot of the fan base is
saying, which is just be healthy for the playoffs. So you can't be
in the playing tournament if you want that time off right before the first round
starts. It'd be great to have us back then. I think everyone kind
of just figured six weeks. Six weeks seems like we're at He's the only
player on the injury report for Clippers. Verus Rockets chappens Wednesday at four thirty
pm if you're in LA, a very kind of inconvenient time for the game
to start. Pregame at three thirty if you're in traffic, Ampusvnyla Sportes.
There we go. Rockets are two and four since the All Star Break.
They've had a pretty brutal post All Star Break schedule. They beat Phoenix twice,
they lost the Pels, they lost the Thunder twice, and they also
lost to the Suns. So they've played a pretty tough cludway since the All
Star Break. And I found some similarities between these two teams that I think
are not ideal. This is just since the All Star Break, Clips are
nineteenth and points per game Rockets are twenty second, Clippers are twenty second,
and three point percentage Rockets are twenty fifth. The Rockets are taking the third
most three point attempts per game. Well, the Clippers are taking the eighteenth
most, so kind of a bit of a disparity there. If we shoot
the same percentage but these amounts stay the same, tomorrow might be more difficult
than we want it to be. Rockets are twelfth in defensive rating. Clippers
are fifteenth in defensive ratings since the All Star Break. I don't like how
close some of these stats are. We are a better net rating. Obviously
we are net rating. We're one point two or eleventh. Rockets are minus
seven and a half. So when they lose, they're losing by quite a
bit in these games. So I don't know. They're grabbing a lot of
boards, They're getting a lot of free throws. In terms of the mistakes
we talked about in that first segment. How are you feeling about this game?
They're a young team. I just think we're too top heavy though,
right we got to get this win. According to the Andrew Report, outside
of Russell Westbrook, everyone's available right now. That's big from what I saw.
They need to play like they did against the Washington Wizards after losing that
game against the Lakers, where they are upset, where they, as Patrick
Beverley would say, they want to get their lick back. They lost the
game they shouldn't have once again, and guys need to show up when it
matters most, because they can be as upset as you want to. I
don't know if you're gonna put this Rockets team away. And I don't know
if the Clippers can feel comfortable no matter what the score is, no matter
how much time is left on the clock right now. That's really what it
comes down to. The crust of the issue for me is are guys going
to start thinking about it? Is it going to get in their head that
they've given up on these leads that they haven't played their best basketball when their
best is required recently? Overall great, but this happening twice in a week
perks your ears up. It's a bit of a flag. So they get
into a tight game down the stretch against the Houston Rockets. Are they drawing
from a reservoir of confidence or are they gripping a little bit? Are they
feeling like here we go again the Rockets start to hit some crazy wild shots
like the Bucks did. Are they gonna feel like everything's against us? I
don't know. They uncertainty. That's the biggest thing they're battling, which is,
as Clippers fans, is the most frustrating part. We know what the
team looks like at its highs, right, they run the pick and roll.
So Zoo made great decisions out of the short roll against Milwaukee. I
thought it took a couple he's still getting back to being fully Zoo, you
know, but he was making great reads out of the short roll, and
I just like it's the closing lineups is what we're all kind of worried about.
I think, as if things aren't working, it's tiging to do the
quick switch. He's gonna see how it works. Like this is the Rocket
team. They have a lot of guys who can put up points. Van
Fleet, Jalen Green doesn't play any defense, but he can put up points.
Sengoon tough cover to start, Like, this is a team that's not
an offensive juggernaut or anything like that, but they're gonna run. If you're
a team playing the clips, you run if you're young. Now the good
news there is if you're looking for any positives right now, here's a pretty
big one. The Clippers the last two games total have only given up six
fast breakpoints. They give up zero against Minnesota. Another reason they won that
game. Maybe the biggest they give up six against Milwaukee total. That's incredible.
So we've talked about the transition defense, how poor it has been,
how it's bringing down their overall defensive rating. If they could just get teams
into the half court, they're pretty damn good. Less than Walker, he's
just making everything they that attention to detail and the game plan discipline there has
been different lately. And you're right, they got to have it against this
Houston Rockets team. Where where do they sit on pace on the season here,
I'm pulling it up right now. So there are fourteenth per Basketball Reference,
around ninety nine possessions per game and the Clippers are twenty first, so
which probably isn't a huge difference, right, that's what like three possessions or
something like that. Yeah, I think it's just more of what this Houston
team is capable of doing based off the young talent. If they click in,
they can turn into they can give you a glimpse into the future of
what they could be, you know, on a good night. Basically that's
what it is. Yeah, the glimpse of the future game is not what
we want. No, we want ghosts of Rockets past, but not so
far past where James Harden starts playing for them or something. Yeah, he
said, Dune becomes Yeah, I don't want that. They foul a ton
which helps the Clippers. Hopefully teams take twenty six teams say the second most
rethrow attempts against the Rockets, so they foul. If the Clippers can hit
free throws, that would be great. Uh. And and just bench depth
wise, the Clippers don't have the deepest team, but they have a deeper
team than the Rockets to I'm in Thompson, Jock Londale, Kim Whitmore,
Jeff Green, Aaron Holliday. That's who was off the bench for the Rockets
last game. Not slouches, but not as good as Norm Powell. I'm
your coffee might end right there. But I like how much better our bench
is with the with the rotations that are hopefully they're on point the Clippers,
and I like their coaching staff obviously now uh, they've been competing. Jalen
Green has had some moments recently that worry me. Has figured it out,
has email like gotten him to actually buy in, because that's when I want
to go that far fair. I'm starting to figure it out. Yeah,
Yeah, he's he's still twenty two. He's got some Jaron Fox in him.
So the last two games against Phoenix, now they could have an emotional
letdown, just because they're coming off of two of their highest intensity ball games
of the season against the Suns where they got into it with them and guys
were ejected, and Jalen Green had the ball bounce off of his head from
Bradley Beal on the inbounds play. He took it further than Matt Barnes did
with Kobe. He actually hit him on the head. Yeah. But Jalen
Green in those two games thirty four points in each, and he hit no
less than six three pointers in either of them. He had seven, He
went even for seventeen. He got up seventeen threes in the first game.
They lost that one by five against Phoenix, but then he goes six to
twelve the next time out. Am I crazy to think that they they actually
might have an emotional letdown like that was their playoff series. That's what I
can speak because the Clippers need an emotional up bring what's the opposite of a
letdown? Bring up? Uh? Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
Well, that bounce back is what they need for sure. Emotional roots a
lift, Yeah, Lyft. I like Lyft. The Clippers need a lift
in Houston, Yeah, the Rockets, and it's gotta come from I mean,
I just I want to see everyone. I want to see the bench
play better. But like Paul George, I would love to see how a
great game start to finish, none of the mental lapses. He was efficient
last game. People were losing their minds about Paul George, which I thought
was a little much after what happened yesterday. Extension talk aside, that's a
conversation for another day. But like this is a game again where like the
Clippers are going as far as two and three and hard and take them.
They need to lead by example and just show them why we won nine games
in a row. Them being the fan, show us them whatever. Like
I don't want to see him play in the fourth quarter. They have a
weird matinee brunch back to back this weekend. Like, make things happen,
do what we know we can do. Take it seriously with the rotations.
We know that you talked about it. We've seen the pick and roll.
We know that this what this team can do. Like and I think the
emotional leftown is coming from Houston. I like that. I agree. I'm
holding on to that. No, I'm scared. Oh no, we've flipped.
We're overly confident. I said they have to I didn't say they will.
To be fair, I'm trying to think of is there any bad blood
between the two teams, And all I can think of is James Harden is
back in Houston, So they're gonna try to stop him, and the crowd's
gonna be on top of him, or he's gonna get a great I mean,
he should be celebrated, right he sho could get a standing home.
Yeah, he'll get a standing yeah. I mean yeah, It's not gonna
be like Paul George back in Indiana. Well for what for all the money
that James Harden brings to the Houston economy through certain endeavors, that man has
deserves the standing ovation. Yeah, and he's been back a few times,
so maybe that stuff is simmered. Anyways, whatever however that could emotionally charge
a game or bring up the intensity in the atmosphere that should be quelled by
now. And I don't think and this is just gonna be my bugaboo that
I'm gonna maybe mention for every game from here on out. Do we thinks
close? Uh? Do we think he's throwing some zone at us? That
that's annoying for the Clippers. They have an issue with it. So they
gave up tape on how bad they were with transition defense, and teams were
taking advantage of that and were intent on beating the Clippers that way. And
now they may have They may have given them some good tape out the last
couple of games. They'll give it up six fast break points. But now
the zone's going to be out there. It's their job to prove they can
beat it or else. Yeah, they're gonna keep seeing it. It not
a ton obviously, because it's still like it's yeah, you know, teams
will do it here and there to jump up the game. But it should
be as ineffective against anyone in NBA history as it should be against the Clippers
because of the shooting on this team. But they haven't shot it well the
last eleven games, thirty four and a half percent from three, So maybe
even that's encouraging because it's like unuerstainable, it's unsustainable. They're they're too good
of a three point shooting team for that to hold up. I'm sorry,
Uh have the personnel. We all agree they have the roster. Oh no,
I'm sorry. And they're too good in clutch. Time to give up
another game the way they have against the Lakers and Bucks, they have the
second best clutch rating. They're fifteen to five in those situations since December first.
They're great there. They just had two I don't know box losses.
Burn the tape, burn the tape of the fourth. Build good habits against
the Rockets. Let's get to the brunch, back to back. That's how
I'm feeling right now, build one good habit again. Start to build one
good habit against the Rockets. Now you're worried. The Rockets are like,
this is who we are with the new bad Boys. We kick everyone's ass.
Now we took out pots. They pissed us off. You don't want
it. You don't want like us when we're angry. So who is player
of the game? Pick Will would say, p J. Tucker Will officially
put his vote down as p J Tucker. I'm going James Harden back in
Houston. I love it was having a phenomenal game against the Bucks till there
were only about six minutes left, Okay, Harden and Houston. I mean
he was afterwards, he was upset. You're going to Harden. I can't
pick Coy Leonard because he's in the He's in the damn thing. I'm gonna
go rolled up like in a cartoon. Yeah, I'm going Zoo St.
June is a really good center. He's really active. He does a lot,
he does everything defense, defense, but he's not you know, he's
a people walk here and there. He's not a sieve. But Zoo's gonna
have responsibilit He's gonna be moving around a lot. We're gonna probably see I
think I want Zoo to have a good game because I want Zoo to get
the lee Shawn. Zoo is so short and it's a lot longer for I
would say maybe everyone else on the team except for like Bones Island. So
I'd like to see him because he has to build back up from where he
was pre illness. Because they need a reminder, Yeah, they need to.
They need a y'all must have forgot type games from Zubas And again,
just for the record, will pick PJ. Tucker. Uh, let's get
in all right. We gotta give no quarter. Update If you think we're
gonna win. Let us know at Clippers pod on Twitter. Let us know
at Clippers podcast on YouTube. If you think we're gonna lose, keep it
to yourself. Uh, we gotta give no quarter. Update from our chief
statistician, John Rodriguez. There have been sixty games in this NBA season for
the Clippers, two and forty total quarters possible. The math that John is
doing on this stuff is incredible. We got one overtime game, so that's
an extra quarter. Clippers have won one hundred and thirty one quarters. Hey,
great. The Clippers have lost ninety seven quarters, which feels like a
lot. They've tied twelve of them. They've lost one overtime quarter. Hold
on, I want that one more time. How many did they win and
how many they lose? One hundred and thirty one, one hundred and thirty
one wins, how many losses ninety seven losses, twelve draws, and how
many games sixty? Yes, I copy and pasted this from Twitter. I
did no double checking. I trust our chief statistician. It's like a fifty
seven percentage or something like that. Nope, not terrible, not terrible,
but you know what that means. That's quarters lost counting overtime, which means
we individually owe twenty four to fifty to our respective charities. I thought it
was a group project, like we're pulling our phones like together now we are
pulling our funds together twenty four to fifty each as of right now. So
yeah, so I hope, you know, win some more quarters. That
would be nice. Win all four against Houston, A complete game, please,
we need we need the We need the Clippers complete game. You win
every quarter, you hopefully win the game after doing that. I don't know
how else you wouldn't win every quarter. Uh, the Cali three goes off
zoo double double bones three or four from three more than fifteen points. Hey
bones came in and hit that three, got downhill in four seconds, Like
Tyus Edney man, it's fun. Like he brings a thing that the Clippers
did not have, that twickiness, that quickness, like it's it's it's fun
to watch. It's like it's really especially in the backdrop of this Clippers team.
It pops a lot more if you've really been watching this team. He's
electric. That pass he had to Daniel Tice, he hit him for a
beautiful wrap around pass for a kickout on a three that Tys missed against Minnesota
the day before, too wide open like Boones can create. That is the
thing we found out about him last season. Oh, he's more of a
score he's just a pull up shooter type guy. No, he can play
point and he can get others involved and make life easy for him. So
let's see some more of it. Speaking of what more, just one more
thing before we get out of here. I believe we alluded to it earlier.
Is there a keyword that we need to give people for the Russ Bibblehead
giveaway? Are we doing that? Keyword? Number three? The final keyword?
And remember, if you got all three of them, drop it in
the YouTube comment section below here. If you're first, you win the Russ
Bobblehead, your third and final keyword incorporated, Incorporated. We're not giving out
the other two. You had to have listened to those shows. You can
go back and go back and listen. You can even the radio ones.
We put those out as a podcast episode. It's all up there. It's
all all up there. That's a good word. It's all up there.
We're gonna have that about wrap things up for us. Will uh isn't here.
He says, Bye, he's at dune. You picked PJ. Tucker
again. Uh, we're doing a double dip after the Rockets game tomorrow,
Adam, what are these double dips? We keeping? Well, that's when
one of these guys joins me post game for the call in show Clippers Talk
on five seventy LA Sports for a segment. It's a fun time. I
get my spiel out earlier in the post game show, and then I get
a new perspective from Chuck Mockler. Will Updyke wasn't fun yesterday. I had
a caller that was like, we can still go out there and get somebody
right, and I had to explain how they picked someone up. At this
point, they're not playoff eligible, so this is the team picking up.
They are rolling with guys. This is it. So they got to get
better internally, optimize some lineups get Big Zoo going. Like Chuck said,
big Zoo he can be a monster at times. For him to get what
two shots yesterday? Yeah, he was one no, no, no,
four shots two a four. He was asking for the basketball. The Bucks
were playing without Brook Lopez at times. I think even without Bobby Portos out
there and the Clippers still didn't look for I just feel like they need that
refresher. Course, who would be to zubots Is. I don't get it.
I don't know what it's gonna take, but they're gonna need him.
They need that dimension to their offense for them to reach the highest of highs
and to get back to playing that elite offense they were before he was getting
banged up and before this post Grammy trip swoon that they've had. Here's to
win in tomorrow against the Rockets. We'll have that double dip for you.
Have a tripod on Friday to talk the brunch back to back that's happening this
weekend. Just don't even look at the schedule. Just be surprised by it.
It's gonna be a good time. I'm also if you're listening to this
before Wednesday, I'm gonna be on the Bleacher Report app at nine in the
morning, LA time to talk about the clips. So if you have a
nine am meeting and you need to present something, go ahead and download the
app. Pop me up on there on the screen, and I'm sure your
coworkers will love it. We'll be back. Like I said, with the
double dip tomorrow and as always, thank you for listening, thank you for
subscribing, and you can find us over on iTunes, Apple, Deezer,
at YouTube as well. Adam's got the call, he's got to get out
of here. As always, let's go clips