What is going on? Clippers fans? Happy playoffs? It's here, It's
upon us. We can all start freaking out for real now. I am
Chuck Walckler, joined by Adam Oslin Will up like, welcome to clips of
dip it's season two, episode sixty eight. If you're listening to us,
we appreciate you. If you're subscribed to our YouTube, which you can do,
if you listen as well, we appreciate you as well. We're at
YouTube dot com slash at Clippers podcast. Like I said, I am Chuck
Walckler, Adam Will How are you guys doing. I'm stressed. We're gonna
get into all of it soon, but I'm very excited for this matchup.
Yeah. I mean, there's just one key thing that we're gonna talk about
that, you know, basically makes this from being like a scary but fun
matchup to just a whatever matchup. Straight up scary matchup would be the alternative.
Yeah, how are you doing now? I'm in that place with you,
not literally, figuratively, like worried about that one thing, sure,
as I happened for a couple of weeks now, So yeah, got a
garbage bag on the back of your chair? Oh, I normally take that
off. It's just because I got back from the gym, which my chair
is a it's my kill room, the Dexter kill room. Sure, it's
uh. I usually put it on there because I got back from the gym
when I was all sweaty and you gotta take care of your stuff? Did
you lift right a little bit before? Yeah? Get repped up. It's
playoffs. Love that so we I mean we mentioned it already. We we
have to. We got to. There was some Kawhi news today update.
I think, right, that's a fair it's an actual update. Should we
play it? I got it right here because here comes here? No?
Hell yeah, dude, let's bring it back from moving backwards. Yeah,
stop screensharing. Here was coach Lewit practiced earlier? Today? Is a fully
practiced there? No, not fully, but he's gonna be a quart of
practice thause you know the difference when Luke is off the floor, a different
pace they play with when Kai is at the at the hell yes, how
much of practice you do? He's he gonna do a quarter of the practice.
I just mean, like running just a quarter of the practice. Is
it more just because he hasn't played so long, Yeah, very very long,
snow like a ramp up, Yes, sir, Will that ramp up
result in him on the court Sunday, We'll see. How about James's foot.
Let's get he's so tired of these questions, it's so fun. His
smirk when he says a court of the practice is so that actually like that
actually gives me a like I'm actually relieved by that, okay with smirk because
he doesn't seem totally dejected through the whole thing, like we've seen Tyleru when
the cards are down, and I don't want to say that he doesn't have
a poker face, but you could tell many times that the man is thinking.
And so I think just that element of like I mean, it's probably
the way the quotes came out, it seemed like it was definitively a quarter
practice, and I realized that's what he said. But the way he smirked
means like it feels like he put an arbitrary number on it, and that's
that's what it is. So I think realistically, like I mean optimistically,
realistically, you know, he he is able to practice at what percentage level
of complete I'm not sure, but this is better than no news. And
I think, look, I think it makes sense if they are still managing
the inflammation to not firmly commit to him playing on Sunday, especially. I
mean, if there's any question in your mind, you know, you can't
really say the opposite. I'm gonna say what I've been saying for people wondering
why aren't they saying whether or not he's gonna play in game one? Why
don't we have more clarity on this? Where's the transparency? It's probably because
they don't know, because Kawhi doesn't even know, because he has to see
how he responds now to playing in twenty five percent of a practice. To
me, that's obvious, like it has to be about his body and the
way he responds. And you wouldn't throw him into a full practice even if
he was feeling great yet, because he was just coming off of having this
information. So people making smart Alec jokes and stuff on Twitter and saying,
oh, twenty five percent of a practice? Run down your top run down
your top five favorite smart alec jokes about the Kui situation. I don't know,
Chuck was saying some stuff earlier. I don't know. I was so
long I just said, I don't know what I said. It's good,
so it's good that he's practicing. I just don't know what twenty five percent
of a practice isn't I'm telling you, I don't think that's a definitive number.
I know, but it's just what Tyler said. He's practicing, which
is doing some of practice. They tried to get at what drills that could
mean. He didn't give clarity on that, which no one. I'm glad
the question was asked, But I'm with Will. I'm a little bit more
optimistic about this now because if he still wasn't practicing at this point with less
than a week to go, oh yeah, then you'd probably start leaning more
towards Okay, he's really not coming back for Game one, right, Absolutely,
this is so much better than him not being at practice. Because people
were freaking out about to Mayor. People were adding Till Mayor a bunch like
where's Kawhi and he's like, I haven't seen him yet. They're like you
can't be serious, and he's like, why are you chill out? And
then we got the news that Kauai practice a little bit. So it's like,
I don't know, they're probably going to practice Thursday, maybe tomorrow,
but yeah, we just have to wait. But it is better than not
practicing. It's all about how that right, and he responds at this point
it has to be because if this is the first time he has practiced since,
and it sounds like that's the case, he's been at two shooter rounds,
we've known that this would lead you to think it's more a little bit
more strenuous being at a practice than a shooter round. We'll see tomorrow if
I don't know if they're having a mediate or anything like that, but I'm
guessing over the next couple of days we might get an update over how Kawhi
Leonard has looked since that first practice, and I would expect it to be
semi koi as well. So if you're listening and you're hoping for anything definitive,
it's gonna be more like, I don't know what to tell you at
this point. From the Clippers, well, it's getting to a point where
they don't know and can't know at this point, so Dallas is probably legitimately
thinking he might not play, and I don't know at some point what you
might just naturally hold things close to the vest close to the chest like that
may be where this ends up, and Dallas is probably going to prepare for,
of course Kawhi Leonard being there. But still it's it feels like it's
gonna come down to finding something out Sunday. Maybe yeah, yeah, we'll
know this. Yeah, I think I think you're right. Definitively, it
feels like that, who knows. Yeah, I think we'll find out on
Sunday or day before, well, the games on Sunday, that's the soonest
we're gonna find out. I mean probably, I think that's a fair If
he's questionable on Saturday he's playing, I would be my guest because a day
before being ruled out, that would be like, oh shit, the day
before questionable, I bet he plays. I lean towards he is going to
try to play absolutely how that ends up going and what percentage health wise he's
at, and then how he responds if he plays in game one, all
that we can't know about either. So yeah, but just got to hang
out. Yeah, and we got good exactly where the holding pattern we're floating
Jamess is going under the radar. I'm glad you bring that up because it
was a little unclear. It was a little unclear the extent of of how
much that foot was bothering him. We know he's taking some accumulated knocks throughout
the season. I guess I don't know that there was necessarily doubt in my
mind that he would play in Game one. But to know that he's like
he's ready to go and feeling good on that, I mean, that's that's
something good. Absolutely, Yeah, I totally agree. That's kind of a
nice segue. We kind of wanted to talk about the starters on defense a
little bit. How are we in hardened given the foot, He's probably gonna
be gardening Kyrie to start off with, They're gonna find switch, which is
how can the clips help Harden in the point of attack defense. We've talked
about how good he is at the low post, how you can be effective
there, but point of attack is something that's been kind of the Clippers thorn
in the side so far this year. Adam, how you feel about Harden
on Kyrie? Do you think he's gonna be guardon Kyrie? Who's gonna be
on Kyrie? I think probably Terrence Man and Paul George will be on.
Luka Dancic I think that's the most likely thing to happen. I don't know
if you want to put James Harden on Kyrie. Uh that problematic a guy?
Is that very good on the perimeter? Yeah, and they're going to
try to likely hide him. Derrick Jones Charles was talking about this, but
he's gonna end up on him. Okay. I misinterpreted that that he wasn't.
He wasn't necessarily meaning that that's his primary assignment. Yeah, it's not.
It's not the white it's not the white board that says you're man,
and it's James Harden equal Kyrie. So when someone on YouTube already asked us
about pre switching in the comments, we're not dignifying it with a response.
Pre switching just gets switched. I mean, it's a given he's going to
have to guard other guys than this primary guy. But will you say I
think it's gonna be guarding Kyrie. I thought that's what you meant, my
bad. I do think it could be terrorists man on him and then Paul
George on Luca donas Is to start things off, and they'll probably try to
James Harden on. It could be I mean those two will switch every time
they throw that screen because either guy can guard the other. But I think
Harden will probably be on Derek Jones Junior. They'll probably try to hide him
there or PJ. Washington. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm so excited
for Terrence on Lucas second something to get it because these two guys do not
like each other and it's very fun basketball when they go at it. Yeah,
we mentioned the screening. Unsurprisingly, are very effective with the pick and
roll. Luka Doncicic's fifth and pick and roll ball handler possessions per game,
just in terms of the amount, and hardwa Hardwood Proxism pointed out something interesting
about the Clippers defense. The Clippers were seventh best in defending the pick and
roll including passes this season, which is hats off to that top ten,
we'll take it, But they were tied for seventeenth in defending pick and roll
ball handler scoring opportunities, which means basically, like he was saying, they
tend to get worked by ball handlers and that is the focus of Obviously,
when Luca does that. Kyrie doesn't run as many pick and rolls. He
runs like half as many per game. But like this, we're going to
talk about Zoo too like this and Zoo right here, like this is such
a huge part that the starters need to have locked in to open this specifically
Game one. Yeah, I wonder, and I've heard people bring this up.
They try to hide zoobots at times on Derek Jones Junior PJ. Tucker.
So instead of Luca calling up Daniel Gafford to try to get that switch
onto Aviza Zubots where you would expect him to be guarding that guy, he
won't have that. I could see that happening. I could see that being
a wrinkle that could be smart on coach lose part. I wonder how he's
gonna play it to open, if there's gonna be any kind of feel out
process right will because we haven't played them post all their trades. Obviously it's
not too different of an offensive strategy from their standpoint, but like it's not
the same team. It's hard to look at stats when from earlier in those
three games in the season. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like
we talked about, like what do you consider to be the more real indication
of who a team is, Like the Clippers streak before the All Star break
or the MAVs streak after I don't have the numbers right in front of me
on like strength of competition. The MAVs did blow through some easy competition.
I mean the Clippers you know, guilty of that too in that stretch.
But it you know who which is the more real indicator of of what team?
Uh, both of these really are. And I'm curious how much how
big is the downgrade defensively with you know, less wings that we can rely
on in this in this matchup than we have in the previous two to having
James Harden out there, but on the other end of the floor, how
much better is having that like actual playsetter against I mean, like, look
what we talked about it. I mean, the best thing about the MAVs
is Luke and Kyrie. One of the worst things about the MAVs is Luke
and Kyrie on the other end of the floor. And I know that they
were I know that they were better. I know that they improved, they
were what they ended up being top ten defensively, So I believe there were
seventh or eighth in that like in that in that stretch post All Star Break.
Uh, if you subtract those last two losses where they rested both of
them. But is that real? Like you know what I mean, Like
there's just there's just very real limitations of of your two best players. And
while you know, none none of the Clippers necessarily have like the scoring highs
or offensive game that that Luca does. They're better on the other end of
the floor, like they're they're they're a little bit more well rounded. I
you know, it's like I said, this is a hard matchup. I
still like this one for the Clippers if healthy. It's I mean, it's
the cat that we always have to say that everyone always says because it's the
cabyat for all all teams. Uh is if all team no, no team
missing their best player is doing ship. So yeah, I don't know your
question. Uh. And PG and Kawhi's offensive usage goes up in the playoffs,
right, They're not regular season twenty seven to thirty point scorers. They're
literally playoff twenty seven to thirty point scorers. Like when Luca averaged thirty five
against the Clippers in twenty twenty one, Kawhi was at about thirty three per
game. He was right there with him, even though part of their game
plan was to let Luca go off and get his numbers. I don't think
it was part of the MAVs game plan to let Kawhi Leonard go off in
any way, especially in what happened in Game six where he beat them in
one of the most magnificent playoff performances I've ever seen. I wonder if they
can both be real right the twenty six and five run by the Clippers and
what's happened over the last couple of months now with the Dallas Mavericks and in
that scenario where they both are and hopefully everybody's healthy. I still like the
Clippers. I do. I think their defense, defensive potential is still much
higher than the Dallas mavericks defensive potential in a seven game series. Yeah.
Especially I like that we're talking about the Kyrie and Luca thing, because that's
two guys right there. Every single time the Clippers play a team with someone
like Luca or Kyrie, where it's oh, it's offense, offense, offense,
we're all yelling at the TV sometimes to put those guys in action more
on the defensive side of the ball, you know, Like we see it
on Clippers Twitter. It's like, put Luca acts like I think ty We've
talked about this though, and that is the one thing, right, Like,
yeah, that that is your sole job defensively, how do you keep
those guys Like how do you keep those guys from getting switched on? Like
how you know, how do you keep them as far away from the action
unless it's like a post thing where Luca is going to do better, you
know, like that's your one that's your one single job. I'm excited to
watch tylu spam plays that work because he does that. If something works,
Tyler's just going to do it again and again and again until you try and
until you show that you can stop it. So I'm hoping we see in
game one that they can find I mean, obviously this isn't a crazy idea.
They can find something just to make Luke and Kyrie second guess how much
they're really going to have to do on defense. Individual I do feel confident
just in the fact that coach slew in a playoff series is a monster.
Even last year. I know they ended up losing in five to the Phoenix
Suns. It probably should have won Game three if not for some ridiculousness at
the end. But like I don't know if they could have played much better
considering what they had. I don't know if they could have competed much harder.
I don't think you talk with players all the time about not leaving any
talent out there on the table when their career is done. I feel like
he maximized their potential in that series against the Phoenix Suns. I feel like
the same thing happened in twenty twenty one without Kawhi Leonard against the Phoenix Suns.
Yeah, Paul George makes some free throws, the value oop stuff.
It still could have gone to a seven game, but I don't know if
they were gonna be able to win that series without Kawhi. I feel good
about that coaching advantage with coach lou Will talked about it before. But Jason
Kidd, he's definitely unproven, especially at this stage as a head coach in
his career. I don't know if you can feel as confident from the Dallas
Mavericks point of view. In fact, most Dallas Mavericks fans do not like
Jason Kidd. Actually many of them don't. They sided with Christian Wood a
lot of them, so there's that in the Clippers favor. But Also,
I do want to point out sometimes it feels like, oh, you have
this matchup advantage, spam this or get this guy in the action each and
every time. It can be more difficult than that, and especially if you
don't get to it right away in the shot clock, because if you get
to it late, you're not having the advantage you should have against them.
With all that time out there to go to work on the mismatch, you
know, you can't let them off the hook. And that's been an issue
for the Clippers all see along, where they take too long to get into
their offense. I don't expect that to happen in a playoff series. I
expect that to be one of the switches that is flipped. It certainly has
to be multiple switches. When you're hunting guys, you have to get to
it quickly. You cannot wait till the end of the shot clock because then
it's just not going to be his lopside of an advantage when they know,
oh, there's only this much time on the clock. Even though I'm undersized,
he can't get to the basket at this point anyway, so I can
just play the jumper. Tyler. I think talked about that today as well.
I think he mentioned they asked about the identity thing and he was like,
part of our identity is getting dour, sets quicker and playing deliberately like
and stuff like that. You're totally right, and I'm really hoping we can
see the as Brian Seman calls it, the straw that stirs the drink version
of James Harden to open this series, because he's been phenomenal when he's very
when you're at the highs. This year, he's been perfect for what the
Clippers need. And I think Dame played this out on Twitter. In first
round series, He's never not made it out of the first round. Uh,
James Harden, he has a good first round usually, Like historically he's
a good first round series. Guy. Didn't he have one of his best
games when Joelle was out last season? I think so, and he had
to step up he had against Yeah, he had a bad Game seven,
but they made it out. But if the Clippers get to forty spots from
James Harden, I feel like they're gonna win that. Yeah. Because defensively
the MAVs, you know, they have been good at to end the season,
but wings they have switchability, like, yeah, they're starting five,
is like it fits well together. It does, but they do have two
glaring weaknesses in theory, at least I know. I keep hearing Luca and
Kyrie have been playing better defense and giving better effort there, but they're still
not great at it. Luca is a big body, Kyrie Irving is quick,
but he's small, So it's just physical limitations. Yeah, like you
know what I mean. Like you mentioned who James Harden is guarding to me,
if Kyrie, okay, let's assume Kawhi Leonard just for a second sake
of argument is able to go in Game one. One of the reasons you
bring in James Harden is exactly for a playoff series where you can say,
okay, you got two guys in PJ Washington and and Derek Jones Junior to
guard Kawhi and PG. Who's your third guy now that has to guard James
Harden. It has to be either Luca or Kyrie Irving as their primary defender,
and that should be the big advantage the Clippers always have, or many
times have, because most teams don't have three really good defenders in the starting
lineup. You can say the Clippers have that potential at times, and I've
had that in the past. That was one of the big reasons of getting
Kawhi and Paul George talking about them as two way superstars and two of the
best wing defenders of their era. So who the hell is guarding James Harden
if they have Kawhi Leonard out there and they're big three available, well,
and like, I think a huge thing this year, And this is one
of the things that like, outside of like Clippers coverage, I haven't seen
a lot of people talk about, but the emergence of Terrence Man as an
actual legitimate starter is a big deal. Like a guy who can still get
up and down the floor better than even a Nick Batoom or a Marcus Morris
or some of the guys that we've had in the past, but can be
a primary defender on another team's best player and you're not You're entire it's not
a full body clench, you know, like you trust him those scenarios.
And I'm not saying that he's necessarily the difference maker in him the player,
but the load that that takes off of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, I
like, I just don't feel like that's being talked about enough because he like,
you know, you can if it isn't going well, you can switch
one of those guys on him later and both of those two being able to
conserve their energy and James Harden having maybe some of the lightest lifting he's had
to do for like, what other playoff team has he had to do lighter
lifting? I guess okay, see when he was a six man, But
what what other playoff team he's ever been on has he had to do lighter
lifting than what he has to do on this team? Assuming the Clippers are
healthy. Yeah, and while I say that, you know PG and Terrorist
Man are your two primary defenders against Luca, against Kyrie Irving late in the
game, it's gonna be Kawhi Leonard on one of those guys. I'm Paul
George on one of those guys, and then you can you can lean into
offense more. You you don't necessarily have to have Terrence Man on the court.
You could have the Powell Rangers, Oh, which we're going to talk
about next segment. Very excited for that. So I mean a healthy Clippers
team, you know, I know that's asking a lot right now with everything
going on with the right knee of Kawhi Leonard. But I would feel very
encouraged about just because of who is guarding James Harden for the Dallas Mavericks.
Then and then he needs to get to work. He needs to be hit
the aggressive version of himself that we have seen a little bit more of as
of late. Yes, get to the paint, get both feet in the
paint. Go from there. Will you mentioned Luca or you mentioned Terrence guarding
Luca? A lot of people I've seen on MAVs Twitter saying that and Clippers
Twitter have been saying that the MAVs are probably gonna put Luca on Terrence as
to kind of hide him and all this stuff. And I think it was
La Clippers Film who brought up that, you know, guarding Luca's very big
too. Making Luca work by cutting and crashing the sense of boards that is
huge for Terrence Man. He needs to be more. He's more. He's
more mobile offensively than either Marcus Morris or Nick Batoum and the other wings that
we have success with against the Mavericks. I also think that if things maybe
go poorly to start this series, that the first change we see if we
need someone to crash the boards and make Luca run around on defense? Is
that Tyler puts Russ in for terrence if things are going poorly, I would
be shot by that at all. With you, I'm not pro it.
I'm not seeing it, guys, I believe I'm not saying I'm not pro
it again, but I just don't think like I just don't think having a
full essentially a four on five every time the Clippers are playing offense. Like,
dude, I love Russ, I like like, I like what he
does. I like what he's brought to this team. Come on, let's
not bullshit around. His defense is not good enough to offset the other end
of the floor. It's not that good. I mean, I'm I'm I'm
high on Russ defensively. I am. Maybe maybe I'm out to lunch a
little bit, but I do. And I've been talking about this series being
a good matchup for Russ because I think he can guard Luca and Kyrie Irving.
And earlier today, law Murray asked Coach Lou, is he kind of
like your batomb? Now? Could he be that guy for you? And
Coach Lou said yes, And I said, like two months ago, he
has to be like if he's going to be a point shooter on two attempts
per game, Like, I mean, it's not like Watum was taking that
many. Look, he's no one's batum, But can he do some of
those things? Can he fill in some of those gaps for them? I
think he can I do in this series. I like him in this series
much more than I would have liked him against the Pelicans. When you say
you're on the come, well I'm not. But Russ's potential in this series,
but a friend of mine could be so I yeah, Russ as batoomb
in the sense that Russ would be the five with four shooters around him.
I love that idea, especially in this series. We'll see what Tyler does
with that. But we're gonna see because we're gonna talk about in a sec
what happens when Zoos sits. Because there was also some back and forth about
how the Clippers can go big or not go big in this series. I
saw a really interesting point. Oh can I say one last thing on the
Russ thing? No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, I think the more
I think, the more interesting move is is Russ in place of the visa
zoobots in some stretches not to start, oh for sure, But that to
me is a little bit more interesting than terns out russ in. I could
definitely see both. My point just to uh, the four on five argument,
I think on offense against a team like Dallas with two glaring holes at
point of attack, to me, I just think there could be an opportunity
for us because of some of their weaknesses defensively. I don't know if it
would be that much of a stress because normally, yes, I'm all on
board with I don't want to play four and five basketball and russ is not
going to be respected from the outside. But I think you know, I'm
I'm not bagging Oh yeah, it's just not his strength what it is.
I'm with you. I just I could see it a little bit in this
series. I'm not saying it like Draymond Green has been saying it the last
couple of days on this podcast, which is like it's so crazy. He's
like, can we just appreciate how good he's been in his role for the
clips, Like I think Adam, were you tweeting that or someone was tweeting
that, where it's like he's been good in his role right now, Let's
just be happy about that. Like he's a former MVP, he's a Hall
of Fammer. Like he's performed well in his role. He has helped the
Clippers win. He has helped with a lot of things on the court.
Yeah, tbd, I'm not sold on on the Russ X factor yet.
Fair. One thing I wanted to bring up before we do a classic podcast
ad break there is on two and three Hoops. They did their roundtable,
you know, talking Clippers first. A lot of clips in six, a
lot of like I got, I got hyped reading that. Yeah, they
are our employer, which we must disclosed, but a lot of clips in
six our employer. Yeah. But Eric Oldsgard had a really nice just bit
about minutes and stuff like that that I wanted to share. He said,
I think the postseason minutes redistribution helps LA far more than Dallas. Lucas already
at thirty seven and a half minutes per game, the same as his historical
postseason minutes, and Kyrie's at thirty five, typically hovering around thirty six in
the playoffs. On the other hand, the trio of Kawhi, PG and
Harden, we're all at thirty four point three what are the odds, and
all three typically ramp up at or near thirty nine minutes. This means LA's
rotation will significantly and fundamentally improve, while dallases might only improve on the margins.
I thought that was a great point because we talk about one of this
is with Lucas. As the series goes on, he's fucking tired. He
has like a thirty plus usage percentage in every playoffs. He's exhaust He's tired
by Game six or seven or something like that. Adding those minutes, I
like that point of it breaks the Clippers way in terms of how minutes get
redistributed in the playoffs. Yeah, people have been pointing out throughout the season.
You know, once Kawhi and Paul George are playing forty minutes in the
playoffs, we're less worried about the defensive issues that have been going on.
Now it's going to be very different now. I do wonder the difference for
Luka Doncic when it comes to tiring out, because I believe he shot under
thirty percent in the fourth quarter of that series in twenty twenty one, and
it worked the Ropo dope against him and eventually got to him, but he
didn't have another guy handling the ball like Kyrie Irving will be. So how
much does that take some of the scoring load off of his plate and keep
him fresher, Because I'm sure that's one of the big strengths they have and
one of the reasons they brought in Kyrie to not have Luca wear down as
much in a series. I'm guessing yeah, that is why you get like,
what did Lucas say today? What's different this year against the Clippers?
They have Kyrie? You know. But I'm gonna flip it because I've said
this before and I know it could sound crazy, but there are times where
I almost feel like Luca not having the ball in his hands and being in
anyone else's hands because of how good he is, I will take I mean
almost anyone in the league, almost anyone in league history, even someone like
Kyrie Irving, Like, I almost feel okay about that. As long as
his jersey's tucked in. I feel better. If his jersey's untucked, then
I get scared, all right? Coming up, need Tucker. Yeah,
we haven't even talked about BJ Tucker yet. Coming up, we're gonna talk
kind of what I think is probably the maybe most important thing. What happens
when Zubat sits in this series. For audio listeners, there's gonna be some
ads. They've been loud for some people. Go ahead and turned down if
that's been your case. We're talking what happens when Zoo sits coming up in
three two one. Hey, welcome back into Clips and Dip. We're just
kind of we're dipping our toes into this Clippers mass preview. I believe this
is part one. I think we're to you again with a part two on
Thursday. But right now Charles wants to know a little bit about what happens
for the Clippers one of Viza Zubats sits. There was talk today at practice
a Vitza Zubats said to law Murray that he doesn't expect the Clippers to be
able to play small as much in this series compared to pass meetings with the
Mavericks in the postseason. And then you're big though, isn't that what you'd
say every time too? Oh yeah, I'd be like, I honestly think
I might have to run. I don't think small is gonna work. Yeah,
some mistakes and it's small ball light up, Zo's a politician now.
But then our favorite French Canadian reporter, Justin Rousseau, asked, you finally
got it right? Any mass fans are listening to this, we've already dropped
like ten inside jokes that you only get this podcast. Also, I guess
you have to go back and listen to everyone guys from the start last year.
Justin Rousseau, Justin Rousseau, a fantastic Clippers reporter. Welcome to all
the new people watching as well. He asked tyleru at practice if he echoes
of Eats Zubat's sentiment that this series is one of the Clippers won't be able
to play as much small or if it'll be game by game. Lu said
game by game, so surprised he didn't say, I forgot. Yeah,
I don't know. I don't know what is smallma, But this had me
thinking, like what is going to be the plan again? Like what are
you guys thinking when Zeus sits who's coming in game one? I don't think
it's Mason Plumbley. I don't think we're running that out in game one to
like see if he can be effective, right, I think Tye is ahead
of Plumbley because of the year he's had. He's had a better year.
But I also think it's a good matchup for a matchup. For sure,
they're bigs, aren't huge, they're athletic, but he has better defensive principles.
Mason Plumbley is the better he's the bigger body, but Daniel Tice is
I think overall in position, more often in the right spot, and against
this Dallas team where it's not like they're throwing a bunch of seven foot guys
at you. They don't even have bowban anymore. But I think Daniel Tye
has earned it and is the smarter choice. And he's almost like a small
ball five. He's six' nine, Like, we're not talking about a
guy who's like a towering center. He's an undersized center. Shot thirty eight
percent in the season for the Clippers show he did how many eight? I
think it was closer a two hundred, but I could be wrong. So
I was looking at the most played lineups without Zoo or Mason Plumbley at them.
Uh, this year for the Clippers, there's not a lot. It's
not a lot of minutes. The most played was Russ Kawhi, Norm Coffee
and Tice ninety eight minutes plus six. That actually feels like a lineup we
would maybe see from Tye second most played Russ Harden Norm Coffee Tye seventy one
minutes minus fourteen on those minutes, which is a little interesting, and then
everything else is below sixty five minutes. So I think you're right, Adam.
I think Tyson is maybe checking in first for the Bigs. I don't
think we're just going to straight up go small small with a power forward.
Well you think they won't Dallas, for Dallas may goes small at times with
PJ Washington or Maxi Kleiba at the five, and I think coach Loue would
be very comfortable with that with countering that they According to Nick Engstat, host
of lock on MAVs, Uh, PJ and Maxi small ball plus nineteen and
a half net in their minutes together, so they have some effective small ball
lineups. One person I've noticed who MAVs fans do not want to play at
all in this series is Tim Hardaway Junior. He apparently craters their defensive rating.
He ups it like his defensive rating with everyone like his mostly blind ups
like a buck seventeen that lineup like it's like not ideal, which I thought
was interesting because Glippers fans think of Tim Hardaway Junior in a very different light
when it comes to MAVs playoffs performances. But yeah, so, how are
we feeling about this whole Tice small ball rotation is We've kind of talked,
We've alluded to this as being kind of the biggest question mark for the Clips
in this series. Specifically, uh based upon having Russ now in a mere
Coffee coming off the bench. Two guys you can use in small ball lineups.
Also PJ Tucker, who will definitely I think get play in this game.
I thought it was interesting he didn't play too. Yeah, I mean,
if Kawhi is there, I think you're solid. I think you're good
to go small ball. I don't know how much they're going to because they
have Derek Lively and Gaffer Now and they might feel like it's a real advantage
to stay big against the Clippers with those athletes. But if they do go
small, if Kawhi Leonards one hundred percent ready to go, I don't hate
that for the Clippers. Honestly, I feel like they'd match up pretty well.
I like Kawt time because now you're talking about if you if you have
a lineup out there that you feel more comfortable with switching on to Luca onto
Kyrie when they're looking for mismatches and there isn't that big in Zoo or Tice
that they can pick on. That's advantage Clippers to me. No, No,
I'm just thinking, I'm yeah ingesting it. I am agreeing with you.
We also didn't see staggering like that much staggering until how late in the
season. I mean, like another thing to consider is both with the increased
minutes loads, but some of these, like some of these bench defensive units
minus Zoo, Uh, there will be more time obviously. I mean I'm
assuming Kwile if help, he's still be playing full first, but there will
be more time with two of the three. Yeah, you know, with
any of those lineups, which I guess James isn't helping you defensively, but
it does help your net rating. But and depending what's around him defensively,
right, Like what are you putting him in a position to do defensively?
You know, if he's next to Norm Yeah, don't like that at all.
Paul George will be there. Yeah, yeah, that's true, Paul
George and coffee or and what Luca was doing early on in the series in
twenty twenty one was finding the smallest guy in backing him down and getting easy
looks. It wasn't just he either found the smallest guy to back down and
get to the basket against for the biggest guy to draw him out for the
perimeter and eats the Zubats smart of course, Luca. Yeah, so if
he tries that as much as James Harden can be a liability on the perimeter
staying with quick guys. First of all, Luka Doncic is not the quickest
guy. Kyrie Irving will be a problem in that area. But if Lucas
matches up against him and realizes, oh, this isn't Patrick Beverly, who
was a dog but could still not hang with Lucas in the post, he
got phased out of that series very quickly. Even Reggie Jackson is smaller than
James Harden. I believe he may be. I don't know how much experience
he's had against Harden over the last couple of seasons, but James Harden will
hold his own on the post. When Luca tries to back him down.
That's not a terrible matchup for the Clippers. It's I can't imagine. It's
a lot of experience with James Harden over the last couple of years. My
question is, I think the real question is will coach lou try to throw
out a small ball lineup to force Dallas to go small? That's what I'm
interested in because I do think the Clippers could have the advantage going small.
So how do you get to that though? How do you force Dallas to
play into your hand a little bit? Yeah, that's a good call,
and that's where again we've talked about we like the advantage of tyleru verus Jason
Kidd with things like that and kind of throwing wrenches in there, like what's
the best let's say against Dallas is starting five? What would be the best
small ball five you can put together to try to make them take Gafford off
the floor? How are you constructing that? I'm a media I'm jumping off
what we're just talking about. With Kauhi at center, you put Kawhi at
the five, and you move everyone down and you bring Norman So Norm Harden,
Uh, it's Norman for zoogh Yeah, I mean Norman for Zoo and
then Kawhi plays the five and you just shift everyone because I worry shooting like
the you're shooting the piss out of the ball, and there's a lot of
activity in the passing lays Normally he kind of nice as a free safety defensively
this year not elite, I'm not saying anything like that, but he's in
physical like again physical limitations, it's not. Yeah, he's had a better
year defensively, and last year in the playoffs he showed that he could get
back to playing some of that raptors. Yeah, like he Yeah, I
do worry a little bit because they do need the lineup with Norm and James
Harden out there. I do worry a little bit when both of them are
out there though too that Dallas is constantly looking for him. But I get
what you're saying, like if you lean into the offense there and that could
be the way to force it well, and like you know, what do
you do to maximize the minutes where Luca is off the floor? And I
think go fucking small, like like why like why not just roll out your
smallest lineup and just run it and just run it up, just run around.
Yeah, that's infectively Adam. How would you do it to get their
starting five? Like? Would you are you bringing in tuck Wagon for zoom?
Uh? No, it wouldn't be my first choice. I might try
something. I might try something with a Mirror, just because I don't know.
I really like the way a Mirror has been playing the willing shooter with
three pointers. He seems to always come up big late in games to switch
ability defensively is bigger than Terence good hustle players lately too, he's been He's
been doing all the good stuff. I might try from biggest to smallest.
I guess Kawhi pg Emir James Norm at some point, Oh, I like
to wow, we have really good ideas. That's call time to backup back
somebody killing. Yeah. I like that. I am Yeah. I feel
like we got to look at that towards the end of the season a little
bit. I'm not a mere coffee. We just talked about how good Terrence
Man has started, and which is totally true about him being an actual starter.
A mere coffee has had a fantastic season two and he is doing that
thing and where the bench guys are all playing coin of Plus we've seen it.
We've seen him close over Terrence, but I can't remember, like call
line up. Yeah, you're right, we've seen and we've seen also too.
I think I know we're talking about going small, but we're I think
we're gonna see Zoo close in this series at some point. I don't think
it's I'm not ready to commit to it. I want to be I'm ready
to get I'm not ready to commit to that. I'm ready to get hurt
again. I hope that I hope that that is the case. But if
Zoo's closing, I think things are going. I mean that's that side deal.
Things are. Yeah, if if Zoo is closing, I mean people
are like, you're like rubbing your hands together and it's going all according to
plan. I also don't hate Russell Westbrook and being one and being in one
of these small ball lineups because of his rebounding play big in the P five
put him at that cog roll right that we that we saw ective. I
think Russ is going to show some nasty, gritty defense at times in this
series. I really do. I think he's gonna be able to uh play
up a position of a lot, and that could be an issue for the
Dallas Mavericks if Russ is locked in, because that's one more guy that you
don't necessarily I don't think they're going to be trying, for the most part
to get a switch with Russ and to get him on Luca. He's an
annoying ass guy to try and play offense against. Focused he's gonna, yeah,
like one on one in this series. I'm it's again, It's like
wil said, it's not a full body clench with Russ out there because he's
gonna be playing guys hard. Not like you said, Luca's not gonna be
able to blow by Russ. I don't think, I say as seven April
sixteen, I mean like not every time, right, you know what I'm
saying, Like there's gonna be something He's gonna get him, like he's Luca.
Yeah, but it's not gonna be as easy. Yeah. I love
that. To keep going back to that point about the size of the point
guards before Adam and I really like that point. They're bigger than Pat Bev
now Reggie Jackson. Yeah, well, overall, their wings are smaller,
they have less of them. The guys that Luca would go up against and
was always looking for were their smalls out there? Yeah, Tarrence Man also
is somebody that he has backed down a lot. Yeah, that's true.
Terrence gives great effort there. Yeah, and he does everything he can,
and he's gonna be playing against Luca a ton. But Lucas certainly isn't exactly
afraid of him, which is why I'm kind of interesting. Didn't a mere
coffee made maybe in some late game situations, because let's say Terriss Man,
he's gonna be starting, he gets worn down a little bit just so taxing
or gets in a foul trouble against Yeah, it's gonna happen a few games,
I'm sure of that. But I think Russ is somebody that I don't
know if Lucas should be blown by or bullying that much on the block.
And I posted the video of that game. The only game they had against
him at Crypto this year was the one where late Russ was relentlessly going at
Luka Doncic. When Dallas went small, he just said, go at him,
go at him, and he got a foul and an a one like
I like the energy I saw from Russ in the regular season against Dallas,
different team, but against Lucas specifically, and that needs to be there in
this in this game, that that fearless attitude because Luca it's demoralizing playing against
him sometimes, just like it is to play against Kwahian PG when they're doing
it on both ends. Yeah, I'm I'm encouraged by rust in this series.
I'm hoping. Also, we were just talking about foul trouble early Zoo
foul trouble. Who then I maybe get full body clinch. What do you
what do you want to see? We talked about maybe going super small,
but like, what do you want to see in the nine minutes per game
when Luca isn't out there? Like, what is most I'm gonna be off
the floor for nine because I will sign up for that. Yeah, Kelly,
Yeah, I think he's off the floor. I think he's off the
floor for five minutes, five minutes. But I want to see you can
win a game in that time. Yeah you can't. Oh, I mean
That's what I'm talking about. Like, I mean, there's no two ways
around it. Like you you do need to maximize what your efforts are when
he is not on the floor. That's how they just beat Denver with Jokic.
I know they didn't have Jamal Murray, Clippers didn't have Kawhi. They
went like plus twelve in the non Jokic minutes and he only was off the
floor for like six or seven minutes, and we ran some funky small ball
with that led by Russ and harden I thing together and the mirror was out
there. I think that was a three man lineup in that game because it
started sloppy and then they got some deflections and it was like offense to defense
and things were going well. So I think when Luca is off, that's
when we need the Amir Coffee fearlessness and the efficiency to be there and the
cuts to be there too. I mean, we're assuming if Luca, whenever
he's off, Kyrie is going to be on. So what's the best five
to corral up Kyrie? Then I guess a little bit in those time ja
zoo uh, I think MOUs is good to go Kai big size. I
would line I would like to count up how many guys can guard Luca on
this Clippers team and will be guarding him at some point in the sense of
like guarding lucas you feel okay about it. Sure, you feel as good
as you can feel. Yeah, we were not saying these are like the
stoppers two and a half. Okay, kawhi, Paul, George Terrence A
mer got you, guys said air is a bit of a yeah. I'm
okay. Yeah, me and Russ just asked his stands. We're like this,
Oh no, you morph it's the Morongo commercial morph into uh. I
think I think I think PJ will get a look against just said who we
feel comfortable with him, not who he will get in the post. That
is very true. I don't. I don't hate it. I don't,
I don't. Okay, Well, in terms of feeling okay about guarding Luca,
I think, yeah, I think you got the three. I don't
know if I have five. You have the three. A mir I feel
better about Russ than a mirror on Luca, So yeah, I'll give it
three. Yeah, yeah, yah yeah, yeah three and three quarters.
Just guys that can give him different looks, waves of defenders that can be
going at Luca, changing levels, giving him different looks. That's all always
what coach Lou talks about when it comes to defending superstars and great players and
specifically Luka Doncic. That is the way to just not give him consistently the
same defender to look at over and over again and eventually pick him apart or
find a rhythm or getting that groove like he does seeing a beats Zo does
where he gets and we haven't even turn that around. I don't think it's
his fault, dude, it's just a mental thing. I think, well
Adams talking about this before, there's just like such a history that the confidence
that you make Luca's not hitting ship well brought up long haired Come on,
dude, long haired zoo Luca would It's like if he starts just like taking
handfuls of prenatal vitamins right now, you might be able to get the hair
to like here, how about this hard and shaves his beard. I think
the Clippers win the first game, no question or beard. Right, they're
looking at keeps the beard, threw shoot around and everything, so it's like
it's all normal. And then just right when they're when starting lineups, it's
just like we're just a big handlebar mustache. Because my uncle guy would it
be like a wardrobe thing or against NBA policy to have a fake wag because
like Andre war fake care for a while. Well you can, you can
have extensions, like what's the difference? Very true? Okay, I was
thinking of the old Remember they outlawed the bandana, the ninja turtle thing that
Mantrez used to wear because o the No Fun League is what I call the
n b A. Okay. Back to Will's question though, regarding best lineup
to slow down A lineup without Luca but with Kyrie on the floor for Dallas.
Uh, I don't know. I think I thought I gave my answer.
You gotta have Norm out there going crazy. I mean, you gotta
have Norm out there. You gotta have a beer out there. Will you
trust Norm to defend Kyrie in some like limited spots in it? I do
not think so. So do we want Normal out there? Well, so
you're going, can you strike that balance where you still have a lot of
offense but a lot of defense? Like can you find something even better?
Is it the Power Rangers? I mean that would be great. I I
just I don't think you run all the starters out there when minus Zoo went.
I believe I was just told you could win games in those five minutes.
That's true, you can, I don't know. You look at a
plus minus every night. It's like Lebron pretty much religiously, relentlessly or consistently
throughout his career like ends up being a plus and that team beat him because
they won the minutes Lebron James wasn't out there. It happened earlier today because
the Pelicans where they went on like they had an eight They had like an
eight point lead early on in the first half, and it looked like things
were starting to turn the other way against the Lakers, and then Lebron came
back in and the Lakers went on a twelve oh run. It was like
that simple Well, what's your what would your go to be? I mean,
I think that's a good time that that's time to get PJ. Minett's
hopefully he's willing to like take shots in those minutes. I just think for
like the tempo and just how quick Norm can swing a game. He's got
to be in any one of those lineups for me, because the Norm,
like when Norm gets into that like automatic mode, I mean that's like an
you can have a nine to oh swing in like the like the blink of
an eye. What's the stats to the Clippers account put out a great norm
for six men end of the year tweet today kind of just listing what his
numbers have been. Second and Clutch points off the bench like he's yeah,
he what's he shoot? What was he shooting from free in the fourth this
year? At one point for like two? So I guess I might go
So I guess I might go uh russ norm a mere pg Tucker, I,
that's that seems like a realistic possibility to ye who Dallas goes with at
center there and then you have some versatility at the five, you know if
yeah, if you yeah, I mean you could even do Mason out there,
like if you think like different, like yeah, do you think we'll
see any Because people were asking about this after it had been a couple of
times over the last week and it looked like it was just out of availability
and what guys were there and we're getting the d N P C D,
but people are asking about, hey, may some plumbing next to Daniel Tys.
They did it a couple of times and Daniel Craig afterwards. Dan Craig
said it was about availability, but do you think it could happen or big
next to Tyson this series, not necessarily plumb, that's not gonna happen.
What advantage do you see, I guess would be my question. Rebounding boards.
Yeah, that's about it. I don't know. I don't think so
who's the other three? Yeah, I don't know. I get I mean
for the five on four on the or for the four on five on the
offensive end. So I can't I can't condone. I looked like an idiot.
Russ Hayder number one, number one and still the undefeated. There there
was one thing that I wanted that I kind of forgot to talk about,
and that was Terrence Man is the role man if Luca is guarding Terrence Man
and then putting Terrence as the role And it happened very little during the regular
season. It was like thirty five possessions, quite quite few. But that's
the thing I think we'll see in small ball stuff is maybe more Terrence as
a screener or Kawhi is a screener, because when they were running Kawhi as
a screener, his points per possession was like one point two or something like
that, which is pretty solid to great. So the screening is gonna be
fun. We're gonna see some weird stuff from Tyleru, especially in some of
these small ball lineups that I think you all of us have convinced me we're
gonna see more of. Despite what Zi thinks or wants, I just think
there's a good chance Coach lou will want to get to them and make Dallas
play smaller at times. But if Zoo's detonated, which I would love sure,
and they're featuring him and they're getting him the basketball because they really need
to against smaller bigs that the Dallas Mavericks have, that that's a path to
victory. That's probably the most likely path to victory in this series, just
to eat the zoobots is able to play average let's say, thirty two minutes
per wall game, that to me would be a great sign for the Clipper
because if he's played off the floor, Clippers don't really have a lot of
options for easy buckets, correct, you know, like there's not a lot
of there's not a lot of stuff that doesn't involve your already high usage players
doing a lot, which you know, I mean it is the playoffs.
That's that's fine, but you got to have some options for some easier offense
in the course of a series. And again, the MAVs do have like
kind of a handful of solid small ball lineups. Yeah, that they can
run, so it Zoo's gonna have to be on point. He talked about
today to the pick and roll stuff, how he needs to get better at
making sure the rollers not behind him just going straight to the bucket. He
talked about how the Clippers need to get to the ball faster and get through
screens. So there's some interesting stuff. Tyler's Tyler's cooking some stuff up that
I'm excited for. It does feel like a huge advantage for the Clippers to
having known their opponent for almost two weeks. You know, Dallas has been
in the five spot for a while. The Pelicans were falling down the standings
for a while. I mean they fell into the plane. I feel great
about that. I'm encouraged by that from the Clippers standpoint. Should we talk
about the elephant in the room. There's another elephant. There's Operation Dumbell drop
uh, and then let's do it after this outbreak teasing Adam and let's check.
I don't like the Marvel what ifs, and I don't like this one
either. But what if Kawhi Leonard is not available? How do the Clippers
approach this? All right, we're going to talk about that after this very
long ad break. It's not gonna be long, but that was very ominous,
but it's fair allowed ads coming up for some people. And then we're
talking a big what if. And then we're talking a little Blake coming up
in three two what Welcome back in Clips and Dip. I'm at a Maslam.
We got Chuck Mackler and Will Updyke here listening to a season two episode
sixty eight show. Here. If you want to check us out, we're
at YouTube or on YouTube at Clippers podcast at Clippers pod on x is where
you find us. Coming up, we'll talk about Blake Griffin and him officially
retiring today, some of our favorite memories. But I did have to throw
this one out there because it seems like we'ren't it doesn't have to be an
Earth two possibility. With Kawhi's injury history and the last three seasons, sure
he has not been able to go or at some point hasn't been able to
go in a playoff series because of that right knee, and it's been troublesome
again and at the worst time. It is unfortunate, It is frustrating Clipper
Nation, we get it. Everybody's talking about it right now, and how
could this be happening at this point of the season. It is brutal.
But let's say he's missing for a couple of games early on. Can the
Clippers do enough to tread water to bring hope of him coming back later in
the series? And is there a way to get by without Kawhi Leonard early
on in the series, Because this was one of the reasons when they first
got James Harden was you know, if they have two of the Big three
in a series at times they might be okay to it's possible they could get
out of it series. We didn't know the matchup. Now we know it's
Dallas, but there was a time where we brought that up during the offseason
and then when it actually happened during early on in the season when they brought
in James Harden, that it's a little bit of insurance in case one of
two to one three isn't available. I mean, just just off the jump,
like this is a way harder series than last year's, Like even the
first two games where we had Kawhi healthy. I just think matchup wise,
if you don't if you if you don't have any one of the three,
but specifically Kawhi aside, I just like they would have to be perfect,
and even then it would be difficult. I mean, yeah, lightly to
put it lightly. Yeah, who's starting? I was just gonna say,
if it's a mirror, which would be my guest. I cannot see Tyler
starting PJ. Tucker next to Zoos because that's usually been the guy, right
like in these these late season stuff. But I think it's I don't think
it's us. Yeah, because then you go Russ. I think that brings
the most balanced off the bench. If you look at guys like Norm Powell,
a lot of offense, not much defense, a mere coffee more defense
than offense. Russ is kind of that in between where you get a little
bit of both. Yeah, I just get worried. And I know Russ
is a bigger guard. That's a it's still a big MAVs lineup, you
know, like we're moving. Yeah, I don't like this hypothetical. I
would go a mirror, I guess for size issues. I mean, and
we have seen that before. So yeah, I would go a mirror and
I would hope that his off ball cutting was good. I would hope that
his defense is as good as it's ever been. And then, like Adam,
you talked about it, even with everyone healthy, aggressive James Harden because
if he's going to be handled the ball, he's got to get everyone into
their sets. That makes things easier, I mean, the pressures, the
good Yeah, and then you got to get the good playoff. He going,
they have a chance, I mean if no, so yeah, I'm
sorry. The question was, yeah, to tread water, to tread water
like, So, let's say it's the first two games in LA, which
I think it's God damn it, I'm so tire these balloons. Huh,
you're a sick man. If you're only listening, you're missing the visual effects
absolutely assaulting me right now. I think even healthy the Clippers, there's a
decent chance they split these first two games the game the series is gonna go
yes, if the series is gonna go six, there's a decent chant,
which I think it is, there's a decent chance they split, Uh this
game, even when healthy. But I don't think it's crazy to think they
could still split without Kawhi. After that, I get they could split.
I think they could split the home series without, But then again, after
that Dallas and he's still in the report. Absolutely, if we're if we're
heading to Dallas and he's still on the report, I'm like, okay.
The other thing is, when I'm talking about inflammation, the reason he didn't
go on the road trip to Phoenix was because altitude could affect that. So
they can get a Madden bus for a they'll fly a thousand feet off the
ground. They'll just be a straight long I like your point though about how
they could be fully healthy and it could still be a split after the first
two games, and it's still possible that two home games without Kawhi and one
of them you still get one of those first two games at home. That's
not crazy to me at all, because but I just don't think you're doing
better than that. Groh, Yeah, it'd be Yeah. I would dance
a jig if they go to and Oh without Kawhi. If that happens,
knocking on Wood, it's the reverse of twenty twenty one where we go up
to Oh the Clippers go up to Oh. On Dallas. I don't know
what It's like I would love to be in that position reverse because they're not
starting in Dallas. But I don't hate the matchup. I know it would
seem impossible for them to win this series without Kawhi Leonard. I think what
you'd have to have is Aviatsa Zubots to have a breakout series and we're talking
like sixteen and twelve average and Norman Powell to be dropping off the bench.
Yeah, Norm Powell to be dropping twenty plus off the bench. Well,
I mean James, that could be a given Norm and James play. Yeah,
I think he's more than capable drop forty two against Phoenix. I don't
know what his averages came out to, but I'm pretty sure he was above
twenty last year in that first round series. Uh and James Harden and Paul
George to combine for fifty points a games. You need good locked in rest
the whole time. That's what I'm saying. Like, there's not the margins
are not margin? Yeah, like the margins are non existent. When the
margins are margins are still healthy, why not just a little bit counterpoint?
Why not just a little bit, Like it's not a strong argument, but
like some popsicle sticks exist, you know, just you haven't said anything about
Kai Jones of isn't that he's playoff eligible? Did we hear anything about him
today from he was there in those interviews? He was there, Yeah,
he was there in that full sweatsuit doing his thing. I did get an
email from somebody, a big listener of Clippers talk who loves to lean into
playing bigs. He wants to bots and plumbing out there all the time,
all the time, at least wants to try the advantage. Like again,
my question is he just basketball? These are the two tallest guys on the
team. You put him on the court at the same time, higher average,
higher average points. He doesn't seem to understand that. Well, that
may help you in the rebounding department and the defensive department. It will careen
your offensive rating. If runs the break at any point in this series,
he should be sent home. He should be. It does feel like though
it could be more of a wide open series than what would have happened against
the Pelicans. Every possession is so precious, you know, against a team
like the Pelicans, it does feel like there are going to be points to
be had. The Clippers will be comfortable on offense for the most part.
And that's why I'm not going to say they'd win the series without Kawhi,
but I'm also not going to say it would be completely impossible. Completely.
I understand. I don't have a strong argument because you know, they needed
Kawhi to be But the thing is that what happened in twenty twenty one and
how it got to seven games was a little bit fluky. I've been talking
about this with Lucas and our boss all the time, like what happened in
the first three games, and I ran the numbers the other day. What
happened with the Dallas Maverick shooting from three in the first three games is also
something that you would have said is impossible, which is they shot fifty from
three on high volume the first three games of that series, and the Clippers
also won one of those Game three. It was insane, and the regressions
of the mean came fast and swift eventually, and the Clippers were able to
wait it out, to wait out the storm, and they eventually won.
Now, they still need Kawhi to have forty five in that game six on
the road of worse, but it easily could have gone only six games easily.
What happened is not that repeatable from three from Dallas's role players fingers crossed.
I know, but that was an all time anomaly in the first two
games. That wasn't the Clippers just are just playing bad defense and having some
bad game plan and what were they thinking and they had to change everything.
It was unbelievable. As Lucas pointed out in game two, they had one
better shooting game all season long than they had in Game two. They were
two of their top five best shooting games of the season, and they happened
to come in games one and two. That's not because of Luca and him
being a magician out there. It just happened. It's just one of those
rare things that happened in a playoff series, and the Clippers had to deal
with it unfortunately. So I know Dallas is better now. I know without
Kawhi Leonard it would seem impossible. But I don't expect them to go that
crazy from three for three straight games again, not three that one. Fine,
they're they're probably gonna have an eighteen plus made three pointer game in this
one. Yeah, Luca and Kyrie look unguardable, and they combined to maybe
drop seventy five points. Yeah, that's fair. I'm excited to be more
stressed out about this as we get closer to it, because right now I'm
excited, But I think as we get closer and hear more non news about
the Kui stuff, I'm going to be more nervous. I still my best
guess would be he gives it a go in game one. That's still my
best guess at this point. What happened earlier, Like Will said, if
anything, it should lead you feeling a little bit more optimistic. Yeah,
it was. It was a four hour practice, so I mean playing out
the practice sun up to sundown. That's that's the playoffs schedule, full pads.
So they did two days to day full pads. Hot ride is at
lunch. Yeah, they were on the tackling sleds. Just guy who doesn't
all right, we would be remiss if we did not mention. Uh,
Blake Griffin retiring. Uh made me feel old as hell just to see him
retire. He came in the league after Yeah, s acctually, how old
is he? Thirty six? Don't one of behind one of, if not
the most important Clippers players of all time, probably my favorite Clipper of all
time. Yeah, I don't know how you guys feel. He did so
much weird end to the franchise relationship, but I mean, yeah, I
think the most important Clipper. I think so too when it came to national
media, and as Brian Sema would say, putting this team on the map
like CP three in that move added the credibility of they can win. But
the highlights from Blake Griffin are what everybody saw and that's what circulated, and
that's what made people talk about the Clippers all the time because they're god tier
dunks and some of the craziest stuff we'll never see again. Like how many
I remember where I was moments did Blake Griffin give you just from some of
those highlight dunks? Because I remember where I was when he dunked on Kendrick
Perkins and I probably around it fifty times. What a guy to just get
jammed onto. The Mozgov dunk is absolutely insane. The power saw two dunks
in one game on him, the NBA jam, the game breaker that him
and Jamal did is still like he didn't know He's gonna thought the islands crazy
well, what's your favorite. You hated Blake, right, you were a
guess it from the beginning. I thought my favorite Blake moreent was when he
punched that training Yeah that sucked. I was so curious and that was a
throw my phone sucked. Yeah, that that sucked. I do love too.
One of the things that Blake did. I think someone posted a meme
of like Captain America and they were like Blake Griffin using the last of his
knees to make the Pistons watchable In twenty nineteen or whatever, that was his
last quality season his full first year with Detroit was this question year. Oh
yeah, he did all this stuff that people had wanted him to be doing
or whatever. It's like, he can do this stuff, like that's what's
kind of heartbreaking. Speaking of what ifs, you know, Blake Griffin's an
all time what if this guy was healthy throughout his entire career, type of
player up there with t Mac and Derek Rose and guys like that Grant Hill,
because he had so much more game. He was so skilled. He
worked on his game and evolved so much where his mid range jumper like was
serious by twenty fifteen. The form was so funny automatic. Watching him work
on it was so funny because for a while it would looked like he was
just jumping and then waiting until he was just about to go back down and
then snap his hard But he got it figured out and just so just funny
too. In terms of off court stuff, oh yeah, so great for
branding and stuff like that. Want to commercials. Yeah, his Slamm Dump
contest, which I do think was rigged a little bit because like someone had
to give I forget who got screwed, but somebody had to put up.
Blake didn't have a good first round and somehow made it. And it's like,
well the car was waiting for him in the second round, like he
had to get to the second round because the Kiya car was gonna roll out.
But still that that's just known as synergy and sometimes you gotta deal with
it. In a dunk contest put on by a league. Yeah, ask
a certain player for the Nuggets, what was your favorite uh set that Blake
did when he would drop in on Mike Charles when he was dropping a new
stand up. He wasn't so he wasn't aggressively bad at stand up. No,
he is incredible time he is incredible timing like that. That was like
the peak kind of era of like Clippers in the in the larger media,
like just had that Cartoon Network show on Adult Swim for a very limited time,
which is crazy. I remember he made a joke on stage with Jeffrey
Ross once. This was after the Clippers had traded him and Ross had shaved
his head, and he said something like, you know, we both got
screwed by the Clippers because his head was shaved and Blake got traded, and
like, you had to make that move. You had to to free up
the salary to bring in two and three. And you could see during that
season like he wasn't going to last. He wasn't going to last in his
first year on that contract. His knees just weren't there. He was starting
to deteriorate right before our eyes. It's it's a bummer too. He also
has the dubious title of being one of the guys that hits a big shot
and then is traded the next night, because he his last shot was I
think a three pointer against the Pelicans late in the ball game that iceed it
for the Clippers, and then he was gone the next day. He also,
he also is the reason the craziest shirt was ever printed. If you
know what T shirt I'm talking about, it's the T shirt they showed Blake,
the Pioneers shirt where it's like, oh my god, it's like,
let me bring up the graphic out of the technology. Guys, we don't
have it. We can't do this. Oh we have it. We have
to show this shirt. This shirt is crazy. It's crazy. They made
this. Adam, were you selectively forgetting So for those of you who haven't
seen this, uh, this is for getting this moment as it happens.
This is a shirt that has Blake Griffin, Muhammad, Ali Obama, JFK,
Martin, Luther King, Junior Einstein, and Mandela on there. And
this was how they were pitching him to come with, just just a wild
pitch. Clippers Marketing always doing their thing. Josephanward, no live live reaction.
Josephryan Ward has that shirt, which is incredible. I think that about
wraps it up. We got to get out of here. These playoffs just
have us wanting to talk as much clip as possible. We're gonna have another
episode on Thursday for everyone to watch, which should be a good time and
then we're gonna be doing some lives and whatnot. It's gonna be a fun
time. Will where could people all their friends to maybe listen to us if
they would like. So, you can listen to us wherever you get your
podcasts. If you're listening over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please leave a
rating and review. It really helps us out the best question mark, I
mean maybe the best U. The best way to enjoy this show is over
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know you can comment. And we're also over on the platform formally known as
Twitter. That's at clippers Pod. We'd love to chop it up with you.
However you consume this, I appreciate it. We appreciate it, and
we have a quick We got another giveaway real quick that Adam just spread on
us. We didn't leave because of the shirt. Have you have you mailed
the other bibblehead out yet? Did you get his address? Yeah? I
sent you the I sent it in the group chat. Oh that's my pat
Then we got it o their bottlehead. Given the taxi turnout, I'll tell
you that much of your god last second, I was one of the procrastinators
in January any money? What bobblehead are we giving away? But step big
Steve. I think they gave him the kung fu figh grip on this.
It's pretty great. He's in the celebratory post. Yeah, it's it's What
are the rules for the giveaway? Adam Oh? I mean, I'd say
we stick with the keywords. It's been successful. Yeah, words if you're
if you're listening this deep, you deserve it. Three Are MAVs fans eligible,
by the way, or no? How do we that? Good question?
We'll figure out. We'll look at their post history. Everything's online.
Well, we'll shot Markham. Yeah, so we we're gonna mail out the
other one because I'll re up on the address for that. Do we want
to give away a keyword? Now? Yeah? Right? Will? What
is the first keyword to win this bobblehead? If you get all three comment
on the YouTube video with you gonna have without doo focus? The first keyword
is focus. Also the best fight of the water flavor. So if you
it's true if you remember focus, and then you remember the two other ones
that we're gonna drop. We're gonna drop one on Thursday and then maybe we'll
drop one during the live before the game on Sunday or something. We'll see
you know, We'll figure you gotta watch the episodes to see what it could
end up in any of our future episodes. Yeah, write them down and
then type them into a comment on YouTube when you think you have all three,
and we will mail you a bobblehead. Thank you for hanging out.
We're gonna be back on Thursday, and as always, let's go clips