Welcome in Clips and Dip episode one thirty nine. We got a live one
for you. If it we'll do it live. It's obligatory saying now it's
a little bit overused, but hey Bill O'Reilly made it famous. It's gonna
be with you, guys. I'm Adam Oslin. We got Will Updike here,
who knows, Jeff Matha may jump in at some point, you might
show up. It's a live feed we got going for you on YouTube as
we try out all these new platforms and figure out what works. As we
explore things during this playoff edition of The Clippers here in twenty twenty three,
coming off a loss last night by fourteen in Phoenix in a game that was
much closer than that, we'll talk about, you know, more in depth
on what happened in that game. We'll also preview game three here for you,
and if you guys have questions, I don't know if we'll both be
able to see them or if it's just Will since he's the administrator and just
in control of the name tags here, Will, how does this work?
Can we do with the YouTube live? I we're still figuring it out a
little bit so so basically I have. I'll try to keep up with everything
on Twitter and YouTube. I gotta have a bunch of tabs going on,
so so bear with us. We're still kind of iron out some of the
kinks of this, but we're excited to chop it up with you. Hopefully
some people come in and add some questions and yet we'll have a good time.
Well, you're used to have a lot of tabs out anyways, there's
usually some computer processing overload at some point. Oh yeah, nothing like Jeffrey
Tube or anything, but some tabs open. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah,
I usually have I think currently on my mobile browser, I have thirty
five tabs open, and right now on my computer, I'm at a solid
twelve. Dear God, you got a process or from Intel that works on
like a molecular level or something. I couldn't handle that. I'm a little
AMD over here. Okay, so let's talk about it. We had you
guys did a YouTube live last night, you and Chuck and Chuck came on
with me during the middle of that to come on Clippers Stock post game after
their loss final score once twenty three to one oh nine. In Game two,
the Clippers get this split and It's funny. I was thinking about this
earlier today. This really this game last night divides the pessimists and the optimists.
Yeah, because there's a couple different ways to look at it. If
you're a pessimist, well, you're saying, man, we were up by
thirteen in that second quarter, we let go of things, and it looked
like to me, they had Phoenix on the ropes to me, and maybe
this is revealing who I am more in the glass half full, glass half
empty analogy here, But I feel like this Phoenix Suns team, and one
of my points coming into the series was they could break at some point if
you push them enough, if you get up on them as the underdog,
because they've had such severe collapse as the last couple of seasons in the playoffs
up two O in the NBA Finals on the Bucks, losing four straight about
that, and then of course the most miserable Game seven performance really of all
time, especially because they were at home where they just didn't even show up
for that game and they were reports came out later whether or not they had
COVID. But now they have Kevin Durant, so there's more of a security
blanket, but still I wonder what that does to a squad that's gone through
such difficult times the last two seasons in the playoffs, and if the Clippers
were able to get up two ozo and I think the most critical point of
the game was Clippers up by thirteen five minutes left in the second quarter,
and somehow it ends up tied at fifty nine at the half. That to
me is where the game was lost. I hope that's not where the series
was lost, because right now, if they do go on to lose this
series, that's probably something I'm going to point to. But optimistically speaking,
if you are an optimist, I mean, the Clippers were in a game
where the Phoenix Sun shot sixty percent from the field, and outside of Russell
Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard, everyone else on the Clippers shot thirty four percent and
they were still right there, down six with three minutes left. I mean,
I think the other thing to look at optimistically is if you're looking at
the long game of it. Right through eight quarters of this series, the
Clippers have trailed through what two of them. You know, That, to
me, I think is something that's super encouraging, given that you know this
is now a best of five series. But so far, you know,
the Clippers have done a lot to not only stay in games, but to
manage to have an advantage more often than not. And Game three, obviously
back in downtown Los Angeles, could cure a little bit of what ails them
because a lot of the top during playoff time is your stars have to show
up on the road and carry you, but at home, your role players
can play a more prominent role, can have a little bit more confidence out
there with the crowd underneath them. And I think it's going to be pivotal
for the Clippers and Clipper Nation to show up in a big way on Tomorrow
night Thursday for Game three and have some of that enthusiasm we saw during the
twenty twenty one run, specifically that Game six against the Utah Jazz where they
were down by twenty five. There's no way the Clippers come back and win
that ball game without them being at home in front of the fans. And
I had an engineer, our engineer there, Jake Warner, Big Brother Jake
Podcast, Big Brother Jake Warner. He has done games for the La Kings,
for the Lakers during their championship runs, and he said the only time
he had ever heard at the time it was still called Staples Center louder than
that game six with the Clippers twenty five point comeback on Utah with Terence Mann
going off for thirty nine. Was Kobe's last game. He said that was
the only time he had heard it louder than Clipper Nation was for that game
six. So hopefully it's a similar environment tomorrow night. I mean, I'm
hoping if we could get thirty five percent of what the Kings fans have been
given that home home crowd like they're in Sacramento. I mean, it's it's
absolutely unreal. It's one of those things that's so inspiring to watch. But
I was in I was in then Staples Center for that for that game versus
Utah, critical critical game, and it was unreal. It. Like really,
I sometimes even tend to be a little bit of a pessimist about like
the home court advantage for the Clippers, and that's for a variety of reasons.
It's you know, it's partially due to just kind of how they've performed
sometimes in those scenarios. But if there was ever any question about this audience
or their commitment or these fans I think all of those were absolutely quelched that
day. Yeah, I thought they helped carry the team back and kind of
the back and forth players were having with the crowd, the interaction there where
Pat bab would hit a shot, look back to them, Paul, George,
Terrence Man. They were just feeding off the energy at Staple Censor.
Then against this Phoenix Suns team with how good they can be, and we'll
get into more of that, and just how well they shot numbers wise in
that game too. You need every possible advantage you can get in this series.
Yes, yes, absolutely, And you know one of those advantages that
wasn't there that that has been for the Clippers so far, or at least
through one game against these Suns, has been the bench and has been the
depth of this team, which they've really been able to, you know,
to abuse the Suns rotation shortened in that second game. I thought that that
was a really great adjustment by Monty there to go ahead and limit that time.
I think, and I talked about this a little bit last night with
Chuck, but Adam, what do you think could be the double edged short
of that? But what are the detriments are? Is this Phoenix team especially
after you know, coming into these playoffs, band really played a game of
consequence for for a couple of weeks. They were more or less locked into
that four seat. There wasn't much higher they could go. And you know,
just even without Kevin Durant, you know, the floor was still fairly
high for this team. So do you think that we could begin to see
or even in this game three, see a regression from that extreme efficiency that
we saw from the Suns if these minutes loads continue to be that high.
Well, I think that's a great point because one of the things I brought
up last night on the pessimist side was can Kawhi Leonard continue to perform at
this high level for an extended series if he continues to have to do this
much on both ends of the floor offensively and defensively. But the other side
of that is, can the Phoenix Suns, who have gotten ninety minutes out
of Devin Booker and ninety minutes out of Kemn Durant in the first two games
continue to play those guys that much? Devin Booker more likely, I guess,
because no, this is not a Kawhi regression thing. How dare you?
I'm just wondering it's a little bit of a red flag that Kauai is
playing well. He's averaged forty minutes so far. The only reason he didn't
get to forty minutes last night was because they took him out with a minute
left because the game was over. So I don't know why people are considering
making that into a talking point. Just I'm kind of curious your thoughts too,
Just peggybacking off of that, what do you think when the game was
still in reach there to start the fourth the decision to not have Kawai out
there? I mean, I'm assuming that was a conscious effort in order to
keep that minutes load somewhat lower. Do you think do you think that that
was the right call? Well, in retrospect, I don't know what coach
Lee would say about it. He wasn't asked about it last night. But
just like to start the second half, it was the Suns on a quick
six zero run to start that fourth quarter, which is what they did in
the third quarter as well, but this was without Kawhi Leonard, I think
they were just trying to steal some minutes out there, find a way to
get Kawhi a little bit more rest because in Game one they took him out
during the middle of the fourth quarter. So I think the adjustment there was,
we're gonna play Kauai, you know, ten minutes of the fourth to
give him a breather to start it, and hopefully we're still within striking distance
and we never have to take him out again once he enters the game in
the fourth quarter, which I don't mind. Guys just weren't good enough.
And as you know, if you look at the way the bench performed in
the second quarter and how they actually increase the lead once again in both games.
They did that in the first half of the Clippers in Game one and
in Game two. But in Game two they were a plus five out there
and they helped get him up double digits. They just couldn't keep that going
in the fourth quarter. But I'm sure they looked at that and said,
well, they were able to not just tread water in the second quarter of
the bench was able to rise up and steal some minutes while Kahi was on
the bench. He actually didn't come out back in in that second quarter until
the six minute mark. They really gave him an extended amount of time.
Normally it would be about the seven or eight minute mark. They kept him
down till the six minute mark, and it was the starters who gave up
the lead in that second quarter, which I think was the critical swing of
that ball game, because not only do the Phoenix Suns go on a thirteen
to two run in the last three minutes of the second but Devin Booker hits
that three pointer to end the first half and then comes out in the third
quarter, goes seven of eight and as eighteen points. So he caught fire
and found his confidence when it looked like I really felt like they could have
been on the ropes, not just for Game two, but the series,
Like the Clippers had a chance for a knockout blow, you know, at
the end of the first half, they didn't take advantage. Maybe that's oversimplifying
things or overreacting, but I think this Phoenix Suns team was right for the
picking in the first half a Game two, and the Clippers couldn't keep their
petal on the gas or their foot on the gas. Yeah, totally,
and I you know that. I think that was just a combination of the
missshots and then I didn't think that we were as physical defensively to start on
Phoenix in this one. And I think once they started to kind of see
some baskets go, kind of see some easy ones go, at a certain
point, it seemed like it didn't matter how toughly contested some of the shots
were, it just felt like they were going to fall. And I think
that, you know, that's another like glass half mb half full thing,
because I don't know really how you adjust to that defensively, although we will
talk about some things that they can do defensively in this game three. But
on the other side, like if that you knew you were going to get
that at some point, right, Like you knew that you were going to
get the three headed hydra at at a certain point in this series. And
I think that if that was it, right, like, and I'm not
saying that's even the only game that it can happen, that it can happen
in, but like, if that was as bad as it got for the
Clippers, right, which it did end up being a fourteen point loss,
that's not really indicative. I don't think of like what this game was for
the majority of it. Um, I think that's something still to hang your
hat on. And I, you know, I hesitate to say encouraging loss,
because I don't know that I'd go that far, and in the playoffs,
I don't think there's any such thing as an encouraging loss. But if
those three were hitting with the efficiency that they were and it and then you
know, until the very end, like it's not like this game was completely
out of hand. Really, um, I think that that boads pretty well
for the Clippers moving forward. Yeah, the Clippers really just unraveled in the
last three minutes with those four turnovers, with the misshot in between there,
and then it was over after they fought back to bring it to within six.
And there are a lot of encouraging signs starting with this. The Clippers
didn't come out like a team that had a one oh lead in the series
with the way they played with that intensity and that urgency. And for all
the conversations and storylines we've had all season long with which Clippers team is going
to show up each and every night, it's starting to look like they did
flip a switch because the intensity was there for forty eight minutes. Maybe they
just needed to be in a playoff series and they knew what they had all
along, And our concerns regarding them going in and out of playing hard defensively,
we're a little bit unfounded because they just knew they had that extra gear.
And then once they got to the playoffs, because I was very encouraged
by the fact that they were the more desperate team in the first half,
still they looked like a team that wasn't satisfied with just winning one game.
They were out there competing each and every possession doesn't mean you're gonna win,
but you give yourself a chance to instead of just being satisfied with getting the
split and going home and saying, Okay, we're just gonna handle home court
now and we'll have a three one lead in this series. No, they
tried to get Game two, and if they had come back and won that
game, I would have considered that a steal. That would have more of
a steal because they were down double Absolutely, that's what qualifies as a steal.
Damn it. I that was kind of that was my mindset basically going
into that fourth It's like, can the Clippers steal this one? Because this
one would to me like be qualified much more as a steal than that game
one was. You talked a little bit about like the style of play,
and I agree, and I think it's one of those things that's been so
encouraging but also like just further confounding for the rest of the for the rest
of the season, Like I do feel like we've been watching to who completely
different teams and now part of that is definitely due to a notable absence and
everyone defensively kind of having to step up in the absence of Paul George.
But at the same time, this, to me, this is not the
Clippers team that we watched for eighty two games or however many you know,
combined Kawhi and Paul George games are however total many Kawhi games even And I
think that it's frustrating because you got it, you still gotta wonder, like,
you know what, was there a different ceiling, Was there a different
outcome for this first round? Not that I think that this was the worst
matchup on the board, but at this point I don't hate it at all.
Ye when you see what Sacramento has been doing, not just with being
up too well on the Golden State Warriors, but they are running them ragged.
Yeah, they are playing at a breakneck speed that we haven't seen since
you want to talk about seven seconds or less, Sons, This is five
seconds or less. The way they're getting up and down the court. You
talked about it a lot, that home court advantage we'd see in Sacramento.
It's just a deafening sound out there, with the way the crowd's on top
of you. Every possession has to feel like Game seven, you know,
right now for the Golden State Warriors. So the stakes must feel that high
that it's not just a first round series. Because Sacramento was so desperate for
so long just to get back into the playoffs. They're trying to let out
all this pent up aggression, you know, all this pent up I guess,
nervous energy, and it's finally there for them to enjoy a playoff series
with their beloved Sacramento Kings. And they don't have it, like they don't
just have a seat at the table right now, like the way it looks,
you know, they could. They're damn near the head of the table.
And I think that, you know, it could be a very you
know, it could be a very similar thing to get that same sort of
crowd reaction back there at Crypto. I mean, you go back to Phoenix
and you take, you take care of on court, you come back with
both That crowd at whatever it's called Walking Arena or it formally Talkingstick Arena is
looking a lot different to me. Yeah, and the Clippers never really got
rattled in either of the games. You're up sixteen in Game one and the
Phoenix Suns had a nine point lead in the third quarter, and the Clippers
came back and won that game. They're down by twelve I think in the
fourth quarter, twelve or thirteen, they come back bring it to within six
with three minutes left. They showed a lot of that resilient spirit we saw
in twenty twenty one. So all the potential and those glimpses of Clippers basketball
we saw during the regular season, they're starting to fulfill it a little bit.
Here in the playoffs. You're seeing them put it together more and put
together two for the most part, complete games defensively. Yeah, of course,
there are going to be some miscues. There always are. You're not
going to play a perfect game out there, but for the most part,
they have been locked in. And it took the Phoenix Suns shooting almost sixty
percent from the field seventy two percent in the mid range in Game two and
some really tough shots and a great performance by Devin Booker. But to your
point earlier talking about did they take the Sun's best shot? Basically, is
this that one game you get where you just run into a buzz song and
there's not much you can do about it. I don't think it is.
Unfortunately, I had a caller, the first caller last night, Damien in
La love the guy, but he said, you know, Devin Booker is
not getting thirty eight again. And I quickly heard like a record scratch and
was like, oh, I don't know if you know who Devin Booker is,
because this is someone who had back to back forty point games in the
NBA Finals. He has a seventy point game under his spell, and now
he's getting better looks because he's playing next to Kevin Durant. There was a
play in that fourth quarter where the double came to KD on the left wing.
He got it to CP three, who immediately threw it around the perimeter
to the right wing for Devin Booker, who took his man off the dribble.
I think it was Norman Powell who was closing out on him, and
that's just stuff that opens up because of the gravity of Kevin Durant. He
got better looks and he finished with thirty eight on what twenty shots, like
he had an extremely efficient game and it could happen again. Or it could
be Kevin Durant being the one who gets closer to forty and it's Devin Booker
who has twenty five. Like they have the ability to do this. I
don't think this is an outlier for the Phoenix Suns. Yeah, no,
I agree with you, And I wasn't saying that this was their absolute best
punch. But I mean it's like, you know, it's it's a big
the ceiling is still higher, like like the ceiling I suppose is still higher.
But I meant, like on a consistent basis, right, Like if
this is let's say that they have now you know, after ten games,
right with Katie, they've now pulled it together enough right to where this is
consistent. I still don't know that that is enough, just that like just
what we saw last night to beat these Clippers four out of seven times.
Look, but I'm not saying like definitively I'm not. I don't feel the
same way about it as I did coming into this series. I suppose I'm
more encouraged than I was coming into the series, even though I had the
Clippers and six coming in. I see the path now because if they start
hitting threes, and they're shooting thirty four percent from three so far in this
series that split at one game apiece, they could have won that game last
night. They had open looks even though they shot thirty seven percent, they
only hit eleven of them, and they had some really good opportunities out of
double teams in Kauhi, passing out of them and finding the open man along
with Russell Westbrook. Like those shots I think start falling when they're back at
Crypto dot Com arena. I wouldn't be shot if the Clippers had, you
know, fifteen sixteen threes made in game three. They're more than capable of
doing that, and all of a sudden, the score could completely swing the
other way where the Clippers are backup by double digits, or dominate one of
the games at home just because they have a hot shooting night, which they
have been due four. They are over due four with guys who have a
reputation of hitting those shots that just aren't right now. Yeah, yeah,
you talked about the three point shooting. That's one of those things where I
don't feel like we've exploited that on the margins enough that about does it for
our sort of prolonged, sort of game two reactions. Let's look ahead here
to Game three before we take a little break. Um, I want to
take a question here from YouTube Yas Mayama, who I hope I'm saying that
right wants to know can Betune be this cold for this long? Adam where
you at on this? Does? Does does Nico Portois turn it around when
things shift back to Los Angeles? I think so, I think the safe
haven of Krypto dot com arena. It's also just it's a progression to the
mean thing. It's just playing the odds. He's been like this all season
long, where he's had a few bad games, then one really hot game.
He shot thirty from three on the season. But I just haven't seen
someone who had been so consistently up and down with the swings and his three
point variants and his shooting variants like we saw this season from Nicholas Batum in
a while, especially when you compare it to a couple of years ago.
His first season as a Clipper, where it just felt like he was automatic
from the outside and would always knock down a big three point or for you
at least get you one. And I believe he hit his first three of
this series and now is what missed the last seven. He went over four
yesterday and had open looks that he can knock down, and yeah, he
was one for three in Game one. He's one for seven so far.
I think he's due for a four plus made three point shooting night. I
think Nicholas Batoum is due because if you want to say he's getting older at
thirty four, and some people cited that maybe Batum is lost a step this
season. I don't really see that. For the most part, his defense
is been there and that's what keeps him on the floor. He went on
shooting nights like that. But even if that was the case, shooting is
the last thing to go. It's a flick of the wrist. That's not
a problem for him. I watch him all the time and shoot around pre
game. He knocks down everything. So whether or not it's mental or it's
just a bad rut he's in right now shooting slop. He's gonna find his
way out of it, and he has to. I don't think they can
win this series because Nicholas but Tuma is going to be on the floor because
he's so versatile defensively. But if he's out there, you know, they
can't have these games where Tory Craig, who I think has had what thirty
nine points so far and efficient thirty nine through two games combined, where he
is the best role player on the floor in two games against the Clippers who
have so many guys that can erupt. All right, so let's look ahead
here to Game three, and we talked about a three point shooting. We
talked about some of these other guys. One guy I want to talk to
you a little bit about in particular is Norm Powell, who I think has
to be due or a scoring explosion. I mean, we need Norm to
be in a different gear than when he's been so far in these playoffs.
What do you see so far that's limiting him, and how can the Clippers
adjusted to get him more shots, to get him going and make him a
part of this Game three. The one thing that worried me about Norm,
as good as he was the last three games of the regular season, where
he had twenty in all three and had a really big performance against Lakers that
was necessary. He had been so consistent win healthy. He was averaging seventeen
off the bench. That's best in the league. Nobody scored more points off
the bench per game than Norman Powell. But he was one for his last
thirteen from three his last couple of games with the regular season, and that
seems to have carried over. He was over three last night, him,
Norm bones Highland. They all went over eleven. Everybody's talking about it,
and I do think that is an, you know, an outlier. That's
just not something that you can rely on if you're the Phoenix Suns, especially
with the type of looks they're getting. But Norm is someone who they need
so much. Where I had him as, you know, my second key
to winning this series, behind the Clippers overall, as a team collectively outshooting
the Phoenix Suns from three to make up for the mid range masters they have
there. Norm. I had him as if they're gonna win the series,
he's got to get an efficient twenty per game. I don't even think that's
possible anymore because he's only averaging thirteen through two. He'd have to get on
a ridiculous heater. I'll settle for seventeen a game though his average what he
scored throughout the season, and he ended up shooting what I think forty four
percent from three on the year or no, he ended up at forty percent.
But if you look after the first month in November, the numbers are
pretty outstanding. The efficiency from Norman Powell. He's got to shoot himself out
of this. I think he's one of those guys where you kind of have
to live and die with him because he's so important to what they do offensively,
and he's so important to help and ease the burden on Kawhi Leonard that
you know, you let him go one for ten or one for fifteen or
two for three for fifteen, like you let him keep shooting because he's either
going to figure it out in this series and find his stroke or you're going
to lose. I don't think there's another way for them to win without Norman
Powell waking up here, and I think you will. Yeah, I mean,
he's so key and his shot profile is just exactly everything that the Clippers
need right Like they need to win the volume battle from deep and they need
to get to the line, and he has been absolutely masterful at that.
I did like the way that we were able to exploit the free throw a
tent advantage a little bit more in game two. I hope to see that
trend continue in game three. You talked a little bit about Bones, Hiland,
Let's talk about Bones. What where are you at with him right now?
A little bit of you know, not a lot of time with the
team, to be sure, not really the most encouraging playoffs performance through two
games. What is there an adjustment that he can make, how we can
use him differently, or is it a situation where maybe he shouldn't not be
touching the floor or touching the floor less than he has so far? Well,
it's interesting. Aside from his offense, he's been pretty good. He's
made some good defensive place he's also blown by Chris Paul, but he has
yet to have an assist and he's three for thirteen from the field and made
a three in game one, went oh for four in game two. I
wonder how much they're chasing a Bones performance because, like we talked about,
with role players, coming into a playoff environment like this, you don't know
what to expect. For instance, Tory Craig seems to be rising up in
the moment right now. He's getting open looks. They're leaving him open.
He really needs to make those shots, but he is. Some of the
Clippers guys aren't right now who are being left open. Bones Highland is one
of them. Though he takes three pointers off the bounce, sometimes right in
the face of a defender. He's a different type of shooter like that.
But I don't want to say this series is contingent on whether or not Bones
Highland finds his stroke, like I did with Norman Powell. But we talked
about them them looking for a Bones Highland game or Clipper Nation looking for that
Bones Highland game. I still think it's going to happen. I don't know
if that's what coach lew is chasing right now by giving him these minutes.
But even though his shooting hasn't been there, his stint in the second quarter
in Game one was huge when they opened it up to a double digit lead.
His stint in Game two in the second quarter, same thing. There.
He's been on the floor when they've made some runs, so he hasn't
been picked on as much as you would expect from the Phoenix Suns. He
had the block on Devin Booker at the end of the third in Game two.
That was the only miss he had in the third quarter where he went
seven for eight. It was Bones Highland blocking him. So I like the
way he's competing. He liked Russell west Brooking game one, maybe a little
bit too amped. You heard from Russ last night on the difference between his
shooting performance in game one in game two, and he said he just took
his time more. Maybe Balls needs to just settle down a little bit,
let the game come to him. That just trying to be one shot hot,
Like, oh, I know if I get one to go, and
I'm gonna force it even if I have to, just because if I see
it go through the hoop, then I know I could get on a heat
or real quick. Yeah, And I feel like that's been pretty easy to
read when he's on the floor, like sometimes in his first ship, the
first time he's touching the ball, he's putting it up, which you love
if it's going down, but it's, yeah, maybe not the best option
that's that's on the floor. But I agree his defensive intensity has been good.
You know, and there is always the threat there and he is just
kind of like a different type of player, right I talked a little bit
about before the series, Like, I think something that that could be really
impactful for the Clippers is being able to alter sort of some of the styles
of play that they have, like to ebb and flow a little bit more
to introduce some unpredictability, especially to a defense that hasn't had a whole lot
of time together and we've seen we've seen some stints in it. I think
that that can continue. Speaking of defense, though, I'm curious what you
thought about Zoo's performance in game two. What can we do to make him
more of a factor on that end? And you know, a lot of
people are kind of pointing out and then rightfully so who he has been kind
of picked on? And the drop coverage is that something that we you know,
is that something that we need to scrapped? We do we need to
adjust the way that we're that the we're going to defend pick and rolls.
Do we need to adjust or you know, possibly change Zoo's minutes load?
What do you see? What do you see being a difference there from him?
I'm not overreacted to a bad game from Zoo because he is one of
the most critical guys on this team that you're not going to win the series
without him. He was missed when he went out in twenty twenty one in
the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns. I thought, for the most
part, people focusing on the value, but he was getting the better of
DeAndre Aiden. In game one, he got the better of DeAndre Aiden even
though he had eighteen. Aiden's points weren't that impactful. They were a quiet
eighteen, but in that second quarter he had ten points. Last night,
DeAndre Aiden finished with fourteen. Some of that stuff you gotta live with,
though, When he's knocking down mid range shots because Zoo's playing off of him
and giving him that shot to help out on somebody else, you know you
can only defend them and pick your poison so much. If you're loading up
on Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and then CP three starts hitting the way he
did in the fourth quarter and hit a tough shot over Viza zu bots okay
I, then they're probably gonna beat us. Although the Clippers still had an
opportunity late and if they were better from the three point line. A few
other guys got hot at the right time or made some open shots, they
still could have won that game. So I don't put too much into Oh,
Viza Zubots only had six boards, How can you have that as a
big man. Well, he's getting pulled away from the rim a lot.
That's intentional. The Phoenix Suns are trying to get him away from there.
Does he need to be better? Yeah, he was two of seven.
He's got to play through contact a little bit better, and he loved to
maybe have some of those same nerves. I don't know what was going on
there, but he looked a little unsteady offensively out there. Yeah, and
as good as he looked in game one, I saw the same thing as
you there. But you know what, they have to live and die with
some of what I eats the zoo Bots brings because he's too important. When
he's at his best and he can punish the Phoenix Suns. I still think
they need to feature him more, Like I don't think seven shots is enough
when you're struggling offensively and everybody else outside of Kawhi and Russell Westbrook is missing
shots. Get some easy twos. Give it to Zoo bots. One of
his two makes was against Kevin Durant, where they made a concerted effort to
get it into him in the post, Like if Kd's on him in the
post, go to Big Zoo and you got a hook shot over him.
Punish those guys, make them pay more. DeAndre Ayton, I don't want
to say looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane and that may be an over
or now dated phrase that you can't even use anymore. I'm not sure.
But for as strong as he is, he's not the most physical player.
He's still more of a finesse guy, which fits in well with a lot
of what the Phoenix Suns do. I guess Kevin Durant's more finesse, Devin
Booker's more finesse, but he's not this monster and a lot of people compared
him to Greg Odin coming out if he didn't have the knee injuries. DeAndre
Ayton is someone that Zoo can out muscle at times, and we didn't see
it enough yesterday, but some of that is because DeAndre Aden was hitting jumpers
and if he hits four or five of them like he did in that second
quarter, yeah, you're in trouble. But I'd rather have him hitting those
than other guys like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker being in rhythm. Same with
Tory Craig, because those are the guys who were gonna be taking shots late
in games. That's what you worry about. Devin Booker caught a rhythm in
the second half, in the third quarter, and you never could really turn
it off. And he had I think seven more ones and big ones in
the fourth quarter after having eighteen the third. Like, I'm not as worried
about DeAndre Ayden Zubos. Look, he's got to be better. I think
he will be. Like a guy can have a bad game, A guy
at the center position can have a bad game. In this series, you've
talked about it or alluded to it on our last podcast. It stands out
more when a big man doesn't go strong. Everybody gets up out of their
Seaton says, if I was that size, I would be going to the
basket. It will I'd be shack out there. It's not that easy,
or else we'd see more shacks in the NBA. Like it's just it's the
nature of playing the position at the center position, especially in the modern NBA
that you get criticized heavily whenever you aren't throwing it down, you know,
And Zubots has dealt with a lot of that, I think over the years.
And Carl Tart, you know, brought it up on the last show
a little bit. I think that's where some of his criticism comes with the
visa Zubots. He just wants them to play with more force. Yeah,
absolutely absolutely. Do you think that we see a return to some of I'm
gonna go ahead and generously call them experimental smaller lineups that we saw in Game
two. You know, I didn't hate it as much as some only because
with the way the Clippers were playing defensively anyways, not getting many stops,
you might as well try to lean into an offensive minded lineup. Yeah.
I could definitely see the vision, like if they could have got something going
and unlocked the three point shooting game that they desperately need to get, you
know, to stretch the floor with, that was the lineup to do it.
I think it was what Bones Norm Terrence Man Kawhi was there? Big
Who was the other guard that was out there? Bones Norm Terrence Man was
it? Also? I'm trying to think Eric Gordon came in for Terrence Man.
Yeah, the last book, Russ was out there, so like they
tried it for a few minutes. It's not like they were getting stops anyways,
when they did have a pizza subots in there, So I think it
was worth a shot. And if you're not going to play Robert Covington,
if you're not going to play Marcus foris, I guess you were right.
They're going all of Garden stop or they're going all of Garden over wings Stoff.
Well you said, yeah, yeah, I mean that's kind of what
we saw all season. And you know, despite some of the prognostication of
Robert Covington in the starters jerseys in the now infamous Clipper's team picture from a
from a practice, I am at the same place that I was when we
came in these into this series regarding Robert Covington in his minutes and yeah,
I like, look, I guess I just I'm not really seeing the spot
where he fits in the rotation. Um. You know, I think there
were some less than encouraging things during the regular season, like defensively, and
I do think that that could change in the playoffs, and I do think
that he gives us another versatile, switchable guy. I just I don't know,
man, I'm just not really I'm just not really seeing where he slots
in right now, and like where those minutes come from. Okay, what
if? What if I paint this scenario, give you this hypothetical. Nick
Batoum in Game three, in the first half goes over four from distance.
Do you think we see them pull the trigger or break glass and bring in
Rocco in case of emergency because Nick Batoum is just not able to get out
of the shooting slub it's a close game, or they're down and he's still
not hitting in the first half tomorrow night, or do you think they go
Marcus first. I still would think that Marcus is ahead of him in the
rotation, and I would still I would still think that that Marcus is ahead
of him in the rotation. If for nothing else, then he might demand
a little bit more gravity. It's it's hard to say, Like, it's
hard to say how the defense would react to that, And it depend to
on the number of starters that Phoenix is able to keep on the floor with
their bench units, because if it's some combination of like Katie and Booker plus
the bench. I don't know that that's really the right time. Well,
frankly, I don't know that that's really the right time for either of them.
I don't know if that's really the get right game that either guy,
that either guy needs. I'm curious if Marcus comes back in in this series,
and coach lu said before it started, he has a role, what
he's gonna look like just having all this time off because he came into the
season looking better, He had a couple of dunks, he looked more spry,
he wore down as it went along, and then had the rib injury.
Is there any thought to the fact that Marcus just needed to get healthy
and that was playing a role in his poor shooting performances and lack of lateral
movement out there the last three months. To you look, I mean the
way this Clippers team deals with injuries and talks about injuries anything as possible.
Yeah, I think that I could certainly be a factor. You know,
we see quiet sort of minister restrictions on guys. We see, you know,
we see guys just performing really poorly despite playing a lot of minutes,
and it just seems like they're still kind of being run with, and then
you know, low and behold out of nowhere. They'll show up on injury
report and then come back and look look better. So it's it's definitely possible.
I would think, Well, I don't know, you know, like,
on one hand, it maybe the fact that neither of them have appeared
doesn't mean that there's any sort of lack of confidence in either player. It
could just be, you know, Tyler not wanting to overreact to a situation,
right, because I think that there is a pretty clear pathway in game
two, when that double digit lead kind of started to get extended, and
even though it felt like we were really in it, I do think for
a younger coach, or even a more reactionary coach, it would have been
it would have been feasible and understandable to go with a guy who hasn't played
a lot of minutes with this unit, right just hoping for something, just
rubbing two dimes together to try to make a dollar out there. Yeah,
and they're not in a position right now where they need to make any desperate
moves to just try something else because they're down OZ two and Phoenix won by
double digits in both the first two games. They're in a really good spot.
It's encouraging overall where the Clippers are, and I think it was especially
telling that they went after game two like they had lost Game one. That
was the level of effort, urgency, and intensity out there in all season
long. We've been saying where is the urgency. It's showing up now in
the playoffs. But yeah, I don't know what that means for Coach Low
and what lever he would pull if Nicholas Betune continues to slump with his offense.
Now, if some of the other guys start to step up, some
of the other role players like Norman Powell we mentioned, even someone like Terrence
Man takes more shots or Bones Highland catches fire, then you can live with
Nicholas Batoum still not hitting shots because his defense and everything else he brings is
so big. That's another way that the Clippers can remedy this situation with the
four position and guys just not hitting shots out of that right now, with
Nicholas batum somebody else could pick him up. Yeah, we talked about this
a little bit, but your boy Greg wants to know, do you guys
think that being on home court base that alone will help the role players step
up big time. I think so it's typical in a playoff series that role
players just settle in better at home for whatever reason. You know. Superstars
are paid the big bucks for a reason. You know, when you see
a guy have a performance like Okay, Nicholas Batum as an example, he
had that thirty point second half I think it was against the Indiana Pacers.
Was at last season where he just exploded for a thirty point second half.
Or you see like a Tony Delk fifty point performance against his former team in
the Sacramento Kings. These outlier Tracy Murray goes for fifty with the Washington Wizards.
Great college player, wasn't a great NBA player, But these guys that
show up and have a fifty point game out of nowhere. Corey Brewer is
another one. Sometimes the difference between role players and superstars, or stars and
all stars, it's just a matter of consistency. It's not that they can't
do it often can you do it? How often can you repeat that performance?
So these role players at home, they're going to get a lift from
the fans there and just getting away from that hoop. I think in Phoenix
for somebody like with Toomb or Norman Powell, just like coming into a series
with a clean slate, It's okay, game three. You know what happened
in Phoenix. Maybe that stays there. But I have a chance to figure
things out, get into a rhythm. Now. You know we're tied up
at one one. There's a lot of positive feelings. Coachly talked about the
confidence last night and how confident the team still is even after losing that game,
and I would expect them to be the Phoenix says, aren't looking like
a juggernaut right now. They're not looking like a team they should necessarily be
scared of the Clippers. If anything looked like the team that, oh,
they could be as dangerous as we thought they were going to be coming into
the season. If they get Paul George back. I think a lot of
people have already changed their pick that if they had Paul George, they're winning
this series. Like it's that simple. Well, I mean, I think
this is a perfect time to get into the forty two million dollar question.
Paul George. We did see some new practice video yesterday him running around he
looks like he has a heart rate monitor or something on. Has your opinion
changed, I don't actually remember your original opinion. I'm sure you probably said
Paul George would be back game too. But has your opinion changed on Paul
George returning to this series and if so, when do you think that can
happen. I was optimistic coming into the series, even with the reports that
were out there, and I thought he could return mid series, But then
we saw him doing the stationary shoot around. It's a little bit of a
negative because he's not doing any explosive movements. How much can you really take
away from that. But the fact that less than a week later we see
him doing movement drills and running up and down and trying to get his win
back and do some cardio, I think that's significant. I'm not saying he's
going to be back tomorrow night. I don't think that, but I wouldn't
be shocked if he was back Tuesday for Game five, after they get those
two days off between Game four and five where they finally get two days off
between games in the series. I think I think that's a great point if
he is to return this series, which I had kind of previously had completely
ruled out, you know, just going off the reports of what we you
know, what we had been told, what we've been seeing up until that,
that more recent report of him actually running around and like trying to get
his cardio back to the level that it needs to be at for him to
play meaningful minutes. Um. I think that game five would be the perfect
time for him to return. I think, I mean almost for not completely,
but almost regardless of what happens at home, I think that it would
be the perfect time. I think even if the Clippers, uh some out
ended up on the wrong end of a three one split, if he's good
to go for that for that game five, why not? That would be
at about the five week mark. If he came back for game five.
I think I four week mark. I thought that was this week. I
thought it in a month this week. But I could be wrong, Okay,
I'm just saying, Oh, a lot of people are agreeing fifty one
percent chance, including Chuck Mockler, that Paul George returns. I think it
could be better than that, because if it's not, and we don't know
this for sure, but if it's not just about his flexibility, his comfort
level, his pain tolerance, and we're just talking about conditioning and his lungs
and weren't then pg's in business. Then a week after seeing that video,
I don't think it's out, you know, too far out there, too
crazy of a call to say a week after what we saw yesterday, he
could be back for a ball game, especially if a series is tied up
at two two and it's the pivotal game five, the most crucial game of
the series. Yeah. And I'm not a doctor too, just in case
anyone was unclear on that, but I'm gonna change your name tag to that.
Just seeing the like, just seeing that it was more about, um,
you know, his cardio ability. I do think that that was super
encouraging. Yeah, and the shots were obviously fallen. He looks great there.
I mean, this is somebody who and a lot of people have referenced
this when Paul George has come back from injuries as a Clipper, he comes
back and hits the ground running. He drops thirty. That's what we have
seen whenever he is returned, going back to him off the shoulder injury.
Yeah, which was Minnesota, right or was that the second game back?
I think it was New Orleans the Pelicans and they lost. But maybe he
had thirty seven and then he had the big game against Atlanta where they put
up one hundred and fifty points or something like that. I'm thinking of the
Minnesota game, and maybe it wasn't. I don't think it was his first
game back, but it was the first game that he and Kauhi like both
like yeah, yeah, yeah, where it was NBA jam. It was
like he and co versus I think de Low and Carl Anthony Towns. It
was a weird like two on two type of game going on. So we
talked a little bit about our hypothetical star. Let's talk about our actual star,
Kawhi Leonard. I know Adam is certain that he's going to regress,
but as Kawhi, you know, continues to see more reggressive doubles. We've
talked a little bit about, you know, how the role players and stuff
can step up. What can Kawhi do to keep this going? What can
Kawai to continue to I mean, my opinion, through two games, still
has established himself as the best player in the series. Oh, he's the
best player. When he ripped it from KD and went the other way.
Oh, my god, I thought there was no way. Granted, I
had the radio feed obviously ahead of television. Radio's a lot people had Amy
seventy LA Sports with the Patriot aleven fifty much like the show. If you're
watching on YouTube or Twitter, good call. So I knew it was coming.
But when I saw the play that was lagging behind on the television and
I was Washington on Valley, you know, get Brian Seman and Mike Fortello
in there, but I couldn't believe when he took the ball away, I
was like, He's going to take this coast to coast and dunk it where
they had two guys back, including Kevin Durant, right next to him,
and he went by them and just was more physical. The thing that makes
Kauai, I think so great in playoff settings is he embraces the physicality more
than other guys because he's so strong. And one of the reasons I think
he's better better than Kevin Durant in those situations is because Katie's more of a
f nest player. Completely different physicalities, like just completely I mean completely different
bills, completely different styles. But I agree with you in that offensively,
Katie great like you know, great for the postseason, so great for the
postseason obviously, but Kauai, I feel like there's a little bit less of
a variance because of the style that he plays, right, it's so much
more coming from that, like that physical ability, that's stamina, and that's
sort of like constant workhorse and as that I think can kind of save you
if we do get a performance from Kauai that's less than ideal offensively, right,
I think that his floor is a little bit higher just because of what
he's able to do and how he can control the game purely with physicality,
Like he's not as dependent, not that he doesn't have it or anything,
but he's not like as dependent on the touch as a more finesse player.
It may be because Kawhi isn't the quickest guy on the floor. He's not
the most athletic guy on the floor, so when he takes shots, defenders
are often right there. So it may have conditioned him over time to be
more comfortable with contact because guys are there, it doesn't matter that they have
a hand in his face. He's more used to that than other players,
and even someone like Kevin Durant, who may not be the quickest. He's
quick for a size, but his thing is just rising over the top of
you and get looks at any time. Kauai is not getting the same clean
looks, but he's still hitting at a ridiculous rate. He embraces the contact.
But you mentioned the passing out of the double teams. Kawai had six
of his seven assists last night in the first half. And that goes to
the point of guys weren't hitting shots in the second half, but after the
first quarter where they were or after the first was the first quarter of the
first half, or the Clippers were six of thirteen from the field that was
the first quarter, six or thirteen from the field in the first quarter.
They went five or seventeen from three excuse me now from the field from three
in the second half, after growing six for thirteen in the first quarter from
distance five or seventeen, the rest of the ways like just huge. Yeah,
they took twenty in the first half. It looked like there was gonna
be a guarantee they'd get up at least thirty five. And where they end
up at thirty yeah, yeah, right right around there. And I understand
because you're not hitting them maybe you're more reluctant to take them, but like
you got to live and die with Norman Powell. I think in this series
he has to get going or else they're going to lose. You have to
get going overall as a team from three, so shoot your way out of
it, keep putting them up, keep taking those shots. It's the only
way to equalize things with the rate of mid range shots being hit by the
Phoenix Suns, and they have I heard this earlier. I forget which podcasts,
We'll just say it was the law of the jam. I'm gonna give
those guys credit. May have been doctor shap I heard this earlier, or
maybe it was Lucas Hand our boss and better to point him out that the
Suns have attempted only twenty shots in the restricted area in the series so far,
and they've attempted one hundred shots than the mid range, which I think
is considered ten to sixteen feet out. That's wild. Yeah, yeah,
no, absolutely unreal, and I mean that definitely has led to the free
fer disparity. It's one of those keys that we talked about coming into this
series. You know, at the line is a place where we can punish
Phoenix because we are getting to the restricted area more so than that team.
I don't want to backtrack too far a little bit, but we talked about
Kauai's physicality. X Ongo Project wants to know, will we see CP bump
Kawhi again. I'm curious what was your read on that, What are your
thoughts on that? How does the claud respond? I don't know if he
was even aware he was bumped, Like he barely moved, Like it's Kawhi,
Leonard, He's the rock. He's made of stone or metal or whatever
you want to say. Like that was hilarious to me just to watch people
were saying like, oh, he didn't get his programming chip yet for being
bumped post game, because he just didn't react to it at all. Chris
Paul did a little bit, but he also tried to act like, oh,
no big deal, nothing happened there, and Kawi just kept walking like
I do. Though in all honesty, I think they both felt it.
They both knew there was, you know, a little bit of a rivalry
relationship there with the way they walked by each other that no guy wanted to
submit to the other or show that Oh they got they got put off balance
that bump. Yeah, it's kind of like, you know, you get
hitting baseball and you're not supposed to rub it. And when you go to
first base if you get hit by the ball, like, oh, don't
don't show them that it hurt. Don't show them that it hurt. Don't
rub the injury. You don't want to look weak out there, and Cohi
never does. All right, So before we get out of here, Adam,
what's your prediction Game three? What do you got? I got the
Clippers winning the Game three, and it it may be I think one of
the games back at home, Game three or four, more likely Game three,
they could win by double digits. It's possible that they could win in
a more comfortable fashion than what we saw in Game one. I'm right there
with you. I think the Clippers are due for, you know, a
bounce back to the means from some of these other guys. As good as
everyone was in Game one, I think that I think that in some of
those in the minutes where they don't have three or four, three out of
four, let's say, of their of their key guys, the Clippers are
due for like an absolute surge. You know, we've seen it. We've
seen this team in just short little stints. I'm thinking of the third Lakers
game, the one before the last one, where there was like a ninety
second stretch where they went on like a seven oh run and it was just,
you know, this team is capable of so much in such a short
amount of time that I would be very surprised if one of these two games
things didn't go a little bit our way and things got for us offensively a
little bit easier than they have been through these first two games. They's just
matchup a lot better even than I could have thought against the Phoenix Suns.
That King's potential three six matchup looks like death now compared to them going up
against the Phoenix Suns. Some of it's biased because they won a game,
but I think even if they be the Kings in a first round series,
they would be so incredibly worn out that they would have nothing left the rest
of the playoffs. That would be such a difficult task. At least,
the Phoenix Suns play in the same range, in the same pace in tempo
as the Clippers. They're not going to get run off the floor. There
aren't a lot of guys with campaign out, especially right now, that can
just kill you off the dribble. Devin Booker can do it some we saw
it last night. But it's an easier team to defend for the Clippers personnel.
And I think if the defense plays the same way and they don't have
a letup just because they're back home and they know they're getting some home cooking
or they're gonna get some of those shots to drop, but they continue to
play with that defensive mindset for forty eight minutes and stay locked into the game
plan, they got a great chance to win Game three. That's typically,
you know, it's just eyeball test. I don't know what the numbers say,
but when a series is tied up at one game apiece and that third
game going back going back home, usually in a close series, which we
think this is going to be, that home team has a big advantage of
game three of a series tied up at one game apiece. Yeah, yeah,
definitely. Who is your surprise performer of the night? WHOA People are
saying Carl Tart got his Zoo game, by the way, and came to
like like he picked him for a surprise bad performer or something like that.
He was right. I guess he's you know, he's not religious, but
he is praying on Zoo's downfall. I'll go with Nick Betum four three pointers
made. At least he starts to knock him down. Just being back on
the home floor. It can do wonders for a guy. Change the scenery
coming back from Phoenix. What's the old phrase from a bull Durham clear the
mechanism. Yeah, that's what he's gonna do. Who do you got,
I'm going I'm going to Norman Powell and I think he's gonna have a big
game. I think he I think it's twenty plus, and I'm gonna say
he gets like eight free throw attempts, okay, and that that could be
big for a lot of these guys struggling. And that is one of the
if you're looking through the lens of the pessimist, the Clippers in that game
yesterday ended up getting up what seventeen more free throw attempts? It was thirty
one to fourteen. Ye that kept them in it. That was a big
part of it. You brought it up post game on the live I listened
to it. That kept them hanging around. I don't know if you're going
to see a disparity like that in Game three. And even though it makes
sense the Suns are taking a ton of jumpers, it's not that the Clippers
got some great whistle. I thought Batum got a really tough call on him.
Eric Gordon had a couple go against him. They weren't that they weren't
benefiting necessarily from Scott Foster or anything like that. But has to continue.
That's another trend that just has to continue with them getting up more free throws.
Yes, all right, well I think that that'll do it. Thank
you everybody who joined us for this one live. You can catch us on
YouTube that's at Clippers Podcast, where we are on Twitter where this is also
streamingline. That's at clippers Pod. Listen to the show wherever you listen to
your podcasts Adam, anything else you want to leave these fine folks with before
we get out of here and you know, get get our get our preparations
in for game three. You call that a bump, You call that an
eye fessen and a life. I'll say this. I'll put this up on
the podcast as well. I'll rip it and we'll have it on Spotify.
We'll have it on itube, so you could be listening to it there right
now, even if you'd missed us live, so it'll be it'll be good.
So it's another little avenue for us to put up new content with these
YouTube lives. Look for him yep. Yeah, we're trying to find different
ways that we can bring you guys, all the Clippers news that you want.
Hopefully you like it. If you do, you know, like comment,
review us over on iTunes or Spotify, and yeah, thank you so
much. Let's go clips gain three win. Let's do this