Last time that has fine chains on my neck. It was no smit on
my rep last time. The little tough one send a set and the st
quartermeil no sweat. They lose to Night in the Spike giving everything to has
They just were missing their two superstars and they lose by five to the Phoenix
Suns one twenty nine to one twenty four. You cannot halt the effort.
Execution lacking at times, but it's also understandable you're running different lineups out there.
Marcus Morris played for the first time in a month. Rocco played a
little bit. They had a different starting lineup with Norm Powell in it,
who went for his playoff career high of forty two. He eclipsed his previous
high of twenty nine. Goes for forty two, answered the call. Russ
had thirty bones, highlight of playoff career high of twenty. These guys they
just kept coming. They didn't give up. They didn't give in, no
matter how the odds were stacked against them without Kawhi Leonard, and they just
found out about that earlier today as shoot around, and they performed to this
level. I'm proud of this group. I get it. Clipper Nation.
You want the victory tough one tonight, but the Clippers fought. They lose
one twenty nine to one twenty four an underman, shorthanded group they scrapped,
and they lose by five to a Phoenix Suns team with an extreme talent advantage
tonight. In this one, all you heard the music, you know what
it means. We got Will Updike on from Clips and Dip podcast does the
pod with myself and Charles Mockler. I think they were doing Alive later tonight,
or maybe not because they were at the game. We took a picture
with Noah Eagle who was on in the first segment and did Clippers stock.
If you missed that, it will be podcasted. Will, where do you
want to start tonight? How did Clippers lose this game? Because I know
a lot of people are pointing to this number forty six in the box score.
I mean, like that's a huge part of it. I mean,
you gotta hand it to Devin Booker, who was I mean absolutely incredible in
this one. Yeah, some some there were some blunders. I mean the
one that keeps haunting me, I guess is that the kind of lazy but
tumb inbounds that resulted in the Devin Booker three. Look, this is one
of those games where you know, we had to kind of throw everything at
the wall, and it's unfortunate that we didn't come away with the win.
I think like that would have been one of the sweetest Clippers postseason wins we've
seen in a minute, maybe since that Game six versus Utah. But this,
I mean, I gotta be honest. I know there's no such thing
as a moral victory in the playoffs, but this was something else. Man.
There were so many times when it felt like this team could have rolled
over and he really could not have fused them at any point. You know,
we went with a five guard lineup in this one, all of Garden
in full effect, and you know, the team, the team, you
know, they were able to keep it within about three possessions once you know,
Phoenix really pulled the head there in that third quarter. They could not
get over the hump. We go five guards. Everyone that everyone around me
in the press boxes scratching their heads saying, okay, well, how the
heck is this gonna work out? The Suns even end up bringing DeAndre Ayden
back in. They cut this five guard lineup ends up taking the game to
three points. This was absolutely incredible stuff. And yes, the free throw
like the free throw disparity is insane, you know how I feel about that
stuff. It's one of those things that you just you can't control that.
You can't control that at all. Yes, there was a terrible mistakes foul.
Yes, I mean there were there were so many things. But I
think I think this Clippers team fourteen Phoenix is Big four if you can even
still call it that at that point. To all play forty minutes, I
guess with the accession of DeAndre ayten uh and to just barely beat this Clippers
team shorthanded underman, not a lot of time together on the floor, and
to the Clippers will only come up shore by five points to possession. I
mean, I think the Clippers did something really spectacular here. And I think
if you're a Clippers fan while the lost things, especially seeing how beatable the
Phoenix Suns team is, it does sting a little bit. You gotta hold
your head high after a performance like this. Man, this was something else.
This was special to me. Yeah, I think it stings most because
this was a game, had they had won you'd remember forever. But we'll
probably get buried in the history books just because they didn't come up with the
w even though the effort and the will and the heart they showed tonight was
spectacular. It was an all timer from a Clippers group in the playoffs if
they had won this game. So your point, this is one of the
best Clippers postseason wins. Ever, that's what we'd be talking about tonight.
Ever, I mean the way the odds swung earlier today, once the news
came out that Kawhi Leonard was going to be out, everybody seemed to think
that it was over, that the Phoenix Suns were going to roll the clip
first tonight. That's not what happened at all. They pushed them to the
break, They made them earn it. Everything was earned by the Phoenix Suns,
unless you want to point to some of the free throws, but everything
else was earned by them. I'm proud of this team. I'm so proud
of this team. And you know what, like while in the greater conversation,
sure this game gets lost to the history books. I tell you three
guys who who they will remember this playoff game for a long time and that's
Norman Powell, Russell Westbrook and Bones Highland, and I just I could not
be happier. I could not have asked for anything more from from any single
one of those guys. Yes, there were some some some less than sellar
decisions by Russ at times, but overall an incredible game. Bones Highland most
playoff minutes, most playoff points in his career, and Norman Powell man unreal.
We needed him to step it up. I talked about him having a
big game in this one. When once the series returned home. I had
assumed that Kawhi Leonard would still be there, but man, he showed up
in the hugest of ways, and he was absolutely indispensable for the Clippers.
I mean, like, yeah, it is it does thing to lose this
one, but like say, just gay absolutely everything, and for them to
be hanging tee to teem with this team that you know has been penciled in
as contenders by a lot of people, I mean that to me is something
that's really really special. And these are the kind of moments that like,
yes, I do still realize that this was a loss, but like these
are the moments that have galvanized Clipper nation right this These are the kind of
things that have galvanized this fanily. When absolutely every single thing that could possibly
go wrong goes wrong, and you're still right there, You're still you still
have a seat at the table, You're still at the doorsteps of this thing
that you're chasing. It's I mean, I gotta be honest, there's nothing
like being a Clippers fan. And I feel like this game was kind of,
despite of being a loss, was just kind of the encasolation of that
friends we've made along the way. Damn it. That was that type of
game. And you know, to your point, if this Clippers team came
out doa and lost by twenty, I wouldn't have even blamed them with the
news that came out today, there could have been that emotional letdown. It
didn't happen. It tells you the character of this team, and I think
a lot of people question whether or not they still had that in them at
their core, whether or not they could still fight like this after what we
have seen the last couple of seasons compared to this year. It's there,
It's there. This Clippers team is still that resilient bunch that will not give
in no matter who was out there. So there are a lot of good
things to take away from it. I mean, Norn Powell has an argument
for best player on the court tonight and tonight when Devin Booker has forty five
points, that's how good he was. Norn Powel's seven or twelve from the
outside, all right, I think he doubled his point total of the first
two games of the series. Where did he have twenty four? So not
quite but still an incredible performance from Norman Pale. And then Bones Highland.
You mentioned coming of age, and credit to tylu for continuing to go to
him. He wasn't great the first two games scoring wise, but he still
was contributing and competing out there. His defense was good, he was a
positive on the court. They made some of the runs with him even without
his scoring. And then it finally came around. In that fourth quarter Bones
Highland had nine points and that could carry over. That's a guy who was
looking for a confidence, looking for a heater to finally catch it. I
don't know. I'm excited to see him on Saturday and that three man,
that three in the fourth quarter that was in and out for Bones Highland.
Oh my gosh, we were watching the replay. In the physics of how
that did not go in just they it still eludes me. It reminded me
of Robert Horry had a shot. This was like the only Big three he
ever missed. He was in two thousand and three against the San Antonio Spurs
with the Lakers, a series they would eventually lose. I don't know which
game it was, but it just rattled in and out, spun around,
did everything but drop, And afterwards he said, I did everything right,
it just didn't go. Now, obviously that's not the case. If you
do everything right, it will go. But it was tantalizing and the top
would have come off Crypto dot com arena if that shot hit dropped from Bones
Highland. There is something special and exciting about this young player who's really just
scratching the surface of his potential. But Coach Low going small late. I
know there's a tradeoff there. You're losing and you're giving up offensive rebounds,
but damn it, it worked. Overall. You're giving up defense a little
bit for scoring in a game where they weren't defending that well anyways, or
weren't allowed to because they couldn't defend without fouling obviously, well, and I
think that that was I mean, I think that that was exactly tylus calculation
right. Like like I said, when the Sun started pull away there in
that third quarter, we just could not We could not get the game closer
than like that than like three possessions like the Sun's just we we couldn't do
it. And I mean, just all the credit in the world, so
that the Tyler's call on that, you know, we've been I personally have
been very critical. If the guard had you lineup this was more than worth
the price of admission. This like this was, this was incredible to watch.
It was. It was as well fought a basketball game by an underband
team as I've seen in a long time. Yeah, you're right, hold
your head high, Clipper Nation. After this one. They lost, but
the spirit was not broken, and they have a belief that I think they
can win that they think they can win Game four, and I think so
too. No matter who was available for that ball game, Like I said,
just like the what they were up against was just insurmountable and trit to
be within five points is unreal. Everything was against them. Out man not
out guns the Old Prodigy album. Will I appreciate you coming on tonight,
my friend and doing a little Clips and double dip here on Clippers Talk.
Always a pleasure, and we will have a new episode of Clips and Dip
y'all wherever you listen to podcast and over on YouTube, that's at Clippers Podcast
right on. Coming up next final thoughts. Still looking for postgame audio from
Coach Lou Clippers lose by five one twenty nine one twenty four was the final
in favor of the Suns here in game three. Clippers are back in about
thirty six hours twelve thirty tip on Saturday for Game four, and this is
Clippers Talk here on the patrio. Damn one fifty