What's going on? Everybody? Welcome to season two, episode forty seven of
Clips and Dip. Do it a little bit of another weekend live as we
do over here, we're gonna talk about as a trio finally together, talk
about these big wins in Toronto and the absolute domination in Boston. Will and
I talked about it the other day, but it's a great way to start
the trip. We might have to revise our road trip record picks. We
need to go that far yet, you never know. And then we're gonna
talk Clippers versus Calves. I mean, this is an interesting game. Evan
Mobley is coming back for this one, but there's some nice seating implications here
for the Clippers. But before we get into that, we want to say
thank you everyone who's listened to Thank you for the new subscribers over at YouTube
dot com slash at Clippers Podcast. Adam will go to you, last Ravens
fan. How are you doing? We'll let you get some things off your
chest, maybe if you want to talk about the more successful team that you
follow. The highs and lows of this weekend. We're so extreme. I
just don't know how much more of this I can take you have the Clippers
who who are absolutely looking so dominant, and then you have my Ravens who
looked great during the regular season, and then just a tough That was a
tough outing. That was a tough out. But uh, I'm still hopeful
on the Clippers. Man, I'm ready to get hurt again. Punch my
lift ticket. Let's do it. I think that's fair. I'm fully,
I said on the stream yesterday after that win that I'm fully. I'm one
hundred percent fully bought in now that I don't think I have been in the
two and three era. This is a new kind of Clippers. Adam.
How are you doing. You're a Panthers fan, so really great weekend for
you, all things considered, your team wasn't plan. I'm not even allowed
to talk about football now because I'm a Carolina Panthers fan. What do I
know. I don't know if the ball's pumped or stuffed. As my friend
Petricks Papadakas would say, everything good on my end. For the most part,
I feel bad for Will too. We watched the Ravens game the week
before. Maybe it's my fault. Guys, I weren't there with you.
Oh yeah, you should have been there. What the hell were we thinking
the vibes were off? I don't know, but yeah, I did see
James Harden trending earlier for the wrong reasons, as some were saying, what's
the comp to Lamar Jackson in the playoffs? Which I didn't like and I
don't agree with, and it's not fair he was He wasn't going up against
I don't know, the greatest team of all time in the Golden State Warriors
with Kevin Durant. It's not like the hole the Chiefs. They're like a
grittier Chiefs team this season. They're doing it on the road well. And
James Harden is a Niners fan, so he's having an okay day. He
revealed that on Twitter today. He tweeted out, Bang Bang, the classic
Niners slogan. I don't know, I'm not a Niners fan, but James
Harden having a good day off the court. He's been playing pretty well too
recently. We're gonna kind of keep this focus on the start of the Grammy
trip, which the Clippers are in the I mean, the beginning of will
you called the Raptors game of must win. They took care of business there
they absolutely smacked Boston. Will what stood out to you the most just from
either win to open this road trip for the Clippers. Oh, I mean,
it's definitely the It's definitely the Boston win. And it's the first consistent
glimpses of like championship level defense that I think we've seen from the Clippers.
I know Adam has had his five second stretches, he's seen five seconds that
was enough to convince him that the Clippers are a championship level defense. But
that is what really stood out to me, the way that they were able
to, I mean, get Jason Tatum out of rhythm. I know that
he finished with twenty one points, but it wasn't particularly efficient and neutralized Jay
Brown. I thought that was really great and really from both teams, it
started like the defensive intensity was really really great and the Clippers were just on
another level. So that is like, that's the thing that we've been waiting
on, right. I think we talked about that going into the Grammy road
trip, Chuck, you and I talked about it yesterday after the win.
But that's kind of been the missing piece, right. I feel like that's
the last box that they have to check for this to be I mean sort
of an undeniable team, right and now we look at this game against the
Calves and the possible standings implications, and it's like, okay, so they
could I mean, they could get a top three seed, right, Like,
they could get a top three seed, they could have a top I
mean definitely top ten, probably top five defense, and we I mean feel
pretty confident that they're going to finish with a top five offense as well,
Like I don't know, I don't know how much like it's a I feel
like an old school henchman. That's like sort of a I love it when
a plan comes together. Is sort of how I'm feeling about the Clippers team
right now. Also shout out to the Pistons for that standings help. Today
Detroit traded all of their sports like to the Today. Sorry, I saw
someone say that on the internet. It's very funny. I'm very sorry,
though. Did they do it enough time on the line? Yeah, they
did it right and half Adam, what was your most impressive thing? I
like what Will said about the defense? Clippers defense one hundred and two point
five rating over these two games to open this trip. Obviously a small sample
size. But hey, great way to start the road trip. What did
you like the most well? I had brought up recently that defensively, last
fifteen games they were just twentieth. But if you took out the two games
one against Boston without Kawhi and one on the road, and okay, see
without Kawhi Leonard, they were like eighth or something like that. So now
those games are out and over the last fifteen, so including the last two,
they're sixth defensively. And it's exactly what Will said, that's the most
important thing, that other side of the ball with that much consistency throughout not
four quarters because the fourth was inconsequential and who cares, but throughout the game
when it was in ballance still when it was still of consequence, the Clippers
were incredible defensively. I posted a play and I said this in all caps
at all Adamy on X and it's just the clean rotations they had leading to
a turnover by Al Horford where Kawhi Leonard was able to get the steal and
then Paul George got in a transition and got fouled, and they were just
so locked in and focused, and Horford drove and then left his feet and
made the old Cardinals sen him basketball before nowhere he was going to pass it
to and there was no one open, and he tried to find someone.
Kawhi recovered defensively got the steal. Mason Plumbley played really well also on that
possession, and for the most part in the ball game, they were just
so connected defensively, they were fierce. They were five guys on a string.
Coach lou said postgame that they wanted to see where they were at.
They wanted this. They looked at this as a measuring stick opportunity and that's
part of the reason that Paul George gave it a go. So it was
big to them. They got up for the game. They said they were
locked in for it, and you could tell out there that it meant a
little bit more to them. And up by thirty six points in the third
quarter, I mean, what are we talking about. Kawhi Leonard hits a
three pointer I think his last three points to the fourteen he had in the
third and Carlo Jimenez goes the dagger is in and it was you're not gonna
come back down thirty heading into a fourth quarter. There's not enough time when
twelve minutes left. That was an all time impressive Clippers' performance for this era,
one of the best regular season wins ever for the history of the franchise,
one of the best regular season wins ever. I know they didn't have
porzingis Clippers still without a beatsa Zoobots. Yes, and that trade off.
The Clippers are still at the advantage, but he's not making up for being
down thirty six points. I will say you can't over extrapolate and say,
oh, this means the Clippers would sweep them or something in an enbu.
Oh No, maybe, maybe you can't do that, but I'm gonna go
ahead. I don't think any logical person, a non delusional person is ready
to go there yet. But we've had a lot of illogical people over the
last few months. So would you say that the focus was kind of the
most impressive thing from the defense with Zubots still out? Yeah, oh,
absolutely, Yeah. They made up for the loss of Zubots at the rim
and it was another game where I think they ended up with sixty four points
in the paint. Guys, the last three games they've had two hundred and
two points in the paint they've had sixty eight, sixty four and seventy.
Does that add up to two h two? I hope so. Because I
did the math earlier and posted it on Twitter. It's crazy to see just
how they're flipping things around. Oh, we're not shooting it well from the
outside. They went ten to forty from three, just like Boston did,
and they they were up by thirty six because they were getting stopped after stop.
Through three quarters, Boston was shooting under thirty percent from the floor.
That's incredible through the second best offense. I know Kris STAPs is a huge
piece missing for them, and I think if they did meet in the finals,
it would go six or seven games. Oh, you can't take much
out of this game, or as much. Let me put it this way.
When the Clippers lost by forty or whatever it was to the Celtics at
home, we didn't take everything out of that and say, well, it's
just a bad matchup for the Clippers and they can't beat this Boston team.
We put it in context. We knew they didn't have Kawhi Leonard and Celtics
also wor without persingis in that one. So when they win by this margin,
Boston kind of have to do the same. I mean historically, we
got a comment from Redondo Mike. He said, so when the Clippers moved
into it, I assume no more crazy long Grammy's road trip. Correct.
Yes, that is correct, unless Balmer decides to lease out into it for
the Grammys. I don't know why. Maybe you make the artists play basketball
for the Grammys. Can I give one, like, just just one touch
of pushback on this? I'm saying, is this road trip the thing that
the team sort of needed because they they have been cruising. Don't get me
wrong, they have been looking dominant at stretches. But we all talked about
going into this Grammy trip, how the execution isn't quite at the level that
we knew it could be, the defense isn't quite at the level that we
know that it needs to be, and internally we hear on this Grammy trip
they have an internal expectation to go six and one. I do think sometimes
this team needs a challenge, needs a gauntlet in front of them to like
to really, you know, stay engaged. And a lot of times I
mean that as a knock on the Clippers this season, I do not they
have taken a lot of things seriously, but it's still it's like I mean,
I feel like I say it a million times on this podcast, but
like Iron Sharp AND's Iron, you do need to be tested, you do
need these sort of things. So you know, maybe maybe they just maybe
they just ran into it out for a little, for a little. Yeah,
yeah, some strategic Let's get the guys on a long road trip so
they can bond. Yeah, maybe they do an sports esports championship or something,
the Ropes Course trip. Yeah, the Rope's Course Trip. Who are
some standout who have you liked the most to open this road trip? I
want to give a shout out to Norm Powell strict for something he does off
the court, which I think is very funny. I learned today on Twitter
that Norm Powell the last two times the Clippers have beat the Raptors, he
has posted a photo of him hitting a jumper over Gary Trent Junior, who
is who Norm Powell was traded for back when that happened. So that was
very funny. I think Norm Powell he helped kind of put the dagger a
little bit recently and his defense has been very good down low. I don't
know what's happening, but his defensive effort looks differently, Adam, who is
your MVP. Of the beginning of this Grammy Road Shop, we got Jeremy
Mormon saying Terrence, Well, Norman was awesome in that fourth quarter against Toronto,
the king of the fourth up in the North, went four or five
from the field, had nine points. And he's now kissing sixty percent from
the field in the fourth quarter and almost from three in the fourth quarter.
He's right there now after that performance. And I don't believe he had to
take a shot in the fourth against Boston. I can't remember because the game
was over. Uh So he's been great. Terrence Man was my pick though
in these two games, because we had to pick one guy for two games,
and I thought Terrence was maybe the second best player against Boston. He
was incredible. Back home, of course, his old stomping grounds. He
wanted to show up and it was a big game, big game, Terrence
Man, this is what you expect from him. Been this guy on Twitter,
Tom van Dyk, I think it is that keeps saying, Oh,
he's a place He's a placeholder. He's just a placeholder. And I'm like,
do you know what placeholder means. Who's he a placeholder for? Who
is the guy that he is holding a place for in the starting lineup?
No, Terrence Man has earned this spot and he proved it again yesterday.
He was he that was his best game of the season by far. They
needed it. He and Kawhi were the two guys that set the tone in
the first quarter. James Harden went two for eleven, Right, I mean,
I'm not saying I still think he had a good game. He controlled
the game, he controlled pace, made great passes. But I'm just bringing
up the point that the Clippers were not close to being at their best and
they still just laid waste to Boston. In Boston, it was on the
second hand of a back to back, no less. Yeah, and two
am, two am they got in. I never want to be in Boston
at two am. Dime dropper shout out dime. Hope he's doing well,
said, I got some Russ stands mad about t uh. Yeah, they're
mad about everything. I don't know what they want. A rough game and
that happens, but it's like I know. And Tyler, though, I
do like that he was able to make the shift. He wasn't trying to
like run something into the ground. I think Russ mixed what six straight and
you know a change had to be made. He was missing bunnies, Yeah,
just layups, and every one of those layups I think Sans won went
for points. The other way. Those are live ball turnovers. When you
miss layups going that fast, it just can't happen. I just wanted to
throw it down every time. Honestly, that lettuce is still there. Throw
it down, just done, so we got Norm's been great, Terrence,
it's been good. James Harden has been good. Tyson Plumb, two guys
who really had to answer the call a little bit on the boards against the
Celtics, did a great job of it. Again, two guys who were
playing, you know, plus fifteen percent of what they usually do. The
group effort was great on the boards. But Tyson Plum, you know,
in this absence of Zoo, it's so nice to have those two guys playing
better than they usually do. And that is also a credit to James hard
with Mason Plumbley. But I thought those two guys were great when we needed
size against Boston. I agree, and I feel like sort of immediately the
conversation has turned to like, when Zoo returns, which one of these two
guys is out of the rotation? And Charles and I were kind of going
back and forth on this on the stream after the game. But I don't
think it's that simple. I think both of these guys have made very legitimate
arguments for why they deserve to be in the rotation. They both you know,
it's not to me, it's not overlapping skill sets. It's not kind
of like is not It's not like the wing used to have right where it's
like you kind of have a lot of guys who are over lapping talent wise.
So I don't think it's as simple as it's gonna be one or the
other. It gives you a lot of flexibility matchup wise, and if defensively
we were able to do that against Boston without Zoo. I mean, the
ceiling for this team just feels just feels kind of incredible right now. That
Daniel Tye block on Derek White that led to a run out with James Harden
getting a layup was one of the big momentum possessions of the game, where
the Clippers were just starting to pour on and assert themselves. I think it
was midway through the second quarter or something. They were up by sixteen at
the half. Tys was nasty. He had something for his It was pissed
off dude. He's he might be an all time pissed off game all start
right, Like, if he's playing a forward tier or something like that,
he's gonna be pretty solid. Dime is saying Kawa has been so good on
both ends, he's gonna go with him. So far, too easy,
Dime, Come on, you're cheating. I don't know, but it's a
great. Of course, he's the MVP. He was my pick to have
the opening, the strong opening start too for the Clippers. So you know,
sometimes you pick a wild card like Kawhi to play well and you just
get rewarded. You going out on that limb where the best fruit is.
Hey, you know, sometimes you have. But now everyone's been playing great
a mere coffee again, proving why he is a legitimate rotation player. Will
and I were looking at his contract. We are very happy he's locked up
for another year after this one because he's unrestricted the next season and he's playing
himself into I don't know if next year goes well. He might be an
issue for the Clippers when it I mean if he is, if he has
a good postseason, like even in a single series, I mean he's you
know, he could be looking at a serious payday increase and it's deserved.
We Adam Charles and I were talking yesterday about sort of the top eight Clippers,
eight Clippers guys in the rotation, and like, Amir has an argument
to be in that top eight, right, Yeah, who's your top eight?
It's really hard. I guess I think we had to expand it to
nine, Charles, because we were like, eight, well, we can't
do this. Eight is the new nine chicks. Yeah, that was I
think a mere coffee, especially in that game early first quarter. He came
in, he found me some plumbly for a dunk he got out in transition.
For one, he's hitting mid range shots with ease. He's shooting really
well from the outside. When you talk about bringing in that other wing,
and I know he's a little bit undersized and doesn't have the wing span that
some guys do, but because of his stout, art, hustle, the
muscle he put on coming into last season, Yeah, he's a big boy.
He he can play. He can play with anyone and you trust a
mere Coffee because he's just another guy like Terrence Man, where he's rarely ever
a negative out there. He doesn't take bad shots. He takes high efficiency
shots. And the more he looks for his shot. Right now, I'm
loving it the way he's playing and shooting seventy two percent in the month of
January or something like that. Before last game. He always dominates the month
of January. This is what he does if you give him run. I
mean, my god, we were talking about this after the first couple of
games with James Harden, people complaining about do we have another wing now?
Amrr is still on the team. I kept screaming, Thank goodness, you
know, another blessing for this team, because if Paul George hadn't have gotten
hurt, he wouldn't have got to start. That's what got him back in
the rotation. PG thirteen goes out for a couple of games. I think
it was the game at Dallas where Kawhi had that crazy spin move on Grant
Williams like he had on Peyton Pritchard baseline for the dunk, which was the
best dunk of the season so far for Kawhi by far by the way,
just dunking on Boston. The entire team was trying to meet him at the
rim, but a mere coffee gets back into the rotation because well, there
were some injury issues going on. It just seems like things are lining up
more than usual for the Clippers, and the basketball gods might be smiling on
them just a little bit. We're gonna r spile at some point, but
I hope not. We're gonna Yeah, We're gonna talk the rest of the
rochap in just a sec. But this was a great point from Adez Entertainment.
Felt so warm and fundsi that Bones finally got on the court last night.
It was great to see Bones Highland on the court last night. I
was happy for him. Adam, we know you were. You had to
have been excited to see your guy get out there. I was excited to
see the skeleton key. I am concerned come the trade deadline, which is
like ten days away, if he'll still be on the team, just because
they're so stacked. How do you get him out there? And you gotta
be up by thirty six against Boston. I guess I don't know. That's
the new that's the new motivation. Get enough minutes to get Boston out there.
They love bones. Excuse me, yeah, not bond, They love
bones, right, I think they could play for that. All right?
The Clippers go the next games. They got the Calves, Wizards, Piston
Heat Hawks. How are we still feeling about five and two? Three and
four? Were are we at? My foreign three prediction is not looking good.
My four and three is not looking good right now, guys. And
I'm strangely comfortable with that. Pull that receipt on my ass. Please I
will not do that. Okay, Well, the good news is they still
have two games left against Detroit, although watch out, you can't overlook anyone
like okay, see just did and Washington. Nothing is guaranteed. But they're
off to a perfect start, not just because they're two and zero. The
way they have looked in both games, they are dismantling teams, even Toronto.
I still think that's a good win on the road. Toronto was desperate.
Yeah, they don't give up. They play at a pace that's not
exactly the most comfortable for the Clippers, and they still beat them by twenty.
Yeah. I was really excited about that. Anytime you beat a team
handedly after you barely beat them. I think is we considered a good win?
Will are you on Jeremy Mormon's playing of existence with seven to zero for
the one scene six and one. I don't know if I'm quite there yet,
but I think six and one six and one is feeling good. I'm
I'm feeling a little nervous. I guess about this Calves game just because of
how well we have played to this point on the road trip, like there's
gonna be there's gonna be a down game. I feel like at some point
and the Calves are a danger. And this enough opponent who are having some
guys re enter the lineup is Donovan Mitchell is still questionable. He was still
he was questionable on the last injury report. I expect him to go,
but you know, Clippers put him in jail before, so we'll see.
That's a perfect segue. We're gonna talk about Clippers Calves. We're gonna take
a small ad break for the people listening to this podcast. Thank you everyone
who listens, who subscribed. We're doing this live on YouTube. These are
kind of fun weekend things we do. Ads have been loud for the people
who listen to this podcast. If that's been the case for you, go
ahead and turn it down. We got some ads and then we're talking Clippers
calves coming up in three two one, Right, we're back in. If
you're watching live, we never left. You can check those out live on
YouTube dot com Slash at Clippers podcast. All right, Charles, I alluded
to it. We're talking Clippers calves. Where you at? I watch out
for the tramp game. Yeah. Uh. If the Clippers win, they're
the two c which I really like. I like that. Paul George,
which we know, we haven't touched on this, not on the injury report
for the Clippers heading into tomorrow's not questionable. He's not even on there.
I don't even think they had type letter pete for this thing. How do
we he only going to play twenty two minutes against the Celtics, which is
fantastic. We get Paul George back, or we get Paul George. They're
having Evan Mobley come back, which I'm a little concerned about. He's very
good at basketball and seems to have the Clippers number. It'll be out of
minister restriction, but yeah, yeah, yeah, I they have been rolling.
But I am. I've been in the hopium den so I think the
Clippers are gonna win this game. I'm in there, man. They have
they have hold forceful. Yeah, they go hey, chuck. As soon
as I walk in the door. You again, I go, yep,
hey. If they do go six and one, I think that might be
enough to snag the one seed. When you look at Denver schedule, okay,
see schedule and the Timberwolf schedule up. Come, don't just say it,
screenshare it, buddy. If I could do that, I'm not a
magician. I guess I will. Okay, just look at what OKAC has
to do. Look at the next three games for okay, See they're taking
on Denver in Minnesota. First Minnesota then Denver, so they're gonna beat each
other up there. But Minnesota's had a couple of rough losses. Now okay,
see just had one. They're getting See what's crazy is another blessing in
disguise. Maybe the Clippers got their adversity hopefully regular He's an adversity out of
the way early with the six games streak. Chunk. Yeah, March is
still coming now. Yeah, they got seventeen games in a month coming.
You said it not me. I don't know what you're talking. You gave
me the look, chuck. But other teams are starting to deal with it
now. Other teams are hitting their bump in the road during a long eighty
two game season, while the Clippers meanwhile, have won thirteen of fifteen,
twenty two of twenty six, and twenty seven of thirty four. So,
how do you feel about the Calves game? Specifically, Oh, the Cavs
game, let's go. How do you feel about the game tomorrow with Evan
Moldly back? Is it a weekday? It's not? Uh, the Calves
game. I talked with Bob Schmidt, Voice of Fear the Fro podcast,
also Voice of A five seventy and Fox Sports Radio earlier this morning to get
of the Clippers' perspective going into that game to some of the Cavaliers listeners.
And they've won fourteen of eighteen. They've been really good defensively over that stretch.
They're one or two defensively. They're just outside being a top ten offense.
They've had guys out, obviously, know Darius Garland with a broken jaw.
Evan Mobley's been out until tomorrow. Clippers luck, I mean come on,
what was I talking about with those blessings in disguss I'm an idiot.
No, it's still still a lot of good things go in the direction.
But I think if Evan Mobley is, you know, playing twenty five minutes
in that game, it's problematic because definitely it's a team that you would love
to have big Zoo against. It's a team that has had the Clippers number
at times. Now. The Clippers also laid down against them last season.
They just waved the white flag in that game. I think it was the
second night of a back to back, was it last season where they started
like a mirror and Terrence Man and I forget that was out there, but
they got blown out. It was one of those games that just, yeah,
wasn't wasn't the best? No souls? Yeah, no takeaways from that
one. I don't know. This is maybe the other hottest team in the
league right now, if you go back to the last eighteen games, them
and the Clippers probably the two hottest teams. They're looking at this though,
is their big measuring stick opportunity taking on the Clippers. YEA. From what
I got from the Calves side of things is they're seeing this as man.
The Clippers are scary. They're so dangerous. This is crazy. If we
could get this win, it could validate some of what they've been doing because
they've gotten some wins against bad teams too. They've beaten up the Wizards twice,
the Spurs. There have been a lot of detractors going after the Calves
that even though they've been winning games, they haven't won in impressive fashion and
they haven't beat up on good teams. But they just they've beaten Milwaukee twice
during this stretch. I know there's some turmoil there. They're about to bring
in a new head coach and Doc Rivers, but loaded I think they're possibly
the fourth best team in the East. The Knicks are very good, the
Indiana Pacers, but the Cavaliers because of what they do defensively. If you
don't, if you have a letdown after this Boston game, you could get
hurt in Cleveland with the way they're playing. Yeah, I like that,
but that's what makes me feel good about how little Kawhi PG and Harden played
right hard and twenty six minutes. Like the energy letdown I think is what
we're some people are expecting. I don't mean that in a really harsh way,
right, But you know what I'm talking about, Will, Like,
we're kind of expecting the Clippers maybe to come out. In the past,
they would come out maybe a little flat against this Cabs team because of kind
of the highs of the back to back win. But I think there's another
chance for the Clippers to show that, like everything they said in the off
season is real. Still we're still taking this seriously, like, let's come
out. I really want to see them focus on the defensive end to start
this one, because that's I think. Yeah, if they set the same
tone that they set last game, I mean, it looks very different.
The reason that I'm a little bit nervous about this game because I just I
don't know if they have if they still have the gas in the tank,
but we will we will see. Also, Adam, that's a great slogan.
You could get hurt in Cleveland is the new Detroit versus everybody. As
far as I'm concerned, you could get hurt and yeah, Cleveland not not
a super fun play. I think Bone Thugs had it first. I don't
know. This would be the Clippers six win in the row. Adam,
we talked about this yesterday on the stream with Will This is the clippers third
win streak of at least five games. I wondered at one point if they
would have a longer winning streak than they had losing streaks. Rod. We
we wondered that openly with Rod on this card. Yeah, check out,
guys, if you want to have him, dude, he would gladly come
back. He's probably as excited as we are that the Clippers are playing.
Well. What's one thing in particular, Adam, you want to see offensively
from the Clippers in this game. Offensively to continue to play with force at
the rim and not to be afraid because the last couple of games, obviously
there wasn't a bit big rim protector out there against Toronto and then the Celtics
without Chris STAPs Porzingis, they were living in the paint. Now, they
still had sixty eight points in the paint against ad and the Lakers before that,
but there just seems to be more of an emphasis all of a sudden
to get to the rim. And I saw this, and I remember this
happening. We're just about halfway through the season. In the twenty twenty one
year, the same thing happened where all of a sudden, the Clippers were
intent on getting down hill much more. It was a point of emphasis.
So I think they're kind of entering a new phase of the season where they
want to see what they can do. Okay, now let's show this dimension
of our game. Now, let's you know, go full force in this
way. They're pulling a different lever right now. And if you're gonna be
able to beat Cleveland, you can't be afraid to go at Jared Allen.
You can't fear the frow too much. And Evan Mobley in the post it's
not easy. Those guys are great. But even Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
I said it after the Lakers game. They set the tone with going at
Anthony Davis multiple times to say, hey, guys, the coast is clear,
you can do it. You can get to the basket. And then
everybody else followed. I want to see the same thing happen in Cleveland.
Well, what are you looking for? Offensively, I'd like to see Paul
George have start, have a hotter start, just just get into rhythm a
little bit sooner. Norm the whole team was super off from three, so
I expect that to turn around. It can't be as bad as it was
last game. But yeah, PG getting hot early and Norm Man. Norm
was my my pick for the start of this road trip and it hasn't really
panned out. But I'm I'm holding onto hope that it's it's gonna be.
It's gonna be Powell time the Powell Rangers. Hopefully we can get You could
get hurt in Cleveland, but not a few of the Powell Rangers. Yeah,
if the three point shooting is going to be interesting, Cleveland is looking
at the stats now, they hold teams with thirty five percent, which is
bottom ten in the league. So but since we just shot so poorly,
maybe we're getting what the Clippers usually run into, which is really good luck
against an opponent after shooting poorly. So that would be nice to see.
I'm hoping Harden has a bounce back game. I love how aggressive he was
and getting his shots against I'm talking about field goal percentage wise, getting his
shots, which was great. But we're gonna need this Cavs team is very
good, they're playing very well. We need James Harden to be efficient with
his shots in this one. I would just like to point out because you
mentioned like, oh, it usually happens against the Clippers, and there's always
that feeling of dread. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Oh,
if we didn't lose these games, we'd already be in first place.
Guys, Minnesota just lost to Charlotte and the Spurs. It happens to everybody.
Okase, he just lost to Detroit. If you cover any team as
close as you cover the clip, there are hiccups during the eighty two game
season. You can find them with the defending champs and the Denver Nuggets last
year on their way to wing it all. So it shouldn't always be all
whate was us. You know, Visa zoobots is out, Paul George is
dinged up. He's playing through it right now, and I think playing pretty
well admirably overall. Oh he's playing great, Yeah, plumbly. John Rangifa
just said in the chat, Masonink's comfortable to pick them up with Harden.
I think that's also a big testament to how good Harden is. But he's
looked great too. Roger Alfonso brought up Donovan can get hot really fast.
That we know that we don't want to get burned by him, Wami,
I think trying to maybe bait us into some Russ slander, which I'm gonna
pass off to Will. Will. Do you think Russ needs a bounce back
game to pull this off? I hope he doesn't that. I hope it
doesn't come down. I think that's fair. Things are going pretty poorly for
the Clippers. If we're like, save us, Russ, Russ, please
save us. I think he's gonna have his mark on this road trip though,
in one of these games. Yeah, absolutely so. I wouldn't be
shocked. Look, if we talk about guys getting towards the rim, Russ
doesn't can do it. Those shots they just have to start falling for him
because they are the same thing as live ball turnovers, and for a team
that struggles mightily with transition defense, that's kind of their bugaboo. You can't
have too many of those. So I'm hoping the odds go back in his
favor or he progresses to the mean with just getting to convert those shots of
the rim. He'll have about that game too, I imagine, you know,
I think we're gonna see some nice shooting. I think, and it
doesn't take much, right I mean, like he could come in that first
shift and let's say he even converts half of those shots around the basket,
you know, and he's three of seven instead of one of seven. I
think that gives him enough of a boost and enough juice to sort of,
you know, get something going, keep something going consistently. We're gonna need
to see he's gonna be needed on the boards as well. The Cavs are
a very good rebounding team. Their top five and defensive rebound percentage, top
ten in offensive rebound percentage, and top ten for both of those in terms
of totals per game. So we're gonna need another. Like everyone's gonna have
to have a crooked number and they're rebounding box score like there's gonna kawhy is
gonna need to be near eight or something like that. Again, that was
my most That was what I was most impressed by in uh in that win
against the Celtics. So yeah, that was a great point, Chuck.
I think that was the best point. Coach Lou brought it up post game
right away. There was an emphasis on getting boards because they got destroyed with
all the hustle plays in fifty to fifty balls back at Crypto against the Boston
Celtics. That that may have been. That's a part of defense, really,
So when you're talking about rebounding, Uh, it's imperative, especially for
a team that has to do it more collectively as they don't have just an
elite rebounder right now to clean things up. Yeah, they were really drilled,
really well drilled on that, which I thought was good. Anything else
in particular we want to talk about with this Calves game before we get to
the most important part, which of course is picking player of the game.
Yeah, don't get don't let Donovan Mitchell get seventy. It seems like a
lot of guys are doing it lately. He's done it once before. Everybody's
Yeah, everybody's doing it now. It's in vogue. Yeah, don't let
that so hot right now? Scoring seventy so hot right now? All right,
Adam, who is your player of the game pick for Clippers versus Calves?
Uh? I will go with Sho he just brought them up. I'm
gonna go with Russell Westbrook to have a bounce back performance. What are we
seeing here? What's the stat line? Are we thinking like people double or
are we thinking just like a nice chunky stat line. Give me twelve and
five with some efficient shooting. We're talking like, you know, five of
eight from the field. Something like that throws in there, all right,
Russell Westbrook helping helping out the Clippers, will who's your pick? I mean
I said it earlier, but I gotta stick with my guy. Norm Uh.
He's got to have a bounce back game from three, and I think
I think he might have with some extra rest from not playing in the fourth,
I think he might be ready to I think he might be ready to
have a just a norm Heater, Norm Heater. I like that. I
guess I have to go with the starter. Since you guys are going with
two bench players, I'm gonna go Terrence Man. I think Terrence Man is
gonna have one of his better performances rebounding the ball in this game. We're
gonna need it. And I think, yeah, we're gonna need his if
there's another rough stretch where he needs to come off the bench for some reason,
you know what I mean, Like after his his kind of first stint,
I think he's gonna be effective. I think this this uh, this
road trip is gonna show just Terrence is gonna keep going up into the right.
I think I'm excited that he was gonna be He was my follow up.
He was my other one. But uh, he was my follow up.
He was my other one. But like if you if Terrence could put
together like even two, like back to back games like he had in Boston,
unreal, incredible. We need it, I said, very scary for
the rest of the league. My crazy take for the second half of the
season is that he will score twenty twice. So hey, maybe that happens
against the Caps. I don't think it will necessarily, but it could.
I'm feeling pretty good about this one, Adam. We know you're feeling good
will you're picking him to win. Obviously, anything else before we send these
folks on their way. Like what you said about man, he had two
offensive rebounds that led to kick out three pointers that were big time for the
Clippers. Like also just pivotal momentum swinging type of plays. Keep it going,
keep it going. SK's in the comments saying two seed. We are
firmly the two seed right here. Let's keep it rolling. We're gonna have
I believe a double dip after the Calves game tomorrow, Adam you and and
one of us, Will or I Adam. You were also on a Calves
pod for pregame talk. Yeah, the Fear of the Fro podcast. I'm
sorrying about Bob Schmidt. Fear the fro at Fear of the Fro pod.
It's out now. You guys can listen to it later tonight after this one.
There we go, and I'm gonna be on locked on Calves after the
game with Evan danrel to talk that Will is going to be in Cleveland making
sure that all the Clippers get home safe. Yeah, don't want anybody get
hurt. I don't want Tony when they get hurt. We'll have a full
episode of the three of Us out Tuesday or Thursday sometime in there. The
Clippers got a whole bunch of games coming up. We're gonna do obviously double
dips after the Wizards and Pistons too. Will. If people listening to this
wanted to maybe give us constructive criticism on how we could make it better,
where could they possibly leave a review like that? I mean, you can
review a comment on this show at anytime over on YouTube. That's YouTube dot
com slash At Clippers Podcast. If you're more of an audio only kind of
person. We got you covered there too. You can check out this show
on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You can rate and review there if you feel
so inclined. It would really help us out. But you can also listen
to this wherever you hit your podcast Google Podcasting is on Music, Stitcher,
and Deezer, all the usual suspects. Also, you can go ahead and
leave a rating review over on Twitter dot com. That's at clipperspod. We
love the Twitter dot com reviews. I love what Michael youun here says,
like who is guarding Kawhi on the Cavs? Lol? I'm going to try
and keep that same energy, Adam. We make you do it every single
episode. One positive thing to leave these Clippers fans with uh Coach Lou postgame
made it sound like they didn't forget how bad they lost to Boston at home,
that the Clippers were out for revenge. They were playing with an edge
out there. They wanted that game badly. It showed and it just seemed
like, like MJ said with the bat in the last dance, they took
things personally. What is that it's a little flexbar thing? Why what else
could it have been? I don't know. I was asking what it was.
I got tennis elbow, all right, I'm trying what you don't play
tennis from a lot of things, all right, well, just overly repetitions
with weightlifting and stuff. Yeah, sure, all right, there we go.
We're gonna be back with y'all. We hope everyone had a great weekend.
Here's the more Clippers wins during this very hectic road trip. Yes,
thank you Louis Virgil, thank you every for hanging out in the live stream,
thank you everyone for listening, and as always, let's go clips.