What's going on Clippers fans? Welcome to season two, episode sixty four of
the Clip and Dip. I am Chuck Mockler with William Updyke and Adam Oslynd,
who you can follow on x at follow Adam A. We are coming
at you live over on YouTube. We're also going to have this as an
audio format, So thank you to everyone hanging out on the stream, and
thank you to everyone who's going to be listening to this later. One thing
I wanted to point out just quick, if you watch the show on YouTube
and you maybe want to hear us do quick recaps after games. We do
those with Adam on the radio, and then we put them out as audio,
So if you've been missing some of that content, feel free to listen
to it. What's up to people? In the chat? We're gonna talk
about a lot of good stuff today. The Clippers might be starting to turn
a corner. We got some Pac div talk, which I know Adam and
Will are really excited about. And then there's been a bunch of scuttle but
about Paul George's contract. So we're gonna get into all that. But first,
Adam, Will, how are you fellas doing after the Clippers rattle off
to gritty wins. It took a lot of guts, which is like something
which which is something that we just haven't seen from this team in a while.
I feel like the most disappointing thing has been the way they've sort of
crumpled in the face of adversity. And I think this one both in that
Sixers game, which Adam and I talked a little bit about how it looked
like it was going to be more of the same and they were able to
turn it around, and then in that Orlando win, I mean that was
like that was a hard fought road wind, you know, like going back
and forth, not an easy win. I gotta give a ton of credit
to coach lou He called him out for being soft. We said that was
the best part of that game against the Pacers. What he said postgame about
the team, he uh, I don't know. I think when you're that
self effacing sometimes when you have a realization like that, when you just confront
the truth and tell the truth. And that is something coach who has talked
about forever. That's why guys like playing for him. He tells them the
truth. He's not gonna double speak and that to me, I don't know,
when you see two gritty victories after that, there's got to be a
connection there. They were called out, they were challenged by their head coach,
and I think that has a lot to do with what we see in
the fourth quarter, lost two games. Does this give anybody like some reassurance,
because I think there was some concern, not necessarily here, but in
the general Clippers sphere that maybe TYLERU was losing a little bit of a handle
on the locker room. Do you guys feel Do you guys feel any reassured
in that or was that something you were never really worried about in the first
place. I was worried about it because when the two stars, when two
star players are saying something and then the coach is saying different, it always
feels like there's maybe some friction there. But I am relieved of those feelings
strictly because there was a clip from practice of Tylo make a half court shot
and people cheering and having a good time, and that to me, I
was like, Oh, we're good now, Like I think like, I
think, well, I also like what Adam said, Tyler will talk to
you about what's going on. Like it's not gonna he will talk to you
about what he expects and what he needs from you. And this was in
between the two wins. This was after, you know, the great fourth
quarter we saw from Kawhi against Philly. It was the practice in between that,
but that you know, as like the cheesy as it is, I
was like, that made me feel good. I was like, oh,
yeah, they're having fun. They're on the road trip, you know,
in the in the trenches, on the nice plane that they're traveling in.
But that which is great because they hate playing at home. I've made same
too, But no, I feel I'm feeling better. I'm obviously not you
know where I was at some points in the season with how good this team
is playing. But I'm feeling I'm feeling good. Yeah, I think in
the manner they won these last two games. They were the exact archetype for
the games they were losing and to see them come through late Kawhi having an
off night shooting wise in Philadelphia, the two and ones, the block at
the end, Paul George really carrying them in the first half of that fourth
quarter with eleven points the first seven minutes, and then what happened last night
with both of them. Again, your superstars pulling you across the finish line
in a really tough environment against a young, physical Orlando Magic team. It's
not like both teams they played Wilton either. They were going back and forth.
You know. It was a well played game down the stretch that felt
like a little bit of a playoff type tune up. And that's what this
team needs right now with nine games remaining. I think both of these games
two of the best victories of the season considering where they were at, with
how down things were, and with how close they are to being in the
postseason. Yeah, there was I mean this these last two games really proved
the the Clips go as far as Kawhi Leandard's gonna take them to some extent
theory because he just decided those games were over. Paul George was great in
the fourth quarter too. I loved I mean, we got to talk about
Adam. I feel like you gotta be hyped on Zoo's last game. People
are there's been chatter and the Clippers were now about like, oh, when
things are going poorly in the half court, maybe given maybe shoot the ball
down load a big Zoo what a concept. The guy was a beast yesterday.
He was my player to watch going in just because of how physical and
big Orlando could be. You knew they'd need a lot from Vitza Zubos.
I also felt like Mason Plumley was solid in his minutes. He had some
bad moments against Mo Wagner, but he had some really good moments in that
game too, one of his better games overall over the last month. But
Iviatz Zubos had a couple of monster dunks in that game. Was so physical.
Love seeing it from Aviatza Zubos, especially because he didn't get off to
a good start in the first quarter. It was the second quarter, that
second stint from him where it seemed like early on he was getting into it
the refs. He puts that stuff aside and he just let his play do
the talking, and he was a force. Uh for Shizzle Badizzle with a
great comment on here, what have like some of this good process like ten
to fifteen games ago, but better late than ever. Yeah, you know,
we gotta we gotta take what we can get at this point, it's
crunch time. What about this? Though? There's something to be said about
peaking at the right time. Yeah, exactly, they're on the up switch.
They flipped the switch. Now that we don't know if they fully flipped
the switch yet. Well, Paul George certainly flipped it back off or something.
Yeah, he's toggling it. What do we think is the most encouraging
sign from these last two performances? Might be a chance to perhaps show some
of these the good things from these last two performances. Wink wink, adam,
Oh, do we have a high five? I think we have.
I was told that we maybe have a high five. We can do a
little high five. Here is five highlights from yesterday's game in Orlando. I'm
good with that, and most of these highlights are also good. Are you
guys seeing the screen correctly? Okay, we're good to go here. So
this was the first possession of the game. Sound is off by the Clippers.
Hey, it's my fault. After giving up an easy bucket to Gary
Harris as James Harden just closed in on him a little too quickly, let
him blow by him for the little floater. Here's the Clippers first possession.
You'll notice right away here you got James Harden way up on the left wing.
Of Eatza Zubos comes over and sets a little off ball screen for Kawhi.
Leonard on his men and Ben Carroll. Kawhi makes a little tight curl
rounds here. James Harden finds him. Now the baskets wide open, but
Gary Harris pops off of his defender and Terrence Man, or his opposition in
Terrence Man heads towards the basket. Caw I sees that it's well contested enough
that he goes, Okay, I know I got a man open, I
know we have numbers, kicks it back out to t Man. What I
like about this is Man looks over to Paul George, who's also opening the
near side corner. You got Franz Wagner here having to make a decision,
and it gets him to stop coming straight to Man and he goes towards PG
just a little bit to get him off balance, and Terror's Man, who's
been shooting forty five percent from three in since January first in the New Year,
takes and makes that shot when he could have given it up to PG
thirteen. And by the way, guys, I don't know, I feel
like those people who gave up on Terrence Man might have been wrong about his
three point shooting. I don't know. Sure, seemed like it was a
good idea to keep him in the starting lineup and eventually he was going to
progress to the mean because that's exactly what we have seen forty five percent from
three since January first, we're talking about over thirty games here. What I
like about that too, is a a lot of motion. I feel like
sometimes we we don't see a lot of motion. Uh, And they get
into it early in the shot clock, which gives them a little bit more
time to work. You know that Terrence doesn't have to huck up that shot
at the last minute. We don't have to like bail something out like they
They got into the offense more quickly, which is something Tyler has said again
and again. And I love the fake. I cannot describe how psyched I
was because that's confidence. That's a confident move by Terrence. That's well he
loves a fake. Well sure, yeah. On the other hand, yeah,
he knows that peopleill probably buy it on him. But that well,
that's of it. Ben has been the issue. Yeah, that has to
That move shows confidence, which is exactly what we need from guys. Yes,
he's a starter, but you know the other role play guys need to
feel confidence. I was really I was hyped to see that. I mentioned
Big Plumb. I felt like he had a pretty solid performance overall in limited
minutes, granted, And we have a play from him and Norman pal here.
After Norman got one to go and transition, here's Mayson Plumb. We
is Westbrook comes over to set a screen on Cole Anthony. I believe it
is for Norman Powell to come over here and catch a little dribble handoff from
Big Plump. Plumb rolls to the basket and you know, Norman Palell going
right is lethal. That's what he wants. So he's going downhill in a
hurry. Moe Wagner's in drop. He's got to get back. He follows
him all the way there. And for as much as people say, well
Norman Powell is just a score, he's not that good of a playmaker.
Look at this nice wrap round he has after he draws two to Big Plump,
who eventually gets it to go here like that little spin move from Mason
Plumbley too. But that was early second quarter. The Clippers had just won
the first quarter. I think by what four to two points and they got
a little bit of spark there to start the second. Yeah. I like
this comment by Wilbert Beltran, which we're probably gonna talk about. He said
they need these kind of plays. Yeah, I think you will. They
need these kind of plays in Temple on the fourth. Too many droughts in
the fourth. I think they're building up up to getting better at that.
Like, I agree that the forces have been a little rough obviously recently they've
been better, but they've still been thin margins. The Clippers have gotten some
of these, you know, good things have happened on so I'm hoping the
legs come back a little bit there too. I agree with that Wilfer,
speaking of rewarding your big men. How about it beats the Zubots here with
this block, the beast was unleashed. He doesn't fall for the same fake
that Mo Wogner just gave a little bit earlier in the quarter to Mason Plumley,
which led to a blowby for an easy dunk from Mo Wogner, who
almost won the game single handedly for Orlando in that fourth quarter, but now
beats the Zubots is back in. He just doesn't fall for it whatsoever,
a little dribble drive bolb block comes up with it as the old Bill Russell
play. Now the Clippers have some numbers, and because he blocked his man
in Mo Wagner, he knows he can beat him down the court. And
if you do beat him down the court, you got to reward the big
man. So old George has it. Here on the left wing, it
was Joe Ingles who probably should have got back. You love seeing that against
the BEASTSA Zoo bots here Pg. Thirteen with a nice bounce pass, Big
Zoo the recipient defense to offense, that was all Big Zoo right there.
I think that's one of my most encouraging things is the defense to off How
many defense to offense plays we saw yesterday, That's how the Clippers are going
to have success. Yeah, just their defense won that game. They've gotten
like they've gotten back into form there, which has been missing for a long
time. So it's good to see that it still is there. Just need
to see some consistency totally. They went for being twenty ninth their first twenty
three games post Grammy road trip defensively to jumping up two spots last night go
to US ten games left. We keep going two spots, we're gonna be
right near that top ten. Pretty yeah. To twenty seventh, after holding
New Orlando Magic down to just nine, missing the bottom three in and the
bottom three. Now here comes the negative playboys instead of ear muffs. If
you want to put blinders on, that's fair. Here Russell Westbrook throws a
bad pass he was looking for Terrence Man, I don't know what's happening here.
As the Clippers were trying to speed things up. It's taken away by
Sucks. So the Clippers. This is your classic okay transition defense play by
the Clippers. How is it going to look after a live ball turnover?
Kawhi doesn't exactly get on his dogs and hustle back as fast as he could.
Russ is smiling almost here, you could see, because he knows how
bad of a pass that was. But now the Clippers are scrambling. The
thing is here. It's not an advantage right now for the Orlando Magic.
It's three on four because if Viatsa Zubos wasn't even all the way down the
floor yet and engaged on the offensive end. So if Itta Zubas points out,
somebody has to pick up his man. I believe in Wendell Carter,
who's gonna get back late here. But the Clippers still have the numbers,
the balls and Sugs hands gives it up to Franz Wagner. Terrence man takes
him. Now here's a problem. They see Suggs he can shoot it.
Man Caro is in the corner here and both Aviza Zubots and Kawhi Leonard come
towards Suggs. Meanwhile, Russ is guarding nobody, and Suggs eventually gives it
up as these two are looking at each other once again, miscue between Kawhi
and Aviza Zubots. Suggs gives up to ben Caro because both of them left
him, and he gets an easy one, a dunk of the basket.
And now you see once again some disgruntled teammates here and Kawhi Leonard and Vitza
Zubots. And to be honest, I think this is probably on Kawhi Leonard
because watch the Viza Zubots here. He comes up to contest this shot by
Suggs. He sees what's going down, but Kawhi jumps over ben Caro's his
man. Kawhi I think was trying too hard to cover up for everybody else's
mistakes. But Big Zoo was all right there, he had that well enough
contain. So just one of those easy buckets the Clippers have been given up
now for well, really all season long in transition that process though of like
the process of that transition defense, they didn't end up closing it out,
but it does look better than what we have seen. And part of that
was just Zoo being in position early. But I mean, I agree,
unfortunate result, but at least you know, at least it wasn't a it
wasn't a complete giveaway. And we've seen I feel like we've seen Zuo and
Kawhi conversating more about defensive miscues lately, which can be bad, but I
think it is good. I think they're actually communicating it out. It's less
yelling at each other and more yelling, well conversing, if that makes sense.
So I'm hoping that we see that less. Obviously, you can't say
guys don't care when they're bickering with each other. After that, bad teams,
they just move on and act like it's business as usual. That's typically
what happens when you're not trying to correct easily correctable mistakes. Now we moved
to the biggest shot of the ball game because I wanted to end things on
a high note here, and this was just so damn impressive. First it
was Kawhi Leonard. Obviously he got the switch as Orlando was switched and everything.
He got multiple guys off of him. First it was Ben Caro,
then it was Franz Wagner. Then he gets the easy one over Subbs,
who's a good defender but just too small against Kawhi. But now it's Paul
George. What's interesting about this Clippers are up one, ninety eight, ninety
seven, there's ten seconds left here. This ends up being the dagger,
But Joe Ingles was subbed out for Jonathan Isaac, rightfully so, but he's
there for defensive purposes. You're trading offense for defense here. Ingles came back
in on the final possession as the inbounder. But Jonathan Isaac started on Kawhi
Leonard on this play, but it was Paul George who came towards the basketball.
I believe it was James Harden the inbounder and Jonathan Isaac switch and it
just goes in a straight ISO mode here, guys, they basically clear out
for him. James Harden's gonna come up here to the corner, and this
is the type of stuff you're gonna see him playoff games, your best versus
their best. Everybody wants a ton of movement, they want some x's and
o's drawn up play at the end of games. But in a seven game
series, most of the time, the team is well prepared and knows what's
going to happen. So it's gonna come down to isle ball sometimes. I'm
sorry, have you watched many game seven they're typically very low scoring for a
reason. Now, this move though by Paul George, there's a couple of
things that need to be observed here, because, first of all, physically,
we've talked about how much better he's been shooting this game. Notwithstanding he
was three for thirteen before this shot here, but he did make three of
his last four in the fourth quarter, and his defense was really good for
the most part all game long. I felt like he gave a great effort
on that end. But the athleticism and the move he makes here just shows
you the groin the knee is feeling good. Look how deep he gets into
it with the shove off here on Isaac one of, if not the best
defender in the league win healthy. He is that elite on that end.
But you can see the how spry Paul George's the quickness, and he gives
them a little bit of shoulder fake going to his left here, which I
think gave him just enough separation when he comes back to the fallaway going right.
But my god, this is just the arc on that ball. To
get that up, there's nothing you can do about it. And that's why
you have these two guys on your team. They're two of the best tough
shot makers and takers in the league. And it was great to see Paul
George have that confidence at the end of the game to still take this shot.
He's not looking for anybody else. It's complete tunnel vision here to have
that much confidence with the game that he had. Let's watch one more time
the way he back pedals too, Like I love that Paul was Yeah,
I love that Paul George confident back pedal is it's yeah, it's going down.
It's funny. If you go to the beginning of this play a little
bit, it almost looks like Zoo's calling for the ball in the corner,
which would be so funny. Watched SU's hands here, here's big Zoo.
He's not calling for the ball, but I would love it if Sorry,
but he couldn't see it. I don't get this on the base. I
don't know if he's commuting to someone with the I don't know if he's calling
for spacing here with hard to create a room. Yeah, this is just
now as a bonus. I don't love what happened here at the very end
the Clippers ended up. It's just a quick honorable mention or dishonorable. Uh
both Paul George or excuse me, both Kawhi Leonard and Terrence Mann. For
whatever reason, Chase sugs here for a second. Kawhi recovers and eventually sees
his man, Franz Wagner is going to get basketball up here on the left
wing, but he does hesitate. They first come over to Suggs, then
he bounces back. His brother Moe gives Kawhi Leonard a little bit of a
shove, but he got back in time. He was completely off balance and
that shot really had no shot. But stuff to work on. There's a
lot That's the other part is like there's a long ish way to go for
the Clippers to get the championship level basketball. What do you guys want to
pick as your most encouraging thing over these two games? Will what were you
most like? What I like? I like what Wilbert is saying here in
the chat. PG has started the process of crashing the glass better and it's
helped our defense close out possessions much better. And I want to say the
rebounding from both Kawhi and Paul George has been elite lately, and it's one
of those things. It's one of those things that makes them the best,
Like you know, some of the best in the league. Is that they
can do dirty work as well as get things done on the offensive end.
And seeing that, seeing that like improved commitment, that's one of those things.
Like in a playoff series, if we have the unfortunate game where two
out of the big three aren't connecting offensively, what can keep them in this
game is what can keep them in those games is some really sound rebounding.
Yeah, I think that was Paul George's first ten first double digit rebounding game
of the year was yesterday, which is great to see, Adam, what
were you most encouraged by? No, the rebound is a great point.
Clippers are five and oh. When Kawhi or Paul George get ten plus rebounds
in a game, I think there's something like eight to oh. When you
expand that out to James Harden, we're also Terrence Man getting double digit boards
in a game. So, I mean it's been clear all season. Obviously
it's been an issue for this team rebounding wise, but these are very fixable
things. It's mostly just effort. There was a rebound that Paul George got
in Philadelphia, I think in the fourth quarter. Oh my god, Yes,
it's the best rebound of the year by a mile. That was on
the highlight reel like that that deserves on a highlight reel. I wish.
Yeah, I was looking forward on the NBA dot Com recap of that game,
but they didn't include it in there, but it was it was special.
A strongly word an email to include more to board highlights. So then,
uh, yeah, I think it's hard to not pick you know,
the the rebounding and the defensive lockdown kind of in these last two games.
I think individually, Paul George getting paint touches was really, really really encouraging
to see because he doesn't do that very often, but when he does again,
that shows confidence, that shows him knowing what he needs to do,
which is muck things up against the rockets. He did it too. He
was putting his head down. They needed a bucket. He went straight to
the paint like it's It's nice to see Paul George rounding in the form too,
because he really helps the Clipper ceiling quite a bit. Yeah, and
just the fact that they had to fight in battle in these games. Paul
George early in that fourth quarter against Philly, they're down four entering the fourth
they get down five, a five to zero run by the seventy six ers.
That is exactly what had been breaking the Clippers will the last two home
games, and even going back further than that, teams making a run to
start fourth quarters, they get up double digits and eventually the Clippers break.
Paul George came back right after that, they're down nine and hit a clutch
three pointer, just isoed on the right wing, put it between his legs
a couple of different times and fired it. He hit another one when they
were down seven. He hit a bunch of timely shots eleven points in the
first seven minutes of that fourth quarter against Philly before Kawhi Leonard could get to
that point where he has the and ones going on late. So those are
kind of those silencer, those run stopping shots that you have to have to
just show that fight that we're still in this Yes, runs are going to
happen. It just seemed like they forgot about that for a period of time
this season with this Clippers team, with the way they weren't responding, the
way and the way that Paul George kind of all season has even despite some
some of his worst games, been able to turn it on in the fourth
is also like, you know, that's also pretty reassuring. He's toggling the
switch. That's what we've been saying. Okay, has the this is this
is a Saturday afternoon stream, not the Saturday night stream. Uh is the
fund meter before we start talking about the upcoming schedule a little bit because they
do play Charlotte tomorrow and then there's some kind of scary uh the MAVs might
end up being the first round opponent again. Will has the fund meter moved
or do you are we are? We are you not as I'm encouraged,
but I'm not back in the hopium then ordering another round. You know,
Yeah, it's it's not a complete one eighty or anything, but it's it's
trending in the right direction, and you know, it's it's just the good
process and it just obviously wins saw that any locker room problems, any issue,
I mean, like if you're winning, but just the the way they've
looked on the floor. H And as I said earlier, facing adversity,
I'm having a lot more fun with that. It's not fun to watch a
team that feels listless. It's it's not fun to watch a team that you
know is gonna that you know is going to crumble, like when the pressure
is on them, they just kind of fold. So it's trending in the
right direction. I would say, it's like it's maybe the amount of fun
as like a pizza a pizza party that wasn't well planned at work. There's
like everybody only everybody only gets one piece. There's pizza, and there's there's
pizza, but it's kind of like, hey, guys, there's pizza in
the breakroom. It's not like everybody is like hanging out. It's not blocked
out on the cow. Yeah yeah, Adam, where's your fun are you?
Are you still waiting to flip the one, lady, you know,
flip the one to eighty? I don't know, so. I mean,
they don't look like a championship team still yet we need them to hit a
different team. I would like, I know they can't. These last two
victories, the way they won those are the type of games you have a
lot of the time in a playoff series. It's not pretty. The Clippers
had seventeen turnovers versus the Orlando Magic. They got up by eleven in that
third quarter, and they just gave it away multiple times down like we have
seen and they still just figure it out eventually as long as you're seeing because
Kawhi Leonard said postgame the last two games, basically, teams aren't going to
lay down against us. We have to know they're going to compete hard,
They're going to be trying to win two. We can't just give in because
the other team has great players as well. We got to get used to
this. So that's all it is. And I think that's something that you
know, it's rudimentary. It's obvious. But sometimes when you lose five straight
games at home, and Paul George is talking about, yeah, you kind
of sleepwalk into games. You basically you're relying on the crowd to give you
that energy. But on the road, they've had to figure it out immediately.
They've had to start faster. They didn't in Philly. They did against
the Orlando Magic. And I did say as a positive going into or going
out of our last show, that you know, maybe being on the road,
being in the foxhole together can help this team. So I don't know,
these these are really important games. These are important type of victories.
This Clippers team just was able to get one hundred percent. Someone in the
chat pointing out that their nine and seven record is pretty crazy. With this
March ten and seven is very much on the table. We're gonna talk about
the Clippers upcoming schedule and some PAC DIV talk. If you're listening to this,
there's gonna be some ads and then schedule talk in three two one.
All right, So the Clippers are rounding out the very last game in the
hillacious March schedule. They still have some games left ahead of that before we
can before we can finally get to the dang playoffs. Charles, Let's just
start this off with sort of the March. Where are we at in March?
March benchmark? We're at nine and seven, ten and seven still on
the table. Given the way things looked at times on the court, were
we maybe a little reactionary given that the ten and seven is still in play?
What do you what do you guys think where you at on this?
I don't know if we were reactionary because the way that the games were being
lost was just brutal. It was rough. They weren't like losses where it
was like, oh, it hit the rim three times on the last second
and we barely lost that one. They were discouraging losses for sure. I
don't think. Uh, And yeah, we got down a little bit,
but I think you know, those were those were immediate live reaction postgame pots.
So what do you need to do? Uh? But no, I
think they looked rough. They looked really rough. I still they're trending towards
ten and seven in March. That seems very possible with who they play tomorrow.
No disrespect to the Hornets, but but I would love to see them
absolutely. Uh, just decimate the Hornets. Uh, that would be great
to see fourth quarterrest for two, one, three, Then I would feel
pretty solid about the ten and seven. But if they struggle, and it'll
be like, all right, we still got along, we got the ways
to go, Adam where you at? Did we react too hard? I
don't think we overreacted. Did coach lou overreact with Things were dire, They
were circling the drain. They were playing like a team that didn't want it
anymore, and they were about to give up, not just home court in
the first round, which could still happen, but it looked like they could
fall into the playing Uh, they've steadied the ship to some degree. They
still have to win. I would say, if you go six and three,
there's a real good chance you're going to have that four seed in the
last nine games. Yeah, there's a real good shot at that. But
it's about process and the way you play. It's not just about wins and
losses. When you're trying to build good habits a little bit though, it's
a little bit about wins. Look, even if the process is bad,
in a win, I'll take the win. You'd rather win ugly than lose
pretty I understand that, but we want to see a team that's trending the
right direction, not just to win in the first round series or have home
court there, but to have a chance to be a contender and make a
real run at this thing. So those last two that looks like a team
that's ready for big moments. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Do we
want what do you want to see in Charlotte? Will? Do you want
to see just complete decimation? Yeah? I'd like to see this one get
put away early. I mean, the Hornets are just in a rough state
as far as like health and availability. Yeah, I would like to see
the Clippers. I would like to see the Clippers show up for this one
early, you know what I mean, like because this team has a tendency
to play to the record, not to not to the team. So it'd
be nice to see them sort of with the foot on the gas early and
with the foot on the throat laid. They're also playing right after they play
Charlotte, They're playing Sacramento, who has recently been decimated with injuries. Kevin
Herder and Malik Monk now just out, which is a shame for them.
Oh Lolo contreres with a nice take. Herder is done for the season,
right, it's I think it's season and any shoulder injury. Yeah, and
then Malik Monk has an mc l s brain, I think, what's the
news? So that's tough for them. Whila Contraa still believes in the team.
If they end up in the four seed. He thinks they think that
they can make it to the finals, which is you know, that's fair.
The schedule. So they got Charlotte, they got the Kings, and
then they have a Nuggets Jazz back to back. What would what would?
This is a nice path before the Nuggets game, right, You get teams
where you can keep building good process, hopefully stack some wins, because a
win against the Nuggets this late would feel pretty damn good, correct, Adam,
That's gonna be a good game. I think the most important thing pertained
to that game. Obviously the Clippers need to win, but they need to
win not just for themselves. They need to keep the Nuggets from getting the
one seat. Therefore, you don't have to take them on in the second
round if you're lucky enough to advance. That's what I'm worried about right now.
And the Nuggets got run last night badly by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who
they see one more time. So it's very possible they don't end up with
the one seed. If you can, you can help your own cause a
little bit there by taking them down. And yes, confidence wise, that
would be big because that would have that would mean they won the last two
contests against the Denver Nuggets this season. Damn yeah, and I can I
literally cannot remember the last time that happened. Will what are you looking for?
Kind of in this run up to the Nuggets game? It is a
nut we have the Nuggets Jazz back to back, but it's Nuggets first,
thankfully. After these couple of games, I mean, just more of the
same getting into the offense, Quicker really fighting on the glass for those boards.
Especially with how small this team is, it's time to start. It's
time to start taking those small ball lineups in minutes really really seriously, uh,
because we need to have we need to have these rotations a little bit
more ironed in. And I know that that it hasn't It hasn't always been
easy with some of the inconsistent play from Tys and Plumbly, But anytime we're
going all I need to see yeah in PJ, of course. I just
I need to see the same commitment on the glass as we've been seeing in
these last few games, because I don't know, I don't know what to
expect from from plumb Lee or tice In in a first round matchup with if
it ends up being the Pels. I, you know, like, I
don't imagine that we'll play big with a big outside of Zoobots. I think
that we'll probably opt to go small. And I think the habits that they
build in those lineups right now are going to pay dividends later. Should have
listened to Dark Knights Vibes, should have trade for Andre Drummonds signed Boogie.
I mean, it's not like Boogie. How many damn centers do we need
on this roster? Five? We need five centers on the roster. It's
very clear. As Boogie played in two years, I think there might be
a reason that he hasn't. He looked pretty done with the Clippers in twenty
twenty one. Dark Knight Vibes, why so serious unless he was matched up
on who was it on the side where Boogie was just Dario? Oh yeah,
Starch was on Boogie sometimes and that was that was a good time.
Yeah, the rebounds, I think is what a lot of people are gonna
be looking for from the two one three guys, because that's effort. And
Loud Murray brought up a good thing on Twitter. Paint touches or effort to
getting paint touches on offense is an effort thing too, right. I think
a lot of times you associally the effort with just the defensive side of the
ball, but getting to the paint, which Paul George has done more of.
And James Harden who did get forced into the mid range a little bit
against the Magic and that was not going that well. I'm excited to see
how he looks getting downhill. Oh my god, Scott Tran, thank you
for reminding me. I don't think we've actually talked about this on the podcast
yet, but they're giving away stress balls at the game against the Nuggets on
April fourth, which has, like Simpson's level, possibilities of hilarious give away.
I hope things go well and those stress balls stay in the seats.
But man, giving away projectiles at sports games, I always think it's such
a ball. It's not strange at all. Wayne Jenkins, no, tam
An minutes on the fourth quarter last night was strange. Guess what they did.
They went to the Power Rangers. They're starting to go back to it.
All of a sudden they realized, well, I don't know if you
wanted to hide it from teams and realize there's just no way because you have
to win games right now and you couldn't hold that one that close to your
chest. But they're going back to Power Rangers as they should now. They
went almost six minutes in that fourth quarter last night without scoring a point.
That seems like an outlier though, right, and that's not the Power Rangers.
Yeah, no, And that wasn't all with the Power Rangers out there.
But the Clippers. I think where did they end up with fourteen points?
It was it was still a brutal scoring fourth quarter. Because of that,
they ended up with fifteen points in the fourth, but they held the
Magic to twenty, so you were okay there, but they still Yes,
they have things to work on. You can't have scoring droughts that deep in
a fourth quarter, but they had their best when it was required from two
point three. Do we think there's been some chatter amongst Clippers Twitter people,
do you think there's gonna be a Norm change to the starting lineup at some
time in the playoffs. Some people want that because the offense is incredible with
that lineup, but there's some chatter. I'm not saying I agree with it,
but it is. He's very good. He had a defensive play in
that game. I forget if it was on ban Cao. It was really
out of the ordinary, like a fantastic defensive play by Norman Powell, or
he just stood somebody up completely against Orlando. He's another guy that's capable.
A lot of these guys have individual switches. Well, I'll say with this
Clippers team, where it's in them to rebound, it's in some of them,
like Norman Powell, to play much better defense. And when that time
comes, when there's more of a sense of urgency and desperation because of the
playoffs, I think the team has been counting on that those switches to be
flipped and they will be just like they were in Game one against Phoenix last
year. We've seen Norm flip some Norm's defensive reel. This year, there's
been some nice stuff. He's okay at playing free safety. He can pick
off an air and pass he weirdly has had some decent challenges at the rim
this year when he's had to like slide over. So yeah, I agree
that there's a switch there. Will Do you think Norm's gonna end up in
the starting lineup at some point? No? Why people say the argument I've
seen is because the defense for the starting lineup. This was the argument I've
seen about advocating for this. I'm repeating the information was that the defense isn't
exactly lighting the world on fire for the Clippers starting lineup. Having Norm in
the offense would just make the offense. That's still a pass for me.
It's kind of like we talked about this earlier in the season. I think
that Adam pointed out in the High five. But I think like the tendency
to make Kawhi have to do too much in some of these like less than
stellar defensive lineups isn't great. And it's the same thing with Zoo, It's
the same with PG. There's only so much communication you can do, There's
only so much ground you can cover. If you got two guys out of
five who you know and Harden has Harden has flashes, you know, he
like he just has his limitations as a defender. Yeah, he always will.
So I get the idea, and I love Norm I want him to
win six Man of the Year. I think he's good where he's at.
I don't see his starting lineup change, you know. We just kind of
talked about the rotations and stuff and what we want to see in these upcoming
games, and I don't see his starting lineup change as being like, what's
the different maker right now for the team? Not not to me personally.
Yeah, I think people are missing the point. The reason they have Terrence
Man in the starting lineup is so Kawhi and Paul George don't have to guard
the other team's best player until the fourth quarter. After Kawhi hit that shot
over Suggs with thirty five seconds left, he died up Ben Carroll and they
got the turnover where Bear Carroll. Ben Carroll tried to kick it out to
Suggs and it was a no look steal by James Harden, who wasn't looking
at the play but had his hands up in case he did. That went
off of him and he ended up with the basketball. That's what you want
to see. You can't asking Kawhi Leonard and Paul George even in a playoff
series, to guard the other team's best player for forty minutes, which is
how many minutes they'll be playing in a playoff series. In a playoff game,
Yeah, it's not sustainable. You have to have somebody else be a
really good point of attack defender. And I think Terrence Man is good enough.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's totally fair. And it matters
again as always with the Clippers, who's closing, that's what we're gonna see.
Sometimes it might be Norm, right, who knows? And a lot
of people in the chatter bring out the very good point that the bench gets
real weird offensively if you start Norm, there's not a lot of long range
punch. Yeah, you need you need his shooting, like you you you
need his like you need his north south movement like you just you need Norm
on the on the second unit. You like to have you like to have
him with the starters. But like, that's what closing lineups are for.
That's what the power rangers are for, you know what I mean. It
doesn't doesn't have to be it doesn't have to start the game with that,
you know, it should really be like a like not necessarily a poll in
case of emergencies, but like a lane change or a tempo change that you
can offer like it shouldn't It shouldn't be the standard if that makes sense.
Hey, what about Alfredo Alriguez here? Did you see that? Yeah?
Put the lineup question on the chat? Will Could we get a Westbrook Hard
and George Leonard starting lineup again with Westbrook att Center Man Coffee Pals Fifth,
No, we can. I love that you're throwing this out here, though
I do I appreciate the ingenuity. So also lost in everything this year,
we haven't talked about this in what feels like ages the Clippers. The Clippers
have a pretty good shot to win the Pacific Division for the first time in
ten years since twenty thirteen twenty fourteen. They have one game versus the Kings
or three and a half games behind them, and then two versus the Suns.
They are four games behind. When are you guys getting to the parade
when I'm not sure what time Balmer has anything set up, but I'm hyped
we won the division. Let's go. Division play should matter more, it
should matter more. It'd be Yeah, whatever I think making the division less,
I think making the division we have them. I think making the division
more competitive to me is more interesting than the end season tournament. But yeah,
who cares about that? And then, uh, Jeremy Mormon the question
does the playoffs really matter? Thank you, Ray. I'm sure Ricky Chew
will have a banner photoshopped immediately, probably after listening to this Jeremy Mormon asking,
does eventually matter when it comes to playoffs? Yes, Uh, guys
can't play for it. Guys cannot play forty eight minutes. And like,
even with the staggering that we have with Kawhi and Paul George and Harden,
you still want two of those three on the floor in all times. Uh
so, I yeah, I don't know it matters, is what I'm saying.
I'm not saying that your first two guys off the bench are huge.
They gotta be good. Yeah, that's very meaningful to your playoff success.
That's why many feel like Denver may be more vulnerable BECAU because they lost a
couple guys this offseason. That's why we don't want to play campaign again ever
in the playoffs. Speaking of maybe opponents, we might not everyone to play
again in the playoffs. Last episode, we talked about how the Clips might
fall to six, which doesn't you know, seem super crazy. But now
the Mavericks are starting to creep up to five looking very good. Where are
we at unfeeling? So the Clippers have eliminated the MAVs each time we've played
them in a series. It is not always the prettiest, it is not
always the easiest, but they win the series. Where are we at on
maybe MAVs Clips round three? Are you guys? I'm I mean, I
guess I'm ready in the long run, but those series are always terrifying.
It's one it's one of the few teams that can't use a size advantage against
the Clippers. Adam, how you feel about this matchup? You seem high.
It's scary, but so is Zion. I was watching that Pells Bucks
game on NBA TV the other night and just watching how inept Giannis and Brook
Lopez were with trying to contain Zion Williamson, And I'm thinking about the Clippers
trying to slow him down. He's just He's an unsolvable problem type of player,
and I don't know what you're doing against him. I don't know what
you're doing against Luka, Doncis and Kyrie Irving now together, So they're one
game back of the Pelicans and they're in the same division. This is why
divisions matter. And whoever, yeah, whoever wins that Southwest you know,
will likely be the four of the five seed. So it's it's concerning,
especially they just won went back to back games in Sacramento. Luca last night
was pointing at Vodie Debac, former front office president of the King, saying,
you should have drafted me at the end of that game last night.
It's fair at the drafting Vagley. I mean, yeah, he's not wrong.
I don't want to see this mask taken. Luca strikes enough fearing you
in late game situations, him and Kyrie after the left handed push shot he
just made over Nikola Jokic to win that crazy game. And Kyrie is one
of the most clutch players of all time. And they're peaking at the right
time too. We were talking about the clips maybe peaking at the right time.
The MAVs have been on longer lately. Yeah, yeah, Sadly,
their schedule much easier than the Pelicans. They have the twenty first toughest schedule
remaining the Pelicans is tenth. Phoenix still has the toughest and they've been reeling
a little bit. Sacramentos at the fifth toughest, So trailing the Celtics right
now too, with about ten minutes left in the third. Now you're in
this unenviable position where you're like, I want the Celtic I want the U
Pelicans to lose, But wait, do I I want them to stay ahead
of the Dallas Mavericks. Like, you're not going to be able to manipulate
any of these statics. At the end of the season, no team is
going to be able to be like I choose this matchup. Things are just
too tight right now, it's too close. Yeah, yeah, that's a
good call, and it's going to change. So every You're right, everything
it's going to change. Up until the last day of the season. They're
not going to know their playoff opponent. Yeah, probably until the last day
of the season, the last day. There could be something that is going
on. But before that there's not a clear picture at all. I wonder.
All you can do is control, you though, you know, like
as long as they as long as they hold down for you know, at
least maintain home court for one for one round of a playoffs. Uh.
I mean that's all you can really do. You know, you can't control
the standing outside of that. We've seen them flip flop before, you know,
get maybe a little cheeky with some end of season stuff. They don't
have that opportunity now the game, it's not gonna happen. So the good
news if you played Dallas, they have what could be a fatal flaw,
which is their defense, just like the Sacramento Kings, where they've been bottom
ten all season long. Now, the Clippers have been really bad since the
Grammy road trip defensively, so I'm sure they're looking their chops seeing their offense
against this Clippers defense. But we know, and the last two games have
proven it. The Clippers do have the potential to play like a top ten
defense on any given night because of personnel they do. I just checked to
see when the Clippers played to end the season. The last game of the
Clippers season, and this is so fitting, is a twelve thirty game at
home against the Rockets, who are playing very good. So that's gonna be
interesting part of a five and seven. That is interesting because the Rockets what
they are right there with the Golden State Warriors. Yeah, they're trying to
get in the plan now. Jalen Green is like elite, It's like figured
it out. Coming up, we're gonna be talking. There was a lot
of Paul George contract talk this last week or so, and we haven't really
talked about it. So we're going to talk about it. If you're listening,
there's gonna be some ads that might be loud. Those are coming up.
After these loud ads, we're talking Paul George contract. In three two
one, welcome back in It's Clips and Dip episode sixty four of season two.
I'm met a Manslim, We got Chuck Mockler and Will Updike. Is
it Clips and Dip Live. If you missed it, you're listening to this
in podcast form, as we make sure to put it up that way too.
Previewed a little bit of the rest of the Clippers season with nine games
remaining, talked about what needs to be done against Charlotte, one of the
worst teams in the league, which is pretty much just play here brand of
basketball get off to a quick start, but there are some off the court
topics as we look ahead. Because Paul George up to this point has not
gotten that contract extension. It's been an up and down season for him.
I think it's fair to say at this point things are trending back upward,
which is great. He's been very good. I know he's shooting percentagels very
bad up until the end of that game against Orlando, But coming into that
one, he was shooting something like fifty four percent from the field and forty
five percent from three over his last thirteen to fifteen ball games. So he
had been looking much better, more spry, more bounce, more pop,
just looking like Paul George again. I know he missed a dunk. I
know he tried to dunk on someone and he missed that dunk again, and
he has missed a few of them this season. But I like the confidence
in his body is to know that he can take a play like that or
try to at least attempt that highlight. So the contract situation, there was
a rumor out there regarding the Philadelphia seventy six ers, Chuck and some people
some reporting on it. Yeah, it was called the worst kept secret that
the seventy six ers really want Paul George. The prevailing idea is that because
this was Keith Pompeii, right, yeah, the Sixers guy. Yeah,
the Sixers guy. The the idea is that they would offer him a MAX
because you don't have to have MAXI all this money yet all. Anyway,
the way that it works out is they could give Paul George a full MAX.
They have an insane amount of cap room coming up this yeh, Like
they will be I think one of the top five or top three teams in
terms of available cap space. Yeah. So it's like, if you can
get Paul George to pair up with Joel embiid get a healthy run, it's
not a crazy idea for them to offer Paul George the MAX. But there's
a lot of stuff that needs to happen for that to happen. Like Paul
George has a forty nine million dollar player option that he would opt out of
and then sign this contract with the seventy six ers. But the Clipper I
think the Clippers are just gonna sign uh Paul George because Eric Pink has put
out an article that if the Clippers. The way that everything's structured is if
the Clippers don't sign Paul George, they can't replace him with someone who makes
as much money as him. We've been telling people this for a while,
like they're tied to these guys. Yeah, so yeah, I don't know.
Do you guys think that Philly somehow figures out how to offer him a
max without tampering which seems difficult. But if four for was it four to
twelve two hundred and twelve mil for the max for PG so much is still
yet to be determined in this playoff run. I think that would ultimately say
what his value could be. Now it seems like with what Kawhi took,
Paul George should be willing, not willing, But a lot of people just
understood that as oh, so he's gonna get a little bit less than Kawhi
Leonard and that's how these guys are going to come back, Because remember postgame,
after Kawhi signed the contract, he was asked about it and he said,
yeah, well pretty much everybody's coming back. So it felt like a
foregone conclusion then. But then Paul George has a couple of months of some
really down play with his percentages. Doesn't look like the same guy. Seem
to be tied to the fact that he had a left knee injury going on
a left groin injury, and now it seems like that's proven by the fact
with how good he's looked over the last three weeks. But I just it's
hard to go that far down the road right now with PG and what could
happen when his legacy could be somewhat defined by this upcoming playoff run. It's
a big one for everybody on this Clippers team, including Paul George, and
I think it's why both teams are sticking to their guns, to be perfectly
honest with you, Like I I know that Paul George wants the max,
or at least that's everything that we've seen, you know. I don't think
they've said it in so many words like we'll see what happens when the playoff
playoffs come around, But I do think that there's probably an understanding that for
that to be on the table, we're gonna have to see, you know,
some big ship has to happen. Yeah, it's yeah, it's the
Flatco contract, right, It's like, doude get to get us there and
make things happen, and then we'll give you a big old contract. Yeah,
I think, and I think. I I think also at the end
of the day. I think Bomber's gonna the new salary cap stuff makes it
difficult because it is effectively kind of a hard cap. It's screwsier. I
mean it's completely it's yeah, it's completely a hard cap. We have a
couple of people asking in the chat about playing two centers at one time.
Sorry for the hard pivot. I was different people. It should be addressed
quickly. Every year, everything year we've done this. Saif my guy they
have a center who might be the best shooting big men in all time of
all time, next to Rudy Gobert in Cat there's a huge yeah. And
if he'sa Zoo, boss does not give you a shooter Tyson Tyson Zoo is
something that I've wondered about that PJ. Tucker is out of the lineup.
It seems like PJ. Tucker got us three minutes against Tyler. Was like,
I guess we're done with this. I don't think he's out. I
wouldn't yeah, I wouldn't rule him out. I wish I know he's gonna
play playoff minutes. There's gonna be somebody brought this up. I don't know
if it was Robert Flohm, I'm gonna say it was somebody on two and
three hoops because I can't remember who, and that's who. Uh we are
a Philly Somebody brought up the fact that the reason they've been trying PJ Tucker
next to Aviatsa Zubots is to get ready for a matchup against Jokic, because
I brought this up before, but the best way to play Jokish, the
Lakers kind of uncovered this last season, is to put a smaller defender in
front of him and have a big man that can roam behind him. And
Philly did some of that last year with PJ Tucker and Joe Lmbid, and
PJ was pretty effective against Jokich considering it's relative to you know, playing against
the greatest player in the last few years and it's likely gonna be the MVP
once again. It gave him some small issues and maybe that's the reason they've
been trying PJ next to Aviatsa the Zubas to prepare those two guys to play
next to one another in case they take on the Denver Nuggets. Wonderful see
when they match up in a couple games. Probably not would be my guest
because Tylu doesn't seem like he'd be like, this is what we're gonna do.
But that is a good point. Yeah, the double center talk cloud
in my brain. Do we have anything else that we want to have?
I'm feeling pretty good. Clippers take on the Hornets tomorrow. We gotta imagine
that'll be a win. I'm assuming we haven't picked. However, I think
we can close this episode out. Who is our Kawhi Leonard Player of the
Game picks for Clippers versus Hornets? Adam, I will go with give me
a mere coffee. Oh coffee in that if we're you don't want to assume
anything, but if the Clippers can put themselves in a position to put a
team away early, maybe a mere coffee gets extended run out there. We've
seen him also during closing time, like against the Philadelphia seventy six ers,
where he was great out there with that pass to Kawhi cutting to the basket
by the way, mirrors trending upward as well at the right time after some
down shooting after his really hot start when he got back into the rotation.
So good call, will you're Kawhi Leonard player of the Game pick? I'm
going norm. Yeah, I think that, Uh, I think that he
can be a big part of sort of piling on this team, you know,
extending leads with that second unit is gonna is going to prolong some rest
time for Kawhi and PG and even Harden and hopefully we get one of those
fourth quarters where you know, they they barely have to touch the floor.
Yeah, I think I'm going with Russ because if there's one, there's a
couple of guys who we obviously want to be trending upwards towards the playoffs.
Russ has got to be one of them because he's gonna get some playoff time.
So I hope he has a good game and I hope he can make
things happen. He might get some extended run too, right, He's a
candidate for a few more minutes if things go well in this game. Yeah,
so that would be that'd be nice to see. I think we're gonna
have a double dip for that, Adam, do you want to tell the
YouTube audience what the double dip is? And that is one of these two
guys comes on with me on Clippers Talk, which is the official postgame show
for your Los Angeles Clippers where we take phone calls after the ball game and
have guests on like these two fun gentlemen, one of them will be on
with me. We also post that. Then later on we extract that part
from Clippers Talk and put it on the Clips and Dip podcast. You can
listen to it there too, absolutely. Ooh, will do you want to
answer this? Oh? Wait, will you do the positive thing this episode?
Because we got a great question from David Romo? Yeah, another moment,
Yeah, like the thirty nine point game. The answer is yes,
there's your positive thing, We got it. Will Where can these fantastic people
listen to this pod and review it if they felt so inclined? Yeah?
So, I mean, first off, if you didn't catch this live,
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thanks for hanging out. We'll talk to you all tomorrow and as always,
let's go clips