Last time that chack just fine chains on my neck. It was no smiling
little Daja in multiple ways, same song, same story with the Clippers.
They win, make it eight straight one one twenty seven over the Indiana Pacers
was the final score. Welcome back in I'm out of Mosland here listening to
Clippers talk. You just heard from James Harden who had twenty one points in
the fourth quarter alone, And now you're gonna hear from Will Updyke of clips
and dip made mistake. Didn't have my guys on last time. Clippers were
still able to win somehow, but they didn't win like they did tonight.
I mean they only had one hundred and forty four points against the New York
Knicks. Now that we got big will for big dubs coming on, the
Clippers put up one fifty one will. What were you most impressed with in
this one by the Clippers? I gotta start with what I'm least impressed with?
What? Yeah, that's right, We're eight games into a win streak.
Time to be a little bit more critical at him. Oh God,
is this Shawn and inglewin again? I said, I said they needed to
hold the Pacers under one hundred and twenty points. What if the Pacers scored
one hundred and twenty seven but the Clippers called off the dogs laying in the
fourth, it might as well be a loss to me. Well, William
Mupdyke with a high standard of Clippers basketball, even though they're probably playing the
best in the two to three era, not even a probably anymore. Come
on, well, be serious, level with me. This is the best
they have ever looked in the regular season with Kawhi and Paul George, now
that they have I don't know, James hard and Russell Westbrook as well.
Yeah, it's it's absolutely unreal. I love James Harden's aggression. I think
anytime we can get both him and Paul George eleven three point attempts, especially
when it's coming in the flow of the offense, you know, nothing was
forced, even James explosion there in the fourth quarter. I mean, I
thought that it's looking so cohesive that you know, we talked about this a
little bit. It's it's a little scary. It's like it's almost I don't
want to say, too good to be true, but it's it's looking like
a it's looking like a unit that I did not think that this team could
put together just a few weeks ago, and I don't know. It's how
are you feeling about the sustainability because I'm not really seen I mean, like
tonight, we have some great shooting splits. I don't expect us to score
over one fifty on a nightly basis, but I'm not really seeing anything that's
like a massive outlier for this team right now? Where are you those shooting
splits fifty seven fifty eighty seven from the field and from there? No,
I'm with you. I understand that it's an outlier. I guess scoring wise,
scoring one hundred and fifty one, you can't rely on that. But
they did just score one forty four. And I still think James Harden what
he did in the fourth quarter, Yes that is not repeatable. That was
an all time performance, but he can still play better with this team.
I mean, I get the skepticism because we've never seen him play this well
in the regular season before together and take things this seriously and not just be
locked in game to game, but quarter to quarter, possession to possession.
And it makes you feel as a Clippers fan that has some scar tissue built
up of oh just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, instead
the shoe is up. The opponents took us right now. That's what it
looks like out there from this team. Will. They're given a lot of
shoes, But would you say they're given no quarters? They gave one in
this game, none last game, one in the first quarter and it took
that Buddy Healed three pointer at the very end of the buzzer to get the
Pacers that first quarter win. But I mean, Big Zoo is just getting
better and he's having his moment, and it's due to James Harden. How
can you guys not see it? I know you see it. Will.
There's a correlation there. The reason Big Zoo is playing like this is because
he has one of the ultimate playmaking point guards next to him. Oh one
hundred percent. Look, last year, the Clippers kaire defensive rating for the
entire season was because of about a ten game stretch of a Vita Zubots playing
otherworldly defense. What did we see throughout the stretch of the season. It
didn't carry up things. There were too many gaps to fill. He was
asked to do too much. The body language changed, He was completely ignored
on offense, and now we're addressing both things. Right. We have a
lot more defenders around him so he can stay locked in and do what he
does well, and then he's getting rewarded at a level. First scene,
He's never had a pick and roll partner like James Harden. He's never gotten
these kind of lobs like it is. It is unreal, and I think
we're gonna see a different Zoo, you know, I talked about it the
other night. I think he's gonna be a double double machine for the rest
of the season. And I think that this is gonna like, I think
that his focus and intensity is only gonna stay locked in for the rest of
the season in a way that we I don't think we've gotten, to be
honest with you, I'm a Zoo supporter. I don't think we've gotten a
full season out of Zoo like what I am predicting we're gonna see for the
rest of this one. His first bucket, a little runner off the glass,
was from a great shovel pass from James Harden. I think that was
the first bucket of the ballgame, actually, but then he had a floater
another one in the second quarter when he came in back in for Daniel Tice,
he blocked a layup. He's been a force defensively still, It's not
like the offense is going to his head and he's forgot about his number one
priority out there. But a dunk in the second quarter, huge throwdown once
again, second straight game with big time jams, and then an and one
to start the third quarter. Aviatza zoobots. I think the point here is
and why this is a little bit perplexing with just how good they've been,
I would point to this, they just have so many ways to beat you
right now, and there's so many different guys that could have a big night,
and you'll only need really one or two of them too, and it
turns into a blowout. It can be that simple. Does it feel like
because it's feeling like to me like this season and I don't want to put
it damn front because thinks are going so well, but it to me feels
like there's an urgency intensity where in the locker room, I feel like,
top to bottom of the roster, everybody feels like this could be our shot.
And it's not like it was in twenty twenty. It's not even like
it was in twenty twenty one. They see now how short windows can be
and how everything has to click, and there's just a different I don't know,
there's just a there's a different intensity to it that I haven't seen from
this team. Yeah, there's a level of poise out there and intensity and
urgency. Coli'S thirty two, Paul George's thirty three. You wouldn't know it
by their play right now, but their basketball mortality of their prime is somewhat
approaching. I mean, guys have extended primes in this league today. We
see it all the time, but it's at least worth pointing out. Of
course, they are playing possibly for contracts right now. I think that has
to be brought up. Coach Lou extension eligible as well. All these guys
know that this could be the last dance with this group. I don't believe
it will be by any stretch of the imagination, especially with the way they're
playing now and by bringing in James Harden and giving up a first round pick
for him. I think you're committed to this, but they have a great
opportunity here to put it together to be a much better regular season team,
which can make you a better postseason team. We talk about it all the
time, but outside of the ninety five Houston Rockets, you've got to be
a top three seed to win the championship. That's what it's been in the
modern era. normOn Pass. That's not feeling out of it, Like that's
just not feeling out of hand right now, Like that seems very approachable.
And I do want to say I do want to say one thing, just
because you brought up the contract, and I think that that's fair. You
know, we haven't seen anything official. I would be shocked if there wasn't
something there wasn't at least a tentative agreement behind towards because there's no way that
we opened into it without There's no way that we opened into it without Kawhi,
Paul George, and James Harden. I'm sorry, that's just not happening.
But I think Kawhy said it best in the postseason the other night,
or in the post game press of the other night. Someone asked him about
this insane stretch of play that he that he's on right now, and he
said, yeah, I mean the numbers are great, but I'm playing for
something bigger, and I think that that is just so evident. It's very
palpable with this team this year. Yeah, and we'll play that audio.
Thanks for reminding me of that will at the very end of the show,
because it was almost kind of ominous. I mean, Kawi is laconic.
When he says something, it has more weight because obviously he's not that vocally
off the court, but that comment that kind of underscores his mindset the play
of this team, why they look so much more focused now. But I
think they also can see, oh, we have everything we need and if
we can just come together and guys continue to sacrifice, it's there for the
taking, and they can have special nights like tonight, and they can have
special runs like we've seen over the last three weeks because of the level of
talent. When you stack talent like this, you have an opportunity to do
something that no other team has with the Los Angeles Clippers, and right now
they're on a run that I don't know. I know they won seventeen straight
in the Lob City era at one point, but this just feels like domination
right now because of the teams they're playing and the way they're putting them away
well, and I love I mean I love what you said about stacking the
talent and everybody feels it, but they're not. They're not winning on the
margins. They're not waiting to just get by on talent. What we're seeing
is like combined team wide greatness, you know what I mean. Like,
we've seen games where this team has had a lot of talent and they've known
that they have that in their back pocket, and sometimes they wait to turn
that on. And that's just that's not what I'm seeing right now through through
these eight games. Yeah, there is a different mentality. If you thought
it was just lip service when they said they were going to take the regular
season more seriously, I think it's been like it, can we be honest?
It looked like it was there. Well, they got off to a
decent start. Then you bring in James Harden, you lose six straight and
there's this learning curve and it's hard to know, Okay, is it because
they're just figuring things out, or if they let their foot off the gas
and they're not playing the same way as they were, you know, talking
about playing coming into training camp. It's it's crazy, but it's been a
great run. It's been a fun time on clips and dip as well.
I don't know, maybe we should do another YouTube tomorrow after a game like
this tonight. We'll see. It's the holidays. I get it. But
well, thanks for coming on and doing a little double dip tonight, and
I apologize for the other night and not calling you. Absolutely my pleasure.
Next time, come on, Clippers, let's hold the Pacers under one twenty.
Come on, guys, have some shame, show some pride out there.
Clippers score one hundred and fifty one points. They win in Indianapolis one
fifty one to twenty seven over the Pacers. Next game coming up on Wednesday.
We'll play that Kawhi Leonard audio at the very end here on the way
out. But before we get out of here, I do want to thank
the Clippers organization, Ralph Lawler, Brian Seeman, no a ego, Carlo
Amennez on the call tonight, big brother, Jake Warner, head engineer,
Katie Newton, our producer. Great job Katie. Until Wednesday with their pregame
show from Dallas starting at four point thirty. I'm Ada Maslam. We'll talk
to you, then listen to Kawhi Leonard here twy. This is a one
hundred sixty nine points for you one hundred and seventy seven minutes on sixty five
percentoting. It's the best kind of stretch of your career here. I mean,
if you want to put it in numbers wise, but uh, you
know, uh, I'm more focused on something bigger than just a stretch.