Clippers fall once twenty one to one hundred at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Welcome back in This is clipperstock. I'm in a Maslin eight sixty six nine
five seventy is the phone number right now. We are joined here with the
little clips and double dip on Clippers talk because we got big Chuck Mackler on
Chuck. Where was this game lost by the Clippers? Oh man, I
mean I probably what two minutes into the second quarter or something like that,
or the third quarter. Excuse me, no, this this is such I
mean, you know, this is an Understandably, it's tough to watch this
team, you know, kind of get pushed around by a bigger team,
right, Tyler talked about in the post game presser. You know, the
guys need to execute better in the offense with a big team like the Timberwolves.
In the execution you know, it wasn't up to stuff tonight, obviously,
but this this is a great Timberwolves team, this team, you know,
this one especially, it was like, okay, it's a little more
real I guess than that I initially thought from them. But I don't know
where this game was lost. I don't think there was a guy you know
that they could have traded for that makes this game will win or anything like
that. But you know, you gotta hope PG shoots thre than thirty one
percent. You gotta hope Zoo goes rather than forty percent. Terrence was a
little rough tonight. Norm wasn't right like I don't know. It may have
been the physicality, but the execution also wasn't there. To me, it's
still about getting better internally if Itatza Zubots has to get right. Mason Plumbley
still doesn't look right to me. He just has not been good enough and
didn't play in the second half. They went to Daniel Tye instead to no
avail. This Clippers team ended up losing by twenty one, but as you
mentioned, that third quarter is where things got away from them. A forty
to nineteen win in the third quarter by the Timberwolves, that's just too much
to overcome against a team with this good of a defense that plays like it.
You can see it out there. They are fantastic on that end.
That is their identity. They're basically a bottom ten offense and it did not
matter at all tonight. Holding the Clippers to one hundred and putting up one
hundred and twenty one on them. But you know, I'm still wondering if
at some point we see PJ. Tucker out there. We've had a few
calls on it tonight. I'm not saying it's the cure all. I'm just
wondering if that size issue can be remedied at all by better play from the
Clippers and also somebody who just hasn't had an opportunity in a while, and
Coach Lou said he's going to give it to him at some point. Yeah,
this was a game. You know, you see the kind of what
the backup center play was tonight. I mean, all of the centers.
It was a little rough tonight. But you know, Mason only played nine
minutes, but it was it looked a little rough. Tys came in for
a very limited stint and couldn't get anything going either. So you would think,
you know, if the Slimpers are going to commit to going small,
which didn't really work tonight unfortunately. I mean maybe, yeah, like you
try and especially against the bigger team like the Timbrels, you maybe give Tucker
some run because he's gonna need it. Right, this is DNP thirty six
or something like that, and if he's gonna play, it kind of has
to happen soon. He's the second oldest guy in the league. You can't
just really pop off the bench and then be asked to play super physical minute
if it gets to that point. But once a ma interstriction for Zu gets
lifted, Tyler, you talked about that being a pain. You know,
he's kind of trying to play him in these six minutes stance. That'll make
things look a little bit better. But yeah, I don't know. Tough
going to nice size wife. I thought it was a bit of the Russ
roller coaster. Tonight gave him some really good minutes in the first half,
a struggle in that third quarter, the miss dunk, a couple of miss
layups where he was just going at Rudy Gobert with reckless abandon. I appreciate
the effort, but the execution wasn't always there and ended up with a three
pointer. I think Walker had one on the other end, or maybe it
was Kyle and Anderson. A lot of guys did not perform to their capabilities,
but Norm Powell not being right in a game like this where I think
he had twenty four last time in Minnesota, and aviatsa Zubats still not looking
right timing wise. Maybe it was just a recipe for disaster, because this
Timberwolves team is too good and you have to have everyone really be at their
best, and the Clipper's got a couple of guys who are banged up right
now and just don't look right. Yeah, Norm, you know, I
don't know. I kind of excuse Norm a little bit. If you saw
what happened on Saturday. It's kind of a little surprising he was playing today.
He didn't look all the way there. Yeah, Russ, in the
beginning, it worked great, right, I think his first two touches he
got an and one and then got another foul. But then the ball started
finding its way to him behind the three point line. Kind of a little
bit by design, it seemed, you know, the Clippers went small and
they let a really big team kind of just play free safety, which we've
seen the Heat do right when Russ is out there time. So that backfired.
But I also kind of got it. We haven't really mentioned Harden.
He had kind of a tough game. He had a tough what was it
the second quarter on Saturday. But the shooting percentage in there from him but
felt a little ISO heavy sometime, which is, you know, credit to
the world defense for being able to disrupt that. But if there is gonna
be that much IFOO ball, you do hope he shoots better than thirty eight
percent. Yeah, a lot of guys again struggled in this ball game,
and overall collectively, the Minnesota Timberwolves were just a much better team. They
look to be more connected, They know who they were a little bit more
out there. That identity isn't grained now, it is crystallized with them.
I mean, they've been the number one offense going back to I think the
first week of the NBA season and it just hasn't stopped. Still felt like
there were some positives there from Kawhi Leonard going at Jaden McDaniels. Some he
looked a little bit more comfortable against the length of Jaden McDaniels than the last
time around, who is a nominal defender. Yeah, I mean the two
dugs by Kawhi to end that first quarter were pretty incredible. First the left
and then the right things were great, and then the end of the half
was great too. But yeah, no, The battle between McDaniels and Kawhi
was really incredible to see. You saw McDaniels strip Terrence Day at one point,
just when he was being a little careless with the ball. So yeah,
Kawhi did look a little more comfortable against the length and some of the
other guys. So maybe they can follow see next time. But yeah,
I mean that's all we can really hope work. I think we play him
two more times. One of them is a Bucks Timberwolves back to back or
something like that. But I think we get the Timberwolves. Yeah, I
know, I think we'll get the Timberwolves first in that one. So there's
two more chances, and let's hope they you know, show up, show
up a little bigger next time. So how important do you peg that game
Wednesday night up in Golden State against a team that has won five in a
row, that is playing much better, that maybe has found themselves, especially
with that victory over the Phoenix Suns with the Steph Curry game winner last game
before the All Star Break. How big do you think that is, Chuck,
I you know you don't want to go. Yeah, I'd like to
win a Pacific Division game before the All Star Break. That would feel good.
I was talking to yeah, exactly, especially with kind of how they
played tonight. So you want to go in to the All Star Break as
healthy as possible and playing as well as possible, somewhere between those two things.
And if they get a you know, a solid win, I guess,
like you said, a Warrior's team that's been playing a little bit better,
I would feel pretty good about it. Let's just get out of this
thing and the guys can relax for a while before next month's schedule starts.
Clippers fault tonight one's twenty one to one hundred to the Minnesota Simberwolves. Here
at crypto dot Com arena, he is Chuck Mockler of Clips in Dip Fame.
Chuck, we'll talk tomorrow on the YouTube, my friend, thanks for
doing this tonight. YEP, sounds good. Thanks for having me.