Hey, what's going on? Clipper fans, Clipper people, Equipper folks.
It is me, William Updike. Uh. Clips have just one third of
this beautiful triumvirent joined as always well, joined as always by Charles macer joined
as sometimes by Adam Osland, who is reportedly over illness. But today the
Clippers are on a streak. They're on a verifiable heater. I think we
can all we can all agree to that. So we're gonna talk about the
Clippers rolling, what we've enjoyed from this streak, as well as just just
kind of checking on some other stuff. We're also gonna talk about Paul George
groin injury, which Adam and I touched on in the postgame overt am five
to seventy. But we're gonna dig a little deeper, and then we'll also
have a Clippers versus Warriors game preview for you. But before we get into
it, let's start with Adam. Haven't seen him in a while. What's
going on, what's going on in Osland? How you doing? Yeah?
Sorry for a prioritize seeing my other job, will but unfortunately I knew you
guys would have a great guest lined up and Rob. He obviously I'm gonna
have a tough time refilling my shoes that he filled and just kicked out the
front of like he was a teen wolf or something like that. What's the
Clippers record since Rod came on? Are they undefeated? I believe yeah,
let's be something to it. I'm excited for the Rod redemption episode sometime later,
maybe on this season. And he went not Red wedding, but Rod
wedding on the podcast with some of the things that he said just wild.
But the first thing that Adam brings up as soon as he's on the podcast
or receipt from something that happened a week ago. Good to know your back,
buddy. I'm glad you're healthy. I mean, look, I have
to play to my brand right and that's what the people want. I'm staying
on track here, but it is good to be back at all seriousness.
I missed you guys and missed doing this. We missed it. I'm on
post game anyways. And the only reason I get is so much ship while
you were gone is because I was trying to light a fire under you to
then talk about receipts, to then get slammed for talking about receipts, buddy,
I'm helping your brand here. Okay, brand building is always here on
Clips and Dip. Speaking of brand building, Charles told me to mention this
up top and the intro. I didn't. I forgot about it. But
please subscribe to us over on YouTube. That's at Clippers Podcast. We're getting
close to a thousand subscribers, and by that I mean I think we're like
two thirds of the way there. We are, exactly, but help us,
help us in our goal. Let's reach one k before the end of
this season. Maybe maybe maybe before the all start break. We'll see,
We'll see, we'll see. It's it's it's just a dream, you know.
I'm just a dreamer, Charles, dream Charles. What about you?
How are you doing? I'm doing good. Happy, we're all back to
talk the clips. I don't know if I should divulge this information, but
Adam ran ten miles earlier today which I was shocked and impressed by. So
vengeance dude going on. I don't have my selfie stick light, I don't
have my makeup on, and I can just tell like there's this red red
tint on my face and I'm getting some episode one like vibes like I'm gonna
bust out a dual lightsaber or something all of a sudden, you might.
We're gonna feel good. Yeah, speak style. I'm feeling good. I
ran ten miles earlier. Yeah, perfect, talking clips his bathrobe. It's
great. I feeling good. I don't I'm living my big Lebowski life.
F Off Will. I don't know why Will so spicy during this winning streak.
But if this is what it takes for the Clippers to get hot,
kiss I will kiss it. I'll tell tell you what we gave out player.
We started giving out Player of the game and the six game losing streak
stopped. Will's been really upset and spicy that you've been sick, and the
winning streak has started. So I think something something's happening here. Yeah,
the flu is coming Will's way next. That's what's happening, Adam. Yeah,
yeah, all right, let's let's talk this. Five games in a
row against mostly good teams Warriors, Nuggets, Jazz Blazers, Kings. This
match is the longest win streak of last year, but last year's five game
win streak came in late January and had two wins against the spurs in it.
So this one feels the competition is a little more, you know,
it's it's justifiable to be excited about this. I guess, kind of what
have we enjoyed most from this? Adam, you've been We'll give you the
floor a bit. You haven't had your pod time in a while. What
have you been most excited about from this five game winning streak? Lit of
good stuff to choose from. In the breakdown, I yield my time to
Rod. Dude. If Rod would have popped out right there, that would
have been fucking awesome. We need all right, he's down to come back.
I will say I want to say. I want to say one thing
about the Rod. He's not pushing enough product right now with the way he
sold his book. I think that's what I wanted to talk about. I
do think it is so great that someone was going to came on a Clippers
podcast to promote their book and then proceeded to kind of just shit all over
the cliff. It's a bull marketing strategy pants out. We'll see how it
pans out, Adam. Other than the Rod episode, we couldn't get Gillian
Zucker on, so people had to be mad at something else. What are
you most excited about in this five game win streak. I think it's the
play of Kawhi Leonard because ultimately this team ceiling is certainly attached to Kawhi being
at the peak of his powers and being at his best when his best is
required. And while it's early in the season, to help turn this tide,
first to start with bringing Russ off the bench, but Kawhi had to
get back to being the number one option, and the pecking order has been
a little more clear recently if you just look at shot distribution, and it
really came down to maybe that game against the Denver Nuggets that they lost against
Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan, maybe some blessing in disguise, because Kawhi got
up twenty six shots, and since then he has shot sixty two percent from
the field and fifty six percent from three. He shot himself out of that
slump against the Denver Nuggets in one of the most horrific games, oh yeah,
in the two to one three era that they ended up losing somehow,
but Kawhi had thirty one I think it was, but only on twenty six
shots. And ever since then he has been in rhythm. He has been
in a groove. He has looked like the guy that we saw for three
months last season. But I'm gonna say something else. I think Kawhi is
moving better than he did those last three months of last season when he was
shooting forty seven percent from the outside. It doesn't mean he'll be shooting those
same splits over that prolonged period of time. I don't know if we'll ever
see that again in his career or anyone else's for that matter, where he
was shooting fifty three forty seven ninety splits for three months going into the playoff
series against the Phoenix Suns. But the movement that we're seeing from him and
the ability to play defense at this high of a level still where that has
been there for the most part this season. We kind of speculated whether or
not it was taking something out of his legs on the offensive end, But
now he's melded the two. He's playing just as good as ever offensively while
playing elite defense. That rip away he had in the second half last night,
in the third quarter where he didn't get the dunk but he was fouled,
went to the free throw line near the end of the third I think
it was that was crazy octopus Kawhi Leonard type of defense where he just takes
the one on one challenge. This happened in the NBA Finals, I don't
know if it was fourteen or thirteen against the Spurs Miami matchup when they went
back to back years against one another and Miami won the first time, the
Spurs won the second time, Kawhi was the MVP. There's this really strange
play where I don't know if it was a pivotal point in the game,
but Kawhi just locked up Dwayne Wade on the perimeter, bringing the ball up
the court and made him look like he was playing junior high basketball by Wade
had no idea what he was in store for with Kawhi just being everywhere and
hounding him and eventually getting a steal. Dwayne Wade is one of the greatest
players of all time, a top five shooting guard of all time, a
great ball handler, and he looked completely baffled at what Kawhi Leonard was throwing
at him. And that's why I saw a little bit of shades of last
night with Kawhi with a rip away against the Sacramento Kings. And by the
way, I was watching all his body language in that second half, Clippers
are up thirty plus, Kawhi wasn't letting up. He was letting his own
teammates. Hear it when they had defensive lapses up thirty. I think there's
something to that, and it's this. Kawhi consensed that the pieces are there,
that they have a talented enough squad to win the championship. He doesn't
want to take any possessions off now. He wants to make sure they are
locked in and focused for forty eight minutes no matter what the score is,
and they build those championship habits and don't skip any steps. Like he talked
about coming into this season, he was demanding out of his teammates. He
got on Norm and Terrence Man who had some misque defensively, but again they
were dominating the ballgame. Kawi is about to go out and not even play
in the fourth quarter, and he still was playing with an edge to him
like, Hey, I don't care, I'm chasing perfection here. There are
legacies on the line. We have a team this talented. It is time
to make it five wins in a row. Impressively over some really good competition,
winning ten to thirteen now and get this thing in order as we move
along into the new year. And I think that was very inspiring from Kawhi
and just has to be encouraging for Clipper Nation to see that level of leadership
from him this early in the season. I like what you said about the
legacy thing, because Kawhi is the one guy whose legacy isn't I mean,
I know it's in question by some people who don't full I guess fully understand
what Gawi's done in this league, but his career is the least in question
of any of the other guys when it comes to championship stuff. Because the
whole rings argument, Like, I love that point you made, because now
we're seeing it like he's kicking guys in the ass by example, which is
the best way to see it be done. The game against when he had
forty Will and I were talking about this on the pod the first two bucket
After watching those go in, if you were a Clippers fan, you just
kind of felt like, Okay, yeah, this is it. Kawhi is
gonna get any single thing he wants, and we're seeing that on a consistent
basis, and those points weren't drawn up for him, those weren't played,
was just free flowing feeling it to get to those forty one points against Utah.
A lot of that. Coach Louse said the other day that, hey,
I wasn't drawn up plays for him. It was just in the rhythm
of the offense. And that's what you're starting to see now because they're gelling
because that starting unit has been so good next to one another. I still
think there's a chip on Kawhi Leonard's shoulder a little bit, not that he
needs it. He's a top seventy five player of all time, but I
still think there's added motivation to win one As a Clipper. He knows what
that would mean. When you don't go to the Los Angeles Lakers, who
already had seventeen titles at that time, and you come to the Clippers to
do something for the first time ever like that is meaningful, That enhances your
legacy so much more. To win a ship with the Clippers would do more
for him, more for PG, more for all these guys than winning somewhere
else. It's similar to those two championships Lebron won in Miami do not outweigh
the one he won for the Cleveland Cavaliers in twenty sixteen. Yeah, I
wouldn't he be the first guy to like, I mean, for all intensive
versus lead to different franchises to their first championship, Like that would be in
Okay, you're right, Lebron, Miami had won to know six without him,
Yeah, you're right, like Toronto and the Clippers, and like not
like be on the team obviously, Like I'm sure there's some guy who's like,
I've actually been just on seven teams for championships in the fifties, but
like to be the main guy. Will what have you seen? First of
all, will anything else you want to say about Kwhi Leonard, any other
adjectives you want to use to describe him? If not, what have you
been most excited from from the streak of play? I mean, yeah,
the Choi stuff is great. I think Adam succinctly wrapped it up. I
don't have too much more to add. It has been Look, I think
the thing that was the most concerning about this season, and certainly while why
I was down about it, was the availability of Kawhi and Paul George and
the results that that had yielded to that point thus far. And I think
seeing that turnaround is huge and seen Kauhi, seen Kauhi back at the height
of his powers, I think is especially important for a Clipper squad that doesn't
have and this is the cliche thing, but that doesn't have the vocal leaders,
right, Like, there are guys, but I don't know that there's
the one guy that's given like the that's given the halftime speech. You know,
I don't know that there's the one player on the Clippers team that that
does that. But what Kauhi does and what I think is in some way
is better in some ways, you know, it can be bad, but
is lead by example on the floor, and like what he does sets the
tone for everyone else. You see this guy who is you know, I
mean at his best the tops player all the time. Yeah, well,
and like at his best at what a top five or top three player in
the entire league. And you see this guy, you know, doing everything
that he can to gut out a win. You know, at this point
in the regular season. I think that that is infectious and carries across the
board, so that I mean it's they're the intangibles I think are are also
interesting to monitor across the board for this team that has had issues with motivation,
has had issues with effort. The thing that I have been really interested
in, and I know that we've talked about it a little bit. I've
talked about with Adam, I've talked about it with Chuck is a vitza Zubots
playing some of the best basketball of his career. I know in the Controversial
Rod episode we talked a lot about Biggs and I think that the streak that
they're back, that I think the streak that Zoo is on right now has
to be so encouraging, and to me, beyond the stats which we could
talk about, I know Adams talked about, but to me, the most
encouraging thing is we now see a visa zoo bots and closing lineups, which
is something that has not not really happened in the two and three era,
certainly not before, and that like him having that level of trust because they
both know that if they do need a bucket, there are ways that they
can lean on Zoo to do said thing. And then for his defense and
especially like with the absence of wings right in the James Harden trade and certainly
some of the futility that we saw in small ball lineups before that trade,
Zoo's like importance on the floor becomes doubly so in my opinion. And for
him to be at this level where TYLERU has ultimate confidence in him closing out
games, I think that is huge, just huge. That all of your
starters could actually be your closers. And and certainly and and and like they
have they fit well enough together, and they have the scale and are playing
at a level that you have no problem with them closing. Makes it even
better for someone like Tie or a matchup where you can even improve upon set
lineup. You can add more offense, you can you can tweak it a
little bit when all of those pieces are working as they should as constructed,
which I think, which I really think is is not something that we've necessarily
seen in the two and three era. If I'm being perfectly honest, I
don't know that we've seen a starting lineup that's like, this is what I
want starting, this is what I want closing. I have no problem and
I see few weaknesses when this group is on the floor. And I mean,
I'm not going to talk about two because I'm not going to overstate my
time here, but Terrence Terrence Man picking back up is great for that too.
But Zoo for me has been massive. I love the starting lineup com
because we had a question like last week where someone was like, if our
starting lineup is so good, Tie isn't closing the game with the starting lineup
and whatever you want to think. There's a lot of things that go into
being a head coach. This isn't a comment on ty Lewin anyway, but
now we're seeing it and we're seeing it work closing games. And that point
you made Will as you're talking about Zoo, I had. I was having
flashbacks to that first game against the Warriors that Zoo played and he just got
torched off the floor that first playoff game when Doc was still here, and
it was just like, oh, Zoo, you got a long way to
go. He's made not the he doesn't do big jumps, He's made incremental
flow, you know, up into the right stuff. Yes, that has
been so good for this Climbers team. And we know Adam Oslin Carl tart
is a soldier in the Army of Paul George. Adam Oslin has been commanding
the Aviza zu Bots brigade. U. You've been you've been preaching the goodness
of Zoo pretty regularly at him, and rightfully so I went off actually after
the Portland game just because of Vita Zubots had fourteen points on seven of nine
shooting in the three quarter, and he doesn't touch the ball. Well,
he may have touched it, but he doesn't get a shot up for the
next thirteen fourteen minutes. He's out there on the court until something like midway
through the third quarter, And that to me is just a failure of recognizing
a guy who's having a big night, who has played big, who has
earned more touches. It almost feels like to me at times with the Vitza
Zubots, he gets left behind like he's still a rookie or something like he
is still that young. In twenty nineteen, he looks exactly with the deer
in the headlights look on his face in Game one against the Golden State Warriors.
That's not the player he is anymore. He's grown from that completely.
That on Sabonis, good lord, yeah, but he typically dominates Sabonis.
He dunked on him when he was with the Indiana Pacers. I'm just I
don't know what else he has to do to earn those minutes late in games.
Now, it's consistency. I'm like, sorry to interject, it's one
hundred percent consistency. And this has been the issue with Zoo and I think
last year. But last year he was off to a great start, uh
and it didn't carry through that way. Very different with the availability of two
on three. But it's all about It's always been about consistency for me with
Zoo, and I feel like he's getting there now, which is the big
change to me. Though offense can come and go, especially when you're a
big man. You're depending on getting the basketball and finding the touch and the
rhythm. And we know Viatsa Zubas doesn't have the greatest hands and people get
on for that. But he's like really good in that area over the last
couple of weeks with James Harden and apparently they are working before practice after practice
ton on pick and roll stuff and he hasn't dropped many lately. And I
would just say this, I think the defense is consistently there from a Vitza
Zoobots for the most part, and when you need a big body late in
games like I think they should have used him in Denver in that game where
they're up seven with six minutes left and he doesn't get substantial minutes down the
stretch, they end up losing. Well the next time around, Yeah,
he was playing even better, I guess. But he wasn't bad in Denver
either against Joki and he didn't get minutes then. But this next time they
beat Denver at full strength of Vitza. Zubots is one of the stars down
the stretch. Well, he got the opportunity and he made the most of
it. I just think there are more opportunities like that for him, and
he'll rise to the occasion if you give him the chance. That's all he
needs. I think Big Zoo has been underutilized for years because every offseason it
seems like they come in and say all the right things. Oh, we're
gonna get it more. Looks we're gonna run the offense a little bit more
through him. The twenty one to twenty two season without Kawhi all year with
Paul George's playing thirty one games, he had multiple games like that, isn't
that where he went toe to toe almost with Nikola jokicch and had his career
high thirty two or whatever it was in a game. Yeah they lost,
but Big Zoo has overperformed many times and it just gets forgotten about. And
I don't know what it is. He keeps getting that treatment like he's still
a young player in this league and yes he's twenty six. But it is
time because there's another weapon out there that you can use that can help this
team win games. Use it when he's dominating like that against the Portland Trail
Blazers. Don't go away from it, don't forget about him during the ball
game, go right back to it until they prove they can stop it.
I think, I think you're right. I think part of the reason that
Zoo gets all the hate, which I think is so funny, is that
I think it's because he is he's the biggest guy on the court. As
you know, we talked about the Paul George court all the time, like
he's got to play like the biggest guy on the court, and sometimes people
see his body language and I think, you know, the other the people
think about the three main guys he's starting around, which is James Harden,
Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard. Anyone on court next to those three guys
is gonna look maybe not as prepared as you know what I'm saying, Like
I'm not justified, Like everyone's wrong who thinks out about Zoo, But I
think put in the context of the guys, he's had to play with his
body language. Sometimes you're like, get it together, Zoo, literally,
because he's the largest guy on the court and he is for whatever. He
gets a horrible whistle. Even people who hate Zoo have to admit that the
man does not get like he gets the he gets a work. Maybe not
as worst as Paul George, because Paul George should get more free throws,
but Zoo will get that picture of Chris Paul just ripping his shirt off,
Like Zoo gets no love from the officials and he tries to plete his case.
But he's been phenomenal. I hope people who wanted to trade for Daniel
Gafford uh realize how good Zoo bots has been for this team. And look
at the starting lineup numbers with James Harden, who loves Zoo. I can't
wait for James Harden to take Zoo to whatever strip club in Los Angeles,
James Harden has going to I want Zoo to be there. You get pick
and roll chemistry through you know, team outings and things like that. I
think Zoo even has a little higher to go, which kind of goes with
James Harden being a little more selfish sometimes in a good way that I'm looking
forward to. Just how many times I've never had a Gafford stand a count
I don't even know when we went to college. I honestly thought, I
mean, did he go to college at Wofford? Only because his last name
is Gafford and it sounds similar Arkansas boo, Well, shut up, Pat
Beav anyway, Sorry, Chuck. I expect it from the fans at times
to go bodylingk Whige with it, or see a couple of plays that confirms
that, oh see he doesn't have the hands because he dropped this, even
though ninety nine percent of the stuff he does is great. Yes, I
want to say one thing about the hands sometimes, Russell. I had a
friend who does not watch the Clippers very often. They had one of their
T and T games or something like that, and he was watching the Clippers
and he was texting me and he said, how come Russell Westbrook runs into
three defenders and then throws a ninety mile an hour fastball to zoo Bots right
next to him, And I just want to say sometimes there's some passes,
specifically from Russ that leaves Zoo in a difficult position, you know what I
mean, Like he'll he'll just be like here you go, whoom. It's
like a foot and a half away, and these same three defenders that were
on Russ just rotate fifteen degrees and are now guarding Zoo and that instant.
So that's all I wanted to point out. I just see a Visa Zoo
bus as another path to winning games that opens up a different element to their
offense because of how efficient he is at the basket and what he's shooting something
like sixty eight percent from is it five feet to nine feet out, so
floaters are all dropping for him. That's an elite all time type of number
that not even Nikolo Jokicic touched last season. Obviously he's doing it at a
lower volume, but he's been incredible. You have these high percentage looks you
can get from Vitza zu Bots more often than not, and you're just going
away from it for lower percentage shots sometimes, and I know the onus is
on James Harden and two one three to be the guys that do the heavy
lifting, and it needs to be that way. But when you see a
flaw and a team like the Portland Trail Blazers without Robert Williams, without DeAndre
Ayton and Zoo is crushing them and making himself look like a man amongst boys,
I just don't know why you go away from that, because it also
fuels your defense. That is one way to slow down up tempo when your
center is constantly just dunking on teams and they have to take it out of
bounce like that slows down teams from getting into their sets faster. And it's
the old Shack line of if you want the dodge to protect the house,
you got to feed him. Don't tell me. It's just not human nature
with the beats of Zoobos and every other big man, where if he's feeling
like he's more involved on offense, he's not gonna give you a better defensive
effort. It always happens that way, can I. Since we've discovered the
power of screen share here on clips and dip, I found Zoo's shot chart
for the season, and then we're gonna go We're gonna talk more about how
good this five game winning strick is in because there's a lot of good stuff
after this break. But really quick, I wanted to share Zoo's shooting chart
from this year. Can we see it? Can someone confirm if we can
see it? There we go, Look Zoobo shooting chart. This is phenomenal.
I think the funniest part is this little area right here. What's going
on at the center of the nail, to the right of the nail.
There's some comfortability like right here that I don't know if there's something to lean
on, but this is a d you expected from a zoo bot shot chart.
It's pretty close. But like I, I kind of like this little
area he's shot. I mean at the rimmy's at sixty five percent three to
ten feet, He's at sixty percent ten to less than sixteen feet, He's
at sixty six percent. Like there, There's not much more Zoo could be
doing right shooting wise. Offensively, He's not the best passer. He connects
things for sure, which is why I think the hockey assist would really benefit
a center like Zoo. You know what I mean, Like, Zoo's not
gonna make the assist out of the short role, but he's gonna make the
assist to the assist out of the short role kind of thing. Thank you.
I am charted very much. But yeah, I don't know. I
just got to be fun to show a shot chart like this is there's something
on the right side over here, kind of kind of bleeding over. I
may be wrong. He's right handed, so I mean that's natural. You'd
expect him to be more comfortable going right the jump. Well, here's the
other he's not shooting with. Maybe he should shoot with his left hand going
left. If we get ambidextrias Zoo, look out, everybody. I just
there's typically a pattern on the dominant side for a player like James Harden,
he's always more comfortable driving left. Uh, you're saying more ISOs for Zoo
going to his right, Well if you can. Yeah, they're gonna try
to take that away. But he's got a plethora of moves. He's got
a bag. How many times do we see if eatsa Zoo bots do something
in the paint. Go oh, I didn't know he had that on him.
There's just more game to him than I think we realized. One concerning
thing on that chart was the home road field goal percentaget, bring it back
up. Let me bring the chart back up. We can do that now
here on clips and dip, where he's shooting about fourteen percent better at home
than on the road. To Will's consistency point, at least on the offensive
side. You see that road, he's at fifty six percent from the floor.
At home, he's at sixty nine percent from the field. That's a
pretty big disparity and gap between the two. Pretty sure. All right,
Cliper Nation, give yourself some love. You're helping fuel Viza Zubats obviously at
home, but you want to see more consistency on the road there too.
Yeah, I think that's a really good call. All right, we got
to do a break and then we're gonna talk just more good stuff happening in
this five game winning streak, as well as Paul George's injury, which oh
no, our level, we haven't really talked about that altogether, but we're
gonna get into it. There's been some loud ads. Everyone who listened to
the Rod episode complained about the episode and the ads, which is why we
put in this disclaimer. We got ads coming up. They've been too loud
for you, go ahead and turn it down. We got ads coming up
in three to one. All right, we are back at Clips and Dip
talking good things from the five game winning streak. I want to put something
in here. Terrence's shooting is coming around, which I love to see.
If you take out the horrific game against the Warriors where he was one for
five from three, he shot forty one percent from three over the last four
games, which and Adam, I think you talked about this when we were
on the show, or will you brought it up. He does not shoot
very well for the Clippers to start the season, just throughout his Clippers' career.
It's just something. Yes, these are that was according to stats from
Justin Russo. So I trust it. Oh sure, yeah, absolutely.
We gave Justin Russo a lot of free pub last step did not give us
a shout out, But that's that's neither here nor there. Actually, also
very true, if anyone bought Rod's book, let us know, let us
know if it had improved your life or help your rebounding skills. But I
think I think Terrence is something to shout out. We've talked about Norm a
fair amount. I did want to get Adam, did you hear what Will
came up with last episode The Powell Rangers, Go, Go, Powell Rangers.
That is one of my favorite Is that a Will original? Yeah?
That's that's like the type of nickname I used to call Gore and Dragics,
the dragag zword. Okay for the Green Ranger because some people called him the
dragon too, but that's the type of nickname. I don't know how he
got that nickname. You're the dragon was born, but I won't say it.
Okay, pause, But that nickname is so good for Norman Powell.
It almost elevates the amount I want to see him on the court now in
how many minutes? And he's been great this season, but now it's like,
oh, Powell Rangers, let's go, let's go. Come on our
our umbrella corp two on three hoops tagged Eric Buie, who made if you're
watching on YouTube this fantastic background. And I think our clippers are our our
Twitter profile pick too. We need the Powell Rangers graphic The lineup of Norm
Powell with Harden pg Kawai Zoo is absolutely insane. We've talked about that enough.
This is kind of leading one I want to talk about. Uh Tie,
I think Tylu people wanted to fire time, people wanted to fire Tylu,
and now we won five in a row. He is doing his best
to get away from Westbrook and Harden sharing the floor. This kind of goes
into some of the chemistry stuff we talk about. We're gonna talk about PJ.
Tucker I think in this segment, but like there's things that you have
to do as a head coach that are sometimes detch mention to the team because
you have to show that they don't work sometimes. And I think we might
be in the latter stages of that with the with the Westbrook Harden pairing on
the four together. But I think anytime you have a five game win streak,
you can't not give a little bit of a shout out to the coach.
He's trusted Zoo, He's made these decisions, you know what I mean.
Like Tye is a large part of the reason why we're feeling this good
right now, because I think if if we're gonna because we did hate on
him a little bit on this podcast, but we got to give the respect
too, because it's been it's been a good job from Ty. Well okay,
wait wait, if you're watching on YouTube, you've already said, you've
already seen Will's name. Will is saying Dan Craig four PF for coach Will
go ahead, No, I'm just playing well, okay, all right.
One, I have one. I have one criticism, and it's been a
through line of the two and three era, because I will listen to that
criticism undertie, and that is I just don't get why he walks back some
of the things that he says are like a priority or or says or something
that we're gonna do, most notably in this wind streak. You know,
I thought we had a pretty clear intention and idea of what the backcourt would
look like in terms of minutes with both Westbrook and Harden on the floor,
and then apparently we we do not anymore there, you know, And these
are things there, These are things that like these aren't fans tweeting at him
saying this, this is stuff that he has said. I'm sure Adam has
the receipts somewhere in a shoe box underneath. Do you print them out?
Do you print out tweet but that's my that's my biggest criticism. Boards,
that's my biggest criticism. And I'm not saying that he's not necessarily deserving another
shout out, but there is still some some stuff, of course, Okay,
all right, there's still some No thanks, it has look it up.
I know there's things, but he's been good. There's always gonna be
things, though, no matter who the head coach is, there's always going
to be a section of the fan base that is looking at all the numbers
and saying objectively, this isn't working and it's still happening, and why is
this happening? I don't know if you guys have noticed what's happening in Philly
now, Uh, Marcus Morris is playing way more than Robert curveingson, even
though Roco was playing really well for them. What is up with Roco's career
at this point. That's now two teams where he's gone and sorry to derail
this, he's gone and played really, really fucking good for what those teams
need, and then they're just like like we need shot creation. I don't
know, I don't understand. It makes no sense. Yeah, no,
it's it's uh yeah, it's a tough one. Rational, honest. So
now this happened yes yesterday, and I thought it was interesting, of note,
we can do that now a lineup, Yeah, I mean it's a
pretty easy one. So it's not that complicated, you visual. But the
lineup that was a plus nine for the Clippers against the Sacramento Kings in seven
minutes and eight seconds of on court time was Russ next to Norm next to
Harden, next to Kobe Brown, next to Daniel Tice. This was I
think the first time that a Russ James Harden lineup out there had won their
minutes in a significant way. And it happened last night against Sacramento. Now,
I don't know all the portions in times of the game had happened at
maybe the momentum was all with the Clippers, but they've been chasing, trying
to find a way to get Russ and Hardened out there together and to make
it successful. And for the most part, the Clippers have been shooting under
forty percent when those two were on the court together, twenty five percent from
three. It's not working. It doesn't seem like it's going to work,
especially against high end competition. It's just fundamentally flawed, two guys that are
depending on having the ball in their hands to bring out the best in them.
But they went with it last night. Seven minutes of court time and
it was a plus nine out there, So maybe I guess the team though
that was on the second night of a hard back to back that we're weird
a hard back to back. We have the super fucking trail Blazers, dude,
and barely real and barely real, that's real thirty minutes. That doesn't
make him a good team. That doesn't make it a hard back to back.
That's that's on you. But I agree it's on them. Yeah,
but still played forty minutes close, Yeah, I mean Paul George played forty
one minutes. Coah, I played I think thirty eight and James Harden thirty
seven the night before. I would have liked them to only play twenty five.
That would have been great. Yeah, But I think it was an
even playing field yesterday against Sacramento. They played their stars less the night before
against Brooklyn, as they put them away earlier in the third. I give
the Clippers a ton of credit for the way they came out last night,
and it's it's been like this on the second game of back to backs against
the Lakers was the first one against the Dallas Mavericks when they held them to
eighty eight points. That was the second night of a back to back last
night too, outside of the one where they were up in Sacramento and then
Golden State got the victory in Sacramento lost in Golden State the next night.
They were still in that game. But outside of that, the Clippers have
looked damn near fresh and not as tired of the lethargic as I would have
thought in any of the second nights on these back to backs so far this
season. Yeah, that's been a revelation. I would say I've been shocked
how good they've looked. All right, Adam, we talked about this last
time. You said that. Josephry Ward also texted this to you. Since
talked about this. I can't get that guy. Joseph ry Award predicted the
Clippers will go fourteen and six over twenty games starting with the Jazz game.
So far, we're at three and oh so as good of a story as
you could quite literally possibly have. Adam, do you think the Clippers are
going eleven and six over their next seventeen to fulfill former Clippers podcaster Great some
would say just former Clippers podcaster per Will last episode of Going fourteen and six
over this twenty game Stratch I told him I thought it was possible, depending
on health and the way they're gonna rearrange lineups and rotations, and if they
play heavier minutes as they have been. And I do think it is a
concern. And coach lu talked about this after the victory over the Portland Trail
Blazers, that they are playing the two to one three guys a little too
much this early in the season, and he said they don't want to run
him into the ground, but they also want to win games. So there's
that balance you have to strike. But I do want to caution people because
eventually those legs will catch up with you. You can't have guys playing thirty
eight minutes every night. You may think, oh, professional athletes, whatever,
Adam, No, no, no, no, no no no.
This is what happened to Lebron James and the Lakers last season, where all
of a sudden, every fourth quarter they could get across the finish line because
he was playing heavy minutes, and they take their toll and it's not a
video game. So what were you gonna say? I was gonna say,
Will brought this up last episode? We did kind of the rotation situation right
now because it feels like so Paul George Hurd his groin questionable for tomorrow's game
versus the Dubs. I don't think we're wildly concerned about the growing. He
could have come in per tylu back again versus the King, but it was
like a thirty point game. We don't know. But will you brought this
up kind of how the short rotation like we might be playing with a little
bit of fire here. Yes, no, I mean I've already said my
thoughts like on this, so I don't want to reiterate it too much.
But the Clippers have found something that's working. That's why they're in a win
streak. You know, it's not debatable. The thing is is it's a
double edged sword for me because there are guys on this roster that, if
you want to get wins, cannot play a lot of minutes. And that
is just man, that is a hard reality. There are guys that cannot
be on the floor if you want to win minutes, even against a second
unit, sometimes a third in the case of a Denver game. But at
the same time, like you have to put time into what works. And
I think something that's sort of interesting is as much as we know about sports
science, I do feel like there's a little bit lacking in terms of like
what accumulative sort of I guess I'm gonna say load, that's not the right
word, but like accumulative sort of exertion is right. Because on one hand,
you don't obviously you don't want injuries, No, none of the thirty
teams want that. We say that every single season, but we don't necessarily
know what the correlation is between the amount of time and games that you're supposed
to play with you know, the propensity for injury, and we see all
the time right in the NFL when a team has a bye week sometimes it's
not advantageous in the playoffs, and I think the same thing can happen in
basketball. So and I think part of the reason that they've been able to
turn things around so hard, from a six game losing streak to now a
five game winning streak has been the amount of minutes on the floor. And
we know with the schedule, which sucks. It sucks for the Clippers,
but it is a harsh reality that this is not a favorable schedule, that
they don't have a lot of practice time. And so I'm kind of understanding
at this point in the season why we're seeing these guys playing thirty eight minutes,
why we're seeing them play bigger minutes. But what I'm hoping, my
hope is is that as we continue, we can see that sort of start
to go down, especially if we have games like we had against the Kings
where the starters were able to put away something early, we can keep those
minutes a little bit lower. And I think overall, that's to me,
the best of both worlds, right, because you stay in rhythm, you
continue to build this chemistry that you can't do just through practices. You need
game reps, while hopefully keeping everybody fresh enough and healthy enough for the duration
of the season. But in terms of like the short rotation, hopefully that
those two things can coincide. But unless you have a lead like you had
against the Kings. Again, there are players on this roster that I don't
know how you find minutes for. It feels like Kobe Brown not to push
the agenda too hard. If Kobe Brown is playing well, that is very
advantageous for the Clippers lineup. We know Daniel Tye is gonna get minutes,
we know Norm's gonna get minutes, we know Russ is gonna get minutes.
There's your eight man rotation. If Kobe Brown can fill in sixteen to twenty
minutes of productive basketball, there's your nine guys. And I think everyone's much
more coup with a nine man rotation over an eight with the squad. Yes,
I am a Kobe Brown knows here. Second time we've used this name.
I will take it every time. But I think that because PJ.
Tucker, who we're going to talk about his trade value next segment, has
been bad, Kobe Brown, weirdly can really help this roster stretch some of
these minutes. I think it's an interesting converce and one that needs to be
had, and I'm sure is within the Clippers organization, the front office,
the coaching staff. Coach Lou alluded to that they're aware they don't want to
run these guys into the ground. I remember back to the Mike D'Antoni year
with Dwight Howard with the Lakers, and a lot of people blamed dan Toni
Lakers fans for Kobe tearing his achilles because they got off to that slow start
and then they had to catch up just to get in the playoff picture,
which they eventually did and got swept by the San Antonio Spurs. But sure,
the last forty games of the season, I think they went something like
twenty eight and twelve, and Kobe was playing forty one minutes a night,
and he was doing a lot more too because they had him, and it
was some of the best basketball I thought he ever played, because he was
playing within the system with Mike D'Antoni and he was being more of a distribute
and making guys around them better and stuff. But it took its toll,
and people speculate whether or not that achilles injury was an accumulation of minutes and
not just one bad movement. Nobody really know these things, sure, because
it's not like with Aaron Rodgers this season. The reason he tore his achilles
is because they were ten games in and over time the wear and tear led
to a full complete achilles tear. It was the third player or whatever of
the game. So you never know what these things, but you know common
knowledge, colloquial knowledge, or whatever would tell you that you just don't want
to press the gas pedal down too hard early in the season and have them
running in the red too much, because eventually you could hit the wall.
And so you got to strike that balance, like I said earlier, of
winning games but also not chasing them to the extent this early in the season
where you'll be losing games later on because you won't have these players available.
And we don't know if Paul George playing those heavy minutes like he has been
near forty minutes per game the first, you know, a couple months of
the season, not kwie, he's probably thirty seven or something like that.
If that led to the sore left groin, or if it was just a
tweak, it was just one bad movement. But the good news is that
he could have played the second half if they weren't leading by twenty two at
the half over the Sacramento Kings, if that was a playoff game or a
must win type of situation towards the end of the regular season, he would
have been there. Yeah, his man, the Paul George minutes load,
I'm just going to read it back from the last handful of games forty one,
thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty eight, thirty seven, forty thirty
six, thirty six, thirty eight. A lot of basketball from those guys
this but it's to cover Chuck, And I want to make this point because
they haven't figured out out the most optimum lineups without those guys yet, right,
So if you're going to get by in the regular season and win some
of these games without them, you still have to discover who works well with
who in the second unit. Yeah, third unit stuff, but that still
has quid PG out there. Y. The starters are covering, the stars
are covering for a lot, and that's their job. But it is something
worth monitoring early in the season that they're having to do it this much,
to this extent because a lot of these other lineups are coming up with a
negative number that they throw out there. But like I was saying, don't
you think that the pendulum could eventually swing the other way as things continue to
click, you know what I'm saying, Like, maybe this is an early
investment that can can later hopefully you know, it can pay dividends. It
has to be right, Eventually, they have to find those other lineups to
booy the stars, and it goes back the other where they're only playing thirty
three minutes for a couple of weeks, you know, and that's because well,
we found these other lineups that could win games for us in rotations that
work. Now is we've gotten more time together and we've gotten more evidence.
One person who's not working in any of the lineups that they play in is
PJ Tucker, and he wants more playing time. Per PJ Tucker, the
second time we have heard him talk about this to a publication. Apparently other
contenders are monitoring his situation, which hey, to the Western Conference contenders monitoring
it, send us whatever you want. If I were GM, I would
trade him for I don't know, bring in and out, Like what what
is PJ. Tucker's trade value right now? And should the Clippers just take
whatever deal they can get? I don't like, I don't know. I
I honestly don't know how to gauge someone like PJ Tucker because he's such a
unique player to start with, even in his prime, and now he's thirty
eight, what's the second oldest player in the league, and it seems like
he's having trouble coming to grips with that talking about and we talked about the
OC Register article from a month and a half ago, and that was a
little bit of a red flag at the time because he said, I have
to make the biggest adjustment because I'm used to playing thirty minutes a night.
Yeah. Him, And that's what happens with stars as they age out or
if they're just not in that same situation. Look at Russ and the way
he's handled himself and not playing big minutes right now, there's a guy on
the roster that is showing the blueprint on how to adjust as you age,
hopefully gracefully, but it works as a young guy. Look at Bones.
Look at Bones handling a situation well right, who has showed a ton of
promise in preseason, early games in the regular season, and he hasn't made
a stink at all. He's the same there celebrating other guys playing well.
I don't know. I FJ. Tucker because of when he started turning down
shots and not even taking them anymore from the corner. That's where it gets
to a point where is he really playable? I would like him to see
minutes here and there, depending on the matchup like against Jokich against Zion,
but we're talking five to ten minutes. Even in those games where I think
he can just be a disruptor, you throw a wrench in the gears where
they just don't see this defender coming and you don't need his offense for that
stretch because you put him out there with the right lineup that has plenty of
firepower, and all he does is throw a guy out a rhythm. Because
I think his defense is still pretty good. So that's why I don't know
exactly where his value's at. Will what do you think? Well, I
with the defensive thing, I agree with you. I just feel like it's
been up and down. And I think the thing that we see with players
across the board is when they're not when they're not half be with their role,
you don't see the same level of effort and commitment on that side of
the floor. And I gotta be honest there, you know, PJ.
We you know, we knew that he was gonna have his offensive limitations coming
in, but they were compounded by a hesitancy to take shots. And unfortunately
for him, you know, uh, it came at a time where the
team was losing a lot of games, and there was a lot of there
was a lot of hesitancy to take open shots and due to a you know,
due to reworking the team around the fit with James Harden. So he
is a little bit of a of a victim of circumstance for sure. But
for me, like, I just don't get what your end goal is by
releasing statements like this, And you know, I'm not I don't cape for
the owners in any in any scenario or any way, but like, if
your goal is to get traded, is displaying yourself as a malcontent the best
way to get traded? And if your goal is more minutes on this team,
is you know, airing dirty laundry about the team that you're currently on
the like your path to get more minutes? I just I don't really get
the intention. And to me, what we've seen through these two things tells
me, and you know, not to put too final a point on it,
but that tells me everything that I need to know about PJ. Tucker
and where he belongs in this rotation, and to me, that means he's
best on the bench. Well, let's not forget when coach Lou made the
decision after five straight losses with James Harden next to Russell Westbrook in the backcourt,
to put in Terrence Man for Russ in the starting lineup. He said
he thought about PJ. Tucker or Terrence Man, one of those two we've
talked about, We've talked about the we've talked about the wildness of possible scenarios
on this podcast. But I don't think he's alone in the coaching world of
being someone that just favors a defensive stopper who brings toughness and attitude and it
feels like it's a culture builder type of guy that it will get your team
to come out and play aggressively defensively because you have PJ. Tucker out there.
So I wouldn't be shocked if a contender or somebody else is poking around
and kicking the tires and wondering his availability and how they can get him.
But Ice was brought up and playing this well for the Clippers or brought in
and then he was out in that game against the Utah Jazz and PJ.
Tucker still didn't get minutes and I beats the Zoobots instead played forty two.
That was telling yeah, and Kobe Brown's minutes. He's taking Kobe Brown has
taken PJ. Tucker's minutes, and the Clippers are not losing. And I
know it's not that simple, but it's one of the things that has helped
this team. If you're a PJ. Tucker stand, we'd love to have
you on the pod, love to talk where your head's at. The idea
of the idea. Coming up, we are gonna talk a little bit about
Clippers versus Warriors. Uh, we're gonna talk about Uh, We're gonna remind
everyone that we're kind of doing this this charity thing with the given a quarter
thing. We're coming up. We're talking Clippers versus Warriors. If the ads
has been too out for you, go ahead and turn it down. We
got ads coming up, and then game talking three to what welcome back in
clips and dip. I'm Adam Oslin last night a little double dip with myself
and uh yeah, I think it was, uh will updykra A very little
double dip. It was. I got cut off at like the six minute
mark. He was like, get the hell off my get get off my
radio. They were kicking me off. At eleven. I was up against
the clock. Will, I'm sorry, it was time crisis and I no
longer had the gun. Uh. Clippers though, have one five straight.
That's the current longest winning streak in the NBA at the moment. By the
way, guys, they have won ten of thirteen. And I would like
to say this to a few different people, and I'm not gonna call them
out by name. I thought about doing a whole big receipt thing in my
triumphant return to the podcast today and really getting into the nitty gritty here,
and just so much for not doing that. You're right, that's what we
have to worry about, not Rod coming on here and just asking on a
team for an hour. It's great, great way to do it. There
are a lot of people who are all high and mighty when the Clippers had
lost six in a row, when they had lost five straight with James Harden
and Will and I talked about this a little bit last night, but I'm
not hearing the same energy now that they've won five straight and at one ten
of thirteen and look like they have a real viable system offensively. That's not
just your turn, my turn, Kawhi and PG and oh I don't know.
When people say, look at Russ, he's sacrificing minutes, you're telling
me James Harden hasn't sacrificed shots. He only took nine last night, Chuck,
how many shots has he taken so far as a Clipper? What's his
average shot attempt? Eleven per game? What is he How many shots is
the average per game? It is significantly lower than it's ever been in his
entire career. And some people aren't coming to grips with the fact that,
oh, maybe James Harden there you go, isn't playing the same way that
he has in the past, and maybe he is doing what he said he
was going to do, and maybe that a system comment was blown out of
proportion. I'm still waiting for a lot of people to say, you know
what, he proved me wrong. That's fine. Isn't that what you want
as a Clipper fan, for him to prove you wrong. Tell me this
team and this starting lineup doesn't look amazing out there with their one twenty offensive
rating and one to zero five defensive rating. Tell me that when they're shooting
fifty two percent with that starting five on the floor and over forty percent from
the outside. That doesn't have something to do with James Harden and not playing
ISO ball all the time, like a lot of people stereotype him as this
an ISO dribbler, and instead he's getting guys easy looks. He's bringing the
best at a big zoo. That's not a coincidence that it beats Zubos is
playing the best some of the best basketball of his career right now the last
thirteen games with this new starting lineup, it's James Kawhi Leonard catching fire like
this and talking about postgame how he has more energy defensively because he doesn't have
to do as much on the offensive end, and him shooting sixty two percent
from the field the last six games. I think we need to start giving
James Harden some credit. I know it's just winning ten of thirteen, but
if you can't see the vision and why they brought him in and why it
would make sense to bring him in next to two point three, I don't
know what to tell you at this point, eleven and six over the next
seventeen and then people will believe. Then we'll be at the fourth, Then
we'll be at the Jrw. Fourteen and six record. I agree with everything
you said. A lot of people are still gonna be like, wait till
the playoffs. I'm gonna end up being right. I'm playing the long game.
You guys don't know. I don't have to apologize for anything yet.
I'm sorry, but it's working the way they constructed this. Bringing Russ off
the bench, who looks happy? Does he look like a guy who's upset?
Russ stands, stand down, stand down, Russell Westbrook, he is
playing well in this role off the bench. I heard the chance last night.
We want Russ late in the fourth quarter. They wanted him back out
there. He acknowledged the crowd, he pointed to them. He's got a
big smile on his face. Russell Westbrook looks like somebody who wanted to sacrifice
for the betterment of the team. And it's working and he's happy they're winning.
So support Russ in that decision. That's what I would say. I
love it. I love this energy. Do you think we're gonna see who's
gonna be more valuable in this game against the Warriors? Hardener Russ, the
Warriors without Draymond Green, who's suspended indefinitely for talk about clowns. I'll tell
you what I thought it should have been a fall on nerk back in mind
it that's a foul on nerk Rod is Rod in the room with us right
now? Are we? How much does this affect Clippers versus Warriors? He's
been over the last five games, four of their most played lineups involved Draymond
Green. How are we feeling? Is this a trap game now that Draymond's
out? I don't know it's PG playing? He's questionable? Right? Do
you want him? Oh? Here's the question? Will do you want PG
to play? Yep? Trust your guys? Yeah, I mean why not?
Like, yeah, I want him to play with? Should he play?
I don't know. I'm not a doctor? Okay, sure, all
right, Adam? What are your thoughts? Should he take the rest off?
It's five? What is it? Five and seven or a four and
six or some shitty thing? Just depends on how bad it is the severity
of the injury and how bad you want to win this game, and how
bad do you think you need him. With the way Kawai is playing right
now and having James Harden the fold, they're talented enough to win over this
struggling Golden State Warriors team without Paul George. They are, especially because Draymond
Green and I don't like him obviously, especially over the last couple of years.
It's just he's turning into a caricature of what people thought of him.
Things usually don't end pretty with dynasties and teams like this, and it seems
like it's starting to unravel a little bit for the Golden State Warriors. But
he's been their heart and soul. There is a foundation when he's out there
on the court. There's a reason why they won four championships. There's a
reason he and Steph Curry work so well together. And even though his meager
stats, they just don't account for the impact on winning that Draymond Green has
displayed with this Golden State Warriors team. So that's a big loss for them.
So if you want to say both teams are without pretty substantial players,
I still think the Clippers by far the more talented group, and they played
Steph Curry pretty well the last two times this season against Golden State. If
they get up for that game, regardless of if Paul George is available,
I feel pretty good about their chances. And last game, Draymond went what
four for eight from three, which he had like twenty. It was absolutely
insane. It's gross. It was frustrating. Come on, he makes one
three a game and he's already got four threes made in the first quarter.
Yeah, Will, what's a major thing you're looking for from the clips in
this game to make you feel good about of it? Because they don't play
until Nicks on Saturday after this game. I mean, really just more of
the same. I want to continue to see some consistency from Zoo as well
as continuity from all the guys. If Paul George is unable to go or
you know, they just out of an abundance, ideally out of an abundance
of caution, he doesn't end up going in this one, I'd really like
to see what that looks like. Does that insert norm into the starting lineup?
I'm curious to see what that looks like. But I think I think
throughout the trials and tribulations of a regular season, you know, we've had
an overwhelming abundance of health and been super lucky so far, but every team,
every championship team, for the most part, is going to have to
go through spots this season, missing some of their best talent, and to
see how the Clippers who are currently on this heater are able to respond to
that. I think is going to say a lot about where this team is
and longevity wise, where this is. Even playing a team that is down
as substantial is no I mean, there's no way to underwrite it. A
very substantial part of what makes the Warriors good. And it's hard to take
down a team three times within the span of two weeks since they've been playing
Golden State a lot recently, but there's a path to do so. You
mentioned Avisa Zubots the game with the twenty two point comeback and the Paul George
game winner over Klay Thompson against the Golden State Warriors. Big Zoo was six
of six from the field and he didn't play a possession in the fourth quarter
of that one ended up being the right move. Daniel Tys was great,
they went small, Coach Lou pushed all the right buttons. But I'm telling
you even more so without Draymond Green, there is an advantage there going against
Looney or Dario Sarich. I want to see Zoo get to finish what he
started in that game when he was six of six from the field. Want
to see them exploit Avitza Zubats as much as possible against this smaller Golden State
Warriors team and not make it as difficult as it has to be. Love
to get a victory the path of least resistance, That's what I'm looking for.
I'm looking for the easy buckets. Would be nice easy buckets and defensive
integrity to start this game. Just let's let's play like we haven't won five
in a row, you know what I mean, Like, let's let's set
the tone at the point of attack. I hope Tyler's careful with the Westbrook
cardin minutes. I'm not sure when those are gonna be done. But if
this game starts, if the starters start off, they're usual, what are
they plus ten point three in the in the minutes they've all shared together.
Now, Like, if we start at that plus ten rate, I feel
really good about this team because it means the defense is doing a lot of
good work. And without Paul George, that could be a taller order we
like you talked about, but that will show us. I don't know if
they'll start norm if Paul George can't go, just because that defense is a
little you know, I don't know. It is the Warriors, which is
always a pain in the ass, but hey, I'm looking forward to it.
That defense wrecked Sacramento yesterday. I don't give a damn that. They
were coming on a back to back and they had just st a franchise record
of made three pointers in a game where they hit twenty five against Brooklyn the
day before, and then they end up shooting twenty five percent from three against
the Clippers the very next night, and Deer and Fox never got it going,
so Bonus never got it going. Monk to hold Sacramento to ninety nine
points, that was one of the better defensive efforts we've seen in the two
pine three era. Considering I thought they were gonna be tired legs. I
thought it was a missed opportunity to put Portland away to save legs for Sacramento.
It didn't matter. They looked great out there. It was looking good.
It was looking good. Okay, Now the most important part player of
the game picks Adam Auslin's your player of the game for Clippers versus Warriors.
I'm piggybacking off myself of what I just said with Big Zoo. I'm going
with Big Zoo. He's been averaging a double double. We're talking like fifteen
and thirteen or something. He's been averaging fourteen and I think eleven over like
the last ten games now, So I don't know. I'm gonna say twenty
and thirteen from Big Zoo in the game. That's what I'm going with it,
all right, Well, Player of the Game Clippers Warriors got Adam with
twenty and thirteen from Big Zoo. I'm gonna go with Harden And I think
that this if Paul George doesn't go, we're gonna need to see him doubly
aggressive offensively. And he's had I mean, he's had quite a few great
games throughout this stretch, but I think that this one could be a standout
for him, both as a facilitator and as a scorer. And I have
said that before and gotten burned, but I'm feeling good about this one.
And yeah, if they do have to grind out a win without Paul George,
he is one of those guys who's gonna have to step up in a
big way. And I think what we saw with him aggressive like aggression wise
against Sacramento the second night of a back to back, might I add bodes
well, bodes very well. I'm going and I don't think any of us
have ever picked this player before. I'm going, No way, I did
pick him once. I'm going Russ. I think Russ steps up in this
game. I think we get good Russ. I don't know if that means
twenty five minutes, whatever, whatever, whatever. I think we get a
good Russ game. I think it helps us win in the game. It's
maybe a little too close to than we want it to be, but I'm
picking Russ on this one. I think part of the reason that they were
trying out Russ and Harden in that game where they were up by thirty in
last night against the Kings was because they saw the Golden State Warriors on the
schedule, And we have a chance to play smaller against this team, and
we're gonna see it again, and maybe maybe coach lou will find it.
He'll find the right lineup we're Russ and Harden can play together, because if
you can figure that out, that would be huge for unlocking a second unit
that just brings more stability to this team when starters are down or not playing
heavier minutes. As we've mentioned earlier, or out like Paul George. Maybe,
yeah, that's a good guy. We'll be back with a double dip
tomorrow over on AM five seventy tripod on Sunday, something like that. We're
gonna get it figure out. We're also gonna think of a charity. If
you've thought of a charity, comment on YouTube YouTube dot comapla at Clibber's podcast
that we should donate our give no quarter funds to. We're looking at a
pretty penny so far. We're up to like, I think nine bucks between
the three of us. We're barely even core right through the season. Subscribe
to us on YouTube. Will where can these people listen to this podcast?
So you can listen to the audio version of this podcast wherever you get your
podcasts. We're on Apple Podcasts, We're on Spotify, We're on stitch you,
We're on Deeze, We're on Google podcast, We're on Amazon Music.
But if you want the full experience clips and the real, the real thing,
you gotta go over to YouTube that's at clippers podcast. Please give a
like and subscribe. We'd really really appreciate it. And as always, you
know, if you want to chop it up with us, we're over on
Twitter. That's at Clippers Pod, not Clippers Podcast, like the YouTube,
which you should be liking and subscribing to, and you can you can reach
us over there, Adam, give him the thumbs down. That's not a
good way to kick this over, Adam. We're so happy to have you
back. The tripod is fully back. We went a little longer than usual,
but that's what happens. Can we get up some positive words before we
send these Clippers fans out for an episode that's really supposed to be listening to
over maybe a couple of days. As much as I like just receipt poaching,
I love all you guys. Russ stands as well. Stand up for
your guy, Maybe stand down a little bit with some of the rhetoric,
because he is enjoying what the clip are doing right now and the role he
is playing. He's thriving in it, and I agree with Chuck he could
be big tomorrow. I like the winning plays he is making. He went
from I think at times having more of those empty stats to now having less
stats that are more impactful to winning. Don't worry about his numbers, worry
about the efficiency out there. Getting to the basket. He turned down a
three pointer in that game last night in the corner and just took his man
to the block and put it up over him. Russ just bodying, guys.
I love seeing that and him turning into this fan favorite six man off
the bench. This is the story arc I want to see for Russell Westbrook
to win a championship with this team playing this role, it can all happen.
And just you know, as Will was springing up or I think Chuck
was earlier about Coach Lou. Got to give him credit for pushing a lot
of the buttons right now. And this Clippers team is finding themselves. They
are it's coming together, keep it going. Starts at the defensive end up
unto the right, which I guess if you're watching, is this way.
Thank you for the positive words, Adam, Thank you to everyone listening.
We're back. The Clippers might win every game from here on out. Who
knows, that would be pretty cool. We'll be back with a double dip
tomorrow, full tripod on Sunday, and as always, let's go Clips and
don't let Ron win.