Welcome into Clips and Dip, episode thirty two of season two. I'm at
a Maslim. We got Chuck Mackler and we'll updyke here in a very good
show for you guys. Coming up later, Clippers on a big three game
road trips, some tough ones in Indiana, Dallas. Okay, see,
we'll preview those games. We'll also take your questions. We put it out
at Clippers Pod on Twitter, and you guys responded to it. We wanted
to know what you guys were thinking about. We'll react to those. But
thanks all the new subscribers. We got a lot of them right now coming
on YouTube, and I hope you're watching this there because Chuck just put a
thumbs up up and now he got a graphic thumbs up because we have some
augmented reality crazy stuff going on here at Clippers Podcast on YouTube is where you
find us. Can I get it? Can I get the fireworks when I
go thumb up? No? No fireworks, No Rainbow Road Mario Kart for
me. But it's gonna be with you, guys. Chuck. We'll start
with you. How you been I'm feeling good this seven game win streak.
Uh, We're gonna talk about it, but it really makes it feel like
the West. Is that like last year when we talked about the West being
wide open? This is the Clippers are very close to second place right now,
which is surprising after what happened. So I feeling good. It's the
holiday season. I wish it was colder in LA, but the Clippers are
winning, so you know, can't complain about too much. Big will big
double last night? How you feeling feeling good? Feeling good? Double big
dub last night. I also want to give a shout out to the Grizzlies.
Ye ye, Charles and I was Alma Monter. They're headed to a
They're headed to a national championship. So yeah, just wins on wins over
here. But yeah, I'm I'm doing great, doing great, excited,
excited about these Clippers. Man. I gotta tell you that I'm nearly a
full one to eighty from where I was a mere two weeks ago. Is
this about the rodden ing the rod again? Well, Hey, they haven't
lost since they have came on the show, and the Clippers have won seventh
straight. They've won twelve of their last fifteen. They win last night in
impressive fashion. I have to say, I know the New York Knicks were
on a back to back, but the Clippers handled their business. Chuck,
what has stood out to you most during this seven game winning streak right now?
I mean, it's just James Harden. Well, there's two main things.
It's James Harden steadily increasing his aggression within the offense and taking control of
it as kind of the main driver. And then there's obviously Kawhi Leonard playing
at you know, maybe as the best player in the league right now.
Probably tier, yeah, god, tier, some would say, so,
it's probably James Harden. I think I put this in the show notes,
but are we surprised that the reigning assist leader is still able to hand out
assists a mere one one season after? How shocked are It's just wild.
It's just wild that the guy who has been one of the best at playmaking
in his career over the last fifteen years pretty much can still do it.
And how many people didn't know that he could do that stuff. It's it's
crazy. I feel like I feel like that's just the cliched thing that went
around right like, even when he was in MVP contention, I feel like
people were surprised at the at the passes because you know a lot of times
when he was initiating for himself, it's a very dribble heavy, uh,
you know, ball dominant sort of thing. But this, this isn't anything
new. And if you like you know, if you've watched his game,
this isn't really any that. This isn't really anything new. It's great that
it's finally clicking with the Clippers, but it unexpected. I would say,
is a bridge too far for me? Did you hear that, Casual?
So this is nothing new? Will say attacking casual? Oh there was.
There was so many people down on the James Harden trade, guys, and
what we've seen in this turnaround has been it's not unprecedented, it's not shocking,
but it has been fun to watch. Like Clipper Nation, I tweeted
last night, this is one of the best runs in the two to three
era. What we're seeing, this brand of basketball, the level of dominance
because of the competition they have faced during this run over the last fifteen games,
and they are beating really good teams in impressive fashion. I don't think
you can say enough about the impact of James Harden and all this. Yes,
he's been fantastic. There's one thing I wanted to know kind of about
yesterday. Are we worried about the defense at all? Or just the one
offer yesterday? That was a lot of points given up to a next team
that is okay? But are we more so just happy that everything's clicking on
offense? There's a lot of possessions. I'm not knocking. I'm just asking
the question. You scored one forty four, Yeah, they might have one
twenty still won by twenty two points. Always be better, You can always
be better, all right? Will gotta hold him? So one hundred?
Come on, man? Yeah I wanted this. Yeah. Look, I
took the Clippers minus forty seven and a half. I was. I was
in a bad spot. Now, Adam, what have you liked other than
other than James Harden right now? What's stuck out for you in this seven
game win stream? I think I said it on the last show, but
Kawhi Leonard, Guys, this is the best version of him since tearing the
acl How can it not be? Sixty three percent from the field, sixty
percent from three, ninety percent from the free throw line in his last nine
games. Those nine are posts the Reggie Jackson DeAndre Jordan victory with the Denver
Nuggets over the Clippers. Ever since then, when Kawhi got up those twenty
six shots and only scored thirty one points, and then last night he has
thirty six points on just sixteen shots. Ever since that game against Denver,
it looked like Kawhi Leonard just shot himself out of a slump. And that's
all it was all along. For all the worry and concern over Kawhi Leonard
and him getting off to a slow start this season and Paul George being the
best Clipper and can you really win long term that way, Kawhi Leonard is
back to being the a the number one player on the team, the alpha,
the guy who's the top three player in the league, and nobody's really
playing better so far. In December, I was trying to look up just
historically to put this in perspective, what are some of the greatest runs in
a ten game sample size in a month in NBA history, And of course
you get a lot of Will Chamberlain, you get Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan's
it was great what he did back in the day against seven other teams,
and very impressive stuff. Man, not mad, just facts. But I
was looking up because Kobe has had some insane months where he's averaged over forty
points in the month James Harden with the Houston Rockets, But there was one
month with Michael Jordan in nineteen ninety where actually wasn't a month. I was
trying to find something that's just close to what Kawhi Leonard's doing. And while
he's only at a tick under thirty points per game during this span of nine
games with all this efficiency, those guys obviously were scoring in the forties,
but the efficiency wasn't there at this level. Larry Bird had a month that
was around this level before. I think back in nineteen eighty six where he
was close to touching sixty percent from the floor. But all those guys,
you know, Kawhi shooting sixty percent from three, Jordan was hardly taking any
back then, Kobe was taking them. Larry Bird was taking some, but
it wasn't a lot. To be doing this on a steady diet of mid
rain shots in three pointers and getting to the basket here and there. It's
unreal, like this is something we may never see again by someone in a
slipper's uniform, the type of hot streak that Kawhi Leonard has been on will
We talked about it a little bit. I feel like my my concern for
like maybe the legs or anything like that kind of keeps going away. If
you're not watching us on YouTube, you can't see the funny names we give
each other. How are you feeling about that? Because he looks great physically.
There's no slow start or anything like that. Like I'm not as worried
about some burnout or anything like that. We talked about some rotation crunch a
little bit last episode, but we got some questions about that. But right
now, it seems like Tyler's kind of pulling all the right strings and playing
the guys when they want to, which is when they're healthy. A mer
Okay, we'll talk about a mere but well, well, you know,
we kind of we've touched on this a little bit. And obviously, you
know, if the minutes are constantly as high as you know, just sub
forty, you know, like we talked about, that's not great. But
I feel like as things continue to pick up, it's like an initial investment
where the minutes were high because it took that much longer for everything to click
together that hopefully things get a little bit easier. And that's what we saw
in the New York game. Really, like I think the starter with the
longest minutes was Paul George at thirty two. And you know, that is
what I expect to see, is especially in easier stretches of the season.
Not sure if that'll be the case with this upcoming sort of sort of rougher
stretch that will be a test, But no, I look, man,
the stuff with the stuff with Kawhi, it generally hasn't been like, oh
man, he's his minutes load has been so insane. He's had to carry
the team too much. It's been like weird, freak fucking It's been weird
freak shit dude, Like, I mean, how else would you describe it?
How else would you describe Like the Paul George injury, Like I don't
know. I mean Paul Dridge's shoulder thing that was very clearly an overuse issue,
like back in Okay when you know he had to do a lot and
shoulder stuff is weird because you can like wait to do the surgery, like
well, it's like this, It's like the thing with the knee too,
like you can scrape some of the cartilage, you can do like a full
repair, you know, if there's a partial thing blah blah blah blah blah
whatever. But I think that that to me, it shouldn't be as worrisome,
like like really, it's just about playing the right way and hopefully getting
into situations where like you don't have to put your body on the line or
be desperate, and that's what we're seeing right now. So I think,
yeah, I don't know that the minutes is a big thing, but you
know, less the better, of course, But there are points I just
I'm not used to seeing someone this good in a Clipper's uniform. Like there
were moments in that New York game. There there were moments in that New
York game where I literally went hoo, and then remember that he was on
our side. It's just it's so inevitable. It's scary. It's scary to
me. It's scary to me, and he's on our side. It's scary
hours for everyone. Watch it's a unique hell. Those first quarter dunks too
from Zoo and Kawhi was like, what is happening? Where are we?
God? He's playing also his best basketball right now. There's a lot of
guys playing some of their best basketball the two and three era at the same
time. You know, it was I don't think we talked enough about the
potential to unlock Zoo in the hardened trade. Some people thought we talked about
it too much, but it was definitely right. I mean, there was
definitely the possibility, right. But I mean, he's just gonna be a
walking double double, I think for the rest of the season. And and
I just his confidence is in like it's just on another level from him getting
all these other touches, and it's it's carrying over on both ends of the
floor. And I I mean, I know I've been bringing it up every
podcast. I just can't. I didn't know that Zoo necessarily had this level.
And I've been a huge Zoo proponent, but man, I like I
I did not see this coming. And hopefully he can continue this streak well.
Justin Russo wrote about a great We just plugged Justiner so substack like three
times an episode now, it feels like but it's really good and you should
check it out. Game on pregame with me yesterday. What a guy.
He's great, but he wrote one about Zubot's defensives impact, and he gets
a sheet that he looks that Zoo gets and like Zoo knows what he's doing
defensively and things like that. And now he's also getting rewarded by James Harden
being here with getting fed in the pick and roll and stuff. So like
it's the perfect combination for Zoo because he's motivated on defense and now he's also
with the best pick and roll you know, other than maybe lou Will,
but they never really ran it together unfortunately, like the best pick and roll
guy maybe ever. You know, this conversation and what Will just brought up
there reminded me of people being so was your old stat? Did it remind
you of an old stat? No, this isn't some fifty points you know,
Sorry to Day in the nineteen sixties or anything like that first season.
Sorry, no, get back to your point. I apologize. It reminded
me of just how much people were against James Harden, to the point we
weren't allowed to talk about him. Do you remember this that long ago?
This isn't that long ago. Stop talking about James Harden. Stop it.
It's stupid. I don't like his style of play. I had a caller
last night, this guy Sean and Inglewood, and I've been giving him a
hard time because he after James Harden hit the four point play to take down
Houston to end the losing streak. This guy has my email address. He's
a longtime listener on Clippers Talk and he hits me up sporadically. He has
an affinity for big men. If he hears this talk about Will Chamberlain,
he will come through the screen and attack me. But he always I hope
not man. I don't think he knows how to docs. But but he
seems like an older gentleman. But I like him. I love him,
even though we disagree. Often. He wants to start Mason plumbleing next to
beats the zoo bots. I mean, he just wants craziness out. Yeah,
he thinks that's how you have to win. And he has no idea
about spacing in the modern era and what that does for you and everything.
But as soon as James Harden hit that shot to beat Houston, I get
an email from him. I still don't want him. I still don't like
him. That's what we've been dealing with, and we're still dealing with it
to some degree with the Russ stands who maybe are standing down somewhat and backing
off a little bit, because Russ looks so damn happy, even just playing
fifteen minutes last night. He's all smiles, He's standing up, cheering guys
on I pick player of the game. He played great, fine for seven
he did. He had a great stretch in the third quarter where I thought
he took a couple of ill advised shots, a jumper and a three pointer.
They call a time and what does he do. He goes right to
the basket and gets a couple of tough buckets into the third and then in
the fourth quarter. I love the way he's playing, but I just hope
everybody's rallying around this team at this point. Should there be any more division
within Clippers Nation? With the way they're playing now? I think, you
know, even if they go on a losing streak, what if they lose
all three of these on the road, I think we still know there is
something there. There is a very high ceiling with this team, and I
think a pretty high floor in the regular season. After you see a game
where Paul George is out and James Harden goes, okay, I'll drop twenty
eight on like twelve shots. He was my player of the game just by
the way he showed up. I had that receipt somewhere here. Let me
go find that will. I just want us all to get behind this because
it's working. It's the right formula. The blueprint is there and two one,
three is back up. And what I said when they got James Harden
that he can unlock the best version of Kawhi and Paul George, we're starting
to see some of that. We're seeing it with Kawhi right now. I
mean the effortlessness that he goes about getting those shots. He's not having to
just dribble and Iso. We are seeing less iso ball with James Harden.
How crazy is that? Going into this, everybody's, Oh, we can't
play iso ball. We do that enough already, and now you're gonna add
James Harden. What's this offense gonna look like? No, there's less iso
ball being played now with James. I just can't stress enough how good he's
been and how much he has stuck to everything he has said in that introductory
press conference that is true. He has held up his end of the bargain
so far with that stuff, I want to before we get to the Clippers
questions. I like what you said about kind of they if this next really
tough stretch of games doesn't go well, two and one would be great.
Obviously, it's still a bard And remember what we're seeing now, which is
maybe the close to or at least you know, on the way to the
pinnacle of what the Clippers team can be offensively and defensively. So we've now
seen it, which is something that is kind of rare sometimes in the two
and three area. You know, we had all this potential and we'd see
it for flashes. We've now seen it for seven straight games, just the
wins. I'm talking we saw it the process start earlier too, but like
this is where this team can go. They're still kind of going up into
the right So it's important to remember if things don't go as well as we
walk into this next week. But the last thing I wanted to talk about
in this segment is is this the year the West is wide open? The
Clippers are one and a half games out of the two seed after a ten
and ten start. You know, like this isn't this is yes, They've
obviously won seven in a row, but this might be a little bit like
last year and everyone when we were so upset that they you know, kind
of messed around and didn't take care of regular season business as much because the
West was so wide open. This is a there's very good teams in the
West, but this is a brutal conference right now, and I think that
helps the Clippers because the other teams are kind of, you know, eating
each other's chances of success. Am I wrong in thinking that I'm kind of
leaning towards this is the year it's a little more wide open. I mean,
I guess in the standings Minnesota has a fairly fairly hearty lead. I
think they're like three and a half games up from second place, but looking
at the teams ahead, Sorry, yeah, three Okay, what did I
say? Three and a half? Okay, important correction, It might be
at him. Not a transaction in the I'm moving on from receipt season and
you can keep a receipt on this. Whoa, that's breaking news. It's
time for humility season, guys. I've been right way too often lately,
and it's not gonna now. This is taking an evil villain turn will so,
I mean in terms of openness, I mean, looking at the standings
right now, should we screenshare who ahead? I mean other than the Nuggets?
Who ahead of the Clippers right now? Would you say you fear,
like really truly fear in a seven game series? I fear Kawhi. As
we talked about earlier. We're in a prison of no. I don't know
if the Timberwolves half court defense is going to be this good the whole year.
I think, did you say other than the Nuggets? Yeah, I
mean I don't know. I guess maybe the Timberwolves just because the defense,
because Rudy Gobert is playing an absurd level of basketball right now. I don't
know if that's going to continue through the whole year. If it does,
I would say the Timberwolves would be my second, but everyone else is pretty
close to them. And I'm still feeling confident about the Clippers as of December
seventeen, six or seven pm in In terms of the question, to start
with the jumping off point here from Chuck, is this the year it's wide
open? It's wide open until some team as sends, just like it was
last year. Now we look back and go oh well, Denver was clearly
the best team and they swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. But
at the time it felt like, Okay, the Phoenix Suns could win if
the Clippers can somehow get past them and get Paul George back. I believe
they had a shot against the Denver Nuggets, but we knew the Lakers were
good. Memphis was good last season. It feels similar. There's no super
team with Golden State and Kevin Durant anymore to fear. There's a lot of
really good teams. But I'm probably most scared of the OKC thunder just because
of their potential, because of the assets they have still and if they want
to trade in some of those chips and bring in marketing or somebody else,
they can outbid anyone out there. There's nobody that can compete with them with
all the first round picks they have. Of course, we're very aware of
that, but SGA chat playing this well, Lou Dort Jalen Williams. This
team is scary because they also have something about them where they look wise beyond
their years. They're winning these games down the stretch with really easy efficiency where
they just step on your throat or hit a big shot, and they act
like they've been there before when they really have it. That's what's strange to
me. This OKAC team. I don't know these young guys. They are
focused, they have a mentality there, they have a culture there. Now
you can still say they haven't beaten anybody in a seven game series, and
we don't know what SGA is going to look like as a number one option
in a seven game series when you are scheming every game for the same dude
and stopping him. But I do have concerns about Okay see, just because
they can still make a big talent upgrade and they're already number two right now
in the West. I bit of an unknown quantity. I mean it cuts
both ways. Like I I guess I didn't include them on my scary teams
just because you know, we haven't seen it in the playoffs. But that
I mean that can swing both ways. It's not that that that's not crazy
to think at all. The Clippers have already made the Mavericks, you know,
a team with a superstar point guard who kills them quote unquote every time
despite losing the series. It would be hard to have another team like that
right, like this would be very similar to those MAVs battles and whatnot.
That would be a good that's a that's a good pick at them. That's
an interesting series to think. But the Timberwolves aren't. I guess Chuck mentioned
the Timberwolves. Other than that, nobody's nobody's feeling it. Yeah, I
think the Lakers are really good and Phoenix can't get together right now with having
Bradley Beal healthy on the floor with the Spurs again tonight for like the second
time or something. But they could have a Clipper. They could definitely have
a Clippers ask turnaround like they put together a little streak. Yeah, their
rosters defensively, they're not great. I don't know how they get to an
elite level defensively. We said it. Losing DeAndre Ayden for Nurkic is not
an upgrade. I understand that DeAndre Aiden wasn't gonna play ball there, so
to speak, but Nurkics can get played off the floor pretty easily. He
typically didn't close games for the Portland trail Blazers. I don't know what they're
gonna do there. So none of these teams are fully formed. None of
these teams are finalized roster wise, including the Clippers, which we're going to
talk about. Yeah, but just looking at it right now, the one
team that I know could go out there and make a huge move and it
doesn't even take a lot of sacrifice from them to do so because they have
this wealth, this treasure, this war chest of picks. They can go
out there. If marketing's next to chet in the front court, guys,
that is unbelievable. It's a good it's a really good four for the for
the thundered app as a tough team to stop, a really tough team stop.
Would Laurie Markenen be? Would he fall victim to Oklahoma City nightlife?
Yeah, that's what That's what happened to Jeff Green, Right, That's how
that's why he had to get out of there. Yeah, you had to
go. There's a lot to do. You can do a lot of stuff
before nine pm. Derek Fisher struggled there too because of it. Just wild
Derek coming up practically the same as Houston that life right, Yeah, perto
Mayor as really what's there student Houston in Oklahoma? I believe was the question
coming up. We're gonna answering some fantastic Clippers questions. We can only gush
about how good the Clippers have been over these last seven games so much.
One of these questions is from one of our our hosts, which is going
to be a very fun time. The guy who who recently said he's not
doing receipts earlier today sent the question that we're gonna get to anyway. The
ads have been loud for some people. We've had a couple people on Twitter.
I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but they've been tweeting
at me. They said I used to. One of them said, I
used to roll my eyes when you would make the ad disclaimer until this week
when I got blasted by an ad, I said, hey, it's a
joke. That's actual advice fifteen percent of the time, and they should heat
it. So if that's been happening, you go ahead and turn it down.
We got ads and the questions coming up in three two. What all
right, welcome back into Clips and Dip. We just gushed about the Clippers
and there and their seven game win streak turning things around. But we wanted
to take your questions. You can you can leave those even if we don't
ask for them over Oh yeah, ad clippers pod. But let's kick it
off with Adam. For some reason, is in this mail bag Adam wanted
you want to go ahead and ask your question? You want to answer it
too? Or I mean I was joking. I didn't think I was actually
going to be included here. I did ask who's catching re seats on Kawhi
with Is it Kendrick Perkins, who's been the most outside It's Brian Windhorse that
clip of what he talked about he doesn't look healthy and all that stuff from
last year. Yeah, it's Brian win Horse. Or he has been trying
to own it recently, he's trying to reverse that. He said something to
the effect of the scariest development right now in the NBA is how good Kawhi
Leonard has looked over the past couple of weeks. So he's trying to get
back in our good graces. All right, all right, he can come
on the show. He can he can come on the show. Then that's
fine. I do have my Kawhi Leonard black Panther bobblehead with Oh, just
because he's been that amazing, I got to keep him close at all times.
Well, and also you're so terrified of how good he is. We
got that Dunky had with the left hand in the first quarter that Will was
talking about earlier. He's also us the babblehead giveaway on the twenty third,
right, it's like a Christmas Yeah, Santa, Hell yeah, that's pretty
sick. He all right, We're gonna get you a real question next,
unless we have anything else to add to Adam's question. Now, like I
said, no more receipts, guys, humility season is upon us humility.
I love that it's humility season because he's been right so much. Well,
Guys, I know the pendulum is gonna swing back the other way at some
point, and I want to get out ahead of this and make sure I'm
not still talking so much crap. Next question is from maybe A eighty.
We just talked about some trades. In the last one. He said,
do you think the Clippers need to trade for some size of power forward to
match up better against some of the taller teams like the Nuggets and Wolves.
Where are we at on this? I think a lot of this has to
do with the fact that Plubly's hurt. If Plubly's not hurt. We have
two actual seven foot centers, so I think the size question really goes away
at that point because we can have one of those guys on the floor,
probably have any I mean, we haven't even gotten unleash a tight front court.
Yeah wow, we are waiting for that. But I don't know if
the trade is out there, because the Clippers like their most tradeable pieces kind
like they're not trading norm because he's playing way too good to trade, like
the only guys they would trade PJ. Tucker wants to leave for more time.
He's a four, right like a mere coffee is playing very well.
But someone who people throw into these trade ideas, like the people they would
trade are fours, I guess except for like one or two guards. So
I just don't know if the trade is out there, Like there's not a
margin trade that I don't think the Clippers can make to satisfy this one.
Not to say that it's a real issue, I don't, am I rolling.
What do you think that asking prices for bow on right now? Fuck
the Pistons man, God damn shout out to anyone who's a Pistons fan.
I hope you're doing okay, but he's hurt so much though, so it's
an upside trade. No, I, I that's how good this seven game
win streak has been, right that it's it's it's hard. It's hard to
conceptualize even like shuffling around pieces right now, because it feels like they've got
a really good thing going. And I do think, I do think teams
can you know, overadjust, they can overdo it. And you know,
the is this the year that we finally don't like, don't see a big
move from the Clippers. Maybe the move was already made. They got James
Harden. Mason Plumbley is coming back, and that's somebody when we talked about
backup second units and how those should look, so they cannot bleed minutes nearly
as much as they have at times early on this season. Mason Plumbley cures
a lot of what ails them there. Like you talk about not wanting to
go small, If Plumbley's healthy and Zoobots is there, they never really have
to go small. They can always have a true seven footer out there on
the floor. So the question is to me whether or not Daniel Tyes can
play the four. If he can play the four effectively, which means he
probably is gonna have to knock down more shots and he has been. Okay,
I don't know what the numbers are from three, Chuck, they've been
so that's the thing. Is like Daniel Tyson's numbers. Sorry, you're gonna
hear some typing number or some typing sounds. His stats from three have been
absurd. How is taking? Karl's a famous doubter of Tyson's shooting. I
am a famous douter of tyson shooting based on years and years of statistical evidence.
He is taking one point one per game, and he's hitting them out
of forty rate, So he's not This isn't like because they have left him
wide open, and hey, it's one point one more than fucking PJ.
Tucker's taking, so it would be better than PJ Tucker playing before right,
Like, I will say that he had what one season where he shot something
around thirty eight percent from the outside in his career, but he's a thirty
two percent career three point shooter, thirty two point seven percent. He shot
thirty seven and a half percent in twenty three. That was this year.
He can't give me the thirty eight will What is up with that I mean,
Oh wait, no, sorry, thirty eight point eight percent twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen on how many attempts per game? Will what do you how
many attempts point five Adam, oh point five? Firm one a firm one
point zero. So again, he's not an outside thread. He doesn't.
He can. It's just not I think that's a thread. It's it's a
big foundational change. I think for his game to be a catch and shooter,
like, he's not a ketchen shooter. You want to nickname him empty
thread? How dare you chuck? That's actually, heyst ties, baby's much
better. No, okay, I won't. I wont name him empty threat.
If he starts not doing effort, he'll be empty threat. But no,
he's just not a shooting threat. So I think I agree with what
you're saying with the like him of the four, but I think he'd have
to take a like they're just gonna keep sagging off them. The other teams
are just gonna dare him to shoot. Let me ask you guys this because
you brought up something earlier that I think is key, and it's a shift
of mentality from Clipper Nation because coming into the season, a lot of people
were thinking, Oh, Norman Powell can still be that trade ship for later
on in the season. Possibly. Yeah about that, Norman Pal's been far
too valuable. The Powell Rangers have been too strong. Hell yeah, I
think I just put up the number earlier. The most recent numbers when it
comes to the Powell Rangers on the screen share it with Norm No next to
James Kawhi PG ZOO. In forty eight minutes, they're plus thirty five.
In ten games, they're shooting fifty percent from the floor and forty and a
half percent from the outside. They got an offensive rating of one twenty two
and a defensive rating of ninety seven and net rating of plus twenty five point
two. It's only forty eight minutes. I kind of think part of the
reason is coach Lew has seen enough, he likes it enough, and he
doesn't want to give too much game tape out there on what could be their
death lineup eventually with this team. I like that idea because it's too effective
not to have played more than just forty eight minutes. But we've been we've
fell under this spell before. Though we have seen lineups that have been good
for a small amount of time and then never saw them again at some point.
But I think you are right in this particular instance, with how everyone
is playing and the roster crunch a little bit, it's like an eight and
a half been rotation. I do think you're right. My question, though,
then shifts to this, if norm isn't the trade chip, does Mason
Plumbly become the trade chip? I think his value I think because of the
injury. Yeah, trade for what? Yeah? A flour He's yeah for
that other wing. If you think they are down a wing and it's getting
close to February and the trade deadline, and if eatsa Zubots is mister reliable
and you have Daniel Tye and he's still playing this good or even better,
how do you get minutes for he and Mason Plumbley Tys was bawling against Isaiah
Hartenstein last night. That was a really fun battle. And they are similar
in some ways. You brought it up Chuck on Twitter. Well, same
tattoo artists. They have to I I the Clippers can't get smaller. They
they can't. I just I don't think the Clippers could trade out. They're
already small When Zoo's on on the floor. I think they have if Mason
is and should, based on these weird small updates of God, should be
able to come back. I don't think they can get smaller. I want
them to keep Mason. Plumbley has been great. Get trade Tucker for a
fax machine and a cup of coffee or something like. But yeah, it's
not as if they might be able to find another big that you can throw
out there for ten minutes a game if you need to, maybe Dwayne Deadman
who knows, but somebody else on a minimum and you still have a piece
to move, possibly for an upgrade at the four spot, just to have
that option of playing a little bit bigger with the starting unit, because right
now it's still Kawhi, Leonard Gard and Julius Randall last night. That's a
little witnessing. Sure, So who do you want? I don't know who
that guy is at this point at the four. I'm just saying, there's
this outcry of support they still have to I mean, the initial question was
they still need an upgrade at the four, So how do they get that
done? Who are their trade pieces? If Norm isn't one of them.
I'm just trying to rationalize this and think through it. It might turn out
to be Mason Plumbley. But that's where my head's act because I'm like,
if it's Mason Plumbley, then I don't think they should do the trade because
it's like ends on who is. If Mason Plumbley is playing fifteen minutes a
night at most when he comes back because of Daniel Tice, right, No,
I mean I don't know. Oh, there's gonna be a minutes crunch.
There is there, Yeah, there definitely is a minutes crunch. So
Anthony Ludy asked us when he comes back, does Mason Public drop off of
the rotation? With Tys playing so well? Kind of what happened with Bones?
Like that's a good question too. How much time do we work back
in Mason Pumbly If the team is rolling? You know what I mean with
this? With this, like, obviously I don't think they're gonna win every
game until Mason Public comes back. That would be awesome. I would take
that. But if this team is like on some crazy heater and the net
rating is out of control kind of no matter who's on the court, how
do you work Publy back in this isn't a giant problem. But this is
a great question from Loudy, like, will where are we at? How
do we work Mason Pubbly back into this lineup? Well, I mean it'll
probably take him a while to get up to speed anyways, So you have
that time, right, And I think you know it has been established enough
in the locker room that that nothing is really earned in terms of where you
are in this rotation. I mean even Kobe Brown, which I guess was
never a guarantee, but pretty quickly found his way out of the rotation.
So I don't think that it's going to be I don't think that that's like
that big of a concern for me, just because of the way that he
has fit with the Clippers thus far. But yeah, and you just have
the opportunity to work him in in some minutes. I guess the only thing
that's troubling is how late is he back in the season, right, Because
then I mean then you know with how long some of these sample sizes can
take with Tyler, Which is not a complaint, just a fact. I
just that's going to be very, very difficult. I was just looking at
the minutes Daniel ties is at sixteen per game as a Clipper. Mason Plumby
was at seventeen this season at nineteen team last season as a Clipper. So
if you just split those up and go, okay, when are you gets
eight the other gets seven a night, and we see who's hot with them,
I'm with it. I love that idea. That seems like, yeah,
a platoon, let's do it. I don't know if either of them
are gonna be happy doing that, but how could But if the team's winning
and they're playing well, I don't know that it works. I think I'll
be happy with it. I don't know that it works. I just like
it. So you're gonna, like, how are you going to have a
rhythm if you're not sure, like how many minutes you're gonna like a ballpark
of how many minutes you're going to be playing on a night, and like
you're gonna find rhythm with eight minutes in a forty eight minute game. I
just I just don't see it. I just don't see it. That's a
good call. It's an issue we've seen before with this Clippers roster in the
past couple of years. Did they trade Daniel Tice, have they rebuilt his
value enough to be able to trade him at the deadline and get some thing.
Do you see that a wing position? Can they trade ties position?
That's a good question too. Somebody could be It could be matchup dependent on
who they're playing that night. If they're playing a bigger team, then they
go with Mason Plumbley. What if Mason Plumby has because he's pretty good in
the pick and roll? What if what if he has great chemistry with James
Harden. We haven't seen those two together yet, that's true. Someone also
asked, what is a mir geting minutes at the backup? For mean?
For Plumbley's return. People were worried about public on this mailbag edition, which
is cool but surprising. Amir took Kobe Brown's minutes. Yeah, a mere
took Kobe Brown's minutes, which makes it Yeah, I don't really see the
correlation, and I think those two are interchangeable for Tyler if one of them
has the hot hand, you know, I'm hoping it's a lot more Amir.
I like Kobe Brown, but he's he's just young. Emir has earned
it. He's been here for how long he's twenty six now? If not
now, when when are you going to use him? You have enough confidence
to start him in for Paul George in a game, and he plays great
against Golden State and they probably don't win without him. And then last night
he gets fifteen minutes, Kobe Brown doesn't play till the very end during garbage
time. It looks like in the Brown minutes, Kobe rout he had two
threes. Let's just let's here we go. Let's get the stats a little
right now. You're not wrong a mere coffees. I'm a Mere Coffee fan
too. Uh case. The kid asked if the Clippers start blowing teams out
in the first two quarters, which in the modern NBA, I don't know
if a game is over after the first two quarters. No matter what the
score is, it's not what younger players would you like to see play the
most minutes? Bones Boston musa Brown Bones or a mirror bom Bones both.
I want him to come back. He's questionable. I think for this upcoming
game he's got the hip something. I think it's his hip or something.
But I want both to be I want to be healthy, Like I don't
know what's going on, but it seems like he's picked up some knocks,
which I just feel bad about. That sucks, but it really don't want
him to end up being the trade piece. You know. His value is
weird though, because it's like, yeah, I don't know. I think
team's gotten enough tape on him though, to know the potential he would be
sought after. I think I think he might be right. I think there's
a thread maybe words out well, skeleton key is out, the key has
been copied. I think once we get closer, because what was the January
fifteenth, a lot of a lot of contracts can start being traded. I
think if you're a listener who listens to a lot of these episodes, I
would maybe start putting your ear to the ground for Bones Highland Trade chatow around
mid January, because I like, I don't like the idea of trading bones,
but Adam, I like the idea you had of him maybe being the
trade piece. Can I just tell you how much I dislike talking about trades
right now when the Clippers have won so great. Jesse Beer hit me up
on Twitter like a week ago, what do you think about bringing in Jeremy
Grant? And it's like, Dude, I'm worried about what they got going
right now, and they can't get him till January, if that's even possible,
and he's got a huge contract. Can we just can we just talk
about the team and what they're trying to do at the moment. The grass
is always greener, Will and I always used to talk about on Lockdown Clippers
that with Clippers fans because of how the injuries work right now, it always
feels like the grass is always greener. Someone after a Mirror's performance tweeted at
our show account at Clippers pot on Twitter, should the Clippers just start a
mirror instead of Terrence Man? And It's like, no, no, they
should not do that things. I had a last night about that. I
had a color last night about that. I'm like, no, Terrence Man
is your point of attack defender. The reason why Kawhi Leonard looks so good
in the fourth corner defensively is because in the first quarter it's all Terrence Man
for the most part guarding their best perimeter player. Yeah, that is invaluable.
That's everything. Can we just bask in the song and the sun rays
of this Clippers stretch of plays? Take a beat? All right? Last
question before we get to the very difficult upcoming week for the Clippers. Optimus
Prime Rib one of our favorite names on Twitter. Great. I want two,
one, three at the end to it? Though, what would have
to be the absolute floor at the end of the season for this to happen?
Will? We'll go to you. It's an inevitability. We talked about
this even when things were going poorly. There's just unless I don't know,
unless they got like a wild hair at the trade deadline this year or in
the off season and they were like, like Kawhi and Paul George are back
to peak value, let's see what we can get, which I again,
I don't see that, I mean right, but I just think that like
the actual outcome of this season is going to be sort of irrelevant. I
think that those two players are going to be there to open into it dome.
That is definitely the plan. Now Hardened becomes a third priority in that
and so yeah, we'll see. But like, you gotta have the names,
man, you gotta have the names, and the Clippers, I just
how else are you getting them? What? Who else are you getting?
Right? Because you don't even have assets to make something happen. It's like
you don't even have assets to make something happen, right, it have to
be an out you have to outright sign somebody. And I just don't what
bigger free agent are you getting this year to California guys. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, So I don't think the results, I mean, the results
matter to us. Obviously the results matter, but it doesn't. It's it's
irrelevant to the opening of into It don't unless one of them dies or has
a bad sex scandal or something. Damn all right, some off court stuff,
some unreleased audio or something. Adam, you look confused. We're gonna
go ahead and jump off that point. I blocked out for a second.
There's this disconnect between people's understanding of the salary cap and thinking, well,
if we lose Kawhi and his forty five million dollars, then we can just
spend that. No, oh, you could go over the cap to resign
your own Guys, you had his bird rights. It's not the same thing.
And it's hard to find these big name free agents anymore. It seems
to always be happening through trades now, especially with the new CBA. Okay,
so there's not going to be anyone out there of the level of players
that the Clippers already have in house that they could realistically bring in if you
want to compete, these are the guys you're rolling with. That's the that's
the option if you want to compete right now. Well, that's the thing,
right, Like the best players in the league are locked up. They
stay locked up, even if they are going to demand a trade one year
into a six year deal. It's just what happens. It's just what happens.
Like you are locked up, So trade is really the only way to
acquire a player of that caliber. Yeah, I mean, I think you're
right. I think it's again, things are going so well right now that
there isn't a like they're gonna be there. Two of the four California guys
will be there, and my best guess is it's the two best ones.
Yeah, George, why do we have to jump to? So who should
we make trays for? So you don't get it, It could always be
better. There's a freaking septic tank underneath the grass. With the way that
people are talking about it, right, if you haven't been to a store
and said, wow, I like that item, but what if it's one
that I know, if it's even better it's just amazing to me. Like
a couple of weeks ago, you're just worried about winning a game. Now
they win seventh straight, twelve of fifteen, and the talk is, but
what if we do this, Like, what if we can approve it this
way? Yeah, let's let's reshuffle the deck. No, we actually are
getting some consistency and continuity built up with this team right now for one of
the first times ever in the two and three era. Wh I just played
twenty five games straight. Paul George played twenty four twenty five, James Harden
hasn't missed a game yet. Guys, enjoy this, stay stay here,
stay in the present. Adam Oslin's saying, enjoy this to all of the
Clippers fans. Coming up, we're gonna be talking a week that might be
kind of difficult to enjoy. We hope the process is very good. The
Clippers take on the Pacers, MAVs, and Thunder. I think it might
be a three and four. We're gonna be talking about that after this next
ad break. The ads have allowed for some people, So if that's been
the case for you, go ahead and turn down. We got ads coming
up in three two one welcome back in clips and dip. I'm Adam Oslin.
We did not have a double dip last night. Unfortunately. My fault
humility season, my fault Clippers on a top three game roads trips starting in
Indiana and they were in the n season championship game recently. And that's very
meaningful because oh wait, the Lakers have lost two or three I think since
then. No, it still means something for a team like that. That's
actually exactly what the nd season Tournament was for because a lot of people got
familiar with Tyrese Halliburton outside of you know, the guys on TNT and Shack
calling him Trey. I was telling everybody in the break room, Trey is
the real deal. No, sorry, my name is Tyrese. Yeah.
Oh oh, that happened. That happened after they took down the Bucks to
get to the championship game. Shack was interviewing him, interviewing Tyrese. He's
right in front of him and he called him Trey and Ernie Johnson had to
correct him. But the Inana Pacers played a break neck pace. It's appropriately
so because they are the Pacers. They have the best offense in the league.
They have a historically great offense. Currently, they're also tied though they're
offensive rating right now with the Philadelphia seventy six ers, which is pretty wild.
I didn't know Philly was buzz sewing through teams like that offensively, but
I know Joel Embiid has just been crazy good recently. Is Halliburton playing though?
Is the question? He had a neat contusion? Yeah, when you
missed their last game. Have you seen an update on that check? I
have not seen an update on that. But if I were doing ads for
the meta headset though, which man, I'm glad that he's getting the check.
You know, I was thinking about this, like Tyree where else?
Tyrese deserves the checks. I just I think his agent needs to get needs
to get him better deals than that, because that is it's already over.
They already said like they're not developing the metaverse. Web three point oho is
not happening. Are we a web three point oh pod? I'm into that.
If I were the Pacers, I would hold I would hold Trey out
of this game. I would hold Trey out of this Game's I would hold
tyres out of this game. It's a Western Conference opponent, your team is
very good. I don't know, yeah, I don't know. Hold about
well what they're twenty eighth defensively, but they showed flashes during the n season
tournament where all of a sudden they were playing better on the defensive end,
and they were given this great effort, and that's part of the reason they
got to the championship game. They're just scary to me because if they get
on top of you in the first quarter, if you start slow, it
could be over. I know we just said no game is over in two
quarters in this NBA, but if you're takings except for our team, well,
hey, the Clippers just put up seventy seven points of what one four
recently and the offense is obviously thriving. But I do not want to see
them get down double digits in the first quarter in Indiana to start off this
road trip, because they are just relentless and do not let up. Yeah,
I think you're right, that would not. So we want We need
the starters to be what they've been, which is very good. And like
you mentioned the last seg but we need Terrence Man's point of attack defense even
if Tyree's isn't playing. We need someone there to make it a little bit
harder, because then Zubat's job gets a lot more important if type recism there,
because Miles Turner is probably gonna want some kind of lock back for what
Zoo did to him inside Crypto was that last year where you had to send
the ball to the Hall of Fame because he had thirty and thirty or thirty
one and twenty nine or something like that. Like, there's gonna be some
extra motivation I think for Miles Turner too, especially if Halliburn's out. So
I hope the Clippers defense can start off strong. Like you said, I'm
not too worried about the offense based on what Indiana does on that side of
the ball. You know what's else? What else is worth pointing out regarding
the Clippers and first quarters, And I've been guilty of this too humility season,
but they've been much better in first quarters so far this season. And
there was a lot of narrative, big picture talk about well, you have
to start Russ because he plays faster and he plays with more energy and more
pace, and if you don't, they're gonna get off to slow lethargic starts
with James Harden and while they've recently been bringing in Russes into first quarters.
It seems like the ultimate oversimplification, right, like, well, Russ look,
he runs really fast up and down, and that means the Clippers will
get off too faster starts because of that that that's not necessarily how it works.
But I looked at some of their first quarter numbers and their top ten
in net rating. They shoot a really high percentage from the floor in first
quarters. They have been starting off very well overall. We have all this
PTSD from past seasons and how many times they've gotten off to slow starts,
to the point where even Kawhi Leonard said it in a postgame interview recently,
like, I know, we get off to a lot of slow starts,
and somebody could have been like Juster, so hey, actually check out these
numbers right here. You guys are doing much better. It is historical historically,
but this season, different team. They have James Harden now and they've
been better in this area. I just want to point it out because it's
starting to become a false narrative where we always think, oh, the Clippers
get off notoriously bad starts, but they've been buched much better recently. I
guess good teams. What's one big thing will that you want to see the
clip doing this Pacers game win? God damn it. Although although if they
were to drop one out of these ig I'm fine, I'm weirdly if it's
a fully healthy Pacers team, I'd be. I would be if they have
to lose one of the three, right, just because it's so many games
so close together, I would be fine if this was the game, the
process is good, and you know they get run at, you know,
they get beat and in a close game or something like that with you know
that five point home advantage bump or whatever or something like that. I think
you're right. I think I'm okay with with it. I think the Pacers
under one twenty would be nice. How about that? That's what I want
to see, Okay. I like that. That's a good process from the
defense. That maybe something to think about as you move forward at top five
defense. Last fifteen games with the new starting lineup, and I know Paul
George missed one of them, but they have been tremendous on that end.
I just want to see him lose with style. No, I don't want
to see that's not what the loss. No start fast be in the ballgame,
because offensively, if they start fast, I'm less worried about their defense.
I feel like it fuels their defense and their energy and motivation on that
end. It's also just about Kawhi Leonard with how hard he is playing in
how vocal he's being on the court. It looks like Carlo Amenez and I
were talking about this last night. It's not just about them staying locked in
for games. They're not losing focus between possessions right now. That's how glued
in they are this team. That's what's popping and standing out to Clippers fans
and why this fuels like Wow, this is one of the better stretches in
the two to three era. They look very serious every single possession. They
are going really hard out there, and you couldn't say that especially last season
their defense was basically bottom ten, even though their offense got much better and
Kawhi's on this historic run as he is again, last year, they weren't
winning as any games as they should have been because defensively they weren't good enough.
Now it's starting with their defense, and it's not just a message or
a talking point or something during training camp that falls on deaf ears. Once
the regular season starts, they're there. They are present in every game defensively
and getting off to that defensive mindset or defensive intensity in first quarters. That
coach Lou said a million times last season, and it didn't get across to
him. Now it is all right, most important part. Player of the
game picks, Adam who is your player of the game pick for a Clippers
versus Pacers, It's got to be a Clippers player. I'm gonna go with
Daniel Tice on a revenge mission against a team that wasn't playing him. He's
got a chip on his shoulder. I was thinking he or Paul George,
but I'll go with Daniel Tice in this one. A little vanilla tye going
up against the Indiana Pacers who disrespected him. And I can't say enough about
how good he's been as a Clipper so far, the way he plays,
and what a god send he's been. It's almost like Hardenstein light having Daniel
Tice. It may not even be that light if you look at the performance
between those two yesterday. He's doing some of the stuff that Isaiah Hartenstein did
for this team. A couple of years ago. He is. He's a
better rebounder, not as flashy of a passer, but he is a probably
better at things that help about you win basketball games. Well, player of
the game pick for Clippers versus Pacers. I gonna go. I'm gonna go
Paul George like, but not like a good game like Archie. Yeah,
I want to see him like kind of go off on the on the Pacers.
Okay, that's legit. They're gonna boo him for for no reason.
That's a good pick. I went with Russ last time, which happened,
right. I'm gonna go James Harden bounced back efficiency game. He shot thirty
three percent, only shot twenty five percent from three in the last game.
He was still very good your six shots. I'm picking my player of the
game. Could I pick my player of the game. I'm excited to see
James Harden to have an efficient game against the Pacers. Apparently some people are,
Uh, that's what I'm looking for, tode James Harden. He's going
for like it's gonna be him and him and PG combined him for like sixty
four is what's gonna happen. And it's gonna be obviously efficient. Well n
sixty four little he's the system, all right, and then we have this
schedule's brutal MAVs Thunder back to back Wednesday and Thursday. MAVs are not gonna
have Kyrie most likely, we kind of have the blueprint to beat him.
I believe this is the first matchup against the thunder Fellas. What are we
thinking about this back to back? This is a damn gauntlet right here.
That's why I was saying, like, if we dropped the if we dropped
the Pacers game, but somehow won both games of this back to back,
that would be that to me, would somehow be even bigger. Well,
yeah, it would be. It would be as big as the seven game
win streak almost. Okay, I can see that in terms of how these
two teams are playing right now and all that stuff. Adam, where are
you at? How are you prepping for this? This is gonna be a
stressful back to back. I think they need to win in Dallas because okay,
see, legitimately scares me. Okay, and just getting them on the
second night of a back to back, that's what it is, right Dallas
on the front end. Okay, see on the back end. Yep,
I check the Thunder schedule because I haven't. That's what I'm saying. More
impressive than a seven game win streak, winning this back to back beating nuts.
Yea, the Thunder have a lot of time off. The Thunder play
on Monday. They don't play us until Thursday, so they have a lot
of time off. You mentioned the OKAC nightlife earlier. Hey, hey,
it's electric over the well and say with the maps, so we're getting teams,
We're getting teams on three days, rest, one on three, one
on four, Okay. So he just scares me a lot more than the
Dallas Mavericks at this point, even if Dallas had Kyrie Irving. And maybe
that's recency buyas because they held him to eighty eight points at home in a
good victory over them on a back to back, But sure, yeah,
I agree with. I don't know if we talked enough about Paul George Will's
pick against Indiana. He was really good yesterday in the second half. I
think he had nineteen but twenty five points in the second half, and he
was the people. He's still hurt and then he just lit it up in
the second half and It's like, this is what coming back from an injury
is. Like he was destroying RJ. Barrett, just crossing him over left
and right, getting whatever shot he wanted. It was some nasty stuff from
PG thirteen. I did so. I did that the Knick's Film Room podcast
with Anthony Claudio. There's a group of Knicks fans who like love RJ.
Barrett and are like, it's called like the Barrett Hive or something. He
says, they're terrifying. It's like their version of the Russ Stands, but
a way worse player than Russell Westbrook RJ. Barrett. So I hope Anthony's
doing okay with all that stuff. Will what are you most worried about?
I like the idea that we should win in Dallas because the rest and all
that stuff, like the thunder or firing on all cylinders right now, Yeah,
I mean, especially given the run, like the rest disparity against the
young team. I mean, Okacs has to be the more dangerous of the
two games. Although you know, shorthanded Dallas, I mean you could get
you know, you could get lured into something that's true. Luca's getting forty
five sure, I mean, yeah, you got to slow down everybody else.
He's gonna be pissed after the last game against the Clippers if he hasn't
been pissed since twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, like it's it's all fuel
for him. That's a good call. Yeah, So you're saying, one
on one with Luca, don't let the assist numbers go up, like we
were talking with Yokic, keep the assists below the season average. Can't let
him be a score and a playmaker to that high level. And then with
the Thunder, defensive assignments get really interesting. There's a lot of pressure on
Terrence I think in this this Thunder matchup to we know he can switch and
all that stuff, but he's gonna be switching a whole bunch as the Clipper
switch a lot, and like that's I'm excited. I mean, I'm really
excited for these I guess from like the neutral ish perspective that I have,
But the defense that the Clippers throw out against the Thunder is gonna be as
close as what we've seen so far this season to what we're gonna see in
the playoffs. I think because just because of the Thunder being so good and
they want to, you know, make this interesting game, hopefully. How
good has James Harden been at times? It's not always forty eight minutes or
how many he's out there thirty five, but he's had some really good defensive
possessions for the Clippers over the last week. Eye opening stuff. Belie.
He's looking like Roco with his hands. The swipes he had at the end
of the game against the Golden State Warriors were game ceiling or saving. They
were that important. He had four blocks in that game. It's it's crazy
the level of effort he's put in on the defensive ends so far as a
Clipper, pretty pretty consistently during this winning streak. There haven't been a ton
of those defensive lapses where you see the same play on Twitter over and over
of people saying, oh, look at James Harden getting beat on the perimeter.
He's been good man. Well, it's crazy. The Thunder have just
around the same line assists per game as the Clippers do. We're right around
like twenty five twenty four ish, which is since SGA ISOs a lot,
I mean yeah, and the Thunder do not turn it over. They're fourth
and turnovers. We're still a twenty four, a game that hasn't gone up
at all. No, it's like we're right around twenty four to twenty five.
But it surprises me a little. But they're number one in fewest turnovers
over the last fifteen games, the Clippers. They only had six last night.
It's been tremendous. James Harden has twelve assists to one turnover for the
game before that, taking care of the basketball at an all time level for
the two to one three era right now. And they have to in these
three games. They're gonna we cannot give these I mean now we're talking about
what the backback. We cannot give these teams easy buckets. Honestly, that's
probably that's point, Chuck. If they're gonna have a chance to win two
of three, it starts with them taking care of the basketball the same way
they have over the last fifteen. Because Indiana's gonna get in transition Dallas some
two okay s for sure. And to your point, the defense last night
against the Knicks, the one blemish you could say was the Knicks I think
had twenty one fast break points and the Clippers did give up a couple of
easy ones in transition. Yeah, yeah, And the Thunder. I mean
they let go, they let teams take threes, Like they give up the
second most amount of threes per game, but their top ten to three point
percent. Like this is Clipper's gotta be tight? Who this is kind This
is an interesting one I think for this podcast. Who's our player of the
back to back? Who's to have two great performances in this back to back
to either split or lift the Clippers. I mean it's gotta be quiet,
like, Okay, can't pick him, He's got to that's too well,
he can't pick Kwi Zoo. Zoo's gonna be like, yeah, who's gonna
be Zoo's gonna have to have like thirteen boards in each of these games,
like for things, not in a bad way. He can do that,
but we're gonna have We're gonna need a big presence down low to start like
this is. We know he's gonna be matched up on Luca at some point,
Like Zoo's gonna be other than Kawhi. Zoo's gonna be very important this
one. I'm going Terrence Man. Terrence Man two to four from distance against
the Knicks, and there were big shots. I believe both of them came
the end of the second quarter when the Clippers went on that twenty to five
run to end the first half and he had turned one down on the right
wing. There was a timeout after the Knicks from making a run, and
then one or two possessions later, he took one on the right wing and
knocked it down. And obviously Dallas will light a fire under Terrence Man.
It's a back to back, you're gonna need some young legs. Terrence Man
has that, and he'll also be the guy point of attack defense against SGA
to start things off against ok see if they're gonna have a chance to win
one or both of those ball games. Really all three, Terrence Man might
be my key for this road trip, honestly, if he starts knocking him
down from the outside, guys, the starting lineup can still be better,
and their numbers are already ridiculous now over the last fourteen games with the new
starting lineup, because Paul George missed one of them, so it's not fifteen
games but fourteen. Offensive rating one twenty three, defensive rating one oh seven
sixteen point two is their plus net rating out there. But they've been shooting
fifty three percent from the field and forty three percent from three in fourteen games
with the new starting lineup and Terror, even though he hasn't shot it well,
they're shooting forty three percent with him shooting what twenty percent from the outside
right now? What if he gets on a heater that I think norm norm
in the back to back, I think he has to go. I think
he ends up going nuclear in one of the games. And I would,
okay, I would put it in the Okay See game just with entire legs.
I would think that he's gonna get some more shots. And Dallas does
still have some good wing defenders. So I don't know. I don't know
if he'll get uncorked in quite the same way in that games as the potential
for that uh Okay Sea game. It's gonna be a fun week of basketball.
Could be a good time, Adam. I was gonna have you kick
it over to you say something positive, but that the tirade about the starting
lineup was so good. I was actually gonna bring up a concern that eventually
comes around and being positive. I have been let's talk about it. I
have been concerned that, Okay, what happens if Kawhi doesn't shoot sixty three
percent from the field over the next couple of weeks. What happens to some
of these wins. But the truth is, James Harden can still be much
better. If you're thinking there's gonna be some regression because they're playing so much
above their head, not really. Kawhi is on an all time tear.
But Paul George can be better. James Harden can be better. Russ is
getting better in his roll off the bench. I just mentioned Terrence Man if
he starts shooting it well from the outside beats a Zubas. I don't think
he's going anywhere for the production we've been seeing because he's next to James Harden.
Now, this group, they are only twenty games in. With James
Harden, there's no reason to think that they've peaked early yet, is my
point? There we go, we haven't peaked early. It's the dream.
We're peaking at the exact right time. Who doesn't want that. We're gonna
have some double dips this week if we can get fit into the busy schedule.
Over on A five seventy, Adam was a fantastic job listen pre and
postgame. Also listening to Carlo Amennez, friend of the show, great commentator.
They have all what you need on game days. Over at a five
seventy tripod on Friday. Could be fun. I don't know, it could
be a fun time. Call me crazy Christmas huh Yes. Reviews help us,
subscribers, help us over on YouTube. Shout out to everyone who's new
who likes to watch us talk to each other. It's a good time.
Adam, you've already said a wonderful positive thing. Will anything to say for
Montana? How's the Clippers contingent? And Laurel Montana? Have you seen a
lot of Clippers fans out there? I have not? All right, Well,
we got to do an operation Dumbo drop for some Clippers gear dropping out
of a big plane or something. Thank you everyone who's listened to us.
You can find us on Spreaker, Deezer, iTunes, Spotify, pods.
Am I missing anything? What's rod at? By his book? By Round's
book. He came on a Clippers podcast Froromota and he said bad things about
the Clippers. That means, you know he believes in his art. We
will be back with you all. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season
and a great evening and as always, let's go Clips.