What's going on? Clippers fans? Welcome to season two, episode sixty nine
of Clips and Dip. I am Chuck Mockler joined by Adam Oslin usually Will
Updike is with us. He is unavoidably detained. We are your probably favorite
Clippers podcast. I would have if I had to guess, I would hope.
So we're getting ready for the playoffs. We had a really in depth
preview earlier in the week. Today we're gonna be talking to Kawhi non news
and how it's maybe making people go crazy. We're gonna talk some X Factor
stuff. We're gonna talk some keys to victory. But thank you for joining
us on audio. On video, Uh, we have a video specific segment,
so if you're not watching these pods, you do get some of the
full experience over there too, especially when we do the high five, which
you're going to do with Adam osen. But I've been talking too much to
start this, Adam. Before we get into the clip stuff, how are
you doing on this Friday evening, thirty six ish hours before the Clippers kick
off their series against the Dallas I feel good. Good week to recharge.
UH, had a fun barbecue with you and Will yesterday, Little C and
D get together. It was a fun time, so tried to de stress,
but I don't know if it helped. I feel better about it by
the time I left, for whatever reason. Good food, good friends,
It was a good times people my barbecue. Feeling pretty happy about everything.
Full, stomach flies, clear, eyes can't yeah, I'm ready. I'm
feeling semi ready, I think, which is kind of a good way to
describe how Kawhi Leonard is maybe feeling. If you missed, if you're listening
to this podcast and you missed what happened this week, you're a very interesting
fan. But so on Thursday, there was a whole whirlwind of information.
Thursday, Shams reported that Kawhi got an injection and that there was cautious optimism
he was ready for day one due to I believe the phrasing in the world
of explosive box jumps. For the real clipper heads out there was intense workouts
right, correct. Correct. That was earlier in the morning on Thursday.
Then Lawrence Frank did something that is never a good sign, which is do
a press conference for the media seemingly out of nowhere, which I think we
talked about on this podcast. I think I mentioned, like a couple of
weeks ago, I hope we don't get a Lawrence Frank presser. No,
we definitely said that after the first pod we did, after we heard about
the right knee inflammation and we thought, okay, maybe there will be more
clarity before the Clippers' next home game after they were turn from the road trip.
The last game Kawhi played in was that game in Charlotte. Then they
were in Sacramento, they were back at Crypto, and yeah, we were
like, well, just hope it's not one of those Laurence Frank press conferences
that we have gotten twice so far, at least twice pertaining to Kawhi Leonard
and that right knee. So we've been on top of this for the most
part. We've been telling people for weeks. I'm only gonna say this once,
but uh, you might want to pay attention to some of the stuff
we say on this show. You might want to pay attention to some of
the stuff we say on this show. Well, I've been mentioning for two
weeks that there's no way to know Kawhi Leonard can't know at this point.
It's inflammation, it's unpredictable and it's his right knee. Well, what did
Lawrence Frank tell you at that presser? The exact same thing that I've been
saying for two weeks here trying to prep people. I'm not trying to sell
any false hope. I'm not trying to set anyone up for disappointment. I'm
trying to give you the reality of the situation. Yes, it's coming from
me, it's my reality and how I view things, But I'm trying to
be honest about it. In the state of Kawhi, Leonard and I think
we've been right on with our discussion about this and where things could go.
And if you want to proceed now with some of the stuff that Lawrence Frank
said, and we can place some of it too here, Chuck. We
can do that. We have the technology to do that. Yeah, we
should play it because it's just I mean, again, you've probably heard this
at this point, but it's just more uncertainty and uncertainty at Thursday afternoon,
when Game one is Sunday at twelve thirty, with no practice on Friday or
the day we're recording, this feels not ideal. I'm just it's uncertainty because
it's the human body and nobody knows how it's going to respond. But I
thought it wouldn't be any different for I. I just don't know what people
thought was going to come out of this, as if they could know for
sure when Kawhi is going to be available. When you're talking about inflammation and
stubborn inflammation that has yet to subside, I don't know what people were looking
for. And just before we get into the quotes, I do not.
I'm not expecting Kawhi to play Game one. That's not that just doesn't.
We'll get into the quotes, but I'm not expecting that based on scuttle,
but based on everything Lawrence Frank told all of us directly. Out of which
quote do we have first? For these listeners? I think this would back
up your logic here because this is Lawrence Frank being asked what steps Kawhi Leonard
would have to take before he played in a game, and this is coming
from at foul outame on X formerly known as Twitter. Here getting the inflamation
down to the level that you guys would be comfortable with in plane, Like,
what's the step by step that he has to go through to get it?
Down. Yeah, I mean, I think you get through the steps
of you know where the the you know, the swellings at call an acceptable
level, and then you start the ramp up. You do some exercises in
the performance room, you start doing court work, and you know then where
you get to a point where you're able to go full speed contact type work.
I don't know, Chuck, does that seem like something to where in
forty eight hours or less than that now could change for Kawhilon. Yeah?
That Wow, we're having so many technical difficulties without will here. No,
it sounds so here, I will say, I guess I appreciate the transparency
on how what we think the steps are going to be the first time we
get transparency. Sure, but that does not sound like something based on the
Clippers practice schedule, which they scrimmaged on Thursday, which Tyler mentioned he only
did because they had the extended time off. There was no player stuff today,
so he has Saturday to get those three multiple more than three things done
to play on twelve thirty on Sunday. So I do not say you'd have
to condense a lot of activity into a forty eight hour period based on the
timing of when he first said that, and that alone might overload the right
knee, which because there was no activity, is the other part of it.
Yeah, here's the other clip on that, which is talking about conditioning,
because I think what the reporters were driving at here was that twenty five
percent of practice that he participated in last Tuesday. According to coach Loup.
Pretty sure all that meant was mental preparation because Lawrence Frank spoke about that and
said he's been participating in you know, the film review sessions and everything else.
So here was a more direct question regarding what he has done conditioning wise,
able to do conditioning the Yeah, I mean there are different things.
I mean, right now, you know, it's just more you know,
just with the modalities, but in due time and you know, there's a
lot of different things you know that he can do that he is, but
we're just avoiding any contact work at this point and to reduce any the pounding.
Does that seem like a guy who is very close to returning at the
moment, or at least by Game one to you when he goes to saying
in due time and he's talking about modalities, which I'm guessing is we're talking
ice stem things like that. It doesn't seem like they're trying to put a
lot context. That's how I interpret that. No, I just don't know.
It doesn't seem like they want to stress out the knee much at all,
like they're being extra cautionary about it and precautionary when it comes to the
load and stress they're putting on his right knee because they're concerned about it being
more inflamed. The good news was he did say they had made some progress,
but not enough to where it's at an acceptable point where they would put
him out there. The other part of the good news was he said it
structurally sound regarding I guess the ACL and the meniscus tear over the last couple
of years. That's good news. The bad news is it's been almost three
weeks and the inflammation in a surgically repaired knee is still significant enough to where
he's questionable heading into Game one and again for him to get to a point
of playing in game one, those steps that he talked about in the first
clip we played sounds like all that is part of the process before he would
be playing on the court. And I understand people wanting to cope and wishful
thinking, and this is devastating type of news completely, But for everyone to
continue to accuse the Clippers in Lawrence Frank of gamesmanship when he was actually confronted
with that by our friend Joey Lynn and he addressed it. Do you guys
really think that this is mind games at this point with the Dallas Mavericks.
Do you think the Clippers need to be so desperate to play mind games in
the first round there are four seed with four Hall of Famers. Do you
think that wouldn't come across Maybe it is a little bit week, or that
they could be scared of the Dallas Mavericks if they did that that you're resorting
to those tactics. I don't see the Clippers doing that. I believe Lawrence
Frank when he says it's not gainsmanship. Do you not understand that he may
have to work with the Dallas Mavericks at some point for a trade or a
move or something, and this could burn a bridge if he came out and
had a press conference and it was a complete fabrication. Do you really think
he would do something like that. I don't This is not a ruse This
is the honest truth. It's funny to me. I mentioned this to you
yesterday at the barbecue, Chuck. But the same people who have been asking
for more transparency and clarity, now that Lawrence Frank gives it to him as
much as he can, they say, oh, well, that's just gainsmanship.
Really, I guess he can't win, right, I guess he can't
win with some people, because I do like that's what sucks, is like
this is it's obviously never good to see Lawrence Frank through the presser, but
he said what was happening. He told everyone that we don't know how the
knee is going to react because we haven't been knowing for the last three weeks,
and that's what's happening. The news is what's definitive right now. From
that press conference, the update was really it's still too swollen to where they're
comfortable letting him play at this point right on Thursday, and therefore swelling would
have to go down and he'd have to go through all those steps that we
played and he talked about in the first video. Ay Ready game is probably
part of those steps, which I don't think you mentioned, but that's definitely
part of on court work. Yeah, that would also mean that he completes
those without a setback right to where he does those to where he really ramps
up and it doesn't become more inflamed or swell up more So, that's a
lot of hoof's there so your thing and not gonna be there for game one
seems unlikely. Seems unlikely. And then we not to get too far ahead
of ourselves, but game two is on Tuesday. Then you gotta hope that
everything goes great on Monday. The counter to this, and when more of
the gamesmanship mind games talk that has been circulating on x over the last forty
eight hours has been well, Las said this on the Athletic podcast hours before
this Lawrence Frank press conference, that he believes La Murray of The Athletic that
Kawhi would be playing in game one. He wasn't sure the minutes he wasn't
sure, right, you know, the level of health, if he'd be
at full strength, and all these things. And you combine that with the
sham Seranio report of intense workouts, and that seems to fly in the face
of what Lawrence Frank said. So who do you believe, well I'm gonna
believe Lawrence Frank and what he said about the situation because I don't think he
has much to gain. I don't think it's gamesmanship at all. I don't
think they would be fooling the Dallas Mavericks into anything at this point. You
don't think when you actually go down that path of logic of how this could
be gamesmanship. So they're not telling them whether or not Kawhi learn is going
to play, so then if he does, it's this big surprise to the
Dallas Mavericks, like they're unaware of how they would scheme against Kawhi Leonard,
this is something you are so unfamiliar of playing against. There's a great quote
about scheming for Kawhi that we're going to talk about in the next segment.
By the way, the other side is if he's not playing and he's listed
as questionable and maybe they already know he's out, is well, then they're
less ready for whoever the substitute is. Is it going to be Russ,
Is it going to be PJ, Is it going to be a mirror?
Is it going to be norm? And they have to find different games plans
for all these guys. Hello, They've already been running through player profiles and
how to defend all these guys. It's not a big adjustment, people,
It's not keeping Dallas in the dark at all, and it makes their game
plan easier, right of course. Do you think it's not going to throw
them off if all of a sudden Norm is in the starting lineup? Oh
my god, Dallas is not going to know what to do with this.
I'm telling you, guys, this is not gamesmanship. You gotta let it
go. Do you think, uh? Because again I have no intel on
the scheduling of the Lawrence Frank presser. Do you think the presser was in
response to the shams update? Again, this is purely conjecture. I don't
know. It seemed like I could see it. Toron Leu was flustered with
the amount of questions. That's the other side of this. Oh, but
we we should give a shout out to the reporters for getting this information of
wonderfully, we're doing their job. And Coach Lou acknowledged that and apologized for
at first getting a little bit frustrated at the beginning of his press conference and
saying, look, and then he kind of backed off and didn't want to
go down that Villa Johnson. Here's another reason to not believe the gamesmanship aspect
to this. Do you really think they would continually put Coach Lou in this
position where he has to continue to take questions. If Kawhi Leonard was fine
all along and they knew he was going to play, when Coach Lou has
been frustrated by this, guys, they wouldn't do it. There's no line
of logic where your gamesmanship theory makes sense. I'm sorry, outside of just
coping and being frustrated with it and it's upsetting. I understand this could end
up being the four straight year where Kawhi Leonard either isn't available to start a
playoff run or finish a playoff run, And I understand that could leave to
wishful thinking and just hoping that all this is somehow a ploy to Dallas on
their toes. We could all wake up and it actually will be Monday morning
of earlier this week. No one's more frustrated than Kawhi Leonard. First of
all, with this, a guy wants to play. He's a dog.
He is one of the greatest playoff performers in the history of the game.
He's not just a top seventy five player ever. I think he's a top
ten playoff performer ever in the history of the league in a seven game series.
I don't think there are ten guys I would take over Kawhi Leonard in
those situations. And then the organization's frustrated, of course, and the fans
are frustrated. So I totally get it. I understand it. But I
would believe Laurence Frank and what he said yesterday. I believe Laurence Frank and
what he said for all the reason stated to hear so we can put that
aside. Now. I think I'm finished with it. Yeah, what we
know for sure Kawi's listed is questionable, unclear. If that's gonna be updated
with an injury report tomorrow. If there is an update that perhaps is upsetting,
we will be live to react to it. But that's where we're at
with Kawhi, which is in the dark, probably not playing Game one.
We're gonna get I think he plays in this series. I think it's unlikely
he plays in Game one, but it is likely he plays at some point
in this series. That's what I'm going with. At what level we don't
know, but I agree he will be out there. Coming up, we're
gonna be talking some things the MAVs do on offense during Adam's high five segment,
and then some keys to the game, and we'll be picking our X
factors and whatnot. If you're listening to the pod, thank you so much.
Welcome. If you're a new listener, welcome, Hello to the Dallas
fans. You guys are active on YouTube. We got some ads coming up
on the audio. It's been loud for some people that we're talking MAVs offense
and maybe some defense coming up in three two one. Welcome back in It's
Clips and Dip episode sixty nine, season two. Here, I'm ad A
Maslin. We got Chuck Mockler. No will Updyke for this one, but
the Big three will be returning at some point. We're gonna do a lot
of shows, obviously during this first round series. I hope it's not that
it's not contagious or anything like that. But coming up, we'll talk about
our X factors, which should be interesting because there are a lot of guys
to choose from. But I guess it's time for a high five. Here,
Chuck, we gotta do the high five. We gotta talk about what
the Clippers can do to win and come bat because they still got to play
on Sunday. So people have been asking for this in the comment section,
and we'll have one post every game throughout this series that next episode. If
you guys want to high five, we'll definitely have it for you. But
I thought we'd do something a little bit different here today, which is a
high five on the Dallas Mavericks game tape. On the Dallas Mavericks. We
got to see these new lok MAVs five highlights from a revamped roster post trade
deadline, because I could pull tape from Dallas taking on the Clippers, but
the last time that happened was back in December, and no one is on
the team anymore. Kind of irrelevant at this point, so this should be
fun. Here. As I pull up the YouTube, I was watching a
lot of Dallas Mavericks highlights earlier today. But the game we're gonna go from
is their most well known victory of the season, which would be that game
against the Denver Nuggets with the Kyrie Irving game winning push shot from fifteen feet
out with his left hand over Nikola Jokic one of the most insane regular season
game winners you'll ever see. So I'll maximize this for us, and here
we go. This is actually starting things off, and I believe this is
Dallas's first possession here as it's the eleven h nine mark of the first quarter.
But we'll talk about a little bit of Luka Doncic brilliance here. As
he brings the ball up from right to left, has Michael Porter Junior on
him, Luca puts his right foot forward, gives Michael Porter Junior a little
bit of a pump fake, he falls for it over commits. This is
the brilliance of Luka Doncic. Not many guys at this point. Most players
would just take that driving lane to the basket. Luca's gonna get an even
better look here by doing a little give and go with PJ. Washington on
the left wing, because he gets Aaron Gordon to have to come over and
close out after this pass from PJ. Washington, who then gives it right
back to Luka Doni. Now it's Nikola Jokicic in a precarious position where it's
no longer a big man that he has to cover for that isn't a high
flyer on this Dallas Mavericks team. Yes, they have had Derek Lively now
they have him and Daniel Gafford, So Jokic has to commit here. Luka
Dancis is a big body himself, just goes right by him. Jokich not
a great room protector. But that's just a spot you really can't win in
you want to. You know what I see here that gives me some pause.
I guess is Terrence has been biting on pump fakes a lot to close
the season. That's immediately what I thought of in that, So that that
is something to keep an eye on. And look, it's understandable with Lucy
of course, Oh yeah, we're not. This isn't Luke Canard territory anything
like that. Like this is he just he's been a little he's been a
little bite on him. Here's some of the defense that the Denver Nuggets tried
in this game. Basically it wasn't just a hedge and recover. They were
trapping and blitzing on every screen that I saw with in this case, it's
Derek Lively setting one for Luka Doncic. Watch what Dallas does here, boom.
Both guys, And this is an interesting chess match because you have Luca
and the joker, Nikola Jokic, I think is daring him at this point
because he has his hands down to try a tough pass here. At the
last second, he puts his arms up, but Luca's too quick with it
as he gives it back Lively. Look at oh, it goes right through
his hands. This doesn't happen very often as a crafty as Jokic is.
Watch how Luca is able to get this pass off. It's really just there's
a few guys that can make this right through the Joker's hands, and he
gets it to Derek Lively for an easy look there, and that's gonna be
you know, I'm just that's gonna be Zoo, who is has more active
hands. I believe that Zoo will have his hands up. We don't know
what because you know, Aaron Gordon's not doing the worst job right here,
right like he's at least trying to stick to Luca and stuff like that,
which goes back to Zoo's point about guys getting to the ball quick on pick
and roll and things like that. So this is about as good as you
could play it from the Nuggets right the game like the entire game they did
this just get the ball out of Luca's hands, or in the same situation,
they do it to Kyrie Irving too, But the ball is right there.
Look what Jokic did. He had his hands down. He thought he
could have the cat like reflexes to at least get a hand on it and
disrupt this pass, and it goes right through his hands to Lively. Unbelievable
play there. But Luka Doncich is a basketball guy. Uh yeah, here's
another thing that Luca can do against you. This is more just Luka Doncic
being that guy, but this is a cross court pass from him. Here
it comes again. They're committed get the ball out of Luca's hands. This
isn't a hedge and recover. This is just a hard trap in a blitz
here by Aaron Gordon next to Jokic. But here, instead of going to
the obvious guy in the roller in Lively who has MPG on him, Luca
throws like a no look over the shoulder pass to Maxi Kleeba. Here watch
this, I guess that's look. But as Jokis tries to drop back to
help. At the last second, he goes to Maxie who's in the near
side corner. Now they're getting the Denver Nuggets in rotation. He gives it
up to exhum Michael Porter Junior comes over to close out. He attacks the
close out and now they have the advantage once again. Jokic has to step
up here, but he's got a lob threat behind him in Lively in this
case, who gets the easy lob from ExHAM who has had a fantastic season,
by the way for the Dallas Mavericks and could be one of their X
factors, their best guy really coming off the bench outside of Derek Lively is
the big man. You know what I see when I see this clip,
I see paint you. Yes, I see Zoo having to make that decision.
I see Zoo probably making the right decision. But if the Clippers rotations,
which has been the issue on guys getting too the paint and stuff like
that and knowing if you're the low man and things like that, if it's
not at the best that it's been all season, we're going to see a
lot of the this body language, a lot of But you know what I
mean, We've we've seen it. We've seen it when this defense hasn't been
what it needs to be. So I'm getting I'm getting some sense of dread
during this high five. Not that I was expecting it to be easy,
but you know what I'm saying with the fact with Kawhi probably not playing game
one, which it's not like it. It's not like any game isn't a
must win. But who boy, is it important? On Sunday? We
give uncomfortable truth here, indeed uncomfortable and inconvenient truth. The Dallas Mavericks are
a very good ball club that are completely different than the team the Clippers saw
earlier this season. The good news is Aviza zubots is a much better rimp
protector than Nikola Jokich, and that is not his strength. That is probably
his biggest weakness. Actually in his game, you can't attack him. In
Dallas, they were great at it in this game. Let's see. I
think we got more from Luka Doncic here. This is let's see. Oh
for those saying Luca and irving our food. Defensively, remember for Dallas having
been a top ten defense over almost half the season, their last thirty five
games of the year pretty much all post trade deadline. Every team knows that
they aren't the best defenders, yet they remained a top ten defense. How
could that be possible? Yes, their weakness is that the Clippers have to
try to pick on. But they've been playing much better and giving a better
defensive effort for a long time now. Consistently. Dallas went sixteen to two
during an eighteen game stretch at the very end of the season where they had
the number one rated defense, And I agree, some of it is a
little bit inflated, a little bit inflated, chuck, because of their opponents.
They have beaten one top six opponent in either conference post All Star Break,
and that would be the Denver Nuggets in this ballgame. But watch this,
Luca doesn't just fight through two screens here first and off ball screen from
Aaron Gordon. Then it's a little dho from Jokis to Michael Porter Junior,
the man Luca is guarding here. Watch this effort. Boom boom, around
two, Luca's all over him. Luca loses him here for a second,
He's still all over him. Porter Junior makes this shot, But I mean,
tip your cap. That's a Luka Doncics type of shot basically right,
there's nothing more you could do defensively. This is a great effort. Was
a second quarter. Yeah, look at that, he's all over and if
you're putting, and if you're putting, you know, Luca onto Michael Porter
Junior. It's like, if you're Jason Kidd, you're obviously feeling not too
terrible about that because Michael Porter around, you know what I mean, I
need him, Like, yeah, that's a guy you have to hide him
against. And Luca gave everything he could defensively here on this possession. They
give an effort like that, and you would imagine they would it's a playoff
series now, not just a big game on a Sunday showcase. Here against
the ten for Nuggets to get a feather in your cap type of victory.
And then our last clip here in the high five is something very dangerous.
And this is the small small pick and roll, which is more of a
pick and pop. Here Kyrie Irving here he ends up having Braxton Key on
him. Luca has Aaron Gordon, the better defender on him. Watch how
they get the easy switch. Luca Iso step back left wing, three bucket.
It is now Aaron Gordon I would guess in a playoff setting, he's
doing a better job fighting over the top of this, or they're at least
talking about that. That's the thing the Clippers need to do, right That's
the thing we've seen the Clippers do is not own up enough on to getting
through screens and fighting over that stuff. They switch far too easily. It's
going to happen, and this is what makes them much more dangerous. Now
they have someone like Kyrie Irving that you have to account for because Gordon's thinging.
I can't even hedge. I have to stick with Kyrie at some point
here. I can't help out. I can't do anything. So it's just
the two man game that the Clippers are going to have to be aware of.
There's your high five from the Dallas Mavericks perspective here. But to say
all that, the Clippers can still win this game. We've been down for
these last thirty minutes because Kawhi Leonard is not playing Game one probably and that
sucks ass. But there are ways for the Clippers to win this game.
We just talked about a little bit them briefly, but I think we should
start with the I mean, the pick and roll defense, is kind of
like square one for me in terms of what this team's gonna look like to
set the tone early right, like they've been hyper aware of what they need
to do from all we've heard from Zoo, especially this week. Shout out
Christopher Henderson too for asking really good questions to Zoo about the pick and roll.
But he talked about how they need to get through screens to get back
in front of Luca when they run the pick and roll, and they need
that to happen to get a win on Sunday. It's really hard and Luca
tries to keep you in the rear view. It's Luca tries to keep it
in the rear view. You gotta worry about the roller. But Luca could
just step back and shoot over the top while you're trying to fight through a
screen like that. That's what I worry about. That's why the Clippers are
prone to switch, to not give up that space, to not give them
that half a second to just get an open look to great shooters. That's
the advantage of switching in theory. Now, if it's a beats Zoo bots
who continually gets spammed and gets run into the action multiple times at the very
big the game. Maybe they have something for it this time around. I
would I would rather just have Luca's man, likely Paul George, just fight
through it and not switch there with You're there the whole time. He's gotta
be not thinking, Oh, I'm getting they're just gonna switch. Great,
he can't be and we know there's other guys on the maps. We understand
that people watching this. But the way that this offense is going to work
with Luca playing let's call it thirty nine to forty minutes, is the ball
is gonna be in his hands. He's gonna be one hunting switches and stuff
like that, and Paul George especially, we're gonna need Paul George to be
a thirty point score on Sunday and someone who's fighting through screens and playing good
defense. It's gotta be Diet Kawhi. Basically, if there's no Kawhi,
Leonard, Moore is going to be asked from passage George on both ends.
Yeah, he's your other superstar getting paid max money for a reason. That's
what he has to do. He can't play one side of the basketball just
because Kawhi Leonard is out and he's primed I think for this moment, considering
how he was playing over the last for sure. And if so, let's
so Kawhi probably out game one. Who are you envisioning as we're talking pick
and roll defense, who's taking his spot? And we obviously know what they
need to do, which is play the best they've played all year on defense
and communicate and know the sets. Are we thinking it's a mirror? I
would guess, amir, But it could be Russ, it could be Norm.
I don't think it's gonna be Norm though, because they don't want to
give one more guy for Luca to go after to start the ball start.
I don't think they want to do that. I think a mere because you'd
feel okay about a mirror getting in those switches. Luke is huge, don't
get me wrong. He will just back you down like he just he never
lets you off, you know, just like ok I'm sure that doubling that
we saw that was really good from the Clippers in that Pels game earlier,
that we need that level of doubling because I I every year we play Luca,
we talk about, like, you know, don't let him get the
meaty triple double, right, don't let him get like fifteen assists because that's
when shit is just going really bad. So yeah, coach has talked about
it a bunch. We're gonna but we're gonna see some you know, guys
decide to double sometimes, which is not good. But if they can do
it in the calcul in the best way they've done it all year, which
was like against the Pels, against Ingram and stuff like that, where you're
showing a little bit, you are engaging in the double, but then you're
making the right decision at the right time to back off, and everyone's rotations
was on point as well. Like that needs to happen to the nth degree
again. One way to beat Dallas is to let Luca get his wear himself
out and hopefully by the fourth quarter, just like in twenty twenty one,
he doesn't have the legs on some of those step backs. He isn't able
to drive past guys and get to the basket is easily and it's just a
ropodope strategy. Can it still work with Kyrie Irving? I'm assuming we're gonna
find out at some point, because you do have to pick your poison with
this team. So no, I'm saying, you give up to fight through
those screens and to not give him that advantage against Vitza Zubots, you give
up Luka Doncic the ability to go right into a step back three there and
just hope he's missing, hoping he's off, because either way, if Zou
steps into it and it is his primary defender, then on the switch he
feels very comfortable. So I'd rather just give him an open look than let
him get comfortable against the Vitza Zubots over and over again, because he takes
away your rim protector. I don't yea, and Zoo's been literally one of
the best s rim protectors all season. He finished top three. He finished
behind Rudy Gobert and Chris STAPs. Porzingis of guys that played a certain amount
of minutes and Kyrie we talked about. I think last episode Kyrie runs the
pick and roll post all Star break about it half the frequency of Luca.
So we'll see what that looks like when Luca sits. Because the other part
about Quhy not playing, which sucks, is that Luca might not have to
play as many minutes. He's still going to be over thirty five but I
hope we have to make him play at least forty because and the MAVs,
like we talk about Lucas shooting the three a lot, but the team itself,
you know, they don't need the three. They get fifty one percent
of their points from the two, thirty five and a half from three,
and the other rest from free throws. Basically, so like this team does
score two right, Like they're all right at the basket. It's modern basketball.
It's right at the basket, or it's three points. And they have
guys. It's Gafford, who's been an incredible roller. I did watch a
video of the Clippers torching Daniel Gafford when he was on the Wizards. Very
different team, very different personnel, but at least there is some familiarity there.
James Harden is cerebral enough to remember that kind of stuff. Which does
you know, talk about someone else who needs to play well, who has
an upcoming contract scenario, James Harden's gotta be I know we're talking about defense,
but the Clippers seemingly, I guess, need to lean into offense because
I don't know how you lean into defense without Kauhi out there. He's got
to be on point as well. Daniel Gafford ended up shooting post All Star
Break eighty on the field. Derek Lively great both of them, and as
I've been reminded in the comments comments, Derek Lively is seven to one.
He may not be the broadest guy, but he is seven or some ROLEMN
numbers for the MAVs. Who do you think has the best points per possession
as a roleman for the MAVs in the pick and roll, the guy who
sets the screen, uh on the season or since the is it? Is
it Lively for the whole season? One one points per possession as the roleman.
It's not very often. It's one point one, five, six,
and then not too far away from his Dwight Powell at one and a half
on this list. Kyrie I said this during the twenty sixteen finals. I
think he might be the best finisher at the rim for a guy for in
NBA history, the shots, the creativity, the acrobatic layups. He could
get over much bigger opponents at the rim. I've never seen anything like it.
Steve Nash had some of that. There's a few smaller guys and NBA
history guards that were great at it, But I don't know if anybody has
better touch as an undersized especially guard in this league. He's what six to
two six' one than Kyrie Irving. He's incredible. He's very good floaters.
But you can go left, you can go right, either hand offensively,
we're beating a dead horse here. No disrespect Mavericks fans, but getting
into your sets with real intention hint hint, remember that word later and quickly
right like this is. This is mostly on Harden to get guys into their
shit quickly, especially without Kawhi there. There was a very funny quote today
from Derek Jones Junior on guarding star players like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and
James Harden. He said, treat them like any other man. I just
go out there and guard. I watch film, I look at people's tendencies.
I watch what they like to do. I watch what they like to
not don't like to do, and try to make them do what they don't
like to do. Jones Junior says, Kawhi Leonard doesn't like to go left,
well, he's probably not playing Game one, so good luck with that.
One idiot I'm trying to like, is that games Wan shipped by Darren's
crazy quote. It's probably just something weird to say, like I when you're
good at you know how, Like like defensive backs in the NFL are such
like lunatics, right Like it'll be an incomplete pass they've done nothing with and
they'll be like celebrating and you know, doing the seatbelt celebration. Defensive specialists
in the NBA are very similar to this mindset. I'll being like, you
just make him go left. He's just like any other guy. It's very
obvious he's not. He was watching too many of those we've done with the
nineties videos about Jordan having no left hand, because I'm here telling you true.
Yeah, Like it's literally the first time that's ever brought up. It's
play off gamesmanship. I'm sure I hope Kai puts it up on the bullets
and board or whatever. But it was just funny to hear. But it's
like, okay, man, make him colect. Kawhi is as close as
you can probably get to a flawless player in this league. That's his biggest
flaw. Like he's not the greatest passer. It's not I don't I don't
consider health like a skill. I think it's like, yes, apparently,
but when it comes to on the court acumen and Kawhi Leonard is perfect,
he can get to his spots as a plethora of ways to be doing that
in game one, which is a damn shame. We'll see. I'm not
I'm not totally giving question. It's less likely after that warrant Frank. We
have heard nothing definitive. I've said this before. From my perspect I have
no sources. It's all scuttle. But well, you listened to a lot
earlier today. It sounds like he's backed off of saying he's playing game one.
He doesn't expect Kawhi to play Game one. He expects him to play
Game two or push to play in game two. So he heard Lawrence Frank's
press conference and went from saying he's playing game one, he doesn't know how
much, he doesn't know where he'll be at health wise, but he was
going to give it a shot to most likely game two. I'll try to
play and guess what if the Clippers won Game one without him, I don't
think he's playing Game two. I think if I think if they got the
split, unless he was feeling great, unless the swelling really went down.
But I would guess you'd be happy with the split and giving Kawhi Leonard another
week off to get ready for Friday in Dallas in game three. Yeah,
maybe, well not not, maybe I would like to go up to I
just guessing. Oh yeah, I mean that is fair. Well, like
you said earlier, they could get the split even if they had Kawhi Leonard
in the first two games. But they could also get the split. We
got two games at home. You can you need the split without him?
The last key to the game, specifically on Sunday, it's probably for the
whole series. Two post All Star Break, the MAVs were eleventh, and
percentage of points off of turnovers, the Clippers were twenty ninth. So I
would not like the Clippers to give a team that is very good at converting
turnovers to points easier chances to score more points and beat us in the possession
battle. This isn't talking about rebounding we obviously no, that's gonna be huge.
No idea what the offensive last looks like. We don't really know what
the rotations are gonna look like for the center, but in terms of like
live ball turnovers, Paul George and stuff like that. We cannot give this
team free points, especially when the Clippers have not been able to cash in
on their free points so far. Yeah, and post All Star Break,
the Clippers got worse when it came to turnovers. They turned it over thirteen
and a half times per game. The Dallas Mavericks are We're almost a turnover
one turnover less better per game than the Clippers at twelve point six. We
know it's been one of their biggest achilles heels. When they can set their
defense, they're much better. Their transition defense has been bad. The effort's
been bad. The effort will be good on Saturday. On Saturday, Yeah,
it could turn around, just by guys all of a sudden willing to
be more connected out of the walls, you know, like we gotta believe
in something. This team. Their identity in the two point three era is
stepping up when the Chips are down. Is being resilient and finding ways to
win ball games or a series when they shouldn't. They weren't supposed to win
that series against Utah. People were laughing at them when they thought, oh,
Paul George is going to collapse under the pressure being the number one guy.
Now that Kawhi Leonard's out for Game five on the road, in that
game in that building against the Utah Jazz, and he had one of the
best games of his career. So we haven't seen Paul George in a playoff
series since then, and he wants a new contract and they haven't signed it
yet. That's really building up for Paul George and James Harden to earn the
shit out of their next contracts. That's the way that. Yes, coming
up, we're gonna be talking our X factors. Before that, there might
be some loud ads, so that's been the case for you, lovely audio
listener, Go ahead and turn it down. We're talking that. And then
we have another keyword giveaway for the Steve Bomber Bobblehead ads coming up in three
two one. What's going on everybody, Welcome back, audio listeners. We
usually pick a player of the game that has been tied. If you're new
to the show, Welcome, Welcome to the YouTube, Welcome to the audio.
Usually we pick a Kawhi Leonard player of the game. We named it
this because we couldn't just pick Kawhi Leonard every single game, because we wanted
to, and so even before the news yesterday, I had named this pick
our Kawhi Leonard Honorable Game one X factor of the game. I would say,
if you want to pick this time, because you're really making a bold
pick, that'll be Will's pick. We'll say that Will is not here.
He has not let us know who he thinks his pick is. But we're
gonna say Will picks Kawhi Leonard. He picked PJ. Last time. He
wasn't here, so he hasn't had the best track record. Will believes he'll
be available for game Let's go. Let's put that on. Let's circulate that
Clippers insider Will Updyke believes who that Kawhi Leonard will be good for Game one?
Adam, who is your X factor for Game one? I have so
many names for I've been thinking about this for the last like two days,
and you could honestly say any name and I would I could be convinced,
Oh yeah, there's plenty of guys. You can which case we're ending and
looks smart. I gotta go with your guy, PJ. Tucker, though,
Chuck, I think no, I'm not going with PJ. Although you
never know if he got the start if Kawhi Leonard's out, you never know
if that could be a possibility, or was first or second off the bench
and the big man rotation for playing the five spot. I wouldn't be shocked
by that. I would not be shocked. I would wouldn't feel good,
but I wouldn't be shocked. I'm going to go with the guy who starts
in that position. He's not only my player to watch for Game one,
he's my overall player to watch for the series and player of the game to
watch. I mean it's I mean, the more footage I've looked at with
the Dallas Mavericks and how good they've been when it come to when it comes
to gain the ball in the hands of Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively. Now
is just having two elite rollers go into the basket. We mentioned the percentages
post All Star Break and what they've been shooting. It's because they're getting a
lot of dunks. That's the reason Daniel Gafford had thirty three straight made field
goals at one point and I think another like twenty five straight at another point.
It's insanity. Luca hasn't had guys like this, this reliable in that
spot before, and they have a connection already. Daniel Gafford is fit hand
in glove with this team. So Zubots is really going to have to be
stellar defensively in going back to the high five and looking at some of those
clips with Jokich and being in no man's land where he has to make a
decision there who he wants to guard. Zoo has to pick right, and
he's been great all season long. He's been great in his tenure as a
Clipper. He's been great in his career when it comes to rim defense since
day one, really as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. But I
don't think it could be more important than this time right now, especially if
they don't have Kawhi Leonard for him to give them a chance to slow down
Dallas defensively, but then on the other end, he's got to punish him
and then look for him. I think for them to have success in this
series, Avitza, Zubots needs to average around thirty two minutes per game at
least and gets you seventeen and twelve. I really believe that if Kawhi is
back, then you know, you could make those numbers a little bit lower,
sure, but I think it eats the Zubots is the guy because Gaffard
at least is undersized against him. On the other end, vits Zubas also
has to be good in the short role, which he has been, especially
as I guess jumps this year have been as a passer in the short role.
He's made mostly nothing but the right decision at finding guys out of the
short role. That's a great point. I'd say, you get some great
looks from dayson. Stay on the floor, Zoo. I think as long
as he is not just doing his job defensively but being involved on the offensive
end, Coach Lee will see it as he's too important of a piece to
take off the floor because he's given them offense now too. That to me
is everything in this series for the Clippers, and it would show that he's
overcome some of the struggles and being played off the floor like he was in
twenty twenty one by Luca in the Dallas Mavericks. It would show a tremendous
amount of growth for still a relatively young player. And it also means to
stay on the floor. He has to stay out of foul trouble, so
he just has to be sound with his rotations and not be put into tough
spots where he's trying to Yeah, it's not just about him collectively defensively,
if they're five guys on a string, you're not forcing a beats the zobots
into all these bad spots. If guys are staying in front of their man,
it's still gonna happen here and there. If your point of attack,
defense and the effort is there, it's not going to have a beatsa zubots
in these tough spots too often. That's a great pick. I was kind
of I was basing my pick if you were going to pick a bench guy
or a starter, because we know, obviously James Harden needs to be,
as Brian Semens so eloquently says, the straw that stirs the drink. We
need Paul George to be at his absolute two way best. We Terrence Man
to continue to shoot well and be fears on defense and crash the boards when
Luke is on him on the defensive side of the ball, and we need
you to do his things too. I I'm torn between a very popular pick,
which is Russell Westbrook, because this is a chance for Russ to kind
of pick up from where he left off on the good stuff last year at
the end of the playoffs. This is this is shaping you know, this
is why you get hardened all this stuff. This is also why you get
Russ because he played forty minutes the other week. He's a guy who can
just go and if he's being controlled, deliberate, energetic Russ again, I
know those all three kind of sound like weird mixed together. He is going
to be huge for the Clippers to win Game one. He needs to make
a shot at the rock. Russ is the ultimate be quick, don't hurry
line from John Woods. One hundred percent funny enough funny Russ story. My
orthodontist at the UCLA School of Dentistry went to a dance with Russell Westbrook his
freshman year at UCLA and I was like, well, I was like,
what was that like? She was like, he was so quiet. It
was before he became Russ and all this stuff. It was very funny.
Shout out doctor Benco. Anyway, Russ is a very easy pick because if
Russ is playing well in this game, that usually helps the Clippers. People
who listen to this pod know that I am not a Russ stand by any
means, but I believe he can be very good if he's off the bench.
In this one, he's gonna have to be electric. It was between
Russ and then kind of going with your Zoo pick whoever the hell is spelling.
Zoo is my other X factor because I don't know who it's gonna be.
It's Tice is where I think, is what the rotation leans towards.
He can space the floor time machine, but I think it might go Tice,
pg th Um. I don't want to see Plumbley in this series.
Plumbley is bad right now. Well, it's a bad series matchup for him
because if Luca gets the switch, he's gonna be cooked. If Daniel Tice
has to guard a little bit on the perimeter, you can feel better about
that. Same with PJ. Tucker. Yeah, and it is also hard
for me to pick Terrence because they're gonna stick Luca on Terrence defensively, so
terror I think, I assume, so Terrence needs to be la Clippers soon
pointed this out, crashing the hell out of the offensive boards, just making
Luca have to run around a lot. It is that we're not gonna be
like, we're not gonna be dumping the ball to Terrence and say go to
work on Luca. Nothing like that. But you can make him tired by
making him box you out, making him aware of where you are. He's
got that little step back in the mid range that he has. Now he's
been quick fired from three. So my my one player that I'm picking is
Terrence Man, Russell Westbrook and whoever spells spots. Those are my three X
men. That's why those are my three to one X fact for the game.
And the Clippers might need three X factors to win Game one. It's
the other part though too. Unfortunately. Yeah, if they don't have Kawhi
Leonard, a few guys are going to have to have really stellar performances,
maybe playing above their heads a little bit, but that's what it takes.
That's what we saw in Game three against Phoenix where they should have won that
damn game if the ref just called the take foul my Devin Booker raised his
hand that led to a rust turnover. Absolutely insane. So what's your pick
for Game one? Are we going clips? You could ask me any game
this series. What I do think it's a good opportunity to steal a game
without Kawhi Leonard in game one. Yeah, just because there is going to
be a little bit of a feeling out process, so you never know,
you know how that game could swing, or who gets off to a quick
start in the first quarter. As the chess matches underway, shout out Tyler,
perhaps perhaps the fourth X factor for the Clippers. So now that we
have gotten the fun stuff out of the way, let's get to the serious
stuff. The contest giveaway, the bibblehead giveaway. We are giving away also
we believe I got word from my connections at the post Office that the hardened
bibblehead was sent out. Correct, that is what I heard, Adam,
Is that true? I know I don't have any connections to the post office.
Rocks. We are giving away the Steve Bober bobblehead, so you can
have a billionaire biblehead on your desk. We've given away one keyword already,
which we're not going to We don't have to give it out again. We're
giving out you can go back and find that episode and find the last one.
You can go find it. The next keyword, Adam, would you
like to reveal this keyword I could do that. It's in the rundown.
Keyword number two is intention intention, not intent, non intentional intentions. We're
gonna have the third keyword on the well, depending if we go live on
Saturday, we'll have a keyword. But we're definitely going live after the game
on Sunday, we'll have the third keyword. There. You get all three
keywords, you comment them, you get the Steve Balmber bubblehead. It's that
easy. Please be in California if you win. We've spent a fortune on
international shipping. One last piece of house cleaning that we need to do.
I am begging anyone out there who's listening or watching to send us the final
give no quarter results. We owe a charity of our choice. It can't
be the Chuck Fund, it can't be the Adam Fund. We owe it.
Yeah, we owe a charity of our choice. However, many quarters
will donate it not in quarters that the Clippers lost. So please update us
on that. We have no way to find that information. Just send it
to us, please and we'll donate. Adam one positive we're gonna okay,
so we already broke it down. If anything crazy happens tomorrow we'll be doing
a live if not definitely alive after game one on Sunday. We'll put that
out his audio two. But that's gonna be on YouTube dot com slash at
Clippers podcast. Subscribe get an alert. That'll be fun. We're gonna have
a full episode out on Monday with the whole crew talking what needs to happen
in game two. Maybe we'll have a fun Kahi update. But before we
fully send you out, Adam, one quick positive thing for these genius listeners
and the maps ones to go into the weekend. I honestly, I really
think that the situation with Kawhi Leonard, regardless of if he plays or not.
If he does play, I don't think he's going to be one hundred
p He could end up being on a minute restriction. He knows. But
it has put this team you mentioned it earlier, in that familiar position where
their backs are against the wall, where they have to meet the moment and
play with a certain level of effort and urgency out there, which has always
been when this Clippers team is at their best, when they have that level
of desperation, when they are digging deep. I don't want to see them
have to get down too over that to happen. It may just happen based
on the fact that we don't know the status of Kawhi Leonard, and therefore
guys are a little bit more focused, a little bit more locked in because
they know they have to be. I could see this Clippers team thriving once
again in that predicament where it's a stay ready type of all hands on deck
Clippers game and performance because they know they have to rise above if they don't
have Kawhi or if they have him at eighty percent or something. So I
don't know, this is their identity. This is who they have been over
five years, more so than anything else. A resilient team that shows up
and plays their best typically when their best is required in these moments. Do
you have it? Game one Sunday at twelve thirty. Memorize what Adam just
said. Tell it to all your friends who are doubting that the Clippers are
going to be able to make something happen. We will be back with y'all
right after the game on Game one, maybe even before Will sends his regards.
We have no idea where he is. We hope he's safe, Adam,
hope you have a rest of the great rest of your evening. Hope
everyone else listening and watching has a great rest of their evening, weekend,
and as always, let's go clips.