What's going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to the Live. Welcome to the
Clips and Dip Game five postgame Live. I'm Chuck Buckler, Will Upte's gonna
be here. Adam Awson is going to be here. But we have a
Clippers podcasting O G. Joseph fry Award, whose name is currently burn it
all Down. Joseph, Let's get your thoughts on what happened in the Clippers
one twenty three ninety three loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The floor is yours.
If you came in here early, welcome, this should be a good
time. We you know, we really lost this game in the margins.
I feel that we were right there. I mean, here's all I gotta
say. And it's gonna surprise no one, but I feel like we were
sold this bill of goods that a certain addition was supposed to help with our
energy intensity and mental toughness, and I feel like we haven't really had any
energy intensity or mental toughness since Pat Bev left. And it really bothers me
that I keep watching this team make the same mistakes over and over and over
again, and I feel like at this point there is no curse the Clippers
are just bad at this, Like they're just flatly bad at this. And
whether it's the stench of sterling or the crippling fear of Balmer and Frank and
I scared Will off, well, I still get a handgun because he doesn't
know what's going to happen. I just like, I mean, it's just
it's insanity. We're watching this team devolve into the same team that they were
in twenty nineteen, where the coach is totally stubborn and unwilling to make hard
decisions. And you have even seen the quote. Did you see the postgame
quote about Oh? I believe it was just texted to me that they need
to get him in better positions to succeed offensively. I mean it's like,
dude, it was two for seven at the rim tonight. Here's the deal,
And I think he's now also the reason we lost tonight's game, though
probably no dog shit, dog shit. Yeah, I mean, you're not
gonna win when those guys are bad, But you're also not going to win
when you continue to hand the keys to a guy who's one of the worst
playoff performers of all time, is one of the least efficient playoff shooters like
of all time and is a guy that you consistently game plan like, this
is still the thing, Like I'm not over it. From the time that
they him, we watched them that whole season and the season before in LA
and the seasons before that, we watched them target Russ for his inability to
make sound decisions and make baskets. We watch them target him over and over
and over again in big games, crunch time games, whatever. It is
too great success. And then we we tobiased this whole situation where we were
like, but what if it works for us? And it's just it's this
insane cycle that the Clippers continue to put themselves in where they trust the wrong
people. They they're looking at things from the wrong angle, and it's like
they very clearly are not run very well, and the decision making of this
team is clearly not championship level and any level is what you're saying, exactly,
At any level this we were sold this bill of goods that we were
like the best run team in the league combined with the deepest pockets in the
league. There was a period where the roster looked fantastic. Yeah, now
it does not, but was it managed well? Correct? Every time,
every time we've ever had the deepest roster in the league, we've gone like
forty three and forty I mean that's impossible, but we've gone forty three and
thirty nine. Yeah, But like when the guy taking up thirty three of
your payroll, it plays in what percentage of available games and misses four consecutive
years of the playoffs? Like, but this is this is you know what
I mean, Like you can't predict that, this is this is what what
I'm talking about. And and it's like we paid him. I mean,
granted, the thing doesn't work without Kauai no matter what I mean. That's
just flat lay the truth, Like there's nothing they're going to do without Kauhi.
And we paid him after he played like a month and a half healthy,
and we're like, yeah, this is gonna last. And then like
we just we gave him the money and so he's the lynchpin to everything.
But he's so incredibly unreliable and I love PG, but what the fuck?
But like this is who he is, This is who Paul George is.
This is just like this is what we get. And then where did the
aggression go? What aggression. What player on this team actually brings productive aggression
any day? And what aggression? He was in the middle of a shooting
streak, But he he gets that when he's in the middle of a shooting
streak, if he's not shooting well more often than not. You see what
happened tonight? When did he When did he make his first three tonight in
the third quarter? Uh? Oh, we got Adam Oslen. This has
to be brief too, because he's in the stadium. What's up? Adham?
Can't let Maxi Kleebig get going like that? To Will's credit, he
brought him up. Guys, that's where the game started to unravel. Joseph
goes through talks about a post game too. Are you it wasn't the six
straight gambles by Russell Westbrook on defense? Are you sure it wasn't that gambles
by Russell Westbrook on defense, the one by Mason Plumbley. They all led
to wide open threes from Maxis Cleva, who obviously can knock him down.
We know that he just hadn't been taken that many. Sometimes it's down shots,
but you give him wide open ones like that, he gets hot,
He gets confident. Obviously the game spiraled. You can't have performances like that
from Paul, George and James in the game five like this, do you
have no shot? And Russell Westbrook is now six for his last thirty five
in this series. Just got to put him in the right spots, though,
Adam. Just got to get him in the right spots at the rim,
not the right spot in the mid range, not the right spot wide
open in the corner. Also not the right spot. But we're gonna get
there. We're gonna find that spot to get Russ going. We're you gonna
find it. I was calling for bones Highland by the star of the third
quarter. Yeah, he made it free tonight. Get him in there.
In games people talking about his lack of size and defense. It's like,
well, if Russell Westbrook also isn't playing great defensively, what is this issue?
Exactly? A game? Was this the tough game that you expected at
him as the driver of the tuck wagon. I mean, he at least
got him a few extra possessions. He's got to take that lager. I
didn't think he was terrible. I didn't think he was terrible with how bad
it? No, he had a Ben Simmons like moment. He has to
take that shot when he's right underneath the basket. But I don't know,
maybe we do see some PJ. Tucker and Mason Plumley guys outside. The
fourth quarter of last game has been brutal this series. The last game outside
of that really rough. The game really turned. The game really turned when
Tye turned to tweedled the and tweedled them to end the first half. Why
didn't why didn't he just roll with the starters just to close out the quarter.
It was a minute and a half. He gave all the moment the
first quarter with the lead, just literally first quarter lead. Adam of the
game and handed it old. Adam's producer on Twitter just had to tweet,
we're back, Adam, and that's why we left. From shout out producer
Katy s got out producer Katie. She's fantastic at her job. Shout out
to Adam Austlin. If you're new to the pod, thanks for hanging out.
He usually is our third host. He hosts pre and posting for the
Clippers. Josephry Warner is here just for some old feelings. Hid My wife
sleeps on the couch telling her I'm never going to podcast again, and I
continue to sneak on to clips and dip. You know what's annoying to me
about this game, There's a lot of things. Not a single guy over
fifteen field goal attempts, Yeah, that is crazy. Paul George and with
compared to Russell Westbrook, Paul je had thirteen. Not a guy didn't even
have fourteen field goal attempts. Paul George had thirteen field goal attempts. Harden
had twelve. He hit two of them. Russ had eleven. He also
hit two of them. Well, George only taking two more field goal attemts
than Russell Westberg in twenty twenty four is like the most fucking baffling thing.
But that's the twenty twenty four Clippers. That's that's the formula. Man is
is Russ comes in, plays twenty two minutes and takes fourteen shots. It's
the most insane thing. He's shooting like thirty eight percent for the season.
Like, why is this guy high volume? I know what lineup you're talking
about. It was that plumbly Russ. I put this in notes. He
pulled Terrence and pulled Zoo and they went like minus six Harden, Norm Westbrook,
Terrence Plumb, and it was awful. It was so bad, mostly
because probably had the worst defensive game he's had all year. He's he's he's
totally I mean, inept defensively in the playoffs. It's unbelievable. It's been
so bad. Like what could you do though? Like, would you just
short do you just shorten the rotation to six guys? Why? Why not
playing? Honestly? Hold on? What about the guy who's played in a
Western sorry, in an Eastern Conference finals before. I'm not saying he's good,
but why not try daniel Tye? Did he like did he kick ties
pet chihuahua once? Like? What is going on here? Where daniel Tye
can't even look at the floor? Yeah, we can't try it. We
can't try it. Yeah, I mean, I I just think I think
they had success in Game one, and I think Tie had like really cueued
into liking the size mismatch, even though like offensively it hasn't worked for long
stretches of time. I mean, they went scoreless for what like seven minutes
almost in that third quarter? Yeah, uh yeah, and he can at
least space the floor, I know, he's not Charls is gonna criticize the
volume, which is not incorrect, but he can theoretically space the floor more
than the other options. Or you know, just play competent defense would be
nice. That's really all I'm asking for. You don't need to shoot threes,
You just just be where you're supposed to be. I saw to me,
it's like, I don't know if the Clippers go smaller because they've been
game planning for this whole thing to obviously never play small. Yeah, it
is the other part. They also just they can't. They can't go small
without cool. It just doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't even it's quiet.
It sucked all year. It's not even like it's worked this year.
It sucks. It hasn't been good since Nick Patuma's been down the small ball
lineup. At one point, the Clippers were down twenty and the small ball
lineup came in and it was like, oh, the lineup that cannot defend,
has never been able to defend this year and isn't scoring. Yeah,
and we're down twenty, like Tyleru, I understand. So the thing that's
also difficult about Paul George and Harden shitting the bed. I know we've talked
about it. If you've just how could no one dribble tonight? How they
forgot how to dribble? Like everybody forgot how to dribble? It was I
feel like I've never seen that from multiple players, Like crazy pills, the
Norm, the Norm, Sorry norm pill, because you were saying crazy pills,
the Norm. No reason charge in the third where he like lost the
ball and then like waltzed into a dude and and just forearmed him. And
that was what happened tonight. I don't know. Back to the sorry quick.
Back to the thing for the people watching. We haven't been talking much
about Paul Jordan's hard yet because they were dog shit And the thing that sucks
when they're so bad is then they can't hit shot. So Tylu has to
be like I have to throw things at the wall. It's not that TYLERU
was like, we were playing good and then Tyler was making insane lineup decisions.
They were playing horribly, and then Tyler had to be like, I
guess I'll try and make a Moscow. I guess my only defense is like,
what what the fuck do you do? If Paul George and Harden's that
bad, like truly, like what what is there to do? Let's let's
go to Joseph Bones Highland. Literally just try it. The guy has already
had a microwave game in the playoffs. Yeah, he's already had a microwave
game in the playoffs. The dude spaces the floor, has speed, like,
can do the things that you theoretically want from your backup point guard,
and they just he just doesn't like them. It's like very blatantly obvious that
what is happening right now isn't working. The Clippers only won two games where
the MAVs had maybe the worst shooting halves in playoff history in two games,
and the Clippers had two outlier three. They made eighteen threes on over right.
Game one, the MAVs maybe shot seventeen percent all night. Game Game
four, the MAVs shoot, you know, thirteen percent in the first half
from three as a team. That's the other thing. This could have been
so much worse. Rights have been the better team. To say worse,
it could have been worse. The MAVs have flatly been the better team in
the series. They've they've been better coached, they've been better prepared they've had,
They've had better performances from their from their from as, from their role
players, saying I just wanted to listen. You know, I think Joseph
was spitting there. I don't want to cut them off. Joseph was saying
that the Mavericks have roundly been the better team throughout this series. I gotta
be honest, I don't even think tonight, I don't even think the Dallas
Mavericks. That's how bad this performance was from the Clippers. Dallas in the
first half was five of twenty one from three. Historical evidence deep in the
final you thought Dallas was good tonight. No, I'm saying they've been better
this whole series. They've been the better team. They're up three too,
so I guess they are. They've been better coached, They've they've had better
performances from their role players, They've gotten better consistent performances from their stars.
They've been the better team. Adam, What do we do about George?
What? What can be done? Do we just have to hope they make
shots on them? I don't even care take shots. You have to take
shots fo you actually have to put him up? Can I say one last
thing. A Viza Zubots is four or four in the first quarter with eight
points. He takes four shots the final three quarters total. That's just I
thought. I thought that they were going to get back to it, like
it was clicking so well. I just don't understand they forget about Zoo.
It's the story of the two and three er in some ways to me,
Love you guys, love you Bye, buddy man, I don't care take
shots beautiful. Yeah, the man is a wordsmith. My wife is awaken
and it's going to murder me, so I have to leave the well.
That was fun. Little pop in from Joseph Ward. Yeah, will you
came in in the middle of a hurricane. You and I were just in
a lift together. We weren't really speaking because it was a difficult game anything
else, Like what how are you feeling? How are we looking? How
are we trying to frame going into Friday? I mean, I just feel
like we've been saying the whole thing all like the same thing all series,
Like you need to get easier baskets, you need to get a Viza Zubots
involved early and often, And this was one where you know, like I
said, I don't sometimes shots don't go down, Like, I don't know
what you do with that with you know, with Harden and George. I
will say though that the field goal attempts were both too low. It's like
too evenly spread. I think that, like both of those guys just needed
to get into a rhythm. When Paul George finally started putting up some three
point as, some shots went down and we started getting a little bit of
momentum, I don't know what to tell him to do, like you,
he's got to kind of shoot through it. And this was a game where
early we were getting some really great performances out of Vitza Zubots and Terrence man
Uh. And Terrence man has been great defensively in this series. He's been
so good that when the MAVs were on offense, they were putting two guys
on Terrence damn near at half court, like to screen him off a Luca,
Like two fucking guys, like so much so that they ran into him
in that like in that moving screen that like it wasn't intentionally dirty, but
it was shitty. It was not ideal. Yeah, shitty, that's fair.
Yeah, man. They they were carrying the Clippers for a while fans
are getting real existential. They carried the Clippers on the first half, and
the Clippers were down in the first half. Right, that's what what I
mean by this game could have been so much worse. Yeah, And it's
also so funny that, like the you know, the cliche is role players
shoot better at home, and it's just not really the case for the Clippers.
Yeah. Yeah. The thing happened that we discussed on the pregame pod
a little bit, which was a mere Coffee got a lot more looks in
this game. Yeah, because again, a mere Coffee has yet too,
including tonight, excuse me, make more than two field goal attempts and gave
this series. He made one tonight. He has not made more than two
yet, which is tough. It makes sense to funnel the ball to a
mirror. He's a prove it guy. He's a guy that you see.
He's a he's like they don't know, like, hey, have your have
your thirty point game of mirror, but you're gonna make us of course.
I mean, it's it's the same thing with MAXI kleeber Right, I mean,
like, yeah, there are shots on the floor that you sometimes concede
and I you know, I think that that was the shot on the floor
that they at times had to be comfortable with. Yeah, I don't,
it's not ideal. I don't. I don't know what to say. He
did have a lot higher volume though, in this game than than I think
any other game in the series. So yeah, that's something. No one
made more than two threes. What an absolutely brutal and the the thing that
was frustrating is like there were cracks when this game started. Oh yeah,
the MAVs had an advantage in offensive rebounds and were plus five and three point
attempts after the first quarter. And that's wasn't a huge It wasn't a huge
advantage, but you could see, you're, like, there's some tendencies happening
here. They got a lot of dunks. Yeah, the Clippers started the
second half with three turnovers in like a minute and a half, yeah,
or something like that. Like there was nothing was tight about this game.
There was no None of the screws were tight. I used to have a
very old wagon that I put together myself, and it was a nightmare.
It broke instantly. And because none of the scrouds were tight, like you
have to like I just I know I said it earlier, but like weird,
I don't know, man, they would flow as shit after two days
off. Like I know I said it earlier, but like I don't get
how everyone forgets to dribble tonight, Like like you forgot how to do that,
And I mean, I guess the obvious answer is, like, you
know, it's it's been a tough series. It's been a it's been a
physical series ever since Game ever since Game two, when the maps really ramped
up, the physicality got lively more involved, especially there. But if they're
tired now, I mean, the rest is only getting shorter. So you
know, I don't know what you do with that. Eric Pugh asking bench
Rush for bones, what if Bone ships the bed again? Then he ships
the bed again. I mean, don't we have enough sample size of Rush
shitting the bed to say to throw caution of the way Everyone the bed other
than Terrence and Zoo tonight. So it's like, I don't know, what's
one more person. I know this sounds this, but like I don't know
what if he should if he's if he's starting to ship the bed, if
he's prairie dogging in the bed, Tyler will pull yeah. Oh, of
course he will have the least amount of leeway of any player on the entire
roster the Zoo. He will not Yeah, Tyler will not hesitate. Yeah.
And it's like schematically for the Clippers, schematically speaking, everything was in
mud. You mentioned this when we were watching the game. But Paul George
was initiating the offense to start this game, and it made no from the
from the first possession, this offense was off, like like why was Paul
George initiating the offense? Like why was he doing it so much? We
know about Paul George's handle, and like, yes, he has a nice
handle for a small forward. Uh, he does not have a handle where
you need him to be initiating the offense over the guy that you traded every
wing that you had to initiate the offense. Like, I just it doesn't
make any goddamn sense to me. And it's not good for him either,
Like it's not you know, he can do that in limited spurts, but
like Paul George initiating the offense is like not what's exciting about Paul George's game?
Get the guy fucking shots, have somebody else do it. Just have
him put up shots. For God's sakes, we didn't see did we see?
I don't think we saw any small small pick and roll tonight, which
has been successful for the Clippers in this series. Terrence Man, this is
the screener has been good, Like there are ways, like there's not big
things to have done, but it felt like Tylo was off this game,
and that coincided with everyone other than Terrence and Zoe being off. We're gonna
take a quick audio break because we're gonna do this for an audio podcast too.
Ads coming up in three two one. Hey we're back. Thank you,
Trey. You're right. Trey young Een says James supposed to run the
offense. I don't know why Paul George is doing that. It was weird.
It well, it's not a new thing. Like they they do get
into these ruts. And I don't know if it's Paul like asking to call
a shot or whatever, but like at this point, as a thirty four
year old man, he's got to realize that, uh, maybe that's not
the best position for him. Can he do it? At times? Sure?
Is that his forte not to set the tone for the game? No,
and that I mean, like that's the thing I feel like that's been
kind of frustrating is this game aside because this game was the Clipper's worst defensive
game as well, Like it was, yes, dog shit, they were
terrible. I mean that was the huge That was just the huge difference in
this one. But the offense for the Clippers, they have really not been
able to take the lid off of this one for a full forty eight minutes.
Like we've seen it in stretches and quarters, but it hasn't been what
it was throughout even the majority of the regular season. No cohesion, especially
tonight, there was no idea right, There's just no rhythm. There was
no rhythm to the offense. Like the ball wasn't snapping, you know what
I mean, Like there just wasn't. I don't know, Wow, Like
I don't know if we're gonna do a pod tomorrow. So I guess we
have to quasi look towards Game six. What adjustments can you even make?
We obviously know the Paul George James Harden need to make shots and just like
like we've been saying all series, like get easy baskets, just get into
the stuff that worked. You know what worked in Game one? And no,
it won't have the exact same results, but like get Zoo attempts,
like, let's you know, mix it up, man, get Zoo more
than eight attempts, especially when he's made seven of those attempts. Like Zoo
found Terrence for a corner three out of the short roll, and it looked.
That was the highlight of the Clippers offense tonight. It was very early
in the game. Yeah, it was a pick and roll with Harden and
Zoo. Zoo got in the short roll, they crashed, Terrence was wide
open. It was a perfect read. It was a perfect play. That
was it. That was the extent of the well run Clippers offense tonight.
Totally, and we need And the thing that was frustrating for me is that
that happened in the beginning of the game, So there's that can have a
domino effect. It wasn't random, So game six we need that type of
thing to happen. It's E've been saying the damn shit, like the same
ship this whole time, Like I don't know what else to tell you,
Charles Gardner, wonderful name. Uh glad they got to beat down. I
mean, yeah, an interesting way to look at it. Maybe that's what
they needed. How many times do we say that during the regular season?
Good lord, h yes, you're right, Charles. Well, at least
there's one smart Charles in this chat. God damn it. No, no,
Kahi bionic leg I like that. There's a YouTube neighbor named a gay
actor named Michael Douglass in the chat right now. I don't know. Yeah,
so game six PG and Harden take shots? Is that the baseline?
Yeah, somebody said in the chat earlier, and I fully agree. Paul
George is the number one with Kauhi Gon, how are you gonna not take
twenty shots in a playoff game? Chuck him? I would love if we
get a PG Chuckham game and like and from ty lu and like the offense.
Likewise, don't have him initiating, like, don't have him initiating,
don't have him going off the dribble, uh to start a possession, you
know what I mean? If it's a breakdown and it comes to that,
uh, and it goes into a one on one thing, sure, but
the thing is is, like that's just so exhausting. I don't know,
you know, I don't know how it's sustainable. I don't know what they
think it's sustainable. And I did look tired already tonight, after two days
off, Victor vic Is asked, will Kawhi play in Game six? Absolutely
not. Kawhi will not play in this series. Absolutely again, he will
not play in this in this game, in this series, it's still day
to day. They talked about that today. Oh yeah, and like it
should the Clippers get out of this first round series. I'm not saying I'm
not closing the door completely, but he's not gonna play in this He's not
gonna play again in this series. Yeah, and he should because he's not.
Humber sent himself. Strado's asking Chuck Backler equals Chuck the Condor. No,
I just spise Chuck the Condor. Exceptly he gave a World War One
veteran of what Willie wants. And that is like your one hundredth reference to
that on this podcast. I don't want people to forget that it happened.
I reference that at work. It's your Alamo. Yeah, we gotta hope
a mirror is better in game six. Oh. I like this tray point.
Really, James Harden has been the number one option this series if you
look at it, PG really the second and we won two games with it
like that, And I agree, And I think that Paul George is better
off the ball, and he has been this series. And James Harden,
except for tonight, has been the most consistent player for the Clippers throughout this
series. Before tonight, he was the best player in this series. Yes,
there's a link in the chat. Friend, who else to see Chuck
the Condor giving a one hundred and four year old World War Two victim a
wet Willie screen. We have people discover it for themselves. I don't want
to force it on anybody. Yeah, I do you think there's Do you
think Clubley's done? Do you think he gets a shot? To see how
he looks on Friday? Quick turnaround? Again, it's a very quick turnaround.
He's gonna get a shot. I mean, like I just like I
said, like, we're in a bit of a rock and a hard place.
Is as far as the rotation goes, it's already eight guys. Do
I think there are other guys that at this point in the series, you
or I guess we went deeper tonight, but uh, it's average to be
eight guys. Do I think that there are other guys that you might as
well give a look. Yeah, I mean, I guess it would depend
on the game plan. But if you're seeing the same thing when two guys
come in, maybe it's time to stop bringing those two guys in. At
least that's all I'm gonna say. At least together PJ. Tucker played tonight
He's gonna get run on Friday. Honestly, I wasn't mad at that.
I guess that wasn't either. I was mad at everything else, so I
didn't have room for it. Like I'm I'm thinking karate defense, which worked,
yeah, well, And I kind of feel like that's the the real
whole reason he was brought in. I mean, I know he for some
reason thought he was coming in for a different reason, but to come in
and be he had the hardest adjustment of anyone in that trade, I know.
But like for him to come in in short stants and be an irritant,
I actually like that. It just depends on what the lineup is around
him, because again, oh plubly no Russ hopefully, because those that trio
being together, I was like, that was insane. Yeah, I agree.
Could he work on the floor next to Zoo no, because now there's
two non shooters. Now now, now, now it's exactly what But you
have to guard PJ. Tucker in the corner. I don't think you do
anymore, dude. And is he gonna get enough run to like punish you
for that? He's gonna make one him? Him making two threes is his
maximum value offensively? Right? Two made threes is PJ. Tucker's. That's
fine though, that's all you need, but I can't that's all you need.
If he hits two threes in twelve minutes, I think that you're winning
those minutes. I'm sick to my stomach, oh thinking about that. This
is a great point. Yeah, no matter who was on the court,
Jeremy Mormon, there were five non shoots. Yeah, that's a very good
point. That got me. Thank you, Jeremy, You got us,
Jeremy. Yeah. Russ, boy, Russ has to be better. He's
gonna be evidently given more chances. Terrence needs to get more minutes and Zoo
needs to get more minutes. I don't know what to say when Zoo plays
twenty five minutes and Terrence plays thirty one. Play these guys forty minutes.
I think you have to. I mean they're the youngest guys on the team.
Uh yeah, they get regular rotation minutes. I mean the you know,
the fatigue was definitely a factor, and I think that maybe it changes
a little bit. Like Terrence got rocked, like I said, ankle doubble
screen Like that was is that when he had the ankle because he came up.
Yeah, yeah, they were like they were getting really physical Terrence to
keep him off of Luca and Tiki Taki calls a little bit in this game,
But I don't even care about the whistle like that was, Like,
I mean, it has been shitty, but it's like that's not the reason
we lost the night. I'm I'm actually blaming the rest for this one.
This is all the refs. They rigged this thing to get Luca, to
get Luca in longer. We need, yeah, Mace to not go one
for six. Let's hope we see some small, small pick and roll.
Let's hope we see some of that. Let's hope we see more of just
hardening zoo and roll like this almost famous plant. Because I think that that's
the thing with Russ is like movie stuff in the chat. He can't he
can't play without the ball. But I think the thing that also kind of
sucks is he can barely play with the ball. Yeah, oh shit,
Adams still here? Oh no, are you letting him in? Or am
I? I got it? He's back? Done with Clipperstock? Oh are
they gonna kick you out? Are you the last person other than the Red
Shirts in the stadium? Jake Warner and Yo? Yeah, hoping this is
not the last time we're here. So how are you feeling about We were
just doing a quick you know, how are we feeling about Friday? What
do you think needs to happen other than Paul George and James Harden making shots?
So maybe some more small, small pick and roll. I think leashes
have to be shortened. Rotations have to be shortened. If Russell Westbrook comes
out misses his first three shots and looks erratic out there, you gotta pull.
And if you have to play PJ Tucker some I don't. You may
have to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. That's what Tyler
was doing tonight. He had to because the shooting was so bad, like
it was. Yeah, I don't know, but it's the starting lineup.
Just play forty minutes. I don't understand how beats Zubas can't play forty minutes
in a playoffs thirty lay twenty five to I know, and some of that
was because they pulled everybody with like seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
But he wasn't gonna get past I think thirty three minutes, even if he
played the entire fourth quarter. I don't think he's played more than thirty three
minutes in a game in this playoff series. And the guy who is backing
him up, in Mason Plumbley, has been good to about five minutes of
this series, the start of the fourth quarter in Game four. Yeah,
and you can't play beats to zubos more. I don't understand it for the
life of me. It's so frustrating. He's twenty seven, he's not in
foul trouble. Well, what what does he look that gassed out? There
is seventy percent of it eats the zoobots still better than Mason Plumbley at one.
I think, so that's the I mean honestly, yes, but yeah,
why why can they not just I don't know, it's do or die,
so like lay it all on the line. I mean, have you
played forty minutes. We may find out a lot about who coach who truly
trusts in game six and who he's gonna ride or die with. Do you
think what's your over under on Russ minutes? Not asking you to bet,
but just you know, just speculate. I think I don't know fourteen.
You played fifteen tonight. He's been and coach who was asked about him post
game and he said he's got to put him in better positions. They're not
getting stopped. So Russ isn't getting out in transition enough. But he went
too for seven at the room tonight. There's just right. There's no way
to excuse way this Russell Westbrook and the version we've gotten over the last four
games in this series. I'm sorry Russ stands six. There's no way to
rationalize that is, but the energy, I'm sorry. And we need Paul
George and James Harden to figure out whatever the hell they need to figure out
between now and Friday. Coach Lou also said postgame that James Harden is allowed
to have a bad game, and I think he's right. He's the best
player. Paul George, this is at least his second really bad game right,
I think he's had one good game, if we're being honest, he's
had fine games, and he's maybe had two good games in this series.
I think Game one. In Game one, I think Game one he was
good. In Game four he was good. And other than that, I'm
not saying he was terrible. They weren't terrible games with their men games well,
two terrible games. You need him to be a thirty point scorer who's
good on both ends. You need him to be. He's been for what
he's supposed to be and for what he seemingly wants from the Clippers after this
season, which is a big old contract. He has shown that he is
not worth of close to the max in this series. It's too inconsistent.
This is this was the perfect storybook way for PG to say, I give
me this money, I can do this shit. James Harden has done that,
except for tonight. Paul George has been up and down. I thinks
probably been the second best player in the series for the Clippers. They don't
they don't recognize that. They don't use him like he's playing as well as
he has been. They don't explore that option. And I probably got enough
hair though I could pull some out still and be Okay, that's what I
feel like doing. He was my ex factor coming into this series and he
comes out and has what twenty one and fifteen in Game one. Yeah,
I know they hit eighteen threes in that game too, but a big part
of that game was what if Viasa Zubas did and what he showed he's capable
of. And then do you think that the like do you think that the
Lively adjustment has just been what's had Tyler lou move away from that? I
don't think so, because even when they have gone small still with with Maxi
Kleba out there, they don't look for him. Remember the very end of
Game two where all of a sudden, Paul George was getting downhill and he
found a eat to Zubas for a couple of easy ones, Like he had
eight points in the fourth quarter of Game two, after long stretches of going
away from him. That at the very end there was a sense of urgency
to get a beat of Zubats involved, because hey, he's the only guy
out there getting easy buckets when they were miserable and I think shot their worst
field goal percentage of the season. In game two and around thirty six percent.
Well, tonight they shot about thirty eight percent. They weren't much better.
Four for four in the first quarter with eight points, gets four shots
the rest of the way. How is that possible? They hate easy buckets.
I feel like they hate to make s and harder have the most resistance.
Yeah, oh, this is an interesting question. Jason Kidd made a
very quick adjustment in this game. Zoo absolutely destroyed Gafford for the first three
minutes. Kid immediately put Lively out there. I don't I'm not saying that's
what caused you to not get his shots or whatever. Has been very good
defensively. Yeah, like so they had the counter there. I don't know.
I wouldn't be surprised if Lively starts Friday. Why though, you don't
even Dafford sucks, But you don't need to change. You don't need to
change your starting line up. I know you have you have the chick,
you have the advantage. It's three to two, you're at home. You
don't have to change ship. We're the team that has to change something.
I don't like this. This sucks. I agree Dallas. Hey, why
should Dallas have to adjust? Is the clip that are looking for answers.
Yeah, all right, let's pick. I know we usually picked players of
the game. What's our adjustment? Which, hey, they've we all got
it wrong. I think last time? What is our adjustment of the game
for Game six? It's the same thing we've been saying all serious. Get
the ball to we eat to zubats early and often also poll players who don't
have it that night. You have to have a sense of urgency. My
friend Kevin Kennedy, former MLB manager with the Rangers, with the Red Sox,
I'd watch Dodger games with him, and back when it was Donnie Baseball,
who I thought was a terrible manager. He would critique him during ball
games and explain some stuff to me, and he'd always talk about having a
sense of urgency, not just inning to inning, not just out to out,
but pitch to pitch when your margin for air is so slim, like,
that's how focused you have to be. And that's what it's going to
take for them to win Game six. Every possession has to be valued everyone,
None of this gambling on Maxi Kliba and thinking that you can create some
highlight play that can rally the team when they're down by two, when Maxi
started to get it going, when the gambling started. Coach Lou brought that
up specifically post game. He knows that's when the game turned. They go
from down two to down eight in like two minutes, just giving up wide
open shots. This game did not get away from them in the first quarter.
It didn't get away from them in the first three minutes of the second
quarter. It was as soon as Maxi Kleber got in and they gave up
open shots. And it's just an undisciplined defensive team that I saw tonight.
Yeah, turnovers open the second half. It was absolutely insane. They went
six minutes, six and a half minutes with how a made field goal in
the second half. They had guys listening to this. This is crazy.
They had over a twenty minute period in this game. If you add up
all the runs that went against them and how many times they went without a
field goal, like going five minutes without a field goal in the first quarter.
If you go from all the quarters, they had a twenty minute stretch
and a forty eight minute game where they had eight points and those were all
free throws. Brutal, So as bad as their defense was you know,
their offense wasn't rescuing them. Both sides of the basketball were miserable. I
just can't believe after the way they won Game four, they put together a
performance this bad back at home after two days off. I have my adjustment
for game six. Flip the switch back up. You take, you take,
you circle this, you say, flip the switch. That's what we
have to hope for, which makes me want to tear my desk out of
my house and throwing It's fair. You've been talking about it for a while
and I don't even look at this game as as much as you needed Kawhi
Leonard in this game. And for everybody saying maybe they're better without Kawhi right
now, maybe uh maybe he was bogging down the offense. Things looked so
much more wide open. They had the eighteen three point games without Kawhi Leonard.
Yeah, how's that working now? Maybe it was just a very small
sample size. Maybe that's all it was, because in a game like this
where buckets were so hard to come by, this is when Kawhi Leonard.
Yeah, but this is when that tough shot maker that you can just give
the ball to and have him make something happen really strengthens your squad. This
might be the funniest comment of the stratos U s O b that that makes
my night a little bit better. If I'm being thank you for that,
Well, I think we can probably get out of here, right, Adam
you spending the night And I don't know, man, I'm just gonna stare
at the court for a while. Do you know that part in Royal Tannebombs
which it starts to shave his beard? Absolutely? Do hey by Elliott Smith's
play? Oh man, let's not invoke too much Elliot Smith tonight. Look,
I think Game six is going one of two ways. I wonder if
you guys agree with that. Aren't there only two ways that it can go?
I mean, in context of the type of wins or losses, They're
either gonna win a gritty ball game and bring it back here for Game seven,
a tough fut a game where it's close, or they're gonna get run
off the floor. I want to see it going one of those two ways.
Yeah, I see them winning a gritty Do you don't think they go
up by thirty one? Again? How do you go up by thirty one
on their home court? They only what I had to have taken two hundred
and twenty shots to go up by thirty one to night. That's not crazy
to think happened on Friday. But how do you do that in game four
and then come back and lose by thirty at home? They have two different
teams. We've seen it all season. They do not care for the fan
base, or they do not care for crypto. I've been trying to get
Cryptocomrena started like that line a Makrena still hasn't caught on yet. Are we
uh, I don't know. Are we doing a double dip tomorrow? Wait,
there's no game? Oh? Are we doing a double dip Friday?
Regardless? Regardlessgardless, we have a little thing Adam, Will and I are
going to be at the thirty five or in Pasadena on Friday for the game.
Oh for real? Yeah, well we're going down. Let's be together,
Let's be in a community. All be a community. Baby. All
right. That about wraps up the live. Thanks for everyone hanging Adam.
I know it's hard. Wait, Will, where can people find this podcast?
I mean you're already watching the best praise check this Check this podcast out
over at YouTube dot com Slash at Clippers podcast. You can also listen to
us wherever you get your podcasts. If you listen on Spotify or Apple podcasts.
Go ahead leave a review review Adam. One positive thing before we do
jump into the road. There hasn't been carryover from one game to another in
this series, so what happened tonight doesn't necessarily mean is going to translate to
game six. It could be a completely different Clippers team that shows up for
this game, a completely different Dallas Mavericks team. There we go, that's
all we needed. Here's to a better game on Friday. Everyone gets some
rests, let's have it's not stressful Thursday and as always. Oh, also,
just one other thing. Greg's from Pasadena. He's swinging by the thirty
five. Or if you're in the neighborhood or just feel like it roll through,
let's do this together. Yeah, if the Clippers lose, are there
gonna be like free drinks or something? Is there some big ad from this
bar, because that'd be pretty cool. No, I love that idea.
I'm not paying for it, but uh idea, I don't know. Yeah,
all right, bye everybody,