Welcome in. It's a Clips and Dip episode fifty five of season two.
I'm out of Maslin. We've got Chuck Mockler and Will Updike in a big
show for you guys coming up. We're gonna have a rousing speech to try
to light a fire under this Clippers team. Did you hear Jimmy Johnson during
that playoff game with the Dallas Mavericks during the halftime show? That was special
stuff. I think Chuck's gonna do the same thing for the Clippers in this
one. But we'll also preview the Lakers game coming up on Wednesday. But
let's start things off with this, Chuck, since I brought you up first.
How you doing. I'm doing great. The Clippers unveiled their new logo
in Jersey today, which I think they completely knocked out of the park.
I'm feeling good. It's raining in Los Angeles. I was looking at Spencer
Dinwiddie's last couple games, which has to be a little worried about what might
happen uhaint against the Lakers on Wednesday, But overall feeling good. It's New
Jersey Day, right like, it's fun big Will You're feeling good about the
rebrand. Oh I'm loving it. I'm loving it. It's uh. I'm
actually pretty surprised how well they were able to keep this whole thing under wraps.
We got a little inside information, but to be honest with you,
was not until last night, and sure enough, everyone in the stadium got
the same information as we got maybe an hour or two later. So this
one, the way they kept it all under wraps, I thought was really
really interesting. But I love the look, I love the colors. I
love going back to colors in general. I think, and this was my
opinion. I really wasn't a fan of the City edition jerseys this year,
like the Blossom ones, the ones that look like they say chips. I
really wasn't even came out, which is so crazy. Yeah, yeah,
I mean that's what I was saying. We normally get a lot of we
get a lot of rollout for these things, like when they first debuted,
like what they called the San Andreas ones, even with the Brave stuff,
we got a lot of lead up leading up to this. So uh,
this was completely different, completely unexpected, and I'm really liking it. I
love I love that they're leading into the nautical thing, like we talk about
you know, with this team on court so much like what's their identity?
Do they have an identity? But I think as a franchise they've added a
larger thing of like what is Clippers basketball? Who are the Clippers? What
is a Clipper? And they're they're taking some steps to address that while still
you know, staying true to Los Angeles. So I loved it. I'm
I'm a big fan. If you guys are watching this on the YouTube,
if you're a new listener, thanks for checking in here on Clips and Dip.
We do have kind of a slideshow going up as we just show the
web page from NBA dot com. You missed new jersey the unveiling if you're
listening, Yeah, you missed the classics. Something you can something you can
come to expect if you're watching the show and you could. Could we throw
it back up? Because I just like looking at these things, right,
Can you go ahead and enhance on this the pulsive Clipper nation that I've been
looking at and checking in on today just from Twitter, a couple of polls
I saw out there, Uh, the jerseys are, without a doubt,
a slam dunk, so to speak. Hit everybody wanted the red jersey back.
Everybody wanted the Clippers cursive font back. That lettering is beautiful, it's
classy, it looks good. I was somebody who was saying, for a
while, you know, I just wish they made the San Andreas black and
white ones. They're home and away jerseys. But I understand now when you
see the colors popping like this and that color scheme with the navy blue also,
they look great. I am all for it. Uh. The logo
has been a little bit mixed with some of the response, but I think
overall and personally for me, the more I see it, the more I
like it. I think it just takes a little bit of time to get
used to and almost kind of reconfigure your vision with and what you're focusing in
on, because there's a lot going on there with the thought they put into
it. And some people were saying, oh, it looks kind of like
a cruise ship when you focusing on the three flags for the ship like that
kind of makes it a little bit more distinct, and I see it pop
out. It's almost like you know that famous picture of I think it's called
Vanity or something like that. Off you're looking at a skull or are you
looking at a beautiful woman looking at herself in a mirror? And it's kind
of that optical illusion title from yesterday. Once you see it's an illusion,
Michael, Once you see the flags on the ship, like, it stands
out as being a clipper ship to me. So I like it. I
like it the more I see it. I want wear of those hats immediately.
I want to be gray LA sweater. That Gray LA script is also
that you talk about a logo that's difficult to tackle and make your own.
In the Los Angeles LA we saw the Chargers try and do it and they
got flamed so hard on Twitter that they had to completely scrap that logo.
I don't you guys remember that from a couple of years ago. It's a
difficult. You have the Dodgers, who are obviously the most iconic LA logo.
I'm not saying I'm not comparing it to that, but their own take
on this script on the LA script is really good. I really liked it.
I ordered a sweater already, and I also love will. We were
talking about the rollout a little bit, the way they kind of teased it
with like Kawhi PG Terrence and Harden all wearing the merch yesterday was really cool.
They knocked us out of the park. And someone pointed out the font
is the old school font on jerseys from back in the day, kind of
like that's that Sarah font and like they look more like kind of nineties.
This jersey's not all the way, but yeah, they absolutely crushed it.
Do we have the page where it just shows all the different variations of the
different logos, where it's the l A, where it's the sea, where
it's the sea with the ship in the middle, without it, you know
what I mean? Let me share this screen. Sorry we didn't uh talk
about this earlier or anything like that, but now I'm excited. It's it's
good. Use of our l is so good. It's and the Clippers cursive
one is beautiful. That's classic. That feels like a throwback to the traditional
jerseys that everybody were calling for. And the Clips one's nice too. I
like it all really and I like how just how much thought they put in
to making it a compass, to making the north part of the compass touch
the N on Los Angeles. That's really cool. So yeah, Clippers marketing,
and I hear the argument for like looking like a cruise ship or whatever.
In my mind though, like there was only two ways to go,
right, Like there was like kind of exaggerated pirate ship, which I would
have loved. But I think you you have to keep in mind that this
has to be a copyrightable thing that doesn't look like anything else, you know
what I mean? And how many like one tone you know, like ships
have been done before, right, Like you see so many different of those
ships other logos. Yeah, so you have to be aware of that kind
of thing. So and it's also just that's kind of I would say,
like they Steve Bomber wants this team to have a certain kind of sheen and
like modernity that I don't necessarily like, I don't necessarily love all the time.
But I think this is a nice happy medium where it was really well
done. Honestly, the only way it could have been better is if they
just would have used the old mascot as say as well, yeah as a
little character on in lieu of a logo for those of you who do not
know who that is. We're gonna do one last screen share and then we're
gonna last forever. Didn't he used to be our background. He did for
a while. Yeah, we've been this exact pose, which if you're if
you're only listening, if you're not watching this on YouTube, the George Costanza
on the couch. Yeah, it's a grizzly old sailor man making a very
very very sexual pose. Uh not not sexual, not sexualized, sensual,
artful, yes, tasteful, And he's wearing a Clippers hat. That's the
only way these are great. Bring back Sam Dunk. I like the modernized
look, though of the Clipper ship. To be honest, what Will just
said an outline so beautifully that that has to be taken into account, not
looking too much like so many other ships that we have seen from other teams
in various sporting league. And now for the beat switch, we have to
talk about how old the Clippers look. Uh sorry to put it that bluntly,
but that is the other topic. If the Jerseys weren't to come out
today, the whole episode would have been a little more rough, I think,
but we got some jerseys to appease us after. I don't know.
The game was summed up perfectly by Tyler's quote when they asked him what went
wrong? He said everything to be fair, the jerseys were coming out whether
or not they won or loss last night, right, yeah, true,
Adam, you and I talked on the radio a little bit about what happened.
Will now that you you were running a little hot last night, now
that you've had some time to cool down, Uh, save the voice a
little bit for the show, because you're so upset. Uh what did you?
Where are you at now that we've kind of slept on that gross loss
to a good Kings team. I mean it is to a good Kings team,
and a good Kings team that has shown up against against other high level
competition as well. It's yeah, it's again it's like I always say,
like you play the team, not their record. That being said, this
just was an ugly game for the Clippers, and it was just more of
the same unfocused defensively, un Like I hate to bring back unserious, which
is what we said all the time last season, but like that defensively was
an un serious performance. Uh. And it's just not gonna get it done.
And I know that rotation wise, Tyler Lou's hand was super forced.
It was super forced. You know, with with no PG there's only so
much you can do. And I really do think especially with I don't know
what the hell is going on with Mason Plumley and Daniel Tice. I really
have no idea. What did those guys forget how to play basketball? I
got no idea. I got no answers for you right there. But I
think that this stretch has been really like illuminating and terrifying about what this Clipper's
depth actually is, which is a lot more than I had given it credit
for, which was you know I I I mean, Charles we on this
very podcast talked about what this this center rotation could be up up there with
some of the best in the league, and that is just not that is
just not what this team is. And I right now wasn't that was there
for that episode or I've said that multiple times. I'd been like this,
this center rotation is so good. Hey, I've said Mason Plumbley should be
the second best backup big in the league to nas Reed where to go and
like and maybe the answer was just keeping with what consistency you've had this season
and just going with the mirror and the starting lineup. We we got next
to nothing production wise from the bench. Obviously, with with Powell in the
starting unit, which is to be expected, but like there's just not a
lot of offense there and there hasn't been defense there. That hasn't been a
thing all season long for this bench. So I you're in a losing situation.
I've got a question for you, guys. Charles and I have been
talking about this a little bit. What is going on with these first quarter
stints for James Harden? I haven't, I don't. I haven't run down
the numbers yet, So I promise I'll try to look into this more.
It's just vihic. You just promised I'll try. I said, I promise,
I'll try. This is a real divorce dad kind of a promise.
I promise, I'll try to look up the numbers compared to other starting lineups.
But at the six minute mark, like clockwork, James Harden is getting
taken out for Russell Westbrook. Starting five is shifted. How many starting fives
in this league aren't good for eight nine minutes? And how much of James
Harden's sort of issues getting getting going early, especially to create his own offense,
have to be due to not a lot of room to shoot things out,
not a lot of time to work things out, to adjust to a
defense, Like, why are we doing this same thing like clockwork when I'm
so sorry we're having a downgrade of talent on the floor, We're making the
spacing worse on the floor, and ultimately we're making Kawhi and Paul George have
to do more on the floor. I just don't get the unnecessary burden that
we're putting on these guys when they're already playing the most games they've played in
years, and we're hoping to keep them mouthy for the playoffs. I just
don't get it. Where do you guys stand, Well, let's say you
at following at follow out of ay, you guys can find me there if
you don't know. So, they are twenty third in net rating in first
quarters in February. I believe we're talking about twelve games something like that,
because they were playing much better ten games. They were playing much better early
on. That was something that looked like they put behind them those slow first
quarter starts. But in February that's dipped. They're a minus two point six
plus minus and first quarter, which is almost bottom five in February. I'm
not sure exactly other than Okay, if they're an older, slower team,
does it make sense that that's probably the worst time for them to try to
get it going because they're just old legs, tired legs, they're warming up.
If we're looking at a team that we're saying it's older and slower,
isn't that gonna affect that most in first quarters? Like it takes. We're
looking for anything right now. But to your point of, you know,
why are they taking him out so early? Why don't they stick with him
longer? I don't know, Because if you're starting off slow and you're getting
out scored by five points right off the bat in the first five minutes,
there is also logic to put it in Russell Westbrook and saying, Okay,
this guy's energy, he has intensity, and maybe the game can turn around.
It hasn't worked like that very often. In fact, his worst stint
yesterday was in the first half by far. He was better in the second
half. Yes, but I think they're searching right now. I think there's
so many things going wrong. You talk about the big men and how much
they have struggled. Mason Plumley hasn't looked right since coming back from the injury.
Daniel Tice hasn't looked great, although had his moments last night where I
thought he was better and I was glad to see him get the call because
Mason Plummy has been that bad, and then that matchup against the Kings,
I think it made sense to play Daniel Tye more. But when there are
that many lapses defensively, and you have two guys that look to be average
right now with their defense and rim protection, one just being undersized, the
other one being out of position in Mason Plumbley, they get exposed more those
flaws that they have when nobody else is picking up the slack or keeping guys
in front of them all on the perimeter, All of a sudden, they
look much worse. They can't count for everything, they can't make up for
things. The way of EATSA Zubats has for this Clippers team with back line
defense. So if you just look at it and dumb it down, just
look at how many guys are in a funk right now, Just how many
guys are playing bad or regressing. While Terrence Man the last couple of games
offensively is turning things around great a mere coffee his last three games hasn't looked
like the same guy coming out of the All Star break. And I'm not
going to, you know, slander him too much. He's was playing above
his head. He was playing at a level that was unsustainable because of the
most six That amount of play is the thing too, right, that's new
for his body in terms of sure regularstball. But eight points against Okay,
see two against Memphis and twenty five minutes over last night, in twenty minutes
when they needed somebody else to pick up the slack with Norman Powell getting the
start. H He hasn't been good obviously. PG thirteen has been in a
funk for the last month. James Harden's been in a funk. We mentioned
the two backup bigs, Russell Westbrook hasn't played good. Half the team is
not playing well right now. So if you look at it that way,
it kind of makes sense. When they're three and four at almost a bottom
five offense and defense in their last seven games post Grammy road trip, that's
it, and it's it seems like it's chocked up to you. So Tylu
said, which I think all of us were surprised to hear this. Last
night at the pregame before the game, Tyler said they're practicing today and tomorrow
before the Lakers game on Wednesday, which is a lot of practice just in
general, which is good. But at the post game he mentioned that it
was gonna be about getting mentally focused again. So I'm wondering. I don't
think these practices are gonna be super intense, obviously, But to your point,
Adam, everyone's kind of playing poorly, which does maybe suggest more of
a broader focus issue versus everyone is kind of being down physically at the same
time. Wouldn't it be nice if it's more about mental fatigue though than physical
fatigue. It's not just old legs out there. It's guys that got up
for that Grammy trip. They went six and one. It was beautiful.
It's some of the best basketball we've seen this team play ever in franchise history.
They've had the best run they've ever had the Clippers, and it was
highlighted that was the pinnacle of it, going six and one on that Grammy
road trip. But you have a letdown after that. It feels like,
I don't know, the fan base certainly rode that pretty high. Did the
players right that road trip too? High too, when Okay, guys,
that's that's great and all, but it's not the championship. It's not the
playoffs. They're still March. The season is not over. It was a
great accomplishment and now you have to get back up and just that emotional drain
of finding a way to beat Boston like that on a back to back,
finding a way to win those last two games on a back to back in
Miami and then in Atlanta. I think it's had a compounding effect on this
team. There's been an after effects. Yeah, it's not fun right now,
especially they're brutal offensively. Last night's game looked similar to what we saw
when they were working out the kinks. Initially with James Harden, it looked
like the Denver game. Just give it to Kawhi, hope he creates something.
They weren't getting good looks at all. James Harden with bailout grenade three
pointers at the end of the shock clock because other guys were passing up open
three pointers at times this offense. That's what's most shocking to me that the
offensive, the passing up open three pointers is the one thing where that's real
easy, where it's like Okay, guys, just gotta not hesitate that one
seems fixable. The utter lack of off ball movement is baffling to me.
It's still baffling to me. I don't understand. I just don't understand how
there can be four guys standing weakside, fucking staring at Kawhi and these are
professional basketball players, mind you, and not have the foresight or the wherewithal
to go strong side, try to get open, try to do anything to
help out a teammate who has three bodies on him, like one of you
is open. How do you go from three months straight of being second offensively
to then have a seven game stretch where you are twenty third on offense.
With the talent the Clippers have out there, I could see this coming defensively
where I think they're twenty six defensively in the last seven games where they're three
to four. Now I can see that, No, make it twenty fourth,
twenty fourth, but twenty third on offense after you were second and doing
historic stuff offensively. How is it grinded to a halt that much like,
okay, maybe it falls to twelfth or fifteenth. They've fallen completely out of
the top ten they're almost bottom five. They're kissing the bottom five. Some
would say some people kissing the bottom. Yeah. The the PG getting rest
was good. I think we all agree that was good. Hopefully he looks
good against the Lakers on Wednesday, which is gonna be both teams look bad.
Right now? Should he play? Actually, let's we got to take
a quick Can he play? Can he play? We got to take a
quick break. If you're listening, the ads have been loud, go ahead
and turn it down. They've been loud for some people. And if you
make fun of me for saying that, the next time you listen to the
pod, you're gonna get your ear drums blown out. I have multiple receipts
of people saying that, Uh so we got we're talking about the Lakers.
Same after these ads and three two one, all right, welcome back into
clips and Dip talked about the good stuff, little rebrand. We talked about
the bad stuff team everything like that, like a hot pile of ass.
Uh, let's look ahead to the Lakers. A right, how y'all feel
on this? What run us down? Chuck? What do we need to
know? Adam was asking if he thinks he was asking if we think if
PG should play, and the answer is yes, we need Like now we're
at a time where I'm like, we need to win. Dude, it's
been four days. Get the rest. If he's right, Like, I
don't know, we need to win this game. The only reason I brought
that up is because they have Washington afterwards, and there's an opportunity there for
you to get him an entire week off, and that is the quick fix.
Paul George comes back and is one, well, I mean, that
would turn things around instantly. I think if Paul George was just right for
this team, and I'm not trying to put everything on him, but they
have been mediocre defensively for a long time and have gotten by anyways because they've
been so fantastic on offense. So if they could just get back to that,
they'd be in good shape. So you saying sid him if he doesn't
feel right, if he's not healthy, they can beat the Lakers without him.
I'm not saying that's a given. I think it's gonna be a really
tough game, especially because they're getting beat on offensive boards the way they are.
What's gonna happen against the Lakers. Look, I don't know what the
answer is. We talked about how difficult Tylu has it rotation wise, But
if Paul George is not at seventy five eighty percent of what we know he
can be, I say, just sit him, man, because what we
saw out there, I think you just got to ask more from the role
players and ask more people to step up until he's in that spot. Because
it's clear he doesn't have full trust in his body. He's dealing with some
soreness or pain or whatever. I say, just maybe go back to the
a mirror plan and against the for sure, get a mirror in the starting
lineup over norms. Yeah, and you know, let these role players and
guys know, I mean, you know, they this team is used to
this, right, They're used to stepping up when when one A two one
three or both A two one three is down and this is nothing new to
them. So I think, yeah, I think if the options are you
know, a tentative Paul George or no Paul George, I think I'm gonna
go know Paul George, and if that if that's a loss, I mean,
then that's a loss. And that's it sucks, especially with the standings
and the way things are. But I just don't see the point of running
out the version of Paul George that we were seeing, especially if he's not
gonna even make it the full game, right, if he was out the
last game, then you have some disaster where it's like, oh, you
know, he's done after half or something like that. And how often how
often do we do we or you know, just people in media and general
like criticize, you know, teams when when guys are coming back to action
way too soon and then something just way worse happens. You know, the
athlete is always going to say they're fine and they're always going to play through
it. And you know, I admire that about Paul George. I I
probably can't. I probably couldn't physically, Like I couldn't physically go through the
pain that he is probably playing with without you know, crumpling into you know,
a tiny pile of dust. So you know, it's like I'm not
getting down on him here. I'm just it's just like it's not worth it
to me, Like no seed is worth it to me, Nothing is worth
it to me. If we can't get one one healthy playoff run with Kawhi
and Paul and James Harden like truly, nothing else matters. Everything means nothing.
Everything means the first Elliott Smith reference on the one of my favorites.
Uh, could could I point out that this isn't a new knee injury and
maybe that's a positive takeaway? Cannot point that out? No, it's it's
true. Your point's been withdrawn, right, I yield to. So he
was in a locker room session with Law Murray three weeks or a month ago,
maybe it was after the Pistons game where he played really well at home,
and he talked about it then that he was dealing with a knee injury
injury thing and just kind of shotted it up to being, you know,
wear and tear of the season. It happens. So I'm hopeful that that
is all he's dealing with with that left knee soreness right now, and it's
not something more drastic and maybe like what we saw with Kawhi Leonard missing that
game against the Golden State Warriors recently, he looks to be recharged. I'm
not that worried about Kawhi once again, no reason to talk about Kawhi on
this show. He's still been good, but there has been one issue with
Kawhi recently. As spry as he has looked, he is low key been
missing some three pointers. You know he was shooting during this historic stretch.
It's something like last thirty five games he's almost a fighty percent from the outside.
But the last now, let's see about five games, he is something
like three for fifteen from distance. It's something to monitor because when you do
have tired legs, it tends to show up on long jumpers like that.
So I what will said last show and we posted this as the teas there's
concern that they're riding Kawhi Leonard too much, that they're putting too much on
his plate, that that's gonna have a cumulative effect. And so you're trying
to compensate for one guy being out, you put more of a workload on
Kawhi. But then if it wears him down, now somebody's got to pick
him up, and nobody can really do that on this team. There's just
it's a lot of moving targets. It's it's a whack a mole right now
with the problems arising with this Clippers team at the wrong time. By the
way, March is still coming right Chuck right. Yeah, we're maybe gonna
talk about that later. We'll see. But with this Lake, So I
mentioned this before the break, Both these teams look off right now. They're
both wanting to Neither fan base really knows what each team's gonna look like on
any night. Right now, kind of after the All Star Break, Lakers
are leading the season series two to one. I believe this is the final
matchup. It into it though, of Clippers Lakers in the regular season mean
crypto, crypto, Yeah whatever, I hate all these sponsors. Clippers won
the last game. There was no Lebron or Zoo, so there's not a
bunch to take away from that. But if you look at the defense from
last time, Kawhi was on Lebron for five minutes. Per the weird wonky
NBA data, he went over to Ad went five for nine on Zoo.
Ad had a pretty nice game the last time he played Zoo. So I'm
worried about the defense. I hope it's a mere coffee will like kind of
you talked about, because the bench is gonna be weird in this one.
The Lakers play like seven guys right now, so we need something from um.
That's where I mean, obviously it'll be hard because they're like bigger and
more physical. But I see, like those minutes where you don't have one
of Lebron or a D on the floor, that offense for the Lakers really
slowing down. Where you I mean, you're not You're gonna try to get
stops, but I think your best opportunity is to really showcase some of what
we know they can do from a scoring perspective against those units. Isn't the
answer. The simple answer to this from at least half the fan base is
well, you got Russell Westbrook coming off the bench, so you should be
good to go. But Russ hasn't played well. He's playing the Lakers but
and as a former team, and he has gotten up for them, but
he's also looked out of control at times. He missed three more layups last
night. At least, there are so many guys right now that need to
catch a rhythm. And I actually think the Lakers. I've been watching them
a lot the last month. They've been playing much better. In February.
They have the fourth best offense in the league, and that's usually their bugaboo.
There's seventeenth defensively over that stretch. They easily still could have came back
down twenty in the first quarters of the Phoenix Suns in that game yesterday.
I thought they were going to one point because the Suns are known for blowing
leads. But they only got eight free throws. Big concern there. They're
complaining about free throws while heading into this game against the Clippers. I'm a
little bit worried about that. I said it in my NBA report earlier at
follow out of May on X's where you can hear that, and I was
like, I'd hate to be the team that plays the Lakers next after they're
complaining about calls. And then I said, oh shit, it's the Clippers.
But I believed it because radio. Another thing that I mentioned off top
talking about coming into this game not feeling good about Spencer Dinwidy eight points in
his last three games combined, not averaged combined. He's a streaky guy.
He's due for I'm I hope the defense looks good when it's you know,
James and Kawhi and some of the bench guys, because something tells me that
he might have a big game. And they're starting d Lo too, so
Zoo's gonna be put into actions real quick. He's looked phenomenal lately, so
I'm less upset about what level. If they were going to get from him
individually, how about they give him the damn ball. When Zoo is five
of six at the half, he started three of three, you're struggling offensively
to generate anything. He can be a cheat code. At times, I
feel like they've forgotten how good he was before he got injured. In that
pick and roll with James Harden, what happens to you run that sixty times?
You get fifty five good shots just running, just spamming the pick and
roll when things aren't working, why not just go to that with a Viza
zu Bots. He only took three more shots in the second half after starting
five of six, and one of them I think was an offensive rebound in
a putback, So we had to generate his own offense. They still weren't
looking for him. I've said this multiple times this season. Sometimes there's an
easier path to victory, and it's playing through a vitza Zoo. He has
played well against the Bonus throughout his entire career. So Bonus started one for
eighty and most of that was all of each of Zoobos. Now eventually you
got it going, but he still finished seven of seventeen. He had a
triple double, he did a lot of other stuff, and he had the
big dunk on Zoo. He owed him one because Zoo has had the two
biggest dunks of his career. On Demanta's a bonus, I almost said our
vetus there. But I would just love for him to get featured a little
bit more as on offense as a primary scorer sometimes when they're not running anything
else, run pick and roll with the beat of zoo bots. Please,
because last time out against Anthony Davis, you mentioned that game. Didn't you
have twenty and nineteen? Didn't it beat to Zubos pretty much outplay Anthony Davis
in that game, Like he gets up for the Lakers games too. That's
his former team. All these guys, it's gonna be telling Wednesday because if
there's one team that this Clippers team in the regular season always gets up for,
no matter what their record is, no matter what the Lakers record is,
it's the Los Angeles Lakers. They have always found a way to show
that intensity and urgency against them. If they don't have that pop against the
Lakers, then I'm really worried, like they're just they don't have any gas
left in the take. And I wanted to bring this up, but what
do you guys think about this? You know, are we seeing the other
side right now of going so hard in the regular season because we've always complained
about, well, you got to take the regular season more seriously, and
they do and it has worked so far this season. And I don't think
there's any regrets there. But is there a natural side effect where you hit
walls like this at times because guys have been playing so many minutes have been
so much more available. Kawhi hasn't hit a wall, but James Harden doesn't
look like right like right now, and he hasn't missed a game so far
as a Clipper or us hasn't missed a game all season long. I'm just
wondering, like, why not ride some of the young guys right now a
little bit more? In Terrence's man, who's on a bit of a heater
for his standard and it beats Zoobots. I do think that there is You're
right, there is kind of a this is the side effect of having an
older team and going for it one hundred percent in the regular season. This
is kind of to be expected, right, Like, you're not gonna be
the number one team the whole time unless you're the Celtics, I guess in
that conference. But like with this Clippers team, with how old they are,
the it makes sense to hit a wall. We got to make sure
it's right before April twentieth. But hopefully the dip, hopefully they're upswinging at
the right time. Everything's kind of happened good time or lucky timing wise for
the Clippers this season. I hope this is a lucky time to have a
rough go of it and it starts coming back up. Terrence is gonna be
huge tomorrow too. He's gonna get that de Lo assignment right off top.
So I hope they Leian in too, Terrence hopefully into Zoo and let's get
some bone broth going right, Like, let's let's maybe try the young guard
off the bench who could score. I don't know, will you can answer
Adams question? Sorry, I concur astute. I don't want to say it's
to be careful what you wish for, monkey pause situation or anything like that.
Because they have gotten to this point where they were the number one seed
at times where they've been a top three seed until losing that game last night
in Denver, winning last night where they've been a top three seed for the
majority of the season. So you'll take it. I'm just saying, is
it natural to see something like this and you know the Calvary isn't on the
way, The reinforcements aren't showing up. There's nobody that they picked up at
the trade deadline. They haven't picked up anybody off the waiver wire. It's
going to get worse scheduling wise. The next couple of weeks. They got
Minnesota twice, they got the Milwaukee Bucks twice, and the Lakers have found
their starting lineup finally. I have no idea whyatt took Darbnham so long to
put Ruya hachimour Ne d Lo next to Austin Reeves, next to Lebron next
to a d It seemed obvious. I know they had some injury stuff,
but they look They look pretty good. They look much more potent offensively.
So now this is the most important part. Will you might have figure out
of here before the next segment starts, But I want to give you a
chance for your Kawhi Leonard Player of the Game pick versus the Lakers. Kawhi
Leonard Player of the Game versus the Lakers. I'm gonna go Terrence Man.
I like the way he really relishes in this lineup. I think that we
will need him defensively and man, he is never afraid to go at a
bigger team around the rim. Some of some of the most iconic Terrence moments
have been going against the guy that he probably had no business going against and
still coming out on top. So I'm gonna go Terrence Man. And especially
if PG is gone, we're gonna need him to have another great game.
I think he's he's hitting that point where he's been really consistent. Adam,
you're Kawhi Leonard Player of the Game. I'm gonna go with Russell Westbrook.
This is part of the reason I try to have him as an innings eater
during moments like this during the regular season where guys don't have it and Russ
always has energy. I want to see Russell Westbrook burn his former team,
turn down some of those three pointers, throw down a couple of dumps instead
of trying to lay it up and just help them get up with the level
of energy and intensity that they're gonna need because the Lakers are bigger and more
physical. We've talked about even before the first game this season. It looks
like on paper they have a much better roster to match up against the Clippers,
like they have built a team to try to build to try to beat
the Clippers. Because you lose eleven straight, naturally, that's going to happen.
And you know they may have holes otherwhere or otherwise against some other teams,
but against the Clippers they've looked pretty good. I'm going Zoo. Zoo
has been phenomenal lately. He's going up against a much different center in Anthony
Davis than first Demanto Sabonis, so I think the offense is gonna be a
little bit more difficult. He's locked in defensively, but Zoo being able to
somewhat contain ad I'm not saying shut down or anything like that to mitigate some
of that threat is gonna be huge. We're gonna need him to be at
maybe the best he's been all season. His passing has been great. It's
the physical team that makes the pick and roll hard too, so he's gonna
have to be good in the short role. A lot is on zoos shoulders
last night or on Wednesday night, And of course Kahi Leonard, as we
all know, needs to be plea. They're not gonna have Christian Wood,
which does make a difference. He's been good against the Clippers, and it
has been good in his role at times for the Lakers, But even Jackson
Hayes has given them really good minutes at times. If you watch the last
game against Denver, they lost it close once again in the fourth quarter to
the Nugets. The Lakers, but Jackson Hayes has kind of been on the
rise for them. So I agree with your big zoo, huge game,
huge game. All right, coming up, we're gonna do We're gonna try
and project some of the Clippers seating marches on the way. Everyone stressed out
about it, no one more so than myself. But before we get to
that, will do you have to leave before the next segment? Would you
like to say anything to the fans? You're muted. Got my voice back
only to mute my damn self. Look, it's it's gonna be better.
We're gonna figure it out. I'm happy once they once they pop these new
these new threads on their body. What's what's the old saying, Chuck,
you look good, you feel good, you play good, and that's something
you can take to the bank. Okay next year. But hey, they
got new sweaters at them. They were right. You're right, and I
will now that the sabotage is over, it will we will see you next
time. Adam and I are going to be back after these maybe very loud
loud ads for those of you listening that's been the case. Go ahead and
turn it down. We're talking seating projection and then, you know, maybe
a little bit of an upswing talk. Uh in three two one welcome back
in Clips and Dip episode fifty five. Season two had a nice clips and
double dip last night with Chuck Mockler after a tough Clippers loss to the Sacramento
Kings, who were just four games back of them. Currently, they would
be locked up against the Kings in a first round matchup, which I know
some people matchup wise you might not hate that, but Sacramento can also wear
you down with how fast they can play at times, and just trying to
guard Dearren Fox and bottle him up is tough, Chuck, I know.
On the rundown. Here we're going to talk about some of the standings some
more and where the Clippers could end up. We've been talking about the last
couple of weeks, just in anticipation of March and the importance of getting a
top three seed. On the last show on that Saturday Live, we had
someone comment about, how what about getting the four spot. We said,
well, if you're in the four, that means there's a good chance you're
gonna have to play Minnesota and Denver along the way just to get out of
the Western Conference, two teams that certainly have had the Clippers number. So
that's not great. And aside from that, what have we been saying forever?
There's one team that has won the championship the last fifty years that was
not a top three seed, and they just happened to be the team that
had won it the year before. So it's not even a fair parallel with
the ninety five Houston Rockets and anyone else. But yeah, it is important
for this team to get victories. Even while we say maybe Paul George would
sit a ball game against the Los Angeles Lakers, like right, like how
do you balance it? They have like stack these wins, while also very
badly needing these wins. It's kind of desperate. Desperation sounds like more of
a negative connotation on the team itself, But I don't mean it like that.
But the schedule is a desperation. Part of the schedule. This upcoming
month is gonna be insane. Law Murray put some projections out also shout out
to La Murray's been with the team so much this year. He was at
the Grove today he said, here's what I think LAC records should be.
If they are targeting a seed with twenty six games left to be the number
one seed, he's projecting twenty two and four. It's the same for the
number two seeds. So twenty two and four probably gets you the one or
two seed remaining for the Clippers. In LA Murray's mind, I don't think
he's far off with these at all. Number three, nineteen and seven,
stay at four, twelve, and fourteen. Which of these sounds the most
realistic or feels the most I I'm going to timestamp myself on Monday, February
twenty sixth, six forty nine pm Pacific time. I do not see the
Clippers going twenty two and four to end the season. That would be wonderful.
I would love a Joseph I Award to ask streak. Honestly, even
if they didn't weren't in this rut right now, it would be hard to
predict twenty two or if they were still on that high and crushing the number
makes sense, that number makes sense to get the one seed. That's not
what we're trying to say at all, but the likelihood of that happening difficult.
Nineteen and seven it still convinced me. You could convince me. I'm
on board with nineteen and seven. Twelve and fourteen also, I could see
happening. I hope. I think they'll be better than twelve and fourteen,
but I think it's going to be somewhere between. I think nineteen and seven
and twelve and fourteen is kind of the ceiling floor for these last games.
Maybe twelve and fourteen is a lot harsh. It makes you feel like,
Okay, if they can go twelve and fourteen, there's still the four seed.
They're pretty secure then where they are right now positioning wise in the West,
and there's a very small chance they fall below four. But there's still
a chance, especially the way they've been playing recently, it has to turn
around or else they're just going to continue to keep bleeding out here because March
is going to be as taxing as anything we've seen the two and three era
in the regular season. And Chuck has been on top of this before any
of you, sons of bitches. This guy started. Hey, take it
all, man, this was you. You were ahead of this before anyone.
What happened to Thanksgiving? And I walk in, I see Chuck on
the couch. I'm like, what's up? Man? Yeah, I don't
know. If I don't, I don't. I think you're giving too much
credit for my anxiety over this period of the schedule. But if you're surprised
by it, I do not. I do not know what to tell you.
If you're surprised by the clippers upcoming schedule, you must be a new
fan, which welcome, love to have you. But if you're a listener
of this pod or an avid follower of the Clippers, you know that this
is going to be a hellish month. It starts with winning these next two
games, right, there is a good opportunity that they can win the next
two start to write the ship a little bit because then you have those b
those Minnesota games. It's a back to back Sunday Monday in Minnesota and then
in Milwaukee. That might be the toughest back to back any team is played
this season, especially because Milwaukee's gonna pull out of this this funk they've been
in, this tail spin that they've been in. It's probably the wrong time
to catch this Dock Rivers led Milwaukee Bucks team. And don't we play.
We play again. We play the Bucks and the Timberlves close to after that
back to back, and I'm pretty sure that might be in like a some
three and five or some horrible period of the schedule too. Yeah, after
that. So they take on the Bucks in Milwaukee on Monday, March fourth,
Then they're in Houston the sixth, so a day off. Then they
get a couple of days off. March ninth, they have a home matinee
afternoon start against the Chicago Bulls. Is that the last matinee of the Clippers
era? Hmm, there's a good question here. It looks like it from
what I'm seeing. No, they at the seventy six ers are March twenty
fourth at home at a twelve thirty start, But right the very next day,
they have Milwaukee Bucks at home, like horrible, Okay, a matinee
back to back at home, and then they're in Minnesota. No, then
it's the Minnesota Timberwolves at home the next night. So you almost get a
day and a half off. It's not it's not the worst back to back.
One game starts at twelve, one game starts at seven. Yeah,
it's it's gonna be weird. I don't know. Oh, I'm sorry that
that. That's March twelfth, so they do have a day off in between,
so it's Sunday and then Tuesday. Okay, well that's good. Hey,
only one of the Bucks Minnesota games are a back to back situation.
Okay, well I take it back. Then they're gonna go like twelve and
they're gonna go twelve and five in March. Then that changes everything. Should
we put out some March predictions? I don't know, man, is it
not enough? Can we talk to Let's do it after the Lakers game.
Okay, let's see how they look after they're doing some more mentally focused practices,
because right now, I don't know what I would I wouldn't feel exceptionally
good about it, but do you believe it's more mental than physical at this
point. I don't know, man, I think for some guys, maybe
I have no idea what's happening with Tyson Plumley. They were very serviceable to
good not that long ago, like and like right like. Maybe it has
to do with James Harden getting I mean, James Harden controls a fair percentage
of how good the centers can be when he shares the floor with them.
You know, he's directing everything, and they love the pick and roll.
But I don't know what's going on with those two guys. And let we
just I think it was the lot of the jam. The pod was tweeting
this, how many full right now? With guys going through stuff? How
long is the rotation of guys who can effectively, like positively affect a playoff
game. It's the starters, it's norm, it's a mirror. It has
to be Russ. Russ is going to get chances. But that's a crap
shoot. Every everything after a mirror is a crap shoot for guys who get
actual time right now for the Clippers. That makes it tough. Brought up
sure, let's actually yeah, PJ got five minutes he got one stint,
did not see the floor again. Well, hey, we might see him
Wednesday, right, this is a big He played the first game against the
Lakers that back to second night, back to back, right after the trade
deadline. He was available, but James Harden wasn't. Yeah, so great,
We'll see PJ on Wednesday. The one thing I'll say, Okay,
he had a deflection yesterday, and he had he had an amazing defensive possession
against Aaron Fox where it looked like I was about to put all caps.
Fox got clamped by PJ Tucker at follow out of May, but then he
hit a circus shot over the top of him. Anyways, but I was
impressed. I was impressed with the lateral movement and sticking with him. Honestly,
I watched it close. It wasn't just me. Carlo Jimenez was on
the call. He highlighted the fact that PJ. Tucker was one on one
with Tiaron Fox and more than held his own. Fox is just that good.
He can hit a shot over the top of you. But the position
he's been put in right now is not advantageous for him or the Clippers like
him playing next for Daniel Tice Well, the only way that PJ. Tucker
is going to have a real shot of being a positive for this team is
at the small ball five with four shooters, four not three four guys.
If it's smart actual Yeah, but Russ can't be out there. Yeah,
that's what I'm saying. Kawhi, pg Harden or Norm or mir or man,
Who's I mean, he's almost fifty percent from three in the new year
that that can work. I do think there's something there. Him playing the
four is not going to work. And I was listening to Lucas Hahn earlier,
our boss, and he had a great line about how the Clippers are
going to be in the shit in March. It was like, I gotta
say that to Chuck. I mean, hey, smart guy, he hired
us, but he brought it up. How Yeah, you're not going to
be able to get by with him at the four. And maybe the only
reason they're doing that right now in the regular season is just to get him
reps while still getting Daniel Tice touches, still getting made some plumbley touches out
there, and just trying to keep guys in the flow so when you do
need them later on, they are not ice cold like Thelippers are to start
off first quarters right now, right, there is reason so I put this
in here. You feel a little down when the Pods started, I said
in the in the rundown, glimpse a little behind the curtain. For those
of you, there is a rundown sometimes every time sharing sometimes it's red.
I will not share it, not a share doc. Three people have access
to this. It's really thorough and well done. Guys. I gotta say
the note says the team looks bad right now, but there is reason to
believe things can get on the upswing before the playoffs start on four to twenty.
Right, there is wulliep We've seen this team it that's when they start.
Okay, I didn't make the schedule. No, Well, it seems
like how was my look towards Adam Silver, don't you? Yeah? Adam
Silver just roasting bones, just laughing his ass off, making the playoffs starting.
Fortune Now I'm thinking David Stern water bottle gift like hearing that the playoffs
start on FO twenty. This team has been in a funk before. Paul
George has been in a funk before. We've seen them play fantastic basketball.
We've seen them play some of the best basketball that the team has ever played
in this era or as a franchise. It wasn't super long ago, but
it feels long ago with how the time off and the Clippers kind of performing
this way. But like, the pieces are there this team has. Again,
I know it's tough right now. This team has the roster to win
a championship. They really do. They have the coach win the championship.
It does not feel like it as of right now. I'm not gonna sit
here and pretend like it's all rosy, but there is. The pendulum is
gonna swing the other way. This is an old team that's gonna have to
play a bunch and have to be in the shit together. And there's also
we've heard about sacrifice. There's gonna be sacrificed when the playoffs come. Will
could not be here for this segment, but I think the James Harden thing
changes in the playoffs. There's no way for the majority of the time that
we're gonna be putting Russell Westbrook halfway into the game right when it starts in
the playoffs. That seems crazy to me. Maybe maybe three minutes left,
maybe something like that. But it's not gonna be a full first quarter.
There's gonna be changes to be made. I think Tyler's gonna be able to
He's gotten these guys up this year, you know what I mean. Already
There's been some turmoil, right, It's not like we started the season with
James Harden. Guys had to change their roles. It's been difficult. But
I just if they win on Wednesday'm gonna feel so much better about this little
mini ramp. But there there is reason to believe. Counterpoint, Adam,
Why do you think they're gonna lose every game from here on? That?
Because March? Hey, all right, March is coming in March. You
fear it post March, you still are scared. No, I I'll say
this, No, I think there are. I think this is the reason
why you don't get up too high, you don't get down too low.
Not too high, not too low. You stay even keel sometimes. Because
Brian Semen has been talking about this during the broadcast, they're going to hit
a rough spot again. They're going to face adversity again, and they're back
in it. This is the most adversity they have faced since they went on
to six oh and to five. To start things off with James Harden.
What I was talking about with Carlo last night was, you know, when
we attribute so much of the success to James Harden and running the offense and
being a system, I think part of the problem right now is the system
just has a cog in the machine, like he's not at his best,
and therefore it affects everything else. That's the other side of when James Harden
is not playing well and he is still you know, is very necessary and
playing more than well enough to be out there for thirty plus minutes a night.
Absolutely he has earned all of that, and they need him and they
are a huge He has the best net rating on the team on the season,
Like they fall from an offensive rating of like one twenty two to one
oh nine when he's off the floor, Like he is the guy. So
they need him to come out of this. They're gonna need Mason Plumbley eventually.
He's your other seven foot You can't teach height. They have to keep
going to him and give him opportunities. As much as he has struggled to
come out of this, I'm not very worried about a mere coffee. It's
been three games and there was going to be some regression. Kawhi still looks
good. He's had some bad turnovers recently. That kind of speaks to a
little bit of fatigue sometimes. But this team just has to sharpen things up.
And if there's one team they always get up for is Los Angeles Lakers.
There we go. Yeah. I've also, I think I don't think
if you're gonna worry about the Clippers, which is totally fine. I worry
about the Clippers constantly. Worry about what's in front of us, not about
the trade deadline, not about anything like that. We're here. If you
want to make yourself mad, think about what could have been. If you
want to make yourself just a little stressed out, think about what might happen.
I shouldn't have lost that game too, But hey, we're you know,
we're going to be back with you on Wednesday. After the game.
There's gonna be a double dip. It might be even a live after the
game. Who knows, maybe both. Maybe Adam is doing the live from
the stadium. It's been done before, It's been done before. You're the
magic of radio and podcasting features Now on stream, you can find this podcast.
Where can they find this podcast? iTunes, Spotify, deezer. They
can review this podcast. We'd love to read it on air if it's a
good time. No word yet on if the YouTube viewer has gotten their bibble
head. I assume they have. Hey, I literally have a receipt for
it right now. Don't make me pup and that I will say. I
wish the receipt was inside. But if you got the bottle head, let
us know. Is the receipt in the room. I hope. Congratulations to
Clippers Marketing for a wonderful rebrand. The jerseys are so great. The merch
is awesome. I haven't wanted a jersey in a long time. I've gotten
to in my life where I feel too old to wear a jersey. This
is the first time in a long time where I'm like, damn, I
like that blue one. I want to get. Yeah, I'd like one
to get to assigned, one to put in a glass case. I'm never
gonna wear it. I'm not gonna wear a jersey. I'm a pasty man,
and no one needs to see me wear a basketball jersey unless it's for
a charity event, which case sure. But yeah, great, great,
uh great, event. Hope, I hope everyone went to the grove had
a good time. The grove sucks, but Terrence Man was there with the
new Clippers gear, so that's awesome today. It did not suck today.
From three to six or whatever, he was there. Like we said,
we'll have the Double Dip for you on Wednesday. Full episode out on Thursday,
most likely the reviews help, Adam, do you have one more positive
thing before we sign off? They got two days off. It's kind of
a big deal if they needed that second All Star break. This has to
count as it two days off before the Los Angeles Lakers. And it's not
just two days off, it's you played at home, you stay at home.
You're getting that home cooking, you're getting you know, good rest.
And I can't wait to see how this team looks against Los Angeles Lakers,
because this is the barometer. This is a true test of where they're at,
not just because you know the Lakers are playing better, but just it's
still more about the Clippers, the talent disparities in their favor. I just
want to see them look like they have the energy and play and can play
a complete game. We haven't just we haven't seen that it's so long,
and I think if there's one team that can bring it out of them,
it's the Lakers. It's the Lakers. We will see you Wednesday, hopefully
after a Clippers victory. I hope everyone has the good rest of your rainy
Monday evening, and as always, let's go Clips.