Got your fall. It's time to react to La Clippers basketball. This is
Clippers Talk all the chat, reaction and analysis hosted by Adam Aslay. You
know he's feeling good. Take the show with you anywhere you are and get
the podcast. I'm the iHeart Radio and now your host. He makes everything
happen, Adam Mossley. On Christmas Day it was Saint Nicholas Batoum and the
Clippers going into Denver and winning one twenty one to one oh eight over the
Nuggets. Welcome into Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Oslin's eight sixty six ninety eight
seven two five seventies of the phone number eight six six nine eight seven two
five seventy. If you would like to get on Clippers Talk tonight or get
to me at follow Adam Ay on Twitter. Coming up, you'll hear from
head coach Tehran lou You also hear from Nicholas Batoum, who I thought in
some ways was the player of the game. He didn't lead them in scoring,
he did lead them in rebounding with ten, but it's what he did
across the board. When you look at the overall play in thirty six minutes,
it's this multi talented Swiss army knife ola Draymond Green that he brings to
this Clippers team. He feels like that glue guy that makes you appreciate him
more than just what you see on the box score, because he's gotten this
offense into rhythm to start off the last two games him in the starting lineup
with obviously Marcus Morris out. So far we haven't seen him. He was
out the three preseason games, he's been out the first two games of the
regular season. Nicholas Batoum has been a godsend for this team, and he
was the last player they picked up in free agency, and I believe he's
on a veterans minimum, probably the most underrated signing of the offseason, and
right now. He had thirteen points, ten rebounds, and four assists,
and he was a huge part especially early on. The Clippers offense did stall
the first two minutes, but then it got in sync quick and it was
Nicholas Patoun finding open guys and getting hockey assists as well and hitting a couple
of three pointers in this game. He's only a year removed from shooting thirty
nine percent from beyond the arc with Charlotte. If he can get back to
that. If he can get close to that, he can be even more
of a weapon, especially when he's coming off the bench. He's someone who
can keep your offense in rhythm. Guys like that are invaluable. They're way
bigger than the numbers, unless you look at the advanced stuff like I like
to do. His plus minus in the game, he was a plus thirteen
only but only a player better than that was Paul George, who was a
plus fourteen. He led them in scoring with twenty three points, had a
crucial twenty two point long mid range jumper. I guess that's not the mid
long jumper late in the fourth quarter. And Paul George, by the way,
I believe his first shot of this game was a corner three from the
right side. You know what that shot might have meant for him, considering
it's the same area he was granted in the bubble in Orlando. But as
the shot, people have talked about a lot where it hit off the side
of the backboard. In Game seven against the Denver Nuggets. He took that
same shot against Denver on their home court and made it, maybe exorcizing some
demons there. But he's five of nine from three or he went five of
nine from three in the game. He's been as efficient as anyone so far
in this young season, played thirty seven minutes. Now part of the story,
of course, is the last six minutes of this game. At the
six minute mark, Kawhi Leonard left the game. He took an inadvertent elbow
from Sir Jebaka friendly fire. They were both going for a rebound, they
were both playing hard, and Kawhi Leonard would not return. And we just
learned that he had to get eight stitches for a laceration in his mouth.
I got that text from your Voice of the Clippers, Noah Eagle. We
don't know his status yet for Sunday, when the Clippers are back at Staples
Center against the Dallas Mavericks. But now in their first two games, while
the Clippers have had big leads. They were up by twenty two against the
Lakers Tuesday night, they were up by as many as twenty four against the
Denver Nuggets tonight, and multiple times in that fourth quarter thanks to Jamal Murray
getting ridiculously hot, where he only had ten points the entire for thirty six
minutes of the ball game to start things off and then he had ten points
in a couple minutes at the start of the fourth quarter. You can only
hold him down for so long, and it was just an eleven point lead
for the Clippers. So once again, just like Tuesday against the Lakers,
the Clippers faced some adversity and they were able to overcome it again. And
peep are only remembering what happened when they were up three games to one against
the Denver Nuggets in that series and letting go of the rope and somehow losing
that. But the truth is there was a pattern of blown leads throughout the
regular season two and obviously in that game four against Luca don Jets in the
first round against the Dallas Mavericks where they had a twenty point lead and let
go of the rope in that game. There was a game during the regular
season. I remember they were in Atlanta last season and they were up twenty
at the half and Trey Young wasn't even playing in that game. Granted a
lot of Clippers were out too, but they were up twenty and somehow they
ended up losing that game. It was a trend. So for people who
really paid attention last season, what happened in the regular season last year bled
into the playoffs, while I'm hoping the same thing now happens this year,
where the Clippers take that punch and fire right back. That's what we've seen
in the first two games, and it was the three point shooting in this
one that really saved them. Lived by the three, died by the three.
It's not so much that anymore with the amount of threes people take.
Now you can say, yes, the Houston Rockets did miss twenty seventh straight
at one point in that faithful game in Game seven against the Golden State Warriors
a couple of years ago. Yes, I think that was, you know,
just unbelievable. Never tell me the odds Han Solo moment of that happening.
It was an asteroid field that they were able to navigate the Golden State
Warriors with Houston missing that many three pointers. But overall, this is the
movement in the NBA. Everyone's taking more threes, and now so are the
Clippers. They attempted forty opening night. They attempted thirty eight in this one
and hit nineteen of them. They went fifty percent on their three pointers in
the game. Why because they have a lot of good three points shooting on
this team. They had it last year, but I never felt like they
made a big enough emphasis on attempting more threes. And Tehran Lou that's something
we've seen already with them. The ball movement and the three point shooting has
been night and day different than what we saw last year. And give the
players a credit executing his game plan as well, because you heard Kawhi Leonard
in the preseason say we played too much ISO ball last year. He wants
to play differently. Well. He had seven assists in his thirty minutes tonight.
Paul George had nine. Your two superstars led them in assists, where
thirty two of their forty one makes in the game were assisted. That's unheard
of. I can't remember a game last season where the ratio of assist to
made shot made shots was that good for the Clippers. I can maybe try
to find that for you later. But overall, the offense is humming and
defensively they've done enough. Even though yes it was just an eleven point lead
in the fourth quarter, Denver's gonna make their run. You know why the
cliche of basketball is a game of runs is a cliche is set all the
time. Well, it's true, but think about it. If these runs
didn't happen as often when a team wins a quarter, first quarter by ten,
if that kept going, you'd see more forty point wins in the league
all the time. And that's simply rare. Yeah, I know, the
Golden State Warriors have had forty point losses so far this season. I'm not
laughing. I'm saying, yes, it does happen, but it's rare because
eventually a team is going to fight back. The question is what do you
do at that point? And the Clippers struggled and they didn't have an answer
for it last season. So far in this young season, they've absorbed that
blow from the opponent and they've fired right back. That serge of Bacca three
right after Kawhi left the game of the six minute mark was huge, and
then he assisted lou Will Williams for a three pointer, and then Patrick Beverlely
hit one. All those three pointers pretty much throughout the entire game, they
stemmed the tide. They stopped runs from the Denver Nuggets over and over again,
and those were the shots that they didn't get against the Denver Nuggets last
time, and Sir Jebaca had fifteen points in just twenty one minutes. Again,
same thing he did Tuesday night, fifteen points in twenty one minutes,
but made both of his three pointers. Patrick Beverley hit, as I already
mentioned, a big three down the stretch. Luke Konnard was a little bit
more aggressive. He had eight points in this game. Took the same amount
of shots as he did last time, did go two or four from distance,
did have six rebounds. But Nicholas Batoum, I'm telling you guys,
those ten boards he had, four of them were offensive rebounds, right place,
right time, Johnny on the spot that st Nicholas Batoum. He was
everywhere. He was involved in every very perfectly executed play. It felt like
for the Clippers in this game, he was just one of the hubs for
them offensively. All right, Before we get out of here, we will
take a phone call eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy Bill in
Irvine, Bill, what's up? You're on Clippers stock without Amoslin. Yeah,
call, Yes, this team. You can already tell there's more depth.
For instance, in Game one this season, they were able to withstand
a eighteen point run. You know, then at the end of that game,
a nine point run and I'm still hot in the tenth to win.
This shows you, Oh, you know, I appreciate the phone call,
Bill, but you were a little bit underwater there, Eggnog, I couldn't
hear you very well. But in speaking to the depth, yes, they're
playing without Marcus Morrise, Nicholas Beatuma is starting when he's coming off the bench
with a Vita zoo u Bots. Now who I think is going to be
able to make a case for six Man of the Year by the time this
season is over. This regular season, I know it's way too early to
be talking about that, but think about it. We know what a Viza
Zubots can do as a starter for an entire season if he's playing more minutes
and he only had to play nineteen in this game, and he wasn't foul
trouble, as were the Clippers. The only blemish, the lone blemish in
this game was that they had trouble at times defending without fouling. But if
a Viza Zubots is getting twelve and eight off the bench, I know he's
not gonna lead all the six men in scoring, but you're gonna have to
look at some of the advanced numbers and just how he good he is as
a defender, and I do think he'll be in the running. He's too
good. Most people were surprised that he is coming off the bench, but
Serge Ibaka has proven to be a great starting center and gives the Clippers that
added element to play five out and five out means a lot of shooting,
and the Clippers did that, hitting nineteen of their thirty eight three pointers.
All right, coming up, we'll get back to your phone calls eight six
sixty nine, eight seven two five seventy, and you'll hear from tronlu after
he gets his second win as the head coach of the Clippers. They win
one twenty one to one oho eight in their first road game in Denver over
the Nuggets. The revenge tour has been very sweet so far. They get
back after it against the Dallas Mavericks, who are probably looking for revenge against
the Clippers after losing to them in the first round last season. But that
game is on Sunday. More Clipper stock coming up next. You also hear
from Nicholas Batoum Saint Nicholas batoum. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Clipper Nation,
You're two and oho more Clipper stock coming up next right here on AM
five seventy LA Sports. This is the official home of your LA Clippers Spasa,
sup Bots, Dens on the rim and home but the Clippers. Los
Angeles Clippers gave you one more gift to unwrap with a one twenty one to
one h eight victory in Denver over the Nuggets. Welcome back in the Clippers
Talk. I'm Adam Oslin to get to me on Twitter at follow Adam a
or here at eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy and I don't
want to make a scrooge out of this guy, so I'm gonna get to
him quick. Jeff in Tarzana, we had some phone issues last show.
Jeff, You're on Clippers Talk. Yes, she did. How you doing,
Adam? And happy Merry Christmas? Yea, yes, Adam. You
know, the only thing I worry about with the Clippers are injuries, and
somehow or another they don't have the killer instinct. Maybe they's a petition the
NBA to only have three quarter games. Yeah, that way they would never
lose. Are you talking about even this season. Yeah, I mean,
like they had a twenty two point lead against the Lakers, they had a
twenty four point lead against them. I don't know what it is, but
some teams just do not have the killer instinct. And I was watching like
the Brooklyn game against Boston the day and they were playing at Boston. Even
when they got ahead, they didn't let down. It's just seems like some
teams do that. I mean, I'm very happy with what they got.
I'm kind of mad at Harold for leaving the Clippers to go to the Lakers.
I will never like that team again. But I'm really good. But
the only thing I'm worried about is the thing at point guard. They still
don't have a true point guard, and I was wondering, if you think
before the trade deadline they will pick up somebody like Kyle Laurie or something that's
possible. Jeff, thank you for the phone call. You never know.
With this stealth, fly by night front office of the Clippers, they always
got something cooking. But when you've are called in on a night where they
had thirty two assists on their forty one made shots, I mean, it's
a little bit nitpicking to talk about not having a point guard, a true
traditional prototypical point guard. Yes, they do it by committee, but that's
not a bad thing when you have so many talented passers. They may not
have an elite point guard like passer, they may not have a John Stockton
out there directing everything. But in a game of pace and space, when
you have to continue to move the ball. Look, if Jason Kidd was
playing today, he would have to change his game a little bit. He
would have to shoot more three pointers and have to do more when the ball's
not in his hands. That's the way the game has changed. Everybody has
to be a willing passer out there, and the Clippers do have a lot
of them, indicative by those thirty two assists in just their second game.
All right, let's hear from Tyron lou getting his second win as the head
coach of the Clippers. After they go into Denver and win one twenty one
to one h eight here on Christmas Day. Why has this team show you
through two games in terms of its I guess, mental toughness, just being
resilient, you know, Like I said, Denver's you know, a great
team. They went to the Western Conference Finals last year, and they have
some really good players, so they're gonna make a run, especially at home.
I thought we just kept up composure, you know that second year they
brought in, started trapping a little bit more, started pressing a little bit
more good into our handle and stuff like that. So we just got to
do a better job just taking care of the basketball. But overall, I
thought we did a great job of sharing the basketball, you know, having
thirty two assists. We went to Kawai and PG when they have one on
one match up, they went to work when they double team, and they
did a good job of sharing the basketball. So that's the way we want
to play. You know, we want to take advantage of mismatches if they
come and double, we want to make sure we make the extra pass and
driving kick, make another pass for somebody has to get a shot. Thanks,
say thank you. Next up Justin Rousso, Hey, coach. Good
evening and happy holidays, Yes sir, Happy holidays. Thank you, sir.
Can you speak about the good minutes that Patrick Patterson gave you tonight off
the bench? I thought he did a really good job. I just want
to hear you rave about him for a little while. Well, he's phenomenal.
You know, he's phenomenal last year and they called him stay ready,
you know, and our coaches called him stay ready, and you know,
he came in and play some five, he played some four. He's able
to mix it up and knows all the plays from different positions. So he's
always ready. And that's a valuable player, you know for his team is
you know, no matter what, he's always gonna stay ready and be ready
to play. I mean, he knows the plays, he knows the defensive
schemes, and it's just great to have somebody like that even on the team,
that understands and knows the game and knows how to play. Hey,
happy holidays time, happy holidays. Hey. Could you speak about the experience
and knowledge of the game that Nick Vatoun and Surgeon Barca bring to the floor.
Those guys just seem to do a lot of things that don't show up
in the stats, that just provide solid basketball play for you. Couldn't you
elaborate on what they bring just great basketball IQ's I think with searches shooting ability,
ability, it put puts fives insteaders in bad positions, you know,
because he can pop and then you try to get back to him. He
can put it on the floor and then if you're up too high, he
can roll and finish at the basket. Or he can make plays and you
see hit he hit and loop for a big three, then loop made at
the end of the game. They kind of see the game for so just
his IQ, his defensive presence, his talking on the defensive end is really
good. And Nick just all around, you know, all around great player.
You know, he can handle the basketball, he can shoot it,
he can post, he can pass, and he can defend. You know,
he can play multiple positions on the defensive end, switching one through five
and also on the offensive and he can play some two, three and four.
So he's very valuable. And also just knowing knowing him reading the game.
Yes, sir, thanks to a time for one or two more,
we'll go to till mayor head. Congrats on the wind. I'm just curious
you guys have put four two pretty important impressive performances now against two the top
teams in the West. I guess just how far along are you in terms
of where you want to be as a team. We still got a lot
of work to do. Like I said, it's gonna be a process for
the first couple of months, just getting acclimated to one another, just trying
to pick up the offense. You know, I think me personally and the
coaches said no, but I just think we're behind offensively a lot to be
able to take advantage of mismatches. But defensively, you know, we got
a really good team, very versable team, and we're just gonna get better
and better defensively, but you know, offensively, just keep picking up what
we're doing, keep sharing the basketball. Then that first half, you know,
the ball was hopping, and then I think second half, you know,
Coach Malone decided to play a little one on one and think PG and
kaw I got going a little bit. So you know, we want to
be able to play both ways. You know, we want to play through
our best players, and when they don't have it, we've got to move
to basketball and share it and get you know, easy and open shots.
Thank you, time for one more question. Far back, go ahead,
congratu lations on the winning, Happy holidays. I just want to ask,
you know, there's a scary moment. It's turned to eleven point game.
Kawai goes down to Jabal Burry's like a flamethrower. What were the guys saying
to keep their composure? What was the mentality of everybody, because that could
have been a real turner of a moment. Well, nothing gonna say it.
You know, we just you know, next man up, and you
know, we know Kauwhai there's a great player. But we got to have
the you know, demand said that if he goes down, you know,
everybody has to be able to step up. And I fought serge about Lou.
You know, Pat Belly made a big shot of course PG. You
know, I thought Nick and Nick was great as well. So I think
when they came back and they you know, they kind of jumped the game
up, pressing and double cheatment and they just trying to spark some energy and
they did that. But we was able to, you know, kind of
quiet the storm about just execute when we were trying to execute, and we
made some big players down the stretch. There was head coach Tyron Lou after
the Clippers win one twenty one to one zero eight in Game two of the
regular season in Denver over the Nuggets. I thought the operative appropriate word that
he used right off the bat was resilient. That's who the Clippers were.
That's who they've been the first two games of this season. They've been able
to take that punch and respond. When you're playing good teams, they are
going to make a run Eventually. I thought a key played down the stretch
when Kawhi Leonard was out of the game. Was Nicholas Batum taking that offensive
foul on Jamal Murray That was big to take him out of rhythm. He
had twelve of his twenty three points in the fourth quarter. We've seen this
before from Jamal Murray. Of course, inside the bubble. Nikolaokis twenty four
points, tennis sists, nine boards. Considering the game he was coming off
of, and I know they lost to the Sacramento Kings, but you'd sign
up for those numbers. And a Visa's Zoobots had a brilliant play. I
think it was near the end of the third or into the start of the
fourth quarter where he baited and kind of pulled the chair out a little bit
and played some really good defense on Nikola Yokich. That turned into a turnover
for Yokich and the Denver Nuggets. Those little plays too stimy runs to stop
the opposition to take a guy out of the rhythm. And what's interesting also
about what tyrone Lu said there is he's not happy where they are offensively overall.
You could see because he says, we're a little bit behind offensively.
We don't take advantage of as many mismatches as we could on a night or
they put up one hundred and twenty one points and made nineteen three pointers.
The best is yet to come. Enjoy this process, Clipper Nation, all
right. Coming back on the other side, you'll hear from Saint Nicholas Batoum
after he has his best game as a Clipper. The best is yet to
come for him too. But he played thirty six minutes, thirteen points,
ten boards, four assists, four offensive rebounds, doing the little things,
a gritty, gutty performance down the stretch where they had to pull this game
out on the road without Kawhi Leonard. We're hoping for a speedy recovery for
the claw. All right, coming up next, more of a phone calls
eight sixty six ninety seven, two five seventy And like I said, Nicholas
Batum postgame audio, this is Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Moslin and you're listening
to AM five seventy yellow sports letter. There he erased it at the rim
by never had a Chams. This is LA Clippers Basketball on the official home
of your LA Clippers Christmas. Just like last Christmas, you're Los Angeles.
Clippers were victorious here on Christmas Day. They win in Denver one twenty one
to one oh eight over the Nuggets, exacting some revenge. More to come
on Sunday against the Dallas Mavericks from Staples Center. But we've talked a lot
about Nicholas Batoum. He had thirteen points, ten boards, four assists.
The Clippers as a team hit nineteen three pointers, most made threes on Christmas
in franchise history, second most points with one hundred and twenty one in franchise
history in a Christmas game, and those nineteen three pointers, they're tied for
the third most threes on Christmas Day in NBA history. And while we have
a moment, let's pause ten seconds for station identification. Here on A five
seventy l A Sports this is LA Clippers Basketball, A five seventy KLAC Los
Angeles, seven KYSR HD two Los Angeles and iHeart Radio station SAMs has saving
me there. Clippers come through in the last six minutes without their leader in
Kawhi Leonard, who left the game had to get eight stitches, had a
laceration in his mouth because well some friendly fire with Sergebaca and he going for
a rebound at the six minute mark of the fourth quarter. Clippers were only
up eleven at that point. They hold on that resiliency that's Haron Lewi has
talked about. They're showing that this team looks different poise under noise, and
they do it against the team that came back on them last season when they
were up three games to one. Here was Nicholas Batum, someone who wasn't
on this roster last season, with the Clippers post game. You know,
I'm feeling I'm feeling great. You know, I just played basketball and all
those guys very amazing. Coaching staff is great. I just have to go
out there and play my game. Now. I don't know what you said
to shoot because graviny so many scoring these team, So I just try to
beat the group guy offense and defense, take coppering shots and just play basketball.
Hey, Nicholas, it's Mike for Tello. Congratulations, Thank you.
I watched you coming out of the huddle at the end of the game there,
and I saw you with a lot of input as to what was being
said to your teammates. So it seems like the coaching staff is promoting amongst
you people to talk to yourselves, work things out, straighten things out.
And then if you see something. I saw you pulled George talking about something
down the stretch. That's a good side to a coach. Yeah, because
we didn't we have we have a couple of bat shots, so total guys
just to run the players just to move their defense, switch shide gets set
on side, they get back on the other side to make them move it.
And we had a good shot take with and we had get an open
three. Bye bye Pat, Pat bet and uh we got a good win
for us for today. They tell me the difference between the preseason and now,
because obviously it wasn't great for you guys in the preseason. This is
a different team. This is absolutely a one eighty and yet there are still
many things for you guys to improve on, but two very impressive wins to
start the year. I agree. Now, preseason, this preseason, now
we know we are trying to get our with them back. No, we
have a couple of you guys, myself, Search and Luke. So you
know, now we got two good wins again, two big teams. Now
we got two men tone overs again some deep chairs. But you know now
we've been there together for like two or three weeks holidays on it, so
we might be okay. There was Nicholas Batzun post game on Fox Sports Prime
Ticket with our friends Mike Rotello and Brian Semen. He helped him get off
to a good start. He helped him close this game out in Denver.
He's that super glue guy. He's holding this team together without Marcus Moris right
now. He's been in the starting lineup and I don't know if you could
ask for more. He's been absolutely brilliant, just doing the little things,
being that savvy vet out there. Clippers win one twenty one to one h
eight in Denver over the Nuggets. They're two and ozer to start off this
revenge tour. More to come on Sunday. They'll be back at Staples Center
twelve thirty tip is what it will be against the Dallas Mavericks. We'll have
your Clippers campdown show starting at eleven thirty Before we get out of here,
I do want to thank the Clippers organization, Noah Eagle, Brian Seaman,
Ralph Waller. Back here in Burbank, we had the fantastic Sam Zea.
Sam, thank you so much for doing this on Christmas. No less,
I'll get back to your little ones. I think they got bikes and you
got yourself at PS five. Way to Go Clipper Nation, you won Christmas
as well. More to come enjoy this process right now with this team as
they continue to get better even after this great start. We'll talk to you
at eleven thirty with Clippers Countdown on Sunday,