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Last time that I check checked,
it was fine chains on my neck.

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It was no smile on my breath. Last time that I checked us sent

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a set and a quartermeal. Slippers
lose in New York's final score, one

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to eleven to ninety seven in favor
of the Knicks. It was James Harden's

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debut. James finished with seventeen points
on six of nine shooting, but the

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Clippers had twenty two turnovers, gave
up eighteen offensive rebounds, and got outscored

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in the fourth quarter by fourteen.
Welcome back in the Clippers talk still to

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come back to your phone calls eight
sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy

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eight six six ninety eight seven two
five seventy. But first let's get out

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to will updeck of clips and dip
fame joining me tonight after the debut of

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James Harden in a game when the
Clippers looked sloppy, out of sink,

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out of rhythm and will. Some
of it is to be expected, but

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this was just a team that came
out I thought flat for the most part

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offensively, and then just couldn't do
anything or couldn't find any rhythm in that

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fourth quarter, especially Yeah, yeah, I agree, and to me,

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a lot of that I don't I
think that that was like a hard and

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agnostic issue. I don't know if
it was the layoff, I don't know

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if it was a trip to the
first trip to the East Coast or what

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was going on there, but they
did not. They were just not quick

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enough to walk into MSG and get
a win there. Yeah, guys just

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looked a little bit unfocused. Maybe
it was all the hoop loss surrounding James

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Harden. That can be a distraction. It was game one, It's understandable.

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I've been a little bit hard on
of Eatza Zubats tonight because I think

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they just need more from him than
what we've seen so far this season.

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He's been a little bit up and
down. He had five turnovers. He

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led them in the turnover category.
He had one early, he had one

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in the fourth where they were trying
to make a push and come back after

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that seven to zero run to start
of the fourth by the Knicks. And

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if Mason Plumbley is out for any
extended period of time, this is a

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Visa Zubots' opportunity to really shine,
to show his worth on this team,

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and he just has to step up
right now. And it was a game

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against the Knicks that you know they
have bigs that can just punish you on

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the glass, and that's what happened. Absolutely, absolutely, And I'm actually

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glad that you bring that point up
because I think with me and certainly with

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a lot of people fans and people
who analyze the team, I think Zoo

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has has had a pretty good grace
period and you know, we talked about

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how he does improve it. You
know, he's making these incremental improvements.

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But I couldn't agree more that there's
there comes a point right where you do

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have to analyze, okay, so
like what is the weak link and the

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chain? Where can we can we
move things? And I'm not saying that

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we're at that point right now where
it's unrectifiable, but it is maybe a

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time to look in the mirror and
say, okay, or is this ceiling

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that Avita Zubos is at. If
he is, what does that mean for

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the feeling for this team? And
is that enough for us? I feel

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like it's just about consistency with him
right now. He started off last season

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so hot, got banged up,
was hurt, missed some games for the

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first time in a couple of seasons, and this year he's just been very

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up and down. And maybe it's
roles and new players out there and James

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Harden tonight, but Aviza Zubots,
they just need him to be more that

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stabilizing force he was to start off
last season, and it's got to start

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now because we expect even on even
the best case scenario with Mason Plumbley,

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he's likely at least missing Wednesday,
probably Friday. Don't want to speculate too

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much further than that, but this
is a big opportunity for Viza Zoobots.

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But okay, don't want to harp
on it too much. Let's talk about

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James Harden. Your takeaways from him
in his first game as a Clipper.

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I thought, for the most part, he wasn't the issue. You could

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say the Clippers being out of sync
is a side effect of just having James

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Harden out there. But he was
efficient. Six assists also to two turnovers.

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I like what I saw for the
most part. Yeah, I mean,

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there's not really a lot to dislike
there, three to one assist,

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the turnover ratio. You love to
see that. He's just like the true

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I mean, he's just he's the
table setter, can be the facilitator,

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but also just you know, the
best three levels, like one of the

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best three level scoring options that they
have outside of two to one three,

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And it's just really exciting. He's
seen him take some of those deep like

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being able to take a deep three
off the dribble. I thought it was

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apparent in that game just how much
space and gravity he's still demands on the

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floor. This is still a high
caliber player, regardless of how you may

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feel about his exits or where he
is at this point in his career.

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But I was actually one of the
things that kind of stuck out to me

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is I thought, anytime Norm without
saying it feels to me like Norm is

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gonna it's gonna put up some numbers
comfortably through this regular season. And I

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was also really impressed because I think
one of the one of the issues that

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I potentially saw with the hardened deal
is reduced minutes for bones Thiland. But

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we saw some run out there with
james enbones Tiland, which I really liked

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the idea from a developmental standpoint,
But what do you think about what do

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you think about how those two could
possibly benefit from hard and maybe more so

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than we thought they might be detracted
from. Well, I'm hoping that he

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leans into more of the play playmaking
aspect that he possesses. I posted a

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video last night to follow out of
mayon X, just showing what an elite

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passory is, what vision he has, and he has the potential to make

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the game so much easier for everyone
out there. And I do think Bones

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is somebody that could play well off
the ball. As much as we talk

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about him pushing the pace, he
gets the ball in his hands off a

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rebound and he gets them into their
set quickly. Bales Highland's a really good

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shooter. He makes quick decisions out
there. I feel like he could be

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somebody that can also cut to the
basket now that he's shown to be a

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better finisher. He just has to
get minutes. I know in this one

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he ended up with twenty two,
just two of nine shooting an off night

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from him, four assists to three
turnovers, five points total. But I

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do think they just have to find
minutes for these guys. And the Knicks

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probably was just a bad team to
have to play off the bat, considering

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their physicality, considering how much they
beat you up up front with their size

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and the Clippers right now, especially
Mason Plumley's out for a while, they

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just don't have the size to match
it. I know they tried PJ.

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Tucker. They played him at the
five and a small ball lineup a few

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different times. He was zero two
from the outside. I love his hustle

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and everything, but you know,
it's gonna be a bit of an experiment

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and figuring this thing out right now
with James. But I wanted to throw

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something back, as you will,
because we talked about on the podcast recently,

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just starting him next to Russell Westbrook
us in a nice game as other

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guys were struggling. He had seventeen
on thirteen shots and had nine of those

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I believe in the first quarter.
But it was interesting to me just watching

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to see who handled the ball bringing
it up the floor. We heard coach

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lu say, well, Russ is
going to be the point guard more so

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when James is out there, he'll
play off ball. It didn't really play

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out that way to me. If
James caught the basketball off a rebound,

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he brought it up. If Kawhi
did, he brought it up. If

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Paul George was out there, he
brought it up like they just want to

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push the pace regardless of who gets
the ball off the board. Yeah,

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and I'm a fan of that.
I'm a fan of that kind of thing

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in game, sort of you know, going with the plow, trying to

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optimize getting into things a little bit
quicker. Obviously that'll look a lot better

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as the communication is better. I'm
still I mean, things are much much

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more up in the air. And
now with Mason out, who had an

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absolutely incredible little run there to end
the second quarter, helped the Clippers come

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out to like a nice lead.
But I'm still struggling a little bit with

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the long term fit of Westbrook and
Harden. I just while harden Is certainly

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can playoff ball, We've seen that, I know that it can work,

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it just feels a little questionable to
me, I guess the times to not

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have the ball in his hands.
And I know that they'll they will work

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it out, and they will figure
it out because you know, Russ has

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has been good for this team too, and still you know, still is

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a great facilitator and you know certainly
has his own things offensively. But yeah,

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I that to me is just not
the smoothest it's not the smoothest fit.

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I really I hope that I'm wrong. I don't see that long term

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maybe being the best look. It
feels a little bit clunky, especially after

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this game. If anybody can figure
it out, it is Coach lou.

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I. Just the part that baffles
me a little bit is if you're bringing

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in James Harden, he probably to
get the most out of him, should

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be on ball. That that's the
thing. But that doesn't don't get why

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you're taking the ball out of the
assist leader's hands. Like I just,

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I really I don't understand it.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see as

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we go along here how things develop. Another one on Wednesday, Clippers in

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Brooklyn taking on the nets. He
is Will Updyke. Follow him at Will

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Updike up d y k E on
Twitter. Will do We gotta clips and

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dip YouTube episode coming tomorrow. Oh, you're darn right, we do.

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All right, let's go. We
will talk to you then, my friend,

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thanks for coming on to a double
dip tonight here on Clippers Talk.

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Absolutely, thanks for having me