Last time that I check checked, it was fine chains on my neck.
It was no smile on my breath. Last time that I checked us sent
a set and a quartermeal. Slippers lose in New York's final score, one
to eleven to ninety seven in favor of the Knicks. It was James Harden's
debut. James finished with seventeen points on six of nine shooting, but the
Clippers had twenty two turnovers, gave up eighteen offensive rebounds, and got outscored
in the fourth quarter by fourteen. Welcome back in the Clippers talk still to
come back to your phone calls eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy
eight six six ninety eight seven two five seventy. But first let's get out
to will updeck of clips and dip fame joining me tonight after the debut of
James Harden in a game when the Clippers looked sloppy, out of sink,
out of rhythm and will. Some of it is to be expected, but
this was just a team that came out I thought flat for the most part
offensively, and then just couldn't do anything or couldn't find any rhythm in that
fourth quarter, especially Yeah, yeah, I agree, and to me,
a lot of that I don't I think that that was like a hard and
agnostic issue. I don't know if it was the layoff, I don't know
if it was a trip to the first trip to the East Coast or what
was going on there, but they did not. They were just not quick
enough to walk into MSG and get a win there. Yeah, guys just
looked a little bit unfocused. Maybe it was all the hoop loss surrounding James
Harden. That can be a distraction. It was game one, It's understandable.
I've been a little bit hard on of Eatza Zubats tonight because I think
they just need more from him than what we've seen so far this season.
He's been a little bit up and down. He had five turnovers. He
led them in the turnover category. He had one early, he had one
in the fourth where they were trying to make a push and come back after
that seven to zero run to start of the fourth by the Knicks. And
if Mason Plumbley is out for any extended period of time, this is a
Visa Zubots' opportunity to really shine, to show his worth on this team,
and he just has to step up right now. And it was a game
against the Knicks that you know they have bigs that can just punish you on
the glass, and that's what happened. Absolutely, absolutely, And I'm actually
glad that you bring that point up because I think with me and certainly with
a lot of people fans and people who analyze the team, I think Zoo
has has had a pretty good grace period and you know, we talked about
how he does improve it. You know, he's making these incremental improvements.
But I couldn't agree more that there's there comes a point right where you do
have to analyze, okay, so like what is the weak link and the
chain? Where can we can we move things? And I'm not saying that
we're at that point right now where it's unrectifiable, but it is maybe a
time to look in the mirror and say, okay, or is this ceiling
that Avita Zubos is at. If he is, what does that mean for
the feeling for this team? And is that enough for us? I feel
like it's just about consistency with him right now. He started off last season
so hot, got banged up, was hurt, missed some games for the
first time in a couple of seasons, and this year he's just been very
up and down. And maybe it's roles and new players out there and James
Harden tonight, but Aviza Zubots, they just need him to be more that
stabilizing force he was to start off last season, and it's got to start
now because we expect even on even the best case scenario with Mason Plumbley,
he's likely at least missing Wednesday, probably Friday. Don't want to speculate too
much further than that, but this is a big opportunity for Viza Zoobots.
But okay, don't want to harp on it too much. Let's talk about
James Harden. Your takeaways from him in his first game as a Clipper.
I thought, for the most part, he wasn't the issue. You could
say the Clippers being out of sync is a side effect of just having James
Harden out there. But he was efficient. Six assists also to two turnovers.
I like what I saw for the most part. Yeah, I mean,
there's not really a lot to dislike there, three to one assist,
the turnover ratio. You love to see that. He's just like the true
I mean, he's just he's the table setter, can be the facilitator,
but also just you know, the best three levels, like one of the
best three level scoring options that they have outside of two to one three,
And it's just really exciting. He's seen him take some of those deep like
being able to take a deep three off the dribble. I thought it was
apparent in that game just how much space and gravity he's still demands on the
floor. This is still a high caliber player, regardless of how you may
feel about his exits or where he is at this point in his career.
But I was actually one of the things that kind of stuck out to me
is I thought, anytime Norm without saying it feels to me like Norm is
gonna it's gonna put up some numbers comfortably through this regular season. And I
was also really impressed because I think one of the one of the issues that
I potentially saw with the hardened deal is reduced minutes for bones Thiland. But
we saw some run out there with james enbones Tiland, which I really liked
the idea from a developmental standpoint, But what do you think about what do
you think about how those two could possibly benefit from hard and maybe more so
than we thought they might be detracted from. Well, I'm hoping that he
leans into more of the play playmaking aspect that he possesses. I posted a
video last night to follow out of mayon X, just showing what an elite
passory is, what vision he has, and he has the potential to make
the game so much easier for everyone out there. And I do think Bones
is somebody that could play well off the ball. As much as we talk
about him pushing the pace, he gets the ball in his hands off a
rebound and he gets them into their set quickly. Bales Highland's a really good
shooter. He makes quick decisions out there. I feel like he could be
somebody that can also cut to the basket now that he's shown to be a
better finisher. He just has to get minutes. I know in this one
he ended up with twenty two, just two of nine shooting an off night
from him, four assists to three turnovers, five points total. But I
do think they just have to find minutes for these guys. And the Knicks
probably was just a bad team to have to play off the bat, considering
their physicality, considering how much they beat you up up front with their size
and the Clippers right now, especially Mason Plumley's out for a while, they
just don't have the size to match it. I know they tried PJ.
Tucker. They played him at the five and a small ball lineup a few
different times. He was zero two from the outside. I love his hustle
and everything, but you know, it's gonna be a bit of an experiment
and figuring this thing out right now with James. But I wanted to throw
something back, as you will, because we talked about on the podcast recently,
just starting him next to Russell Westbrook us in a nice game as other
guys were struggling. He had seventeen on thirteen shots and had nine of those
I believe in the first quarter. But it was interesting to me just watching
to see who handled the ball bringing it up the floor. We heard coach
lu say, well, Russ is going to be the point guard more so
when James is out there, he'll play off ball. It didn't really play
out that way to me. If James caught the basketball off a rebound,
he brought it up. If Kawhi did, he brought it up. If
Paul George was out there, he brought it up like they just want to
push the pace regardless of who gets the ball off the board. Yeah,
and I'm a fan of that. I'm a fan of that kind of thing
in game, sort of you know, going with the plow, trying to
optimize getting into things a little bit quicker. Obviously that'll look a lot better
as the communication is better. I'm still I mean, things are much much
more up in the air. And now with Mason out, who had an
absolutely incredible little run there to end the second quarter, helped the Clippers come
out to like a nice lead. But I'm still struggling a little bit with
the long term fit of Westbrook and Harden. I just while harden Is certainly
can playoff ball, We've seen that, I know that it can work,
it just feels a little questionable to me, I guess the times to not
have the ball in his hands. And I know that they'll they will work
it out, and they will figure it out because you know, Russ has
has been good for this team too, and still you know, still is
a great facilitator and you know certainly has his own things offensively. But yeah,
I that to me is just not the smoothest it's not the smoothest fit.
I really I hope that I'm wrong. I don't see that long term
maybe being the best look. It feels a little bit clunky, especially after
this game. If anybody can figure it out, it is Coach lou.
I. Just the part that baffles me a little bit is if you're bringing
in James Harden, he probably to get the most out of him, should
be on ball. That that's the thing. But that doesn't don't get why
you're taking the ball out of the assist leader's hands. Like I just,
I really I don't understand it. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see as
we go along here how things develop. Another one on Wednesday, Clippers in
Brooklyn taking on the nets. He is Will Updyke. Follow him at Will
Updike up d y k E on Twitter. Will do We gotta clips and
dip YouTube episode coming tomorrow. Oh, you're darn right, we do.
All right, let's go. We will talk to you then, my friend,
thanks for coming on to a double dip tonight here on Clippers Talk.
Absolutely, thanks for having me