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

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It was no smile on my breath, last time that I check. A

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seven Clippers sweat win in New Orleans
one eleven to ninety five over the Pelicans.

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Welcome back into Clippers Talk. I'm
in a Moslin's here on a M.

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Five to seventy l a sports.
We'll get back to your phone calls

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at eight sixty six nine eight seven
two five seventy eight sixty six, ninety

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seven two five seventy. But first
joining the show for the first time in

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a good week week and a half
is big Will Updyke from Clips and Dip.

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We got the Clips and Double Dip
going on right now on Clippers Talk.

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The man who coined the nickname for
the Powell Rangers death lineup is with

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us. Luckily they really didn't even
have to use it. Down the stretch

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and this one will they led by
as many as thirty one. Yeah,

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it was. It was absolutely unreal. At one point in that second quarter,

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I was wondering why parents man hadn't
come back in yet. But the

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with Norm out there, plus the
starters, the Powell Rangers were just going

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off and the thing I think that
is so impressive about this win is this

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went to me a little bit kind
of showed the depth. You didn't have

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like huge scoring explosions, but the
Clipers put this one away. I mean

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it was easily over in three quarters. And that was with not high scoring

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or high efficiency games from Kawhi Leonard
or James Harden. I mean, if

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this game didn't get your feeling like
what the ceiling of this Clippers team could

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look like, I don't know what
to tell you. I don't know what

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to tell You're not seeing the vision
yet you should get that check. Some

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went to Lens Crafters a while ago
and have been seeing clearly with this team

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with James Harden. Both of us
were pretty high on them bringing in James

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Harden knowing that you know Russell Westbrook
as good as he is, he has

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his limitations with erratic play as your
number one playmaker, and James Harden just

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takes care of the basketball thirteen assists, one turnover. Since they took Russ

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out of the starting lineup, the
Clippers have only been turning it over twelve

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and a half times per game.
But you know, I asked this question

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a little bit earlier put it on
Twitter, put it out here on Clippers

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Talk. To me, this is
the best regular season run in the history

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of the franchise. I know Ralph
Wahler is somebody who would be more adept

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at answering something like this. He
is the Clippers historian in some ways as

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well as the great broadcaster. But
the only other team I can compare it

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to is the twenty twelve twenty thirteen
team that won seventeen straight, and a

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lot of those wins they were against
some cream puff teams in there. To

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me, these wins have been more
impressive. Let's say you about this stretcher

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in the regular season, will I
this is unreal, Like this is just

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a different year that we haven't seen
two, one, three, And I

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thought even last year there were some
glimpses, but it would it would rarely

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even extend the full games. You
know, you might get a really good

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half or or a quarter that you
know, a quarter could bail two on

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three out of an entire game.
But now they're kind of playing that they're

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on all cylinders. And I do
think the hardened thing is so significant,

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both of his efficiency with the ball
but also just sort of fitting into the

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tempo, the rhythm, the metron, almost of wherever it is this team

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likes to operate. That think has
been perfect and it's one of those things

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that I think Russell Westbrook does really
well at his own tempo. But I

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don't know that it's always the best
fit, but I do. I got

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to mention him because I thought that
he had a superb game tonight eight five

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and five with two seals and two
blocks. He was really, you know,

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doing everything else to help things happen. And that's what I was saying

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when I think that this is the
best win of the season, Like we

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just got really solid performances out of
the entire bench, and it's one of

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those things that you know, with
the loss of some of the wings,

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I had questions about this depth and
from where I'm sitting right now, like

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it's just looking really good and everything
is so strong that if you know,

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you even have questions about Okay,
so like when does Mason Plumley fit back

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in? Where does he come back
in now? Because we know where he

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was at free injury, and that's
the perfect fit for where this team is

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and where they're heading. Because I
still do not think that we've seen the

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ceiling yet, which is crazy to
say. This has been an insane stretch

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of games. Charles and I were
just talking, you know that he loves

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to talk about March. Clippers have
a brutal schedule in which they play seventeen

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games and after to night. I
was thinking, it's not unfathomable to me,

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It's not unstathomable. Fathomable debate if
we were looking at fourteen and three,

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thirteen and four, is that insane? Don't think Pet's heads are falling

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off. I don't think it's insane. I don't think it's that crazy.

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I think it's still true that gauntlet
of the season. I mean, this

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could be a top two team,
a top three team for sure, but

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possibly top two. No, they're
they're right there now. Now. The

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teams in front of them aren't exactly
losing much either. Oklahoma City, while

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they just lost two in a row, they still have won seven of their

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last ten. The Denver Nuggets they're
eight and two in their last ten,

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Minnesota six and four in their last
ten. Those are the teams they're chasing.

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But the Clippers are one game back
of the OKC thunder who they've only

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seen one so far. This season, didn't have Kawhi and they would fall.

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And I think that was the second
game of a back to back after

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the game in Dallas, so a
tough one for them. But I agree

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with you. I don't think they
have peaked. I don't think they have

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reached their ceiling. What's been impressive
to me is early on with James Harden,

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it was hard to keep every wanted
rhythm. And now even when Kawhi

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Leonard has a slow first half,
he gets cooking in the third quarter,

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like guys are just taking turns and
still staying in the flow of the offense

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and finding their quarter or their stretch
of time where they take over the ball

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game. Within all those moments where
they're just sharing the basketball and everyone's doing

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damage at once, you still see
individuals pop within the game and do what

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they do best and control the game. When you talk about tempo, with

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James Harden, he's just controlling the
game and knowing how to keep everyone involved.

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It's it's such a beautiful brand of
basketball, oh one hundred percent.

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And I like that you bring up
the great individual performances because I think one

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big issue that I've had, certainly, I think a lot of Clippers fans

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have had throughout the two to three
eras. You know, sometimes it does

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feel a little bit like, okay, your turn, my turn thing.

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But with this edition of Harden,
we're still getting you know, guys can

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shine in their role and in their
spots, and you do see these great

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individual games, but it just feels
so much more cohesive. The flow of

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the game is just it's it's suiting
sort of everybody. And I think that

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like the floor has been raised so
much. I mean, since the addition

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of hard and Mike, you know, Viza Zubas looks like a different player.

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We're starting to see Terrence Man come
back into his own, which if

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that trend continues, I mean,
this is just a terrifying starting lineup.

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But yeah, it's just it's just
the most cohesive that it's ever looked.

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And I that is not that those
were not my thoughts coming into the season,

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and I think this has exceeded my
expectations all, you know, all

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of a hardened trade. To be
perfectly honest, A Vizza Zubas had fifteen

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to eight and two blocks on six
of seven shooting. I don't know if

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I've talked about him enough tonight he
had the left handed dunk over Joe's valanchutas

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in that first quarter, he had
a hook shot, a second quarter over

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him, a dunk off a hardened
oop, a throwdown again in the second

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quarter, a bucket when they went
through a drought in the third quarter with

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that lineup where it was the big
four again where they tried Russell Westbrook next

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to James Harden, Kawhi PG and
Zubots twice in this game. They tried

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it and the Pelicans would go on
runs. But Zoo again in the third

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put them up by seventeen off a
nice pass from James Harden. Just he's

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unlocked the best version of Avitza Zubots, and the full potential maybe of Avitza

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Zubots is still to come because he
has a playmaker like James Harden. He

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has his CP three. Now we
love Avitza Zubots, of course, will

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just talk about the play we've seen
from him next to Udo. I mean,

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it's been unreal. You know,
we heard them talking about the chemistry.

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Obviously it wasn't the smoothest to start. But Zoo has always been,

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you know, a good roller,
a great screen cetter. He has picking

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roll chemistry to a certain degree with
everybody who handles the ball, you know,

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with Kawhi and Paul George certainly,
but never with a never with a

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guard like Harden. So you know, we knew it was gonna be a

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work in progress. It's still not
at a ceiling, but where it's at

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right now is incredible given the amount
of time. But the thing that's so

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impressive to me is that, you
know, we've always thought like Zoo was

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capable of being a double double guy. But I think this stretch, to

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me, what's been so impressive is
like beyond the box scores, he just

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looks like a different guy out there. I mean, I mean, he

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just looks you know, we we
would always get into things of how like

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Zoo needs to be that needs to
play like the biggest guy on the floor,

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and I just think he's doing that
one hundred percent now. He just

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he looks different. He has a
different sort of confidence, he's playing the

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game with a different sort of aggression. It's it's incredible, it's incredible,

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and it's uh, I think that
that is just another one of those things

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that like with this sort of cohesiveness
or whatever that they've found. Everybody is

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really shining and it's just I don't
know, it just feels like a championship

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team, and this team feels ready. It's like Zuza made man out there.

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Finally, he's a part of being
one of the stars on this team

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where it's not just oh and then
we have this big man starting with us

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a Vita zu Bots. He's so
important to what they do and is critical

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and a lot of us have known
this for a while, but I don't

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know, there's a different or about
him, a different level of confidence.

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He's coming into his own. James
Harden has emboldened him. It's just so

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fun to watch because I've always felt
like he's just this unsung hero on the

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team, willing to do whatever it
takes, and now he's really being rewarded

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offensively for how good he is and
being the backbone of their defense. Let's

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talk about your guy, Norman Powell
and the Powell Rangers. How did you

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come up with that beautiful nickname which
is going to live on for a long

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time here, Will, I'm a
keeper of receipts positive and negative. You

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are the man for coming up with
that. It's unbelievable because that is their

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death lineup with Norman Powell, who, by the way, is also playing

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the best, most efficient basketball of
his career. Oh, unreal, unreal.

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Yeah, I think I think there
were a couple of nicknames floating around.

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But uh, yeah, Powell,
you gotta have Cower ranges in there.

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Uh, they're a whole squad and
it's you know, they are the

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doors. The sumb is more than
the parts. But no, I can't

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say enough about about Norman Powell.
Correct me if I'm wrong. This has

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got to be the longest un This
is definitely the longest uninterrupted stretch of play

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he's gotten to play as a Clipper. So of course he's you know,

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he's playing some of his best basketball. Of course he's like it speaks again

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to this cohesiveness where he's finally had
a chance, you know, even though

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he's been with his team for a
couple of years, to have a full

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stretch. Uh and and not only
him, but have the actual starters available

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for you know, nearly every game. It's just there has been an embarrassment

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of riches thus far this season for
the Clippers. He is will Updyke of

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clips and dip fame, the one
with the nick names, not like it's

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a friend's episode, but the the
guy who's come up with a lot of

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these nick names. It's it's it's
awesome. Well, thanks for doing this

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tonight. My throat is killing me
and you help pick me up and take

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a lot of the workload off my
plate. But I know we got a

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clips and dip YouTube. I think
coming up tomorrow will preview the Lakers game

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and we'll have the Big three back
together to join up with this new Clippers

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Big three here. Thanks for doing
this tonight, will absolutely thanks for having

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me. Let's go quick, quick, time out. Clippers led by as

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many as thirty one over the Pelicans. They win one eleven to ninety five,

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five straight victories nineteen and five over
the last twenty four games since the

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new starting lineup. Y'all want Terrence
Man on the starting lineup? Are you

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sure about that? Huh doesn't make
sense to me. Terrorist Man is starting

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to find a shooting stroke six for
his last nine from the outside, looks

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confident as well out there. Love
what t Man is bringing is helping set

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that tone early on. If it
ain't broke, don't fix it. Clippers

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far from broken right now. Unbelievable. More clippers stock next year on the

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MP by seventy Ela Sports