What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to Season two, episode seventy
one of Clips and Dip. We got the full crew here after the Clippers
split the first two games of Round one against the MAVs in La. I
am Chuck Mockler with Adam Os and Will Updike. Thanks to everyone who hung
out on the stream last night over on YouTube. Gotta come hang after those
there was a good time. Adam wasn't there. He was silently protesting because
of the loss. We're gonna get into, you know, how Kauwai looked
the good and bad from games one and two, and then what we need
to see in game three to get a dub and we have a classic Updyke
fun check. But before we get into that, fellas last night the Clippers
lost. How are we feeling the day after? Adam? You had to
take phone calls and we didn't get your reaction on the live How you doing?
Bud? Kind of feel worse about it today, which is the Adam
fun check is not good right now? Uh, I don't know. I've
been listening to some podcasts catching up, trying to uh think through everything that
happened in that second half. The good the bad what's repeatable? What isn't
it? I don't know. I'm a little bit more concerned because the common
theme coming out of this game as well. The Clippers only lost by three
in a game they shot that poorly, And I'm thinking to myself, you
guys know that Luka Doncic Invincible game hasn't happened yet at all. He didn't
shoot well. The MAVs didn't shoot well outside the fourth quarter when they went
six to nine from three, like that was the only difference. Luca was
eleven or twenty six. Like, I don't think they've played great yet either.
So you're not feeling good? Sorry, that's what we're will. How
are how are you? Are you in the are you in the Adam camp?
Are you singing to Adam's song? If you will a little? I
mean I traced the cord back to the wall, no wonder. Uh.
Anyways, I'm doing all right. I like, I am not as concerned,
I mean, maybe foolishly so as some other people online seem to be
about this loss. You know, losing home court is a bummer. I
mean that's assuming though, that we don't get one in Dallas, which I
think assuming that Kawhi, which is a big assumption. Assuming that Kawhi is
good to go, I don't see us dropping them both in Dallas. So
I'm not my death cont level is at a five or you know, it's
yeah, I'm getting I'm I'm not too concerned right now. Like obviously,
uh, you know, still still a very formidable team, still a tough
series, still a lot left to go. But I don't really feel i
mean going up too Oh, i'd be, you know, completely in a
different position than from where I'm at right now. But one one split,
I am like, I'm this doesn't like, this doesn't really marginally change how
I feel about the series. Yeah, we knew it was gonna be a
battle. We knew it was probably gonna go. We feel that it's gonna
go six or seven. The big thing I think, how did we addam
We haven't gotten we haven't all talked about this as a group. How do
we feel? How did you feel about Kawhi in game two? He obviously
wasn't gonna be one hundred percent. We talked kind of pregame altogether, how
it might make things a little wonky, but going forward from what we saw,
how do you feel heading into game three, and do you think he
plays game three? Well, it depends on how his body responds coming out
of this game, of course, I hope. So obviously we haven't seen
the injury report yet for today, or we're not getting one till tomorrow because
this show is off. I don't think we're getting one today. He got
on the line. I was in courage by him playing thirty five minutes.
I did not see that coming. I thought it was gonna be a thirty
minute minutes restriction, maybe because the game, and it was kind of just
a check in process with Kawhi and how he was feeling during the ballgame,
so it was fluid. But he I thought, movement wise, looked pretty
good. Now. He was short on almost all of his jumpers. They
were flat. That was I guess. If anything was to be expected,
it was that zero five from the outside. But he had that steel and
dunk to start the third quarter. He had a couple of push shots where
he got physical in the lane, he had a putback, and his defense
was really good. Overall, there wasn't much drop off on that end really
that was noticeable to me at least. The only thing was he missed a
free throw late, unlike Kawhi, and he had a shot clock violation on
him which was very out of character. So timing rhythm still needs to get
there. He's got to knock off the rust. But I heard some people
talking about this almost like, oh, they shouldn't have played Kawhi. So
you guys realize either he gets back into being Kawhi or they don't have a
chance. Anyways, he has to go through this right now. That's just
part of the deal. He's got to get back to where he was.
The only way to replicate those on court minutes is for him to be out
there. And by the way, that was the most physical game I've ever
seen live that was played and officiated by like it was a Game seven.
Carlo Jaman has brought that up. I'd never seen anything like it. What
Darvin Ham was talking about coming out of that game too against the Denver Nuggets,
and how it's difficult to adjust to the officiating right now after an entire
season for the most part of seeing things called one way. And it did
start to change a couple of months ago. According to Zach Lowe, points
were down by like two points per game around the All Star break and there
was some unspoken message or maybe there was a memo was the league did release
a they did release an entire thing and there was a zoom conference. It's
just you're really in the weeds about NBA officiating for you to have read it
or have like known, like really, did it still seem subjective or they
weren't fully stamping. Hey, this is how we're calling things now, because
some people pointed out that right away, well, that would affect betting lines,
like you have to make it very clear how the game is being officiated
if there's a change mid season, on the off season, mid season to
how you're calling things. It was just very interesting and I'm fine with it.
The Clippers does not lose that game because of it, but it has
changed so much. You look at those two thousand of Visa zubats had to
start by the way he rocked Luka Doncic and I think it was Derek Jones
Junior to pick up those first two. I thought one of them might have
ended up being a Flay guir. They were so physical. But there was
some wild no calls with a mere coffee and Luka Doncic in the second half
near the sideline. Uh Tarret's man. When the game really told me that
it was going to be played differently than what we saw in Game one was
Tarrence's man went to the basket very early on and he got hit, and
we saw that in game one too, But Dallas was waiting and they were
saying no easy buckets. They met the moment, their physicality was completely different.
Everything. Jason Kidd asked for five bucks in that first half, didn't
it wasn't it something like that? Something yea during the press conference he had
backwards hat game one and they lost. You have clear clear frame classes.
He makes bad decisions. No lenses, Yeah, no, just a free
to some freak ship. To be fair, though, his guys responded to
what he asked for and he pulled Gafford quickly. He did start, but
then he pulled him and Derek Lyvely started the second half. So we're starting
to see some of the chess moves from Jason Kidd's side. But again,
it wasn't just the Clippers struggling from the field. Dallas's numbers look much better
because of what happened in the fourth quarter with going six and nine from three,
but they have not shot the ball well either. So I don't think
it's just safe to say, well if the Clippers aren't gonna shoot like this
again, and it was this close and Kawhi Leonard didn't look like himself seven
of seventeen. No, I think the Dallas Mavericks believed that we also can
play much better and progress to our means too. Yeah, there was some
like the good and bad from game one and two is so crazy like in
game too, I saw this tweeted out the Clippers had a better free throw
rate, a better offensive rebounding rate, better turnover rate, shot better at
the rim, more points in the paint, more fast break points, and
more second chance points. There was some good, But I like what you
said, like this isn't this is an EBB and flow series. I thought
some of the bad we talk about, the shooting that fourteen oh run for
the MAVs in the fourth was just like the offense would stagnant. It wasn't
like I mean, and that was during the power like that was started.
That that was started during the Power Rangers line up, like it's you know,
like these are the things that I feel like are a little bit of
anomalies. Norm who I picked to be my player of the game. Looking
like shits so far this series, I don't expect that to maintain, especially
because he like missing a wide open corner, like a wide open corner three.
That's just very unnorm He's gotta be on a short leash, I think
at this point, guys, because is a huge swing game. You got
to get home court back. And Terrence Man did he play it all in
the fourth quarter, jel like he played at the very end. I think
in the fourth quarter lineup, that lineup, I love that lineup. It
was I think I put it in here. It was very arm Terrence PG
and Kawhi when he went for the steal on the crazy Luca pass out of
that trap in the corner to get the ball out, terrace Man was on
the floor for that. But he didn't play right. So he played at
the very end. He wasn't in the consequential minutes, and Mere Coffee wasn't
either. If Norman Powell is going to continue to struggle, you do have
other options, and it's not like he gives you much else outside of his
shooting, which has been critical all season long, and norm being this ice
cold does throw a lot of things off. It does really hurt the machine
with this Clippers offense. One job which I think and I think Emir should
have came in the game earlier. In this one, Russ had a he
turned it around the second half. He had a ship first half. Uh,
and Norm wasn't good either, And I think that Emir should have came
in the game earlier. Yeah, and we'll talk about it more coming up
in the high five or the low five. But there were some interesting moves
by coach Lou late in the ball game. I want to talk about that
in the chat asking was this a bad Tylu game? Very level headed for
the most part question. I chocked it up to kind of a bad Tylu
game, partially due to the fact that he was crunched with. I mean,
you know, the COI rot, the Kauhi restriction and then the two
early fells on zoom make things wonky. But it wasn't the best. It
was a coach's fault. It's not coach's fault when guy's not execute. I'm
really sorry, Like it's just it's not And I think, you know,
we're talking about some of these rotations. I think, sure, maybe there
should have been a shorter leash, but this early in a series, like,
do you have any reason to believe that Norm isn't gonna turn it around?
Like, do you, like, do you have the sample size of
data to believe this guy shouldn't be on the floor despite what he's done,
you know, through sixty games a regular season, Like, I just don't
really buy that, And you come in earlier, I mean, I like,
I agree, but I'm saying I see both sides, Like I'm not
like, I'm not like Tyler losing. Tyler's an idiot for that. I'm
saying my Like, my opinion is that a meer should have come in earlier.
I don't think that means TYLERU lost us the game. Oh yeah,
he didn't take the game. You can't predict stuff like that, and you
can't predict stuff like guys gambling for steels. You can't predict a whistle,
and I think that he will probably. I think that he was right to
take Zoo out at that point of the game too, because with the way
the the way the whistle was going at that time, Like, what's the
point in him even racking up one more? You know you're gonna need him
later, So I don't really see it that way. I I I personally
don't see it that way, and the offense completely stagnating to end the game,
and at various points Wa Kawhi was on the floor. I'm sorry.
There was just a lot of other issues that are not Tyler related. It
was a three point lost. It was a game where there are things to
second guess. I don't think there was anything so egregious where, like Will
said, you could just say TYLERU lost them in the moment this game.
I didn't like him taking out of eats zubots I said it on the air
at the time, at the seven minute mark and going small. That felt
like a little bit of tie, resorting back to what he's most comfortable with,
small ball. But they don't have a tomb, they don't have Marcus
Morris. It was I think a seven to zero run. After Russell Westbrook
came out of the ballgame, Joey Lynn asked him about that post game,
and Russ was having some great moments, momentum plays for them, got them
extra possessions, walk on Derek Lively, but on the other end of the
floor, it just wasn't looking that good. Well, yeah, he was
too two nine. He was. He did find Aviata Zubots who got two
early buckets in the fourth quarter, and I thought, here we go.
They're gonna try to execute what they weren't able to in the first quarter because
he got into foul trouble and Zoo, they're gonna lean into running offense through
him and getting easy buckets in a game where they can't hit any jump shots.
And that's how they're gonna win this game. And then after they go
down three on that seven to zero run, he takes Aviatza Zubots out and
they go small ball and they lost the next three minutes by four. So
I'd like I understand the logic because they started hitting three's one more switchability out
there. I just don't think it looked a little bit like he blinked a
little bit and Jason Kidd had the advantage. He forced coach lou to make
a move because Maxi Kleeb has been playing more. They were playing more small
ball. They were clogging up the paint to stop of each zoobots there.
But I think he had eight points because he came back in right after that
three minutes. He comes back in to me that said, Coach Lou saw
that it wasn't working. They needed Big Zoo back in and he got two
more easy buckets when points were at a premium. Now he could also make
the argument that Zoo had played the entire third quarter, in the first four
minutes or whatever it was of the fourth quarter and hadn't gotten a break yet.
But I would also say he only played thirty three minutes total, So
even if he had stayed in for those three minutes, he's at thirty six
minutes by the end of the game. It's a playoff game. He ended
with those two fouls. Also, so when Coach lu talks about postgame that
threw us off our game, well, I agree with that it did.
It led to them forgetting about Zoo once again when it wasn't like he stayed
in foul trouble. You could have gone back to that earlier. You could
have started spamming it again. I know he's out in the first quarter because
of that, but he didn't stay and foul trouble after that, and you
couldn't find easy buckets. There's still a beats of zoobots out there after the
game one he had after what the season he's had after what we've seen with
him and James Harden. I just I felt like it was a real missed
opportunity in that game. And the reason I'm down on it is because I
think they win last night's game and there's a real, very realistic possibility the
Clippers could have won this series in five games. They split the two in
Dallas, they come back and close it out in game five at home.
Now it's completely different. It's a dog fight. It's going six or seven,
and it feels more like a coin flip right now. Yeah, Zoo
did end with eight in that fourth quarter, four for six, and he
was playing, like you said, I was impressed with how he played after
the two fouls. He didn't play scared, he didn't play timid because he
wasn't playing insane to get those two fouls right. It was playoff basketball.
They were hard fouls, but they weren't we you know, it wasn't a
moving screen or something. Before get into the low five. My player of
the game pick, Well, if we're eating our respective crow for player of
the game picks Paul George did shoot fifty, which was great. He was
seven for fourteen, but not an inspiring Paul performance. We've had to kind
of like two kind of performances, and I thought, I thought defensively,
he looked a lot better in Game one, so I kind of had more
praise for him than I know Charles did in that first in that first game,
this one wasn't uninspired Paul George performs. To me, he was good
late, but it was a little too late. Yeah, maybe maybe we
could treat one other quarter like it's the fourth quarter in the game, just
one. I didn't like how and when people point to Kawhi Leonard throwing off
their rhythm, and I don't know how much rhythm and chemistry you can say
was built up in one good performance where they really just got hot from three
in Game one and say, oh, kaw I threw everything off. Now,
But Paul all George came out and had eight points on three or five
shooting in that first quarter. He was the only guy that really had it
going. And he still only took five shots, and at the half,
I think he was at seven. I think it only took two more in
the second quarter. I thought he was being too unselfish. I thought overall,
the clunky offense from the Clippers, some of it was they were forcing
things to Kawhi Leonard, especially in the fourth quarter. But when you look
at the box score, I don't say this very often, but the shot
distribution was too balanced instead of finding the guy who was hot in Paul George,
who only ended up with fourteen shots, so he only gets nine more
after the first quarter. You look at that, He's got fourteen, Kawhi
is at seventeen, Zubus twelve, James Hardened at fourteen, Norren Palett ten,
Russell Westbrook at nine. That's a game where Paul George has it going.
Other guys don't feed the hot hand ride it. Let him get to
twenty plus shots in that game because late in the fourth quarter, all of
a sudden, call his shot. More in those sits you like, I
I think, like because what we we when he was miked up. We
heard him miked up in Game one, and and he was he was calling
out a lot of stuff on the floor like he was being very decisive.
Uh, he was being a leader. And I just I think that when
Kawhi is there, he has to still be that guy. He has to
be he has to be calling his own shot. I agree, it's it's
all on him too, not being more demanding of the basketball in those situations.
But it's just in a game where it was difficult for everybody to score
out there, and you have a guy who might have been on a heater
but never really got to test it out, that that also was a missed
opportunity in my mind. Yeah, I think that's totally fair. We need
we need alpha dog PG because that is what you need in the playoffs.
That being said, defense is pretty good these last two games, right,
can't be too mad hold the maps under a un Like that side of the
ball, I'm very I don't satisfies our but I'm feeling good about the defensive
side of it. I mean, it's it's gonna be the most impressive given
where this Clippers team was all season and certainly to end the season. You
know, while we saw glimpses, we we saw glimpses it. Uh yeah,
it's looked a lot better. All they approve that they obviously can be
a top ten defense whenever they feel like putting in that effort. To me,
when they clip that switch, we've alluded to it, I think we
got it. Before we go to the next segment, shall we hit them
with the with the low five. Hopefully we're going to get a high five
itself. Uh, the first two or high fives? Okay, the first
two plays here? Okay, all right, this is your high five five
highlights if you're not familiar with it from the ballgame in game two. This
time around, and the sound is off, we're going straight to the fourth
quarter here, Okay, No, they were working on the theme song.
Jim Williams, thank you for sending us that. We're trying to figure out
how to seamlessly integrate that wonderful surfrock into the high five. We appreciate it.
Hope enjoyed thet It would be nice underneath my Naisley voice. Here's Luka
Doncic at half court, straight to the consequential buckets here in the fourth quarter
and plays that really decided this game at seventy one to sixty seven Clippers is
at one point they were up by six and the fourth and I felt like,
with how difficult both teams were having regarding scoring, six points might have
been insurmountable. I felt like I was right there with you in the press
box and we're like, hey, six fucking points in a game where people
are scoring ninety two, like first team to go on a run would win.
And that's kind of what happened with that fourteen to oher run by the
Dallas Mavericks. Really uh so, here's Luka Doncics. He gets the pick
from Derek Lively. Yeah, sorry about that. Aviza Zubots was hedging the
pick this time instead of staying and drop on Luka Doncic in this game,
So a little bit more of a wrinkle there from coach lou Here's a beats
of zoobots who I think he was trying to beat Luca to his spot.
Who loves pulling up on the left wing for his step back three pointer.
He's overly aggressive, Luca ends up splitting the defense here, gets the Clippers
to collapse and he finds the trailing Derek Lively. But watch Russell Westbrook boom.
Hell of a play. That's what people were talking about when they mentioned
Russ really changing the game for the Clippers end of the third quarter into the
start of the fourth. Here's another nice play from Russell Westbrook. This was
after a Josh Green missed three pointer. Rush pushes the ball in transition a
beats the Zoobots beats his man down the floor in Derek Lively, so he's
got a hang back, And here's Russ collapse in the defense. On the
other side, a little dripple drive bounce past a big zoo easy bucket against
the Smalls here in the Dallas Mavericks, And I just I can't say enough,
feed the beast, get the ball to a Vitza Zoobots, please,
guys? Am I crazy? Am I losing my mind too much about that?
Or is there something to it? Because I think, especially in this
series, Avitza Zoobots has to be one of the focal points easy buckets And
it's just like, I am, I don't get why you even with two
fouls, I don't get why you would completely move away from something that was
so successful for you in game one. Yeah, there weren't offensive fouls,
right, He wasn't like throwing his elbows or anything weird like. Yeah.
So Rusk gets taken out of the game at the eight thirty mark for Paul
George. So he had played from the seven minute mark of the third quarter
up until the eight to thirty mark or the fourth quarter, and coach Lou
told Joey Lynn postgame, that's why he took him out, and Joey asked
about it, and Coach Lou kind of challenged him, what would you do?
I think he was in the mood for being second guest on that one.
It's Paul George. You could have taken out Norman Powell, but he
had just hit a three pointer and you need him, you would think at
some point in this series to get it going. Coach Lee was probably thinking,
this is his time. He's starting to find a rhythm here. So
PJ. Washington and Luka Doncic hit threes. I'm not sure Russ would have
stopped that, especially from the plays that we're about to see. I'm not
sure if that would have been the difference having Russ on the floor for that.
But by the time he comes back after this, Luka Doncich step back
on Kawhi Leonard, which is just an insane shot that there's nothing you can
do about it. The Clippers are now down by three at the seven minute
mark, and this is where they end up going small here. And if
I don't get this right again and mess up my time stamps, I'm gonna
be upset. So Russell Westbrook's back in the ball game. He's on Kyrie
Irving. You got James Harden on Luka Doncic. The Clippers are small,
Norman Palell, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, coach Luke and obviously say we
have Kawhi back, We're more equipped to play small. Now here's what I
don't like about this play. James Harden actually guarded Luca pretty damn well in
the fourth quarter, even on the kill shot three that Luka Doncic made and
then tampted the crowd. That was great defense. James Harden gave him this
multiple times, trying to get his hand in his face, trying to face
guard him, be like a face hugger in Aliens. But even on this
possession, he's got it in the far side corner. He's got his back
to him. There's help here. If he tries to drive, you're gonna
have at least Paul George or Kawhi Leonard, one of these guys is gonna
come over. Russell Westbrook is watching Kyrie Irving. But look at Luka doncicch
watching Russ. Look how smart he is. As soon as Russ makes a
little bit of a move over here to help to cheat over and help on
Luka Doncich when I don't think it was necessary at this time. Luca does
this bounce pass to Kyrie Russ's way out of position. He has a wide
open three pointer. Russell Westbrook to me in this situation, and I don't
know what the game plan assignment was, but it's Kyrie Irving. It's not
Tim Hardaway Junior out there. It's not Maxi Kleeve. I don't think it
was. Kyrie was on the floor, playoff Kyrie pass away. Yeah,
it's just James Harden is doing a good enough job here. If Luka Donci
just wants to back him down and take a tough fade away too, I
can live with that more so than them knocking down a three in this situation
from a guy like Kyrie Irving, who's wide open here. It's a long
three, but he's gonna make that all day, I guess. And he's
wide open, as you mentioned, like he's unbothered. I don't want to
put it all on Russ. I don't know if that was the game plan
to double there, but it just seems to me. Watch what happens afterwards,
James Harden starts tarking to coach lou and then Russell Westbrook. It looks
like says something to James Harden here. It's like, dude, like,
it's so clearly like we saw that, we saw and will you kind of
talked about this a little bit like a second ago. There was a lot
of it felt like more gambling for steals in game two than in game Oh
we got something on that apropos big chuck so uh. One last play here
in the high five, I swear to God if I don't get this right,
this is and I don't. I don't hate this. When you talk
about Paul George on Luka Doncic, by the way, that guy in the
comments that kept saying that Paul George wasn't guarding Luka Doncic, I think there
was like ten possessions at least in this game where he was one on one
against him. So whatever. But when you talk about bad breaks and bad
bounces, this exemplifies that in a game this close, in a playoff game.
Watch what happens here. Great defense by Paul George. He gets at
the basketball, taps it away. It ends up instead of coming this way
where Paul George can grab it and go the other way for two. It
hits Luca right on the calf, the ankle, the cankel, whatever you
want to say, and it bounces right back to him. It was the
perfect bounce for Luca Dountis to get the ball back off a really fine defensive
play by Paul George here and then he gets it, collapses the defense makes
it look like he's going for a jumper, finds Maxi Kleeba for a huge
three pointer. The other thing that really worried me coming out of this game
was some of their role players really woke up from the outside late and they're
going to have confidence to build off of going into game three with that.
Yeah, and very good point. And PJ. Washington was phenomenal in the
fourth quarter for the maps. He was very good. We love the high
five. Adam is gonna leave and then come back real quick. We got
an audio break coming up for the listeners and then morey, we're gonna be
talking the keys. The game three victory coming up right after this, and
we're back. Welcome to Clips and back in to Clips and Dad, we
made it. Adam went and ran a quick ten miles, So what are
we thinking for game three, we can talk about the MAVs role players because
Kaliba, who you just showed, making a three, which you do live
with with him taking that three um was good for the MAVs last game.
Of the five MAVs lineups that have totaled more than four minutes, only three
are in the plus and they all include Maxi Kleba. I think a large
part of that was at fourteen oh run obviously that they went on. But
Kliba is showing his value for the MAVs, and I don't know if that
makes Tylou, like Adam you said, go small where he's comfortable, or
stick with the big zip doing. I was worried about this after game one.
At the very end of Game one, we saw Maxi Kliba playing the
five and we thought that could be a wrinkle that Jason Kidd goes with moving
forward. I think they're plus twenty four so far in the series. When
Gafford and Lively are off the floor, which means Kleiba's out there, and
Gafford had a back thing right like he left heart again questionable to come back
again, like they're running them through like the ringer over there. Unfortunate for
the Clippers. Honestly, yes, well, how do you feeling about the
small ball? Does Tys get a crack? Where are we at? It
seems like we're gonna see more of in game three? I don't know.
I mean, like with Kawhi Leonard back, do you think the rotation like
realistically expands. Was Mace bad enough in game two to take him out of
the lineup, especially when you seeming I mean, you know, you seemingly
like the size I'm I'm assuming from TYLERU you you see that as an advantage
unless you're going unless you're going real small, real weird with things, which
I I don't know that Tys fortifies. I don't know that Tyson fortifies one
of those lineups more than just having another like swingy kind of you know,
guard wing tweeter, uh, like in a mere coffee or something out there.
So I I would probably, I like what Adam said, like sort
of just shortening the least, shortening the rotations a little bit, like if
things aren't working, you don't have you know, you don't have room to
play around anymore. And I think the players will understand that. I think
everybody kind of gets that. But I don't really see, and I could
be wrong on this. I don't see like full giving up on on Mace
necessary in this series. I'm not saying that that'll that'll hold up should they
advance past this round, but I don't full see giving up on Mason the
strength of one game in a limited sample size. And I also don't really
see the rotation expanding, So I think that means Tye is still likely one
of the odd men out in this one, him and Tuck Wagon hanging out
flipping bottles on the bench. I think that that point about expanding the rotation
is a really good one, Like it's like we're already he added Kwhi back
into the lineup, like I would think if anything, one more guy would
be out of the rotation. Yes, I agree with that. I hope
it was a mirror in Game two. That's true. Yeah, what did
you do? Eleven minutes? And he's been really good defensively. I know
everybody pretty much has for the most part, but his defense, even going
back to the regular season, I think he had the best matchup data against
Luka. Doncic and Tyler credited him for being able to guard Kyrie and stuff
like that. So Kawhi what he said, because it was it was in
game one, so Kai wasn't there. He's like, yeah, Paul George
doesn't have to worry about Luca and Kyrie when a mere coffee's out there,
and it's like, wouldn't it be great to you put a mere coffee out
there with PG and Kawhi somehow, like two guys at once don't have to
worry about him like that. Maybe some of those norm minutes go to a
mire. Speaking of matchup data, I think we got to bring up how
the Clippers went two for seventeen against Luka Doncic in Game two and Luke and
Kyrie were very good defensively. We talked about it and showed it in a
High five preview of this series. Luka doncis fighting through a stagger screen,
multiple screens to stay with his man and Michael Porter Jr. Guys, he
was very connected. He shut down Kawhi Leonard on a big possession in the
fourth corner. Granted Kawhi' is not Kawhi yet, but he had four or
five possessions in that game where he played quote unquote lockdown defense. It was
impressive. Yeah, they've both been good defensively, Yeah, Kyrie was playing
Harden and flustering him. Small Kyrie, he was hounding him going up the
court. Like that narrative was just false, like, oh, these guys
are food. You can do whatever you want against them. This is what
scared me about Dallas. Those guys giving a much better effort defensively kind of
changes everything and they're showing it too right, like they actually are doing it
as but you know, we heard MAVs fans before the series talking about that,
but now they actually are doing it. Do we think some of that
late especially was the legs of the Clippers because they look like that that possession
where Norm was it like Norm and Russ missed like they got the offensive rebound
and then they missed like two putbacks at the rim. I think it was
during that drought and it was just like they just it was like the epitome
of what tired guys playing basketball looks like, like not being able to hit
shots at the rim. Just kind of like yeah, I don't oh no,
I'm happy they have the two days off. I will tell you that
much. Because this is an old team we talked about which the week off
was gonna help him like this. Two days off is really gonna help him
too, because they looked gassed a little earlier in Game two than they did
in Game one. I thought. I thought it was most noticeable, probably
with James Harden and the lack of blowbys compared to how many he had in
Game one, where he was really going around Luka Doncic and looking for him
and making him defend. But he didn't have the same pops to get Luke
on his heels in Game two. Who also stepped up to the plate to
the challenge because the physicality that Jason Kidd was asking for it was born out
with their superstars too. They brought it. And when those guys are playing
that hard, everybody else is definitely gonna play hard defensively for the Dallas Mavericks.
So I worry about James Harden wearing down. But two days off and
we brought it up before, how much better he has looked. I think
Will's talked about it in situations where he's off for a couple of days.
Yeah, And I mean, how many minutes are he playing? He played
thirty nine in game one and then forty two yesterday. It's minutes. It's
like the most minutes he's played in the last like six or seven years or
something like that, just total minutes wise, not in the playoffs. No,
I just beent total like from like like regular season everything, just a
lot of way. Does that even me? What? What murder? Are
you guys? Good with Mason Plumbley continuing to play after look up and down?
What? Game one? I was very I was pleasantly plumbed. Game
two negatively plumbed. He did have one possession where he locked up Luca and
made him pick up his dribble and have to pass it. But outside of
that, it was not good, right, I was. His effort was
great, but it's not happening. That's he's not skilled enough in that area,
defensively or offensively. He dribbled the ball a couple of times to extra
two, which I was like, pass the ball, who what you've got?
He wasn't finishing, I mean to me, that was the biggest thing.
He just he wasn't finishing. He was one of four, and it
looks a lot different to me if he even not if he's even able to
to slam home one more of those. Oh was he over three? Yeah?
I think he was over three and he had I give him credit for
one, which in one extra field goal, which was just in my mind,
I think Tyson is going to get run. I think I think Tyson
is gonna get run in this series. Do you think it's Game three or
I think, yeah, I see. I think maybe Tye waits to see
what happens in Game three because we did. I think it depends on I
think it depends on how early does your game plan with do get rocked,
Because if it's another situation where if it's three minutes into the first quarter,
uh yeah, maybe it is Tyson time. Like maybe maybe you do,
maybe you do go small it, you know small. I still think of
Tye at the five as kind of going small's. Yeah, it makes total
sense. I'm just so irked, and I know how you meant it will.
But going back to what we talked earlier, your game plan getting rocked
and up ended. Okay, Zoo has two fouls. He's out in the
first quarter. That shouldn't change every other quarter. It's not like you can't
go right back to that when he's back in the ball game. They just
forgot, they forget about Zoo. That's so frustrating. To me, I
don't know, it's just I'm chogging it up to and I like, this
is what I was saying earlier. I'm chalking it up to like a concern
of like how the game was being called, because it's like it's so I
feel like, and it's not just this game. I'm not just complaining about
the reps, but like things are so wishy washing and like when stuff is
getting called and when it's not that I think sometimes your instinct is to be
like, oh, I mean because even Jason Kid talked about this, He's
within the first couple of minutes of a game, you realize that night how
the officiating is gonna go and it you know, the thing is is that
it doesn't stay that way for a full game. But I think I understand
it from Tie's perspective, seeing that early and being like, Okay, well
this just isn't worth the gamble, Like he picks up one more and that's,
you know, def coniro. I almost wonder if the extreme physicality we're
seeing is the referees almost retaliating against the NBA, who has told them one
thing before, which is we want more scoring, we want things called tighter.
And now all of a sudden flipping things around mid season of calling things
more loosely, and officials might be like, cool, man, we're just
not gonna call anything now. We're not gonna call that foul on a review
on Di'angelo Russell, even though he got hit in the head. We're not
gonna call the Kyrie Irving foul on his wrist at the end of that game
should have been a take foul from Luca when Luca just held his arm out
and stopped us. Another take foul that somehow, like Russ doesn't get take
fouls. They let so much go. It felt like a different brand of
basketball, like there was nothing. It was so foreign to me when I
was watching, and I don't know how it translated on TV, but I
had never seen a game that physical live before, and I've been to a
lot of games over the years, luckily. I mean, yeah, we
were in the press box. It was crazy. How can how did they
get Kawhi going? He's the Clippers' best player. We've said it multiple times.
They go as far as Kawhi can take them. Is it just more
of the same, Like, hey, hey, I'm not mad at that.
The Kawhi and Terrence pick and roll could be fun. I don't think
they didn't. I don't think did they run a pick and roll with Terrence
as the screener in game two. They did in Game one and it worked
really well, but I don't know if they did it it all in game
two. The pick and roll we saw late in the fourth quarter was James
Harden getting PJ. Washington off of Kawhi so he could get Luca onto Kawhi,
which did not work. Uh, Luca held up. I just he's
got to get his mini going. He I think he sees one mid range
shot go and it's gonna come quickly as long as he's somewhat close to it.
Doesn't have to be one hundred percent, but if he's feeling good enough.
In postgame he said he did feel good and he played thirty five minutes.
So some of this was the double edged door, though, because I
think the paint penetration was poorer in this one, which is why the offense
looked so bad. I would agree with that. Yeah, and just the
amount of threes missed. You go from Game one having unsustainably hot shooting to
hopefully having unsustainably poor shooting in game two. Are we gonna get something in
the middle now? But this walkie stuff does happen sometimes in the playoffs,
especially with Dallas. We've seen it just shooting outlier nights. But you got
expected. They shot their worst field goal percentage of the season the Clippers in
that game, thirty. So that was to have had one of their worst
quarters in franchise history, like not just playoffs history. Eight points in game
one, Yeah, second quarter. The two threes that the Clippers made in
the first half of that game were the fewest all season except for the very
last game against the Rockets in the regular season, which was two. So
that when nobody played Yeah, right. I think the physicality, though,
took them out of it a little bit. It was so physical it takes
something out of your legs. Yeah, Dallas was struggling the same way from
three until the fourth quarter. They got a few to go. Luca had
too, PJ. Washington had to, Kyrie had one, Kliba had one,
and that was the difference six or nine from three and the fourth.
PJ. Washington getting more confidence in getting hot does not excite me. He's
their third best. Yeah, don't expect to slow, don't expect a slow
Dallas shooting night on Friday. Yeah, yeah, that's a great call.
And the if we thought the Dallas start was crazy in game two, coming
back after taking the momentum and getting home court, YadA, YadA, YadA,
that place is this is. I mean, I was saying that I
feel pretty good about this, but Friday is kind of yeah one, it
is kind of a must win. Adam's dragging all of us into the situation
room. He's JFK, yeah this, So I do think to the norm
point, maybe the sixth Man of the Year snub gets them fired up,
but you get fourth fifth that came out today. He was upset before the
award became official, just find out. But now it's official, Adam,
It's like what You're like, maybe I fail that test, I don't know,
and then you get the test back and you got a fifty four and
you're like, oh, now I'm really upset. Maybe it's that kind of
thing. I upset. George getting upset, I do. I'm gonna say
this, he should have been top three over Bobby Portis. I'm fine with
Monk. I'm definitely fine with Nasriyo Games though he was at the end of
the season he bussed with the last month, or doesn't not or does it
not matter for six man, I can't remember because some some awards it doesn't
matter for well and like a game played has to be twenty minutes, like
uh, Donnie Pizza for the Knicks. He played in eighty games or something
like that, but because he didn't play over twenty minutes, it counted as
like fifty. He got seventy two games in Milake Monk, so okay,
he was good. But Bobby portis on a team that has been wildly up
and down and below five hundred with Doc Rivers, and I like my I
pored us a lot, but Norman had a better year than him. However,
all that has to be pushed aside. He cannot be worried about that.
And at the very end of what I saw in the column from oh
or at least the excerpt, Norman pal said, you know, the real
goal is winning a championship. The headline you mean, the head from the
headline that you read. Yeah, from article to down an excerpt. I
read a headline on the abbreviated headline on Twitter. It cuts off after seventy
five characters. No, I just read a headline earlier it said CND season
two, episode seventy one, and it just stopped right. Hey, I
know that now. And the thing with Norman's interesting too. He's taken sixteen
shots over these two games, so his shot at time is going to go
down for the regular season obviously, which makes the efficiency that much more important.
Like, that's what we all loved. MAVs had doing a good job
though of you know, keeping somebody on him. He's not he's not getting
the same looks. And when we don't, when we see the offense stagnate,
like we saw like they were really slow. They waited a lot of
time and on the shot clock, a lot of guys parked out on the
perimeter, not a lot of movements. You can't get Norm open, you
know, it's not it's not as easy as like, just get the ball
to Norm if everybody's just fucking standing. Yeah, it doesn't work that way.
That's when we saw Norm have success. It was off emotion running around.
Yeah, in game one, there was a concerted effort to stop Norman
Powell. That had to be high on their game plan assignment. And I
did not expect that to happen, and it continued in game two. They
must have seen him as an X factor coming into this series. They're right,
Jason Kidd got that right, turned the hat forward. He figured it
out. I don't know who's our not letting that die. By the way,
the maps are lucky. I do not cover with the team because I
would All I would do would be talk shit about how Jason Kid presents himself.
What who's our player of the game. Meanwhile, we're fashionistas over here,
hey off sweatshirt, Rocky style coming back and forth. We're well dressed
at the games. We're not wearing backwards hat and jerk off pants and clear
sunglasses like this is working, Adam, come on, so all right,
any other major keys we can think of before we pick our possibly cursed picks
for X Factor? Kawhi Leonard player of the game and I have last time
because you guys gave out yours. Who did Adam have was off too?
I think it was PJ. Tucker. Damn. Actually, I'll take that,
dude, zero for zero could live with that. Was it a mirror?
It might have been a mirror. I wrote these down A plus,
you picked him here up in ten minutes. All right, so you're going
with big Zoo will Yeah Ship we need it. We do need it.
I am gonna I'm gonna go in front of Adam and I'm gonna go with
a guy who will pick last time. That is even more of an X
factor because they're gaming them out. Norm Powell, Let's get that twenty ball,
Bud. Let's let's use that rage from officially not being named six Men
of the Year run around. Yes, the MAVs defense has been great on
Norm. I'm not pretending like he's just like shooting the bet out of nowhere.
But if Norm is, if Norm gets twenty points, I mean the
offense probably looks pretty good too. It means the offense is flowing and the
ball was moving just SI. I know, who do you guys think is
gonna be the first Clipper to pass the thirty ball mark? That hurts my
heart that I hate the con zero We're not We're doing the fun check after
this this segment, first Clipper to pass the thirty ball mark, Kahy,
I'm going PG love that. I think it's I think the rust is what
is making me pick PG over Khi because I'll tell you what A thirty ball
from PG on Friday would I would love that somebody is going to have to
get one. As Will said, Dallas is gonna shoot much better. Remember
how we came into this series talking about how well, who's going to get
the most ups, Who's going to score the most points? Is how game
two win? Who's going to get to ninety first? Is how game two
win? Geez? All right, So, Adam, who is your pick
for Kawhi Leonard Honorary X Factor Player of the Game, difference maker, Clippers
number ones for one Championship playoff? Calling my shot? Boys, I'm going
off the beaten path. Daniel Tice speak plumb. Really, both of those
are Wow, you're really going Daniel Tye? What does the Daniel Tye X
factor game even look like? And I mean that respectfully, Like tell us,
it's not a big it's not a traditional box score number that you're worried
about. But I'm looking at him going plus eight out there in his minutes.
That's what I'm saying. He's impactful in the little ways that you need
to win. Who do you see around him? What's the best what's the
best five man? Daniel Tys Pwell Rangers. I'm gonna say it's Daniel Tice
next to Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Terrence Man and a mere coffee.
Love it? Okay, I'm into that. I mean mark it down?
Where can I? Where can what? Bookie's gonna give me a line on
the plus minus for for Daniel tys for Bookie week. If they go plus
eight, do we call it the teen Tysons? Yes? We someone write
that down. I'll write that down right now. I sign up. Plus
eight equals team tis all right? Coming up after this quick break, we're
doing an Updike fund check, which has gotten less fun. I think as
we've done this episode, we're doing the Updike fun check. If the AD's
been allowed for you, go ahead and turn it down. We got ads
coming up, and then the Updyke fun check in three two one. Hey,
it's episode seventy one. Clips is in here in season two. Just
read that a little bit earlier. I'm Adam Alison. We got Chuck Buckler
and Will Updyke. If you missed it earlier, we talked about some of
the good the bad. We had some low lights, some highlights in the
high five for you. But now, hm, let's see how far I
have taken will Updyke into the muck and the mire. After he started off
all positive, sunshine, rainbows, lollipop sheen or corns, all that stuff,
very optimistic and saying when at the beginning of this podcast till I went
super dark and negative like a mork into the never ending story. Uh,
well, I don't know how to do this. I just asked him,
what's the fun level at? Yeah, what's the updeck? Fun check?
Fun levels? Deaste, it's Deese right now. It's like I'm at a
Uh, I'm at a convention. It's a work convention. Uh. On
the plus side, I've used my two drink decads, but the bartender said,
no problem, I got you. Downside, my boss is still there.
Uh, he's he's he's just he's he's approaching me right now via conversation.
Maybe it opens with hey, didn't you I thought we only got two
drink tickets. But I think he's leaving. I think he's on his way
out, and it's about to be a lot of fun. It's about to
get weird. Uh. So I'm I'm Deese right now. I'm you know,
I'm cautiously a little more than cautiously, more a little more optimistic than
cautious. But I'm having fun. I mean, this has been kind of
what we expected of a series so far, right, maybe not the way
that it's necessarily gone down, but you know, we thought this would be
kind of a tight back and forth thing. I think the Clippers defensively have
have have really impressed me. Neither team has really had that breakout sort of
offensive game yet, so there there might be one for either team that where
one team sort of gets run out of the gym. But uh yeah,
you know, it's it's dec it's it's decently fun. There's still sort of
a you know, some yeah, some looming un party vibes, but uh
yeah, how are you guys doing? How much fun are you having?
Well? I want to take this real quick out, if you don't mind,
because I think we know how you're doing. I don't get drink tickets
anymore, so you go ahead, Adams. Adam's throwing, He says,
you want these drink tickets? Just throwing them in the garment. I'm feeling
Damn. I gotta think of an environment I'm in right now. I'm feel
I like the line you had of more optimistic than cautious. I think I'm
at that same point. I'm a little cautious about what russ usages looks like.
When things start going poorly for the Clippers, if Tyler just decides to
go back to that, I feel a little less optimistic. No disrespect to
Russ on the whole. He was great in the second half for some energy
plays, but there's also some stuff, as we saw with the defensive lapses
off ball, that you don't really like to see. So I think how
I feel is like we're on a hike and it's with someone you know.
It's like with a group of people, some people I don't really know,
better than the opposite. I guess I'm on a hike with a group of
people I don't know, and one guy has a real He's like, hey,
how's it going, Like it's a pretty light hiker, gonna be good.
But he has a huge like climbing rope with him, and it's like
whoa, Like, what kind of hike is this? And he's like,
Oh, there's just gonna be There's gonna be some light bouldering, and I'm
like, okay, Well, like I I think I'm okay with that,
but some of the people here don't seem super prepared for that, and that's
kind of how I feel. There's some uneasiness in the group, but overall,
I think it's it's gonna be a good time. At the end of
the hike, we all die, is how the story ends. No friends
we made along the way, though. Yeah, so that's how I feel.
A hike, A hike you think is gonna be chill, but a
little more intense than maybe you wanted, but you're still equipped for it.
Could be fun and couldn't could turn into you know, the Donner Party.
Yeah, maybe I gotta cut my arm off with a pen life or something.
Maybe I'll piggyback on that and say I was on the hike and it
was pretty cool for the most part, but sleeping while I had trouble that
night because I forgot like my two inch padded ok I don't know, keep
my back in line, like the foam padding. It makes all the difference
in the world. So it could have been better. I could have had
a more RESTful night of sleep. But it's not the worst thing in the
world. Just a little bit of tossing and turning for my six and a
half hours. That's that's where I'm at right now. Also concerned about the
Russ minutes a little bit here because I didn't show another low light, which
was him gambling on Luka Dancic going for a steal to where then Luca just
blew by him, collapsed the Clippers defense and kicked it out to PJ.
Washington for a three pointer. So as good, it's it's the roller coasters.
It is what it is. It's always like that with Russ. But
I just want to see the Clippers. They got to get their offense unglued
in a hurry in game one because as we talked about that environment or excuse
me, in game three, like they had in Game one, I guess
from the outside. But in Game three in Dallas, in that environment,
we've seen it before. They were down thirty to eleven to start that game
three, down nineteen before they came back and turn the entire series around down
two games to none. But I do not want to see that again.
I don't want to rely on them being able to come back down nineteen in
a first quarter. I want to see them start fast and get into more
of a real flow and rhythm and play with purpose and intentionality out there because
I didn't know what was going to happen from possession to possession offensively at all
with this Clippers team. And came two. Yeah, no rhythm, bad
process, bad process. You want to see good process, do it fel
okay am I crazy though it? I think Will was right. There must
have been something said to go for more steals. They were going for so
many more steals in game two, I thought than in game one. Yeah,
they gambled far too much. Uh god, how many lazing there were
guys like on a freaking slipping slid. It was like the ice dig you
fell. The ball was pinballing all over the place. They had possession,
they lost possession. It was so wild. It felt like a rugby scrum
or something out there at times in that bat, especially like especially when you're
not trailing big, you know, like it makes a little bit more sense
maybe at the end, but like, dude, defend through the shot clock,
like make them take the time off the clock, like make them work,
and then you know, like finish out the defensive possession. You don't
gotta rip this thing away, you know in a couple of seconds. That's
not that's not really any better. Yeah, it felt like they were trying
to make and taking an end. Obviously, It's like they were looking for
a highlight defensive play that was gonna scom six points. You know, that
was gonna flip the game that fast back in their's got to get that highlight
reel ready for the Philly for the Philly hypop video wants them to leave their
batteries at home. Keep the batteries out of the socks, folks. All
right, I think up, Oh, Adam, have you has the bomber
bobblehead been sent off to our lucky winner? Yeah? I text you that.
Oh did you? Yeah? He wants he wants to make sure that
I think you said, hell, yeah, well it has been. I
got it out the very next day. This time, we're always on,
You're always on. I think every single thing has been delivered or sent out
the next day. Yeah, quotas everything has been delivered. And you know
what, that's more than some small businesses can say. That's very Do you
have a wait, do you have a grievance right now? With small business?
You need the air on the pod? No, No, I'm not
gonna do that. I love I love small businesses, just sometimes they know
other shit together. That's fair. We're gonna have a post game live on
Friday and on Sunday for y'all. It's someone's birthday celebration this weekend, so
we will be taking Saturday off. I will not be in town, unfortunately.
I feel terrible about it. Will Where can these people watch more of
us, listen to more of us, or maybe even let us know what
they think about us for this podcast? Yeah, if you want to let
us know what you think about us, you can do that over on Apple
Podcasts or Spotify. Leave a little rating or review over there. You can
listen to us on either one of those platforms. Also, you know,
wherever you get your podcast, be it Amazon Music, Stitcher, Deezer,
I don't, I don't really care, but you can listen to us there.
But if you want to let us know how we're doing on an episode
to episode maybe even minute per minute basis, you can do that over on
YouTube dot com Slash at Clippers podcast. It's the best way to enjoy this
show. We have fun over here. You know, we have a good
time. So yeah, but however you however you watch listen. Thank you
so much for checking us out. We appreciate you, we absolutely do,
and Adam to pull you out of the depths before we head out. We
do this every episode for the most part, give us one quick positive thing
the Clippers fands to hold on to for these next two days. Maybe I
was getting a little bit too greedy and a little bit too demanding, because
if you came into the series and said they were going to get the split
It home and Kawhi was only going to play in one game, I would
have said great. I probably would have thought the game they won was the
one with Kawhi Leonard. But it's understandable that he was going to be rusty
out there. But there's nothing more important than just having Kawhi Leonard back.
It's not just about this series. It's about having a chance to still win
a championship. And he said he started feeling good the last couple of days
right beforehand, so I'm hoping that means he broke through and the inflammation has
subsided. Cheap checking the updates, but I expect Kawhi Leonard to get into
a group pretty quickly here. Honestly, I don't think it's going to take
him long to find his flow again, because they were definitely flashes, especially
in that second half with some of those energy, crazy, playoff Kawhi like
type of plays. He had four steals in the ball like he was really
good on the defensive end. He gets a couple of jumpers to go,
It's not gonna take long here, so they need him especially in Game three.
Please be okay, Well, we'll have the updates on the injury report
for you. If anything crazy happens on the injury report, we'll make sure
to go live for it. But thank you for hanging out. Hope everyone
has a great two days before the next Clippers game, and as always,
let's go Clips.