Hey, what's going on, Clippers fans? It is the updyke one third
today, only one half of the hosting trio today duo over at Clips and
Dip. Our friend Charles cannot make it, but I'm here with Adam Oslin.
We're gonna be talking about James Harden's debut, but we liked what we
didn't like from that first game against the Knicks, which did result in an
ugly road loss. We'll also talk about Mason Plumley and what his loss could
mean, and finally, we will preview the upcoming game against the Nets in
the Clippers New York double header. Adam, how's it going? How you
doing today? Man? I'm goodwill long time. I'm kidding. We talked
last night on Clips and Double Dip on Clippers talk as well, but more
to dig into and get more in depth on from the first game with James
Harden. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So let's start right there if you
somehow missed it. The Clippers dropped a road game to the Knicks ninety seven
to one eleven in that one. Let's start out with some things that we
did like from this one. I know this was a loss that it seems
like correct me if I'm wrong here. The fan base took pretty hard.
Yeah, there wasn't much overreaction on Clippers Talk, but on Twitter on x
it got borderline toxic with somewhat of an overreaction and maybe confirmation bias for some
of the people who just didn't want James Harden to begin with, so therefore
they lose a ball game. See, I was right, I told you,
And let's have some perspective. They started zero to five with Russell Westbrook
last season, but overall, I think it's worked five hundred team with Russell
Westbrook. Yeah, well, records are pretty devoid of context and not having
a I've heard I heard that sports cliche, and it is called a cliche
for a reason. I think there's more to it than that. For instance,
the teams they start off against not having a Beata Zoo boss with Russell
Westbrook and having some really close losses where I don't think it was Russell Westbrook's
game. We're on Denver, We're somehow on RUSS. I brought up the
I brought up some of the negative opinions here in Clipper Nation. Let's bring
it back to what we liked in this game. Clippers vers next, Sure,
I take me down that road. Receipts Adam is coming. I know
you are, I know you are, and down the thunder focus. Okay,
so record be damned. The Clippers, yes, are oh and one
with James Harden. I think there's more to it than that, because James
Harden actually played pretty darn well last night in his thirty one minutes. It
was interesting to see that, you know he was gonna be on a minute
restriction. It sounded like they were talking about postgame, James Harden mentioned this
whether he was gonna play twenty eight or thirty four. They somewhat landed in
the middle, of course, because the game got out of hand in that
fourth quarter. He wasn't asked to play longer, which according to James Harden
postgame, he likely would have. But I thought, for the most part,
is out of sink. As they looked offensively for a guy who hadn't
played since last May in a professional basketball game, he looked alright. The
rhythm and timing, six assists, just two turnovers, Harden ball, the
system, whatever you want to call it, was working, and he didn't
take a shot in that first quarter, and I thought easing his way in
trying to get others involved, a couple of nice passes to a beat to
Zubots. He wasn't trying to do too much or play outside of himself and
say hey, I'm here. He waited till the second quarter and then had
nine quick points and got to his spots, and there was good quickness there.
I thought, hearing from him game criticized his own game and a couple
of defensive possessions where he didn't close out well on shooters. He called himself
out for that. That was good to see because I thought he had some
really good possessions on the defensive end. If you guys read Lom Murray of
The Athletic earlier today, he did point out and highlight all the different facets
of James Harden in game one, what he did offensively on off ball,
defensively, had some nice video breakdowns, and there was some good defense played.
On that first possession he did up Jalen Brunson and forced him into a
tough step back jumper when it looked like he was lost at first, and
then recovered defensively. So I think there were some positives and maybe we were
overly optimistic. I think we all thought, Okay, they're gonna win this
game against the Knicks. I know, you and I specifically warned that,
hey, this is a tough team and their style of play, the way
they muck up and muddy up the game because they're so good defensively and on
the glass, that could be a tough one to find a rhythm against with
James Harden in the first outing was it turned out to be that way,
but again it was tied going into the fourth quarter. So Will how'd you
feel about it? You know, I felt good. I feel like,
you know, we all kind of penciled in a win when we did our
game prediction on this, and I do feel like that was a little premature.
I feel like we were maybe playing to the next record a little bit
more than what we know this team is under Jalen Brunson and Tom Thibodeau as
we've seen it. You know, we did talk about how it could be
a tough matchup. Some of those front court sized difficulties reared their head a
little bit more than I thought they were going to, and I, you
know, I thought defensively, we really struggled to get stops in this one,
which you know, which is the classic Clippers thing of like slow offense
to start not getting stops, it's not really good. And then when you
compound that with twenty two turnovers, there's just not really a way that you're
going to be able to pull out a road win in most NBA arenas that
I can think of. However, I didn't think that. I mean,
obviously, Harden only had two turnovers, so he was responsible for less than
ten percent of them, and I didn't think that his introduction into the lineup
really had much to do at all with that sort of disorganized or disaffected sort
of approach from the Clippers. I don't know if it was their first it's
because it was the first East Coast road trip. I don't really know what
contributed to that. Maybe there was just residual excitement or fallout of the team
changing in terms of how many guys are now out of the rotation, not
even counting the injuries to Plumbley, who I think maybe this game looks a
little bit different if we would have had him in that second half. Obviously
not having Terrence Man, I'm glad that you brought up James Harden on the
defensive end because I feel like that's gotten to be one of those really sort
of cliched talking points about how he can't play defense, he can't do this,
he can't do that. We know him to be very good at deflections,
having active hands. He can be used as a post defender pretty effectively.
He is very stout. He can use that size and stability. I
think it's just gonna be a matter of tailoring to his strong suits in order
to make that unit as good as it can be defensively, which we haven't
talked about this in a minute, but since the addition of James Harden,
you expected the Clippers to finish top five defensively. Is that still attainable and
if so, what do you think is the path towards that. Well,
first we're gonna have to see what happens with Mason plumb Lee. We're hoping
for the best. I think best case scenario, judging by this type of
injury is what he's only out three weeks. That would be good news.
I would sign up for that today, oh, any day. It looked
a little bit more serious than that, is why you can't see us on
the video. But I'm grimacing. I'm big time grimacing. It looked a
little bit more serious than the three week injury. Yeah, as I'm saying,
best case scenario is just a sprain or a low level sprain. But
if he's out for an extended period of time, it's gonna be difficult for
this team because we saw them start off last season without a true backup big
and we talked about last night. One of the areas that would really help
boost their defense and help them, help get them into being a top five
defense is a Visa Zubats. The way he started off last season, they
were a top five defense despite not being very good on the perimeter. He
was just making up for everybody else's mistakes out there. He may have a
big opportunity coming up for extended minutes, and he played thirty plus last night,
but I didn't think he had a good ballgame. I think he finished
eight and seven, but five turnovers for Vita Zubats he led them in that
department and twenty two turnovers leading a thirty five points for the New York Knicks.
That's almost impossible to overcome. And the difficult thing with that too,
is it's not like the Knicks were perfect with the ball. They had nineteen
turnovers of their own. We just, you know, we didn't capitalize in
the same way at the same level that they were able to. No.
Thirty five points off twenty two turnovers is elite. I mean, you typically
want to point per turnover, and that's pretty good. Thirty five on twenty
two is unreal, and it speaks to the Clippers not being good enough in
transition. I think at least thirteen of those were live ball turnovers, so
not just the ball going out of bounds and then you can set your defense.
But the knicks were coming the other way very quickly, and the Clippers
I think it was also wrong place, wrong time. Julius Randall was due.
He was shooting just twenty seven percent coming into the ballgame, and he
scores twenty seven points against the Clippers. RJ. Barrett was very good.
We didn't know if he was gonna play. He had twenty six points out
there. But in going back to the defense and can they still be a
top five defense with James Harden, I think it's gonna make things more difficult,
But I like the effort I saw last night to where it's still not
impossible, it's still attainable, but guys got to lock in, and I
think the formula so the recipe for them to be a top five defense now
is, oh, there's less on the plate of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard
and on podcast p Paul George talked about it recently, just yesterday and the
new episode, saying, I can show off other parts of my game,
I can expend energy elsewhere because there's less asked of me offensively. They're their
two best defenders, Kawhi and Paul George. Still, I think that gets
lost sometimes because you look at how good they are offensively and how well they
had been playing coming into that game last night, and just how much is
asked there. Well, now, I think when you're missing three forwards that
were in the rotation the last couple of seasons, those are your two guys
that have to take up the defensive responsibility there lost from batom Roco and Marcus
Morris. Yeah. No, absolutely, and they're better than those guys defensively.
It just depends on how much they're able to focus in on that end.
Yeah, more versatile, more athletic. So the big thing that I
liked from this game is I do feel we got glimpses, even though we
didn't get a win, of how much easier Harden can make things for some
of the other guys. And I thought one person who really benefited in this
game was Norman Powell, who had quietly had a fourteen point game where he
was incredibly efficient seventy one percent from the floor, sixty seven percent from three,
and that is like the over like, that's like the overall thing that
I think that I'm most excited for offensively with hardiness just is not just like
what he can do. He is an incredible three level scorer, which we
still saw on displaying this game, but just how he can open things up
for everyone else. Yeah, Norm going five to seven and four of his
five makes being three pointers. That was good to see. I think Norm
just needs to be a quicker decision maker out there. Either put it up,
be a catch and shoot three pointer, because they're not asking you to
create, they're asking you to get the ball and go put up a three,
or attack the basket. Just be an analytics guy, you know,
because when he's going right, he's really tough to stop. He's a great
finisher that way, and he's obviously a very good three point shooter and can
be elite on that end. I just want to see him be better defensively.
I think we've seen it at times. There were some possessions where he
definitely got lost yesterday, and some of that could just be new rotations in
there, guys playing next to one another. There was that stint in the
second quarter I think where James Harden was out there and none of the other
Big four were. It was James Harden and the backups, And in listening
to the postgame conversations going on, it may have been because James Harden on
Friday got to scrimmage with the backups and Coach lou thought, okay, there's
some continuity there. He was working very well with Mason Plumbley. I still
find it a little bit curious so far this season through six games that we've
yet to see Kawhi Leonard and Paul George staggered to the point where one of
them is always on the floor, and even just seeing James Harden alone out
there was a little bit surprising. I would have thought at least two of
the Big four now you can have on the floor at all times. But
Coach low took some of the blame postgame not putting guys in a position to
succeed. But he's I know people are going after him and saying, oh,
a new ten game sample size, more tinkering from tie. Well,
some of that's just baked in. You bring in James Harden, of course
that's going to happen. It kind of shifts everything around when it comes to
rotations and lineups. So I don't think they have a ton of time to
experiment too much. I think we've talked about this going back to last season.
You've got to have a sense of urgency. And I know James Harden's
there and there are things to figure out, but you still have to win
ball games along the way. And I was encouraged by the fact that they
were tied heading into the fourth. As bad as they had played, they
were tied heading into the fourth, as bad as they were in the first
quarter, they still won it because they're just so talented. I just want
to see that turn into wins along the way, so you can get victories
while also learning and developing and progressing as a team. Now with a big
four, yeah yeah, And I mean that brings us into things that we
didn't like at that fourth quarter. I can't even remember. It was two
minutes into the quarter, I think before they got their first bucket. Another
I think it was like the seven. It was like five minutes into the
second or the fourth quarter when they got their second bucket. They were not
able to get things going offensively despite the heart In addition, and I guess
I got to disagree with you a little bit about the figuring out and sample
sized thing. I do agree that they need to have urgency. I think
that it is concerning that this team that what is the number one thing that
we've been talking about, I mean every year since they made a Western Conference
final, is what is this team's identity? What are they? Who are
they? What are they going to be? Where are they going? And
I feel like once again and we're reaching that point, like we kind of
had a clue as to what it was going to be coming into the season.
You know, this is going to be a team that works a lot
harder. This is gonna be a team that's trying to go out and dominate
teams on a nightly basis, and hopefully be a team that doesn't even have
to play starters heavy minutes in the fourth quarter. And I'm not saying that
that still can't be the situation or that still can't be what they're aiming to
achieve, but it does bring some It does beg some questions about what this
team is gonna be, which I think brings me to one of my larger
dislikes, which is I don't really see I feel like I come down pretty
hard on Westbrook sometimes in this podcast that I know that I am interpreted as
a hater, and that is fine, but I'm not really seeing I'm just
not really seeing the vision of having both Harden and Westbrook in the starting lineup.
I could see it situationally, perhaps in a close lineup, I just
don't really get. I don't think that that is optimizing either guy and getting
the best out of your two best players and George and Kawhi. I don't
see it. And that's something that I dislike. And if that's something that
we're gonna stick with for multiple games when we're right now a five hundred ball
club and have a lot of things to figure out, I think that that's
putting yourself behind the eight ball in a way that in terms of seating it
might be too late, it might it just might be too late. With
how our schedule is structured, it might be too late. I don't disagree
with that. I mean we talked about it when they brought in James.
What's the starting lineup going to be? And can they really play him with
Russell Westbrook? I see it as somewhat problematic. There's gonna be nights where
it doesn't matter. They're so good offensively they can run teams off the floor.
But I don't know if that's a long term solution where you can start
those guys and always get off to your start. When you talk about optimizing
lineups, well, is James Harden playing off the ball? The best version
of James Harden? Is that? Why you bring someone in like that?
That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I know things are out
of Russ. He needs to be on the ball, but if he's gonna
be out there next to James Harden, I would rather get James Harden going
and run the offense through him than Russell Westbrook. I just think he's a
better passer, he's a better shooter, he's a better decision maker. Overall.
That's not a slight to Russ. But we're talking about I think one
of the great playmakers of all time in James Harden, especially in the picking
assist leader, the raining assist leader. Yeah, and you're on a dirt
team, like, not on a bad team, a team that was very
much a team that was I mean a blown lead over an Eastern Conference final.
Yeah. I think he had the second highest usage percentage last season,
maybe to Luka Doncic, but James Harden. For him to be most effective
is to have the ball in his hands. Now, does there need to
be some balancing act because now he's playing next to Kawhi and Paula George,
just like when he was playing next to Kyrie and KD. Of course it's
not going to be the same as it was for him in Houston or even
in Philly last year, but I've seen him thrive in that environment next to
two other stars and get them to their spots. They were unbelievable. They
went thirteen to three in those sixteen games where he was next to KD and
Kyrie. So if you're wondering how long it should take for them to get
up to speed in Brooklyn, it was pretty instant. Instant chemistry. They
messed right away and this is a better fit in my opinion. Yes,
they're all older, they're not at the same athletic peak that they were at
the start of that Brooklyn run. This is a better fit around Harden than
having another guard Durant. I mean, you know, Durant obviously great fit,
great fit on any NBA team, But I think these two eyes are
a better three overall than the Nets three in terms of fit well. And
the other thing it does off the tip in games, if you want that
backcourt with James and Russ, is it automatically moves up Paul George and Kawhi
Leonards then play in the four. And against a team like the Knicks,
there are teams that are really going to punish the Clippers when they're playing smaller
like that. I don't know starting lineup, is that what I'm hearing.
We did wonder if he could start just the game against the Knicks at least
as they're still figuring things out, but he ended up playing I think eleven
minutes. I just don't know if it's sustainable long term, If this is
really a long term solution with James and Russ out there on the court,
and that starting lineup got outscored by thirteen points and I think nineteen minutes last
night. And I know it's just one game, but I think it's fundamentally
possibly flawed by how many games can you give it? How many games can
you get out scored by thirteen points in nineteen minutes and expected to keep going,
especially, you know whatever. I know that we harp on it a
lot, but like Clipper, scheduling is very much hell, it's a very
real thing. It's a very real part of this franchise. And you know,
this early slate of games, it's kind of the best looking stretch of
the schedule. And to only be five hundred ain't great. Look, I
said, I think they needed to be nine to four at worse than their
first thirteen games if they could end up starting the season off fifteen to five.
Now, I didn't know they were getting James now, and that changes
things, and maybe it's one step back to take two or three steps forward.
So some of those games weren't counting on them winning. Later in the
season, during the gauntlet of their schedule, they have a better chance of
winning because more high in talent. With James Harden, it could work out
like that. I didn't expect it all to come together at once, But
I do want to emphasize I agree with you to your point of there has
to be a sense of urgent see regardless of all these moves going on.
Because Denver seven and one, Dallas is six and one, Golden State six
and two, the Timberwolves just got a big victory over Denver. They're four
and two. There are a lot of good teams in this league that have
hit the ground running, including the Mavericks, who they're gonna see on Friday,
and by the way in between there we'll get into in the next segment,
but the Brooklyn Nets are more talented than the record, just like the
New York Knicks were. Absolutely. Absolutely, that's a great wow. What
are you a pro or something? That's a great transition. We're gonna go
we're gonna talk about that preview coming up against the Nets in just a minute.
First, we're gonna do a couple of ads. If they've been too
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two one, Welcome back into season two of Clips and Dip I'm Adam Oslin.
We've got Will Updyke as we're gonna do a little bit of a preview
of games to come this week. If you missed the last segment, we
talked about James and his opener and his debut with the Clippers. No chuck
in this one. He'll be returning those shortly. We'll have the triumphant tripod.
What is it time for the trio? The Trio. The Trio will
be back together. Don't worry about that in full effect. But the Clippers
have a foursome, a fearsome forsome if they can figure it all out,
and they need too soon, because I know it's early in the season,
but this is a team that I just feel like they got to figure it
out because they have too much talent. The one thing we talked about against
the Knicks going into it was we knew that they would junk up the game.
There would be moments that would be tough stretches for the Clippers, they
would turn the ball over, but you would just hope talent would overwhelm the
Knicks in the end, even if it wasn't a pretty victory, the Clippers
could figure it out all right, so they lose that one talent needs to
overcome the Brooklyn Nets, who, by the way, they're playing pretty darn
good basketball their last two losses. I know they're three and four, but
we're to the Bucks in a game they were in, and to the Boston
Celtics, the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, and in games where
Spencer did when he went one for four and Dorian Finney Smith went three for
twelve. They still just lost by four to Milwaukee. So they're in a
similar position I think where the Knicks were. They had just lost to the
Bucks, they had lost to the Boston Celtics, where they're desperate for a
victory at home and they want to show some of their potential to their fan
base. So it's not going to be an easy game tomorrow either. And
by the way, James Harden, a former Brooklyn Net, if he didn't
know, I don't know if he's gonna get boozed. I don't know if
he'll get a tribute video or what. But it's going to be a emotionally
charged ballgame. I think two out there, absolutely absolutely, And you look
at two things for the Nets. To me, that spelled trouble for the
Clippers. They're second, I believe in the league. In their second in
fast break points per game. I think they're averaging like twenty one points per
game. That spells trouble for the Clippers. They also score a high percentage
of their total points off the threes. So those hot those you know,
you get a team that gets that hot shooting start at home against a road
team coming off of a bad loss, maybe you know on their laurels a
little bit, that's a bad that that's a bad start. And then you
combine that with a team that's really able to capitalize on the fast breaks,
something the Clippers have struggled to defend are going to continue to struggle to defend
because I think the defensive, the defensive side of the ball, and the
James harden Fitt is going to be the larger issue I think overall, depending
on what they do matchup wise. But this is a this is not and
this is not an easy game. And you also have those who have You
also have Bekale Bridges and the Nets, a guy who has seen the Clippers
time and time again in playoff runs in big games, who's going to be
able to dissect this defense? A little bit. He is one of the
better, more underrated players in this league. That is kind of having a
James Harden like moment, Like when Harden left OKAC and had a big role,
all of a sudden with Houston, people realized how good he could be.
Same thing has been happening with Mikhale Bridges after leaving Phoenix. And he's
also a really good defender. So they have some guys on this team.
I believe Royce O'Neil is now in Brooklyn that they can throw at PG,
at Paul George, at James Harden. He's coming off a game Bridges where
he just had thirty one Cam Thomas just had was it forty four, forty
five against the Milwaukee Bucks And by the way, last season had a forty
seven point outing against the Clippers where he absolutely torched them. And if they
don't slow him down from the beginning, if they don't get back to and
we really haven't seen it yet in a true road game where the Clippers at
home have established themselves defensively in the first quarter so far this season, but
on the road that hasn't been there, that energy hasn't been there. They've
let teams get comfortable early and then it's just hard to stop them later in
the ball game. I know the Knicks I think only scored nineteen points and
shot twenty nine percent in that first quarter, but the Clippers weren't much better
from the field and both dirt dirt. I want to see the Clippers defense
lead to offense like we've seen at times. But it was against Portland,
it was against the San Antonio Spurs. I think the Magic are actually likely
a play playing team. That was a solid win for the Clippers. But
this Brooklyn team has a lot of firepower and Cam Thomas is scary, like
he just goes unconscious out there at times, like prime Gilbert Arenas or something
like that. I think he hit seven threes against the Clippers during that forty
seven point performance last year. Yeah, unreal, unreal, And yeah,
I don't know. This is another one that I'm I'm very apprehensive about.
There's really no learning curve or some long runway. There's no preseason training camp
here to ramp up and get James Harden assimilated quickly to this Clippers team.
You have to figure it out as the live bullets are flying out there.
And about it last night, too, how fast the game felt and how
tired he got after his first stint. There's just no way to replicate actual
in game, regular season basketball. There's no way to prepare for this other
than getting those reps out there. So it's a Clippers team that I felt
like they could get ambushed if they don't come out and start quickly against the
Brooklyn Nets. And you just don't want to get down big and be in
that uphill battle against a team that's a top ten offense. Granted they're about
a bottom five defense, but still it's going to be a good test for
this Clippers team that is still trying to figure a lot of things out.
I think that, I mean the Nets issues defending could be sort of a
godsend for this Clippers offense that's very much trying to figure out what it's going
to be. It gives you an opportunity. While they still do have some
great individual defenders, it does still give you an opportunity to try things out.
Hopefully we don't see twenty two turnovers in this one, given the Nets'
physicality and presence on defense. So this is this is a chance to end
game like at game speed, try and work through a few things that we
struggled with in that game against the Knicks, which, as I said the
last segment, to me, we're not really hard independent, but this is
your opportunity to sort of in a lower stakes defensive environment figure out what that
identity is going to be on that side of the floor. And I think
to that point, the reason there's trepidation after just one game and you don't
want to overreact too much. It's just a little bit of PTSD from last
season where all the top was wait till we get it together by December,
and it never came that stretch where the Clippers locked in and looked like a
dominant championship team in the regular season. Outside of those fourteen games with Terrence
Man starting that I think have been overblown a little bit. They never really
clicked in and looked like the team we thought they were going to be.
So we don't want to see him kick the can down the road and say
just wait, just wait. You want to at least see more glimpses of
dominance out there with James Harden, where you can just at Brooklyn Nets team,
the way they were playing offensively and even though it was sometimes your turn,
my turn. It worked with him, Kyrie and KD. We saw
it against the Clippers, and this is a your turn, mind turn kind
of team like like like it or not, And at times I think it's
incredibly frustrating, But it is also the same offense that minus James Harden was
you know, the best half court offense three years ago, which granted is
a long time. You know, it is a long time, but it's
also the last the last time that we had our two stars healthy for sustained
scratch. So I think that he can. It kind of works both ways
for me. For Harden, right like, he's very he's still a very
adept one on one score. He's still a guy that can you can give
the ball and get a bucket at a high level. I know, we
say that about a lot of guys, We say that about backup guys,
we say that about norm There are a few guys especially that there's few guys
in the league that can do it like Harden does and has and will continue
to do. And there's none that can do it at that level that the
Clipper. That was a realistic get for the Clippers. So I think both
ways in terms of him, you know, using his his his facilitating and
playmaking, and the Clippers utilizing more movement and more ways to get everybody involved.
I think, obviously that's great. That's the peak, that's the pinnacle,
that's what we're hoping for. But even in sort of this intermediary phase
where it can be kind of a more hey, let's just feed the ball
to James. Hey, let's just feed the ball to Kwi. Let's kind
of see what happens. Let's kind of see how we can make this work.
I think that you do have a guy who's very adept in that sort
of system, and three to I guess four players if you're including Russ,
who are willing to make that kind of a thing work, which hopefully,
you know, you can still put away ball games while playing that sort of
less coherent offense. Yeah. I don't normally say this, but I would
be okay with some bad process victories right now as they still figure it out
and eventually become a more well oiled machine out there. And I think part
of the PTSD and Clippers fans being apprehensive right now are a little bit unsure
after just one game. Of course, you don't want to overreact too much,
but the loss of Mason Plumbley, we don't know how long it's going
to be. That's going to be massive. It's going to be huge,
I am. We didn't talk about it last segment, but to end the
half, Bason Plumbley had just a great sequence on both ends of the floor.
He hit a tough bucket over Mitchell Robinson when the Clippers needed a bucket.
He then got a block which Russ was able to grab the ball off
the tip, ended up in a take foul, and then a couple of
possessions later make some Plumbley drew a charge and had the Clippers at what was
it, Adam, I believe it was a seven point lead at the half.
He really helped them pile it on a little bit there in those minutes
when when they needed it. Yeah, and before he went down in the
third, he had that nice dish to Kawhi Leonard for a big dunk,
I believe, And I wonder how much that played into just the Clippers looking
deflated in that fourth quarter seeing a big like that go down the way he
did a scary looking injury. Julius Randall is flying for the basketball and runs
into his knee and then having to carry him off. It's not easy to
get up after that and still to maintain that same level of energy you have,
especially when your team is the patron saying of freak injuries. Yeah,
it's it feels like Groundhog's Day again. I'm sure. So what are we
thinking if Mason Plumbley is out for a while. We don't expect him to
play this week at least. Uh. Musa Diabate got some run last night.
We mentioned PJ Tucker getting some run. I Vitcha Zubots is going to
have to be more consistent, something we talked about postgame last night. He
can't be the one leading them in turnovers when they're trying to give him touch
and give him looks. Uh. They they may have to sign somebody like
when when in Gabriel back with the Clippers who they had before in a ten
day contract. Just somebody to fill the void right now, because I don't
know how ready Mussa Diabate is or how much the coaching staff trusts him.
Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely, that's something to worry about. I
think that's a good note to close on. And we got to consider h
we got to consider Mason. Our hopes is that he is able to make
a speed of recovery. Hopefully things aren't as bad as it looked in the
video. As you know, it's so hard to tell with those with those
injuries, the amount of actual structural damage or anything. Things can sometimes look
a lot worse uh than they actually are, and sometimes things can look not
so bad and then they're Yeah, like Charles George, you thought that was
like, oh, he's gonna be out the next season when he got hurt.
Yeah, So you never know. You never want to speculate too much.
But like you said, we're hoping for recovery and we're hoping the Clippers
can somehow hold the fort down on the interior without him for a little bit
as they're likely going to be all right, final predictions before we get on
out of here. What are you thinking on this one, Adam? I
think what you brought up with the Brooklyn Nets defensively being twenty fifth on defense,
it gives the Clippers an opportunity to have a nice bounce back offensive performance
seeing a team like the Knicks going to the opposite spectrum against a team like
the Nets that focuses on offense and their defense is where they struggle. I
think this Clippers team, we're gonna see him clicking in some spurts and they're
gonna show flashes of brilliance on offense, and it will be a high scoring
game. Maybe it'll be in the one twenties. But the Clippers will figure
out a way to win this one. Yeah, I don't think it's I
once again don't think it's going to be an easy win. But this is
one for me that is imperative. You have to at least split this.
This like New York doubleheader. So I'm predicting a win. Like I said,
not easy, but that is going to do it. For today's episode,
thank you so much. It's just the two of us. We will
have Charles back. I think he's back on Saturday, so we'll get together
sometime after that. You will hear him on Clippers Talk tomorrow post game.
That's over at AM five seventy. Uh listen, you can listen to Adam
there for all your for all your posts, pre and postgame Clipper Clipper game
needs. He's doing the heavy lifting over there. But yeah, we're Clips
and Dip. You can check us out over on YouTube. That's at Clippers
Podcast. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify,
iTunes, I don't know, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Deezer. Anywhere you
listen to podcasts, you're gonna listen to the show. We're over on Twitter
or x or whatever the heck you want to call it. That's at Clippers
Pod. We'd love to chop it up with you anytime, Adam. Before
we get out of here, leave the fans with something positive. I know
we've gone over things in a granular level here in just one game with James
Harden, but it is, in fact just one game. And if there's
anybody that can make this thing mess, just like he did with Russell Westbrook,
in my opinion, it's coach Lou. He can figure this out.
And it sounds like the guys do want to buy in. I know it's
early. I know it could just be player talk, but I think there
is something to be being back in southern California and trying to do something special
for a city they grew up in. So I expect them to sacrifice,
which is gonna be the operative word all season long, and if they do
that, they have a great chance to get rolling here sooner than later.
All right, that'll do it for today's episode, and, as Charles always
says, let's go clips.