Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to season three,
episode twenty five of Clips and Dip the Election Special. No,
I'm just kidding. We're only gonna be talking about the
Clippers and some former Clippers. I am Chuck Mockler, joined
by Adam Oslin and William Updyke. We got the full
crew here for you tonight. Thank you for listening, Thank
you for watching. If you watching us on Clippers dot
com slash or YouTube dot com Slash at Clippers podcast,
We're gonna be talking what happened last night against the
Spurs some trends were noticing, and then this week of
ex Clippers returning with Paul George coming in on Wednesday night.
But before we get into that, it's a very easy
going day for all of us. Adam and will how
the heck are you doing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, it's to uh brave the lines at the
polls and uh yeah doing good. Ryan high still off
that win from last night. Got to talk with Adam
on the radio a little bit. It was a good time.
Speaker 1: It was a win. You're contractually obligated to be on
Clippers Talk. I'm happy that hasn't been avoided yet. Adam
how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm still happy about the victory in the
fashion that they got it last night. Uh, that just
felt like a classic Clippers win and to do that
into it Doom to get their first win was pretty special.
Speaker 1: I'd like it was it Tylo who called it getting
the gorilla off their back. They couldn't even call it
a monkey. They were like, this is too big right now.
Speaker 3: Apparently Steve Vaumer came into the locker room pregame and
was joking that maybe this building's cursed and I'll have
to I'll have to to break it down and build
another one, or something like that. It was all jokes,
that's what James Harden said.
Speaker 1: I mean they could have just played in the forum
for a bit while they remodel the into It Dome
to get the spirits out of there. I think that
would have worked out. Okay, that's a nice We have
to talk. And now that we're all three together, who'da thunk?
Twenty six point comeback led by elite three point shooting?
Will and I were on the live people were pretty excited,
shouting out in your coffee all that kind of stuff. Adam,
what was your favorite part of that win? If you
had to pick one thing.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of fact that everybody was killing Coach
Lou and saying you have to stagger James hard and
Norman Powell at all times. And what was the lineup
that won the game for him? Yeah, they went plus
nineteen and nine minutes. I've been talking about it since,
like game three, like they've been good and they had
one bad stint and the media the first question I
think he got that night was did you ever think
about putting James Harden or Norman Powell back in? And
it was a rough one for Coach Lou. That was
an unbelievable question after that lost to OKAC, So I
was very happy to see that he's stuck to his
guns and that's the line up that won it for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a really good TAILU game. I thought overall,
he rode the hot hands when he had to, you know,
stick with him. Will has anything changed? What was one
of your favorite things now that we're one day removed
from such the thrilling victory.
Speaker 2: I mean just the bench overall, but Coffee obviously and
in particular was absolutely incredible. There's no way we win
that game without him and that's kind of going to
be the formula if this team is going to beat
is going to continue to win games, Like, you're going
to have to have some outlier performances, I think in
addition to you know, getting getting consistent stuff out of
your stars, and we got less than consistent stuff at
James Harden, and like we were able to like turn
our fortunes in the in the second half, which I
think is kind of the opposite of what we've seen
thus far in the season, like a lot of strong
first halves and then sort of not great execution. So yeah,
it was great, but specifically the bench for me was
what really got it done.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the building of the lead and then kind of
trying to keep our legs formula did not work last night.
We got smuck. That first quarter was terrible, literally, probably
the worst first quarter they'll have. They're not gonna score four,
They're not gonna score less than fourteen in a quarter. Again,
I don't think knock on woodkeptical skeptical.
Speaker 3: This offense is uh out of struggles at times. I mean,
I don't know that's fair. They won't do that while
giving up forty Maybe on the other end, that's that's
my hope.
Speaker 1: That was the most surprising part. The offense. You're like, wow,
the offense isn't playing well. The defense looked a little
sloppy in that first quarter.
Speaker 3: I thought they were really bad defensively to start off
the game. Like finally, my worry was, uh, oh, the
offense has broke the defense, Like they're giving into the
fact that they can't score on the other end, and
now it's really affecting their defense. Because that's always been
a concern of mine that you know, it's easy to
start the season like that and have all these principles
and say we're gonna be the hardest playing team ever.
Then you start to get a little bit tired, shots
continuing not to fall. It just becomes a grind on
offense and it can get to your defense. And that's
what it looked like in the first.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that they were they were resilient. They did the
old Clippers thing right that the people missed, which was
fight back. As the kids say, will you mentioned kind
of Harden having a spotty night. This kind of goes
into the trends. I think we're noticing Harden is doing
all he can for this Clippers team.
Speaker 2: You wish it was a little more efficient, but yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, twenty one ten on thirty eight percent from the
floor in twenty nine percent from three.
Speaker 3: The word the season legs are coming, guys, I heard
we're casuals for not realizing the season legs just got
to kick in. They're coming a day now.
Speaker 1: Highest usage rate since twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen? Are we
how are we feeling about this? Just in general?
Speaker 2: What's the what's the minutes slowed? Like fourteen fifteen to.
Speaker 1: Nommm because the defense. We saw some flashes of really
good defense last night. That one sequence specifically that everyone
was losing.
Speaker 2: Oh, where he had where he had like six deflections possession,
like he was like a cat when they like start
batting at something.
Speaker 1: I still though, sorry the minutes per game thirty five
point one, which puts him at pretty low. I mean
it's not in the top one two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight ten seasons he's had.
Speaker 2: Okay, great, so still keeping the minutes low, usage high,
that's understandable. Tell me away, tell me away that his
usage can't be high when he's on the court without
Kawhi Leonard, like with with no Kawhi Leonard on this
team because I can't think of one. If you've got
a better idea, I'm I'm all ears all years.
Speaker 1: We just stick him in the corner.
Speaker 3: No, I had an idea from a guy last night
in the chat who said they should bench him and
he should be coming off the bench and that'll keep him.
Speaker 2: That was the only downside of the bench performances. We
were getting some questions too, like does this team look
a little bit better when it's on the bench.
Speaker 3: No, It's like, guys, it really doesn't you all realize
that as much as I'm praising that second unit with
Big Zoo, they're going up against the other team second unit,
not the other team starters. Hard's going up against the
other team starters. There's a little bit of a difference there.
Speaker 1: So how is it Do we just have to hope
that it kind of keeps going? I would say exactly
like it is. With the efficiency being a little spotty,
the assists being there, we're having to live with the
second most turnovers per game of his career so far,
Like this is kind of what it's gonna be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I expect the efficiency to pick up. I mean,
you know that's always been sort of a knock on James.
I just feel like every single year we hear, oh,
he's in the best shape of his life, and then
at some point in the season it's like, oh, I
was playing my way into shape. So I I you know,
I think it's a mixture of both things and well,
and like I'm just like, like, I'm not even trying
to like, I'm not even trying to bag on the guy,
because it's it's different when you're in your thirties, man,
Like you.
Speaker 1: Can't sit the thirties.
Speaker 2: You can't like you can't stay ready at the same
like at the same level of performance that you could
when you know when he was like contending for MVPs.
It's it's completely different. So I'm definitely not bagging on
him here. It's totally understandable, but it is also a
very real thing, like he is going to play his
way into shape a little bit more, and I do
think that when that happens, we will see an increase
in that efficiency.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's something to season legs kicking in
because even he mentioned it, But I don't know if
it's going to get significantly higher. Like, Okay, he went
three of six from three. I think last night. I
do think his three point shooting will go up and
he'll end up this season like around thirty five percent
from three. Yeah, So for that to happen, I guess
he's got to get on some peters here and there.
It's still only a seven game sample size. That will
also bring up his fuel goal percentage when he starts
knocking down more threes too. I just don't think it's
gonna be you know, crazy efficiency or some of the
stuff we saw last season during the thirty one game
stretch where he was playing great and everything was about
efficiency with him and Kawhi and Paul George. Because he's
got to do so much more right now without Kawhi
and Paul George. It's just too much to ask. And
even though I do think, I mean the leanness that
he came into this season with how trim he looked,
he's still thirty five, Like you could be in great shape,
but you're still older. Like it helps, but it can
only do so much, I think.
Speaker 1: And he's a party in thirty five, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2: He's oh yeah, I mean he's got some city mind.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got some sitting miles on well, and you
you look. You mentioned his three point shooting. He was
three or five last night the game for that, he
was two of nine, which is like absolute stinker. He
was two of twelve versus the Warriors. Every other game
he's been at thirty or percent or above. So it's
like the variance hopefully evens out. But I think those
two two twelve is nuts.
Speaker 2: Though. Was horrible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was that was bad. But we won that game.
And then another thing.
Speaker 2: So you're saying when he's worse, the team is better.
Speaker 1: Volume King, I've fallen into the trap. How much longer
do you think can Norm keep this up?
Speaker 2: The longest streak is this, it's the longest streak of
twenty plus point games in his career.
Speaker 1: Correct, yes, twenty five or twenty five points per game
on sixty four percent true shooting, which if you're not
familiar with that stat that is combining their field goals,
three point shots, and free throws into a single percentage.
It's very good. He's never averaged twenty points per game
in his career. The most these average was nineteen point six,
which is very close.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, he's so close. We talked about I
just feel like We talked about this all season last year,
Like Norman is a guy who can waltz into twenty points, Like,
it's not it's not that surprising. Just you know, his
usage and minutes are completely different, and like with down
Too All Stars, it's so much more necessitated. So I
think that it's possible for him. I mean, he's been
close enough before nineteen point five. I'm round enough on that.
Speaker 1: Baby, he's even better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's to me, he's had a twenty point average season,
so I do expect that to be Yeah, I expect
it to be at least that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: My only concern is, you know, I don't expect the
efficiency to be this high all season long. Or he's
at forty five percent from three right now, fifty one
percent from the floor, but it could be high. I
think over forty one percent from three is very possible
from him. He was at forty four percent coming off
the bench. It just for now being a starter going
up against starters. So I mean, I'm good with everything
Norm's up to right now. There are no issues at all.
I'm very happy for Norm and the production that he's
given this team, and he is backing up the addition
by subtraction talk that he had at media day.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, the starting rule is new, closing is nothing new.
Speaker 1: For this is true, hell is true.
Speaker 3: Yes, playing more defense also new.
Speaker 1: But had some good free safety work last night.
Speaker 3: He has. It feels like he's always had a bit
of a I don't know, standout defensive play in every game.
Like he may not be great all the time there's
down moments, but he makes a play here and there
that can really help you out and get you in transition.
Speaker 1: Timely plays dime dropper. How to tweet? He said, what's
funny is Norm is averaging twenty five points per game.
Almost none of it is off of him creating his
own shot. It's just like all like, it's just incredible efficient.
He's here to go.
Speaker 2: That's perfect too, right like with the increased defensive uh like,
roll like, that's great. Having him do less to get
to get to that twenty plus points, I think is
what more can you ask for?
Speaker 3: And that's why it's so efficient. If he had to
create for himself, you wouldn't get the efficiency lines that
you're getting right now. It's Norm curling to his right,
it's Norm on a catch and shoot. It's Norm crossing
the lane and putting up the little floater like a
lot of it, Yeah, is generated through offense or from
looks from others, and Norm just I don't know, playing
within within himself. I love seeing it. And Jack is
frozen as hell. He's he's back, He's back. But now
I can't hear Willll What the.
Speaker 2: Hell he's back? Everyone's back? Everything is fine?
Speaker 3: Oh flying here?
Speaker 1: How are you? I was just wondering. They mentioned, like
the pick and roll talk earlier in the season. Have
we seen Norm much of the pick and roll yet?
I don't not say an he needs to. I don't
mean it like that, but that was mentioned in the preseason.
Speaker 2: Again though, that's kind of the opposite of him not
having to do a lot to get his own shot.
Speaker 3: Right, his best pass seems to be the kickout or
wrap around once he gets to the basket and instead
of going up with it for a layup out to
a three point shooter or to a big and zoo like,
he's capable of that, but he's just still not a
great playmaker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it didn't need to be, because again, he's here
to score the bucket. He's in a heightened lou Williams
scoring wise role Lou again, wonderful pass from the pick
and roll.
Speaker 2: But another one of those things, though, like like you know,
like the Kai Jones thing, another one of those things that,
like the Clippers can mitigate some of these issues with motion,
and so if you can get if you can get
Norm downhill in situations where he has to create, obviously
that's going to be a lot better. But you know,
how sustainable is that over a two game season. You know,
it's probably better. It's probably better to stay the where
says constructed right now.
Speaker 3: Do what you do best. Please just do that. They
do it a lot.
Speaker 1: I felt the please on that. Speaking of doing things
that people do the best. I know Adam is going
to be excited to talk about this. The KPJ done
a mere Nico Zoo lineup that we talked about a
couple episodes ago, and we were talking about the most
played lineups. Second most minutes of any lineup has forty minutes.
The next highest is twenty two. It's a plus nine.
This is a plus nine with Nico shooting sub thirty
percent from the floor and KPJ shooting a ghastly thirty
four percent.
Speaker 3: And with them going minus ten in one game in
that stint against OKC in five minutes. If they don't
get shelled there, it's even better. It's been good. It's
won all three games that they have won. That lineup
has had a huge impact, and they won the damn
game last night plus nineteen and nine.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, that run was that the third They.
Speaker 3: Had a run at the end of the third quarter
where they went plus six in the last two minutes.
But they had a run to start the second quarter
that got him back into the game. It was a
sixteen to two run.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah. I think Norm was supposed to check
in during that run and Ty was like, I can't,
we can't do this. What do we think? Do we
just stay the course with this? I know, because the
bugaboo in this lineup that fans have talked about is
KPJ shooting. If he's going to have that high usage
out of you run up the usage stats from him, well,
what do you think?
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, I think last game I really liked
the way he was able to elevate people around him
and initiate offense, which is kind of like, you know,
if you were on the KPJ, if you were banging
the KPJA drum coming into this season. I feel like
there was a lot made of of his playmaking in
addition to just his like high volume on boss scoring,
which you know hasn't worked out so far. I guess
I think it would. I think it would improve Flee
from where it is, uh but getting getting into that
sort of a role where he's able to where he's
able to be a floor general, especially as they have
Chris Donn playing off Balmore and uh, yeah, I think
that that I think that that is the best way forward.
But this lineup is kind of an encapsulation of what
I thought made this roster really interesting this year. Despite
not having the same ceiling of talent, you have this
really interesting mix of like solid vets who you basically
you know what you're gonna get out of them, and
then some younger guys that are kind of wild cards,
but they're like established enough in their position if that
makes sense, Like you you know, you they have a role,
they have an identity, and I think like the combination
of those two things is really interesting. It's just like
kind of a blend that we haven't really had, right,
Like generally things are like so vet heavy through the
two one three era, which makes sense when you're a
championship contending team, you want guys that you know exactly
what you're going to get out of. But this was
a little bit of like spontaneity and a degree of
uncertainty while still not having like having to worry about
the floor falling all the way to funk out because
you still have these nets on the floor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you still got a Nico out there to help
on the defensive side of the ball. Chris Dunn has
been I mean.
Speaker 2: As advertised, well, I just feel like as advertised.
Speaker 3: Everybody who's watched Chris done, this is Chris done. Like
I know a lot of people are falling in love
with him, and it's awesome to see. We said he'd
become a fan favorite immediately, like this is what he does.
He's the new Pat Bev.
Speaker 1: Do we think, because again there's just a lot of
chatter out there, is it is TI just gonna keep
this going. I know, Adam, you just said keep doing
what you're good at. I think Ty's is going to
keep this lying. I don't think there's a change for
KPJ coming, not saying that I'm pro that but if
you've watched Tyler's coach teams, if things are working, he
doesn't usually change.
Speaker 3: Them, Like why would he? That's why I was so
bewildered by the criticism he got and all of a
sudden people being outraged for him not aggering James Harden
with Norm Palet. It's like, guys, have you been watching?
He hasn't been doing that, and it's been working. That's
how they won two games. So when I heard that
question from the reporter after the OKC game, I was
just like, and Coach lu got kind of irritated. He
even asked at one point, have you been watching? Like
he pushed back a little bit. I forget, I don't
remember the gentleman's name. I wouldn't ask. He's there for
a lot of games. And while I understood why he'd ask,
I'm thinking in my mind, wait, guys, he's been starting
with this and fourth quarters every game, like they have
played in every game this lineup, and they have been good.
And they were you know after that first weekend, after
three games, they were a plus ten and fourteen minutes
and they were huge against Denver and Golden State, So like,
why would he not go back to it would be
the question it blew up against OKC because Isaiah Joe
went off for some three pointers and Zoom missed some
chip shots against chet Holmgren. It's like, so I asked
him pregame before the game yesterday, like that lineup had
been good for you, How do you go about it now?
Do you make an adjustment or you say this line's
been good for us, will we try it again? And
he basically said, yeah, let's flow the game type thing,
and he went back to it in their darkest hour
down twenty six. Had he gets to the second quarter
and they went on a sixteen to two run and
they won them the damn game. They have no chance
getting back into that one if it's not for that five.
So I don't understand, Like I think it would be
bad coaching not to keep going to it until you
get a healthy sample size of it not working. Right now,
it's a somewhat small sample size of it working, So
how do you not keep going back to it until
it breaks?
Speaker 1: Like I don't know, small sample size? But also the
second most played lineup, so it's like he's using it.
Speaker 3: Forty minutes in seven games. Isn't necessarily like, well, it's
a small sample size because the season's early. Forty minutes
in seven games so far, it's not nothing either, know, right,
And I think how Will put it, like, there's almost
like guardrails. You got KPJ out there as the wild card,
and then you have a bunch of these stable guys
around him, including a guy you can feature now in
Visa Zoo Boss that they're finally doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That wow, fantastic segue. I think Adam read the
breakdown Big Zoo. Big Zoo is having a career year.
I really liked Adam what you said last game about
the field goal percentage was not there for Zoo last game.
Speaker 3: But nobody else liked it. In the half when I
was like, he's four or fourteen and this is awesome.
I'm telling you guys, it's awesome.
Speaker 1: But he got offensive boards, he had, you know, like
he was making effort plays, he cashed in his free throws.
Zoo top five center in the league right now.
Speaker 3: Uh, he's leading in boards, top twelve. I think, well
he is, Like I've gone through like there are nine
guys that are definitively obviously better than a Visas in
this league. When you actually go through. It's like, but
by the end of the season, who knows. Like a
lot of this is because of past experience and what
those guys have done. Compared to Vitza Zubats, He's at
seventeen and thirteen right now. I thought coming into this
season the floor has to be fifteen to ten and
at best he could be eighteen eleven by the time
the Averagers come out at the end of the season,
because I'm still expecting Kawhi to play at some point
and therefore Beata Zubots will get less touches when Kawhi
is out there. But my point with last night's game
and in that first half, and why I liked it
so much, is they didn't give in to going away
from a Vicha Zubots just because he was missing some
gimmes when they were doubling and tripling. And then it's
just wemb Yama and he's otherworldly and there's not much
you can do about some of those hooks shots he blocked,
like stay the DM course, this is the blueprint. There
are no other options. You have to play through a
Viza Zubas. This is what we've been saying coming into
the season. Why he's the most third, most impactful guy
on this team. Like, you have to roll with him
now because going away from him probably means you're going
to lose the ball game. Going to him doesn't guarantee
a victory, but it gives you a shot. And so
even though he was struggling, I guess even though some
of those you know, all those offensive rebounds, a lot
of it at the time, it eventually led to him
making the bucket. But four or fourteen looks really bad,
of course, but it's like, no, he's battling, he's fighting
through it. He's not at his best. He's going up
against a tough defense right now, and let him work
through it. Show confidence in Visa Zubas, because this is
what you need out of him moving forward. He's not
going to be perfect all the time, but you can't always.
It always felt like you got this rookie treatment before,
wherever Viza Zubats doesn't play well early, they go away
from him right away. Now you can't do that anymore.
So I was so happy for him, and he shined
late dunking on a Wemby like they kept him in
that he was part of the lineup that won the
ball game and turned the game around it. And I
just think it's a blueprint for success for this team.
You have to play through Visa zoobots, even if he's
struggling early, and he has to know that even if
because there's always felt like also over the years that
Visas about struggles early, has a hard time pulling himself
out of that and it continues to be a bad game.
He's got to have that belief also that hey, I
can turn this game around. There's still plenty of time left.
So I love that game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you brought up too and kind of outam
what you're saying, like he was going against Wemby on defense,
Like he's not going.
Speaker 3: Against oh my, oh my god.
Speaker 1: Uh Wemby's so tall. That poster that Zoo had on
him looks like Wemby's posterizing him. That photo the posted,
it looks like Wemby's dunking up. It's like, so weird.
Will Zoo top five center currently? Not all not like
legacy wise.
Speaker 2: What you're saying. I still think there's some guys out
of him.
Speaker 3: You got you got Zooy Davis.
Speaker 1: Yeahs having her ear what availability the bonus?
Speaker 3: Uh I put.
Speaker 1: Zoo over some bonus. I was not. I'm homering right now,
all right, haggle, No haggle. The defense has been what
we were sold in the offseason so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, haggle.
Speaker 1: Would get a hot take. Sometimes you throw up a
hot take thing and no one buyes. I was happy
about it. I was, unfortunately watching the Spurs broadcast, uh
last game, very very complaining broadcast. They talked a lot
about JVG and they were actually praising Van Gundy, which
it's nice to hear the opposing team give credit to
an assistant coach who I think is the most talked
about assistant coach on broadcast in any by any other margin.
Speaker 2: But it's a Van Gundy. I mean, like, like the
guy's kind of a legend, like and every and broadcasting career,
Like you know.
Speaker 1: At every shot where they panned to the he looks funny.
No matter well, for sure.
Speaker 2: He's always doing something hilarious.
Speaker 1: He looks funny.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 1: I don't mean that this was a character. He's absolutely
a character.
Speaker 2: It just I don't know. I do think that it's
really cool to seeing him be like completely reinvigorated. It
seems like for the sport and how involved he is,
because you know, when they when they initially announced this,
I was, you know, like I I was kind of excited,
you know, I wasn't like off the charts. But then
I realized there was some article I can't remember if
it was ESPN or who did it that talked a
little bit more about what his consulting was like with
the Celtics and sort of what he was looking for
and how involved he wanted to be. And I don't know,
I think that's pretty inspiring for a guy who's been
around the game for as long as he has to
have this sort of you know, third wind, I guess,
like to his career and to his love of the sport.
I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3: It is Wind, It kind of I don't know, drops
down the caricature or whatever. He was as a broadcaster
having fun with Mark Jackson and he realize, oh, this
guy is also a basketball genius. Still, like there is
plenty of substance here to him, because sometimes the further
you get away from the game, like Shack, I think
he's hurt his own legacy in some ways by the
way he acts on a broadcast that we forget how
dominant he was even Charles Barkley to an extent. Yeah,
and I think people start to feel like that about
Jeff Van Gundy, where you know, it's almost a cartoon
watching him do the broadcast thing with Mark Jackson, and
this guy was coaching during a different time, but it's
like no, no, no, no, this guy is a defensive stalwart.
He is a defensive savant. This is what he does.
So I love seeing the old school succeed in the
new school as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it makes things easier for Tie
to just have as good and vocal of an assistant coach,
you know what I mean? In that role? Is there
an assistant Coach of the Year award? Is there like
a specialist coach of the year?
Speaker 3: Not doing aware? But maybe I feel.
Speaker 2: Like you gotta come over to my apartment to pick
it up.
Speaker 1: I just want to kick it with Van Gundy. Dude,
you go on a match bro to a dumb rock?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Uh was it?
Speaker 1: Will? Do you remember when the old Agua Caliante Clippers
were just like making up awards and oh yeah, it
was a good time. There was like best handles on
the team. I can't remember what year that was, but
I hope they give Van Gundhy a fun made up
award for the Clippers this.
Speaker 3: Year, and I hope he puts a chain through it
wears around his neck.
Speaker 1: He would. He loves the bit, all right, Any other
trends you guys want to talk about before we get
into this tour of exes that the Clippers are going
through this week.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's worthwhile. I was looking this
up the other day and teams through the first six games,
we're shooting forty from three on open threes against the Clippers,
which was the highest rate against any team. And it's
a stat where it's open threes against everyone, and yet
the Clippers are getting hit the hardest by like four percent,
worse than anybody else. And I think some of that
is wonky fluky shooting variants that will come down because
actually on wide open threes, they're shooting worse against the Clippers,
which doesn't make sense. It's just something that can happen
over a smaller sample size, like let's say six games
to start off the season. So coming into yesterday's game,
the Clippers are shooting thirty three percent from the three
from three and opponents are shooting forty percent overall from three,
and it's like that, that disparity. It is very tough
to win ball games in today's league when you're shooting
thirty three percent, everybody's shooting forty percent against you. I
assume that is going to even out a little bit here.
And San Antonio was very bad from three last night,
and they're not a good three point shooting team. And
then the Clippers shoot what fIF ffty one percent from three?
So now there are almost thirty six percent on the season.
Just they went up three percent on one game. So
I do think some shooting and some numbers have just
been against them, shooting variants, and that can really alleviate
some of the pressure on their defense. Like even late
in games, the three point shooting has been falling against
them at a rate that just isn't sustainable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair. I like that. Well, I don't like
it currently, but I like it when it will even out.
Will any other trends fashion or basketball wise that you
would like to discuss in relation to the Clippers?
Speaker 2: Nah, I'm good, all right?
Speaker 1: Fair, coming up, we are going to be talking the
return of the X's week and into it, don't we
brought the Clippers a win against the Spurs and CB
three coming through. But before that, if you're listening on audio,
we do have a quick break. We got ads coming
up and then talking the x'es and three two one.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back into Clips and Dip the Scott
Pilgrim Clips are taking on a bunch of x's this week.
They've already spoiled the CP three's debut at into it.
Now you got Paul George returning. What do you guys
think this second would be? Like, what are you expecting
from this? Because I think it's gonna be I think
it's gonna be a little bit divided. You know that
obviously there's gonna be a lot of love for Paul George,
but it is It wasn't the most amicable of splits,
especially given some of his statements afterwards.
Speaker 1: That's what gets me is that it's this thing where
it was a very open secret that I'm not even
gonna call it an open secret. Philly was gonna give
him the Max. We everyone knew that from the beginning
of the season that that offer was probably on the table.
Him having a podcast and like saying his side of
things does not help the fan perception of.
Speaker 3: It, mischaracterizing they offered me sixty million. Was no, that's
an extension on top of the fifty. So you started at.
Speaker 1: Right like he does like that, It's like, come on, like,
I mean, classic Paul George right putting, put his foot
in his mouth.
Speaker 3: Well, talking out of both sides of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very hard to do. I would say, I
think there's gonna be one of those things where when
you're watching Paul George get introduced, if you want to
hear booze, you're gonna say the crowd was booing. If
you want to hear cheers, you're gonna say the crowd
was cheering. I think I think it's gonna be pretty split.
I am worried about on court though, because he had
a stinker of a game the other night, bricked a long,
too horrible shot selection. I'm a little worried for what
he might do on Wednesday, just from a clipper's luck perspective, Adam,
what do you think, dude, if he hits the side
of the backboard, the top of into it, dumb will
will come off.
Speaker 3: Did I look at the wrong video or just listen
to too many people that are hating on Paul George,
because I'm pretty sure that game winner or tied and
shot just rimmed in it out right, in it out,
like it's really.
Speaker 1: Good brick from Paul George.
Speaker 3: Okay, that's a brick. Now he's not a Clipper, you
might as well.
Speaker 4: Dude, yeahatch your head boys, Adam, what do you think?
Speaker 1: What do you think the reaction is going to be?
Speaker 3: Oh, I think it's gonna be seventy or eighty percent
booze to cheers, Like, I don't think it's going to
be a situation where people can decide how they heard it.
I think they're.
Speaker 1: Gonna hear it.
Speaker 3: And because he dug his own grave, it's his own fault.
I mean, I'm just going off of what everyone is saying,
of what Clippers fans, you know, the pulse of the
people right now that have been waiting for this game.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this ain't a gallup poll, but I'm pretty sure
that they are upset with Paul George because of how
he left. Everyone could get behind seventy billion dollars different
Oh my god, yeah, you gotta take that money like
that's crazy. Everyone can understand that part of it. What
we can't understand is burning bridges on the way out
for no reason, calling them the B team, and then
his dad saying we felt like we were stabbed in
the back, and Paul George basically co signing on that,
and Paul George within like, I don't know, thirty seconds
of saying, just give me what Kawhi got. Then he
goes on and says on his podcast like right after that,
so they offer the one fifty and I'm like, all right,
now we're in the ballpark. It's like, wait, you just
said give me what Kawai got, and now you're saying
they gave it to you, and now you're saying we're
in the ballpark, you're not just gonna take it. I
just I think there's too much frustration built up. Should
he still get some cheers? Sure? Like I might share
him video coolah, Like he still was a big part.
Speaker 2: Of one playoff series.
Speaker 3: He still is a big part of this team getting
further than they ever gone. Now, if Kawhi doesn't go
for forty five in a must win situation in Dallas,
then they don't even get to the second round. But
a little inconvenient truth there, Uh, he's a top five clipper.
I think ever though, still I think that's I think
it's easy easily as top five clipper. So I don't
I don't know. I think there are going to be cheers,
but I still think it's gonna be seventy seventy percent boos.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say I'm switching now, I'm on Adam and Wilson.
I think it's gonna be more booze.
Speaker 3: Also, the wall is so much louder than anywhere there,
and I don't think the supporter section is gonna be
supporting Paul supporting Paul George, Like that's gonna overwhelm whatever
cheers are happening the people at the wall.
Speaker 1: That's a good point too, because if this were at Staples,
I think there would be also a lot more Philly fans.
I think that there would be some more traveling Philly
fans or something like that. You're I think it's gonna
be seventy percent booze. It is the election special, so
we are doing some internal polling on this.
Speaker 2: War room.
Speaker 1: Do you think they'll put the misfree throws against Phoenix
in the tribute video? That was a low blow last thing, dude,
A beautiful tribute video and then just.
Speaker 2: Like comical noises like a.
Speaker 1: Slide whistle or just just unedited footage of it, just
the straight like just everyone just like what the.
Speaker 3: I just hate the fact that we do have to
think so much of the negative stuff right now with
Paul George when we think of him, and it's his
own doing. It didn't have to be like this. I
don't think people are chomping.
Speaker 2: This is who he is though, Like truly, I like
and I am so grateful for him coming here. You know,
he brought a different, different level of legitimacy, I guess
to a certain extent, uh in that trade and when
he resigned. But at the same time, man, I'm really
glad to not have to defend this guy on a
weekly basis.
Speaker 1: He called his own play in Phoenix or in Philly
that a bonehead and play. You're like, you can't say that,
Like that is not humility. If you if every single time,
you if you mess up so many times but you
would to it, that's not humility. You're just messing up
and not giving a shit.
Speaker 3: Because he thought they were down one and they were
down two, so he went for a two instead of
a three, right, That was the situation last night in Phoenix.
Speaker 1: And he went for a two instead of a three,
maybe the smallest margin you could possibly go other than
KD shot a two for a three. He was he
was six inches inside the line. Yeah, what an idiot.
They're not gonna have Embiid though. There's gonna be no
Embiid because he is suspended, which I think is kind
of unfair. That guy wrote some wild shit about him.
Speaker 2: Beid.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we can all understand why EMBID did that.
Speaker 1: I think I don't know if they took his credentials,
the press credentials away, but I have to imagine that
guy's not welcome in that locker room.
Speaker 3: I'd be annoyed, honestly if they took it away. Now
it's like, wait a second. The article came out like
two or three days before the incident happened. You saw
what he wrote. It was bs. If you're going to
do something about it, you should have done it immediately,
like it was out a line.
Speaker 2: Howard, have you heard of freedom of speech? It's called
freedom of speech Fellas.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, thought this was America.
Speaker 1: How are we feeling about clippers verse seventy six.
Speaker 3: Ers better after hearing I guess MB's not playing sure, Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's fair. MAXI was playing well that other game. People
were upset he didn't get the ball.
Speaker 3: He's averaging thirty. Paul George went four or fourteen in
that game. Uh, he was worried about he was rough.
I guess he was a plus three in a game
they lost by two, but you know, individual game plus minus.
I'd have to watch the game and see if he
actually should have been a plus three or was that
positive out there.
Speaker 1: That's a good call.
Speaker 3: I guess they were close.
Speaker 1: They were in the game, and they've started off horribly.
They're one in six, one in five.
Speaker 3: Ooh, I didn't know. I thought they had two wins.
Speaker 1: Damn No, they are one in five.
Speaker 3: So they're desperate, which is not great. I'm a little
worry about that, but the Clippers are desperate to beat
Paul George. James Harden post game last night was asked
about it, and you know, they were asked about his
feelings of PG returning and what he's looking forward to,
and all he said was something like, to try and
get a win. That's it. Like that rule. I really
wonder guys. I brought this up last night because we
kind of speculated on this with some of the stuff
Paul George was saying before he even left, before it
was even official, just right after the season, talking about
how it went and disappointments, and then he got into
that reasoning of my decision will be about playing basketball
the right way, not so much about a championship. I
just want to play the game the right way. And
everybody kind of thought, is he talking about James Harden here?
Did he not like playing off ball even though he
was spectacular in that role? I mean, relished in that role,
and he should like that role is basically what he's
been asking for half of his career. But I wonder
if there's something between those two.
Speaker 1: Russ said the same thing when he got to Denver.
He had the exactly like the exact same quotes about
playing basketball the right way.
Speaker 3: He and PG your side.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the Philly Basketball reference page. Maxie's playing
forty one minutes a game, bro Like, so if our
defense can be annoying to start, I like that they're
gonna be starting Audrey Drummond, which is kind of weirdly,
I think historically not a tough matchup for Zoo, But
not the easiest match. He's a big fella.
Speaker 3: You gotta guard around the perimeter. He hits those.
Speaker 4: One of the worst, one of the worst. Carl Tart,
take shout out, Carl Tart. We absolutely love you. That
was hilarious. It's gonna be interesting. I'm not really sure.
Kyle Laurio, Kyle Harry Off. The inch is a little troublesome.
It's gonna be weird.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at some of Phillies offensive and defensive ratings
and man, they're worse than the Clippers. On offense, They're
twenty sixth in that area so far. Defensively they are
going going twenty first. They have not been playing good
basketball at all. Feels like Doc is still there or something.
What's going on?
Speaker 1: Hey? All right, all of that said, I now I
have a new thing where we've again lengthened the name
of the player of the game Award Adam and will
Who are your picks for the Kawhi Leonard James Harden
vitza Sebox Norman Powell player of the game picks against
the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Will you get to go first?
I made you pick PJ. Tucker last time when Adam
and I did the episode just by ourselves.
Speaker 2: Great. Great, Uh. I'd love to see him her Coffee
have another good one.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. I love it.
Speaker 2: I think that it's possible. I think that it's definitely possible.
And like I said, we need these kind of outlier
bench performances. I'm not saying he'll go for nineteen again,
but I would love a double digit scoring performance and
the same type of just overall effect on the game
as he had in that in that showing versus the Spurs,
because we know that he's a high impact player. We've
seen it, We've already talked about the lineup and that data.
I'm excited for Coffee to have a good game and
maybe even maybe even shut down Paul George on a
couple of possessions.
Speaker 1: A couple of one of a couple of those after
the possession, Can I may buckets from a mirror?
Speaker 3: Can I make a quick point about a mirror? After
yesterday's amazing game, and everyone immediately flip flopping back to
saying a mere Coffee should be starting, And now they're
not saying Jordan Miller should be playing over him, which
they just were after his last two games before last night.
Speaker 1: Yes, but you can't pick him as your Kawhi leonard
A Vitza Zubat, James harden Orm power player in the
game because Will has already picked him as head.
Speaker 3: I have one of those guys instead. Now I'll dig in.
We did go with two guesses since you were out
last time, Will, we were like, hey, we get two guesses.
Will start here. I went with Jordan Miller and Bose Hyland.
Uh So, all this talk about a mere coffee and
I understand Terrence Man has not been good guys. I
was watching him closely. He was not after the first
couple of minutes where he hit a three pointer right
away and got them started, he wasn't looking at the
basket to even think about taking a shot. Like, it's real,
the funk he is in right now.
Speaker 2: We we kind of glossed over this in the game weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Russo pointed out that I think eighty five percent of
his points are in the first quarter this season. He
scored five all game and they were all in the
first quarter last night.
Speaker 3: That's a hell of a stat and it makes sense like, hey, well,
how are we going to start this game? Tonight's the night,
things are gonna change. For Terrence Man, let's get it
going early, and then he resorts right back to where
he was after the first five minutes. It's been brutal.
And when you have Chris Dunn and when you have
a mere Coffee, I can certainly understand why you'd want
those guys starting. I also think Will makes the great
point that why are we so fixated on who's starting
all the time, because it's not going to determine who
plays the most minutes anyways. It almost is starting to
feel like, you know, uh, tired versus wired, tired, who's starting, wired,
who's finishing? Or like, if you care so much about
who is starting, you might be a casual. If you
care about who's finishing, then you're a high level NBA expert.
So I'm not too overly fixated on it, but I
understand where people are coming from just with his play
right now. However, I do want to say this, like saying,
obviously a Mere Coffee should be starting over him because
of this one game, when the same people the last
two games were ready to take out a mirror for
Jordan Miller, It's like, guys, do you remember what happened?
In that playoff series against Dallas, a mere coffee got
benched in a must win Game six for p Tucker.
That's how bad he was in that series. Meanwhile, Terrence
Man was their third best player. Meanwhile, Terrence Man shot
forty four percent from three the last fifty games of
last season. So we probably should put it in perspective
and go, Okay, it's happy again where he's getting off
to a slow start, but we also have this data
that shows us that he eventually pulls out of it
and becomes a better player than some of these guys
were trying to replace him with for the majority of
the season. So would I be shocked if there was
a move that was made. No, I think Terrence Man
has been really bad, but I don't think it's critical
and he's this fatal flaw that is keeping is he losing.
Speaker 2: Best games right now?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Can you look? Can you like look yourself in the
mirror and say, Terrence Man is the reason why're losing
games right.
Speaker 1: Now, pointing at the mirror, pointing at yourself. It's so mad.
That's such a funny visual to me. So he is
he your pick for the player of the game?
Speaker 3: Oh? Hell no, that was.
Speaker 1: That was just a that was that was taking a left.
I'm getting back on course, like he needs a break out? Right,
why not against PG?
Speaker 3: All right, I will go with him after saying that,
why not, I'll go with you man, and you know
going to be your pick?
Speaker 2: Who was going to be your Yeah? Who are you
really going to pick?
Speaker 3: I was gonna go with Big Zoo, but I couldn't,
so I will revert back to Terrence Man. I'm getting
somebody in the starting lineup in here. I picked.
Speaker 1: I picked Derek Jones for the game against the Thunder
and who did that not work out?
Speaker 3: He's had a rough couple of shooting games.
Speaker 1: His start to the season. I think Terrence Man is
helping him out. He's also he's just shooting a lot
better from three to shooting, and he's willing to take him.
I think I gotta go with Nico and that's gonna
be the Nico version of a good game. You know what?
Speaker 3: This is a great pick, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like he's gonna hit two threes, He's gonna have one
of those. He's gonna have a deflection maybe when the
team really needs something to happen. George, He's gonna get
a stop on Paul George. He's gonna throw oop to
Kai Jones.
Speaker 3: It's a revenge game for him against Philly.
Speaker 1: Ooh good call. Oh wait No, in that case, I'm
picking PJ. Tucker. He's gonna come back from his house
ready to play clear eyes, smooth brain. Can't lose two
for twelve. He's getting twelve.
Speaker 3: Two four point plays.
Speaker 1: Bro, he's putting up an efficient eight. No, I think
it's gonna be I think it's gonna be Nico's. Hey,
he was right there.
Speaker 3: I thought you said I couldn't have No.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't. If Nico has a good game, we'll
extend it so we can only choose between like kai Jones,
uh and the mirror.
Speaker 2: Guys who aren't in the rotation. We're gonna get down
to Boots.
Speaker 1: I think this is gonna come in all right. Anything
else we want to talk about before we go watch?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 1: Whatever else is happening tonight?
Speaker 3: Yeah, what is happening?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I hope if you people should take
a break from what's happening tonight, tonight's.
Speaker 3: The perfect night to take a break.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you have If you're just getting into this podcast.
Speaker 2: But of course there's no basketball tonight.
Speaker 1: I know the line there should be. There should be
one game tonight, and it should be at noon.
Speaker 3: Presidential Cup dude, Yeah, through the end season tournament.
Speaker 1: Also a rule change I think we've discussed. I think
if you play on Halloween you should have to wear costumes.
Absolutely makes the fun.
Speaker 3: I mean KPJ was that was insane.
Speaker 1: That makeup was still on his face. I feel like
that was barely washed off.
Speaker 3: Can I say, would it surprise you if I told
you with KPJ the last four games he's seventeen to
forty from the floor. It's like here a couple shots
away from being fifty percent from the floor. Like, it's
not for three. It's been bad from three, it's been bad. Right,
It has been coming a little bit around his offensive game,
and I think he's averaging like six rebounds over that time.
Speaker 1: Someone on the YouTube pointed out as boards, which is
something that Tyler mentioned just in general of needing more
guys to rebound.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I have thought he was.
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, last four games, last four games, seventeen to forty.
Speaker 1: Hey, we'll see how he is tomorrow.
Speaker 3: I mean I still thought if they got pulled out
by the spurs. Don't get me wrong, this could be
uh tylu has all the evidence he needs and makes
some time. A lot of them changed.
Speaker 1: True, he's hanging out by a thread, per Adam Oslin.
Speaker 2: All right, no, no, no, well, bones on the floork gets suspended.
Speaker 3: That is that is why they're holding on a bone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again no news on that. We have no
idea that that investigation.
Speaker 3: Keep asking, though, keep asking, Adam, We're close to getting
the news.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So possibly going to do a live
tomorrow night, depending what happens, full episode on Thursday to
preview yet another Clippers back to back. This one's kind
of brutal. It's a way to the Kings than home
to the Raptors, who are a very fast team who
I would not want to play after traveling the day
before will where can these people? The hottest topic at
the office after tonight Favorite Clippers podcasts? Where I mean,
we'll tell their coworkers.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, the most important decision you have to make
tonight is which Clippers podcast to listen to, And the
choice is pretty clear. It's Clips and Dim and you
can listen to that over on YouTube. You can even
watch it. That's YouTube dot com slash at Clippers podcast.
You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts.
If you happen and listen over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
go ahead leave a little rating to review. They also
let you comment on episodes now on Spotify, so go
ahead check that out. And uh yeah, however you consume
this show, you know we appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We absolutely do. Adam one positive thing for these Clippers
fans before they head out to whatever tomorrow brings.
Speaker 3: You know, if you don't want to be a cash,
work about the worry about the closing lineups and not
the starting lineups. Don't be a cash. Worry about the
closing lineup.
Speaker 1: So I don't be a cash.
Speaker 3: I'm excited for everyone to uh make their voices heard
tomorrow against Paul George, because if you bought a ticket,
you got the right to cheer or boo, do whatever
you feel is appropriate. Just you know, don't take any
further than that, because there is that whole fan clause
when you buy a ticket to a Gabe. Oh yeah,
be respectful, but cheering, jeering, all that is in play.
And I expect tomorrow night to be the loudest and
the most packed uh experience so far into it.
Speaker 1: Don't couldn't agree more, love the positivity.
Speaker 2: We will get the George Paul chant going.
Speaker 1: Yep, get the George Paul chant going. We'll be back
for y'all, either on Clippers Talk or a live tomorrow,
and as always, let's go Clips.