Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to season three,
episode forty eight. I believe of clips in dip. I
am Chuck Lockley. We got Adam Oslin, William of Bike.
The full crew is here. Thank you for listening to us,
Thank you for watching us. If you want to watch us,
you can find us at YouTube dot com slash at
Clippers podcast. Today we're gonna talk maybe the worst loss
of the Clippers season so far against the Bucks. I
don't guys, it's close. And then of course we're gonna
be preeving the upcoming back to back and then talking
kind of what has to happen after the All Star break.
One big thing we all want the Clippers to work on,
Will Adam, how are you guys doing after that game? Will,
you're saying it's not the worst loss of the season.
Adam was saying it might be.
Speaker 2: Every time we do that, the Clippers say, hey, hold
my beard, So let's stop doing that until it's until
it's truly the worst and then and then we can
talk about it. I'm doing alright. I uh yeah, I'm
doing all right.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna all right. Will's doing all right? Adam, how
are you you had to deal with angry callers last night.
How's how's life in your world?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was a guy who had called in like
a week ago and said, oh, they're gonna go twenty
five and five the last thirty games or something like that.
Speaker 4: Last night, that guy called in and had a much
different tone.
Speaker 1: He had switched out. Here's what it sounds like. Let's
get into what happened against the Bucks. There was no
Norm Powell, which we're gonna talk and we can talk
about it. Seems like per lab Murray. It sounded like
an issue that would have calmed down during the All
Star break, but the Nie soreness is still there. What's
our concern level for Norm Powell? I mean deaf con one,
that's fair.
Speaker 2: Did I finish your sentence out of it and know
where you're at?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Pretty much like no, I have some level of concern.
Speaker 3: Let me know, if he doesn't play on Sunday against Indiana,
if he doesn't play at all in the back to back,
then I'm gonna be pretty concerned. Because they just had
the All Star break. He was just in the three
point shooting contest. He didn't look great. Was that part
of the problem?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: There was no, there was no break for him.
Speaker 1: Good point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was too busy with all his All Star duties.
You you know, he had to be shaking hands, kissing babies.
There's a lot of workout there. People think it's just
a vacation.
Speaker 3: Somebody like commented on the video I did earlier, saying, hey,
what about this. We bring Norm off the bench, and
it's like, no, full stop, Like, Norm is the highest scoring.
Speaker 4: Player on the team.
Speaker 3: He had twenty four points per game and shooting forty
four from three.
Speaker 4: He's not coming off the bench. They need him desperately.
Speaker 3: He completes what is the starting lineup with the best
net rating in the NBA. Now, it's only about one
hundred and fifty minutes I think so far, but it's
not nothing.
Speaker 1: Have we lost every game that he's been out.
Speaker 2: I mean that's like three full games three and those.
Speaker 1: Have we lost? Not maybe not every game, but it's
been the last couple of games that he's been out
the Clippers have lost. And I don't think that's a
huge surprise to people.
Speaker 4: Ooh, that's a good question. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, like he's one of the most vital players
on the team. He's been mister consistent. He's their leading scorer.
They need him period.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sorry, I'm looking up his game logs real quick
because I want to see if I'm just if I'm
totally lying, or if that was correct. Loss loss loss loss. Yeah,
they've lost their last one, two, three, four without Norm
Powell checks out, which not surprising. Yeah, the bench take,
that's maybe the craziest take I've heard all year, and
there's been some crazy takes, so I hope that person
is doing okay overall in this game the Clippers. Here's
what the Clippers won in this game. Points in the paint,
second chance points, fast break points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers,
three point percentage. And then in the fourth they lost
a thirteen point lead. They did lose free throws twenty
seven to nineteen, and the Bucks had fifteen in the fourth.
I knew it was a lot when I was watching
the game, but fifteen is insanity. Part of that is
the refs. Part of that is the Clippers not being
able to defend without fouling, which Adam, I feel like
is something you've brought up when things aren't going well
for this team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the points in the pain that you started with
is also significant. Yeah, like that shot selection in the
offense in fourth quarter was I mean, it was huge.
Speaker 3: Carlo asked me in the fourth what's the biggest key
for the Clippers to pull this out? I said, defending
without fouling, and that did not happen.
Speaker 4: I getting two.
Speaker 3: Fouls on a three point shooter like Dame for that
to happen, and they were both by a Mere Coffee
and he also fouled Brooke Lopez on an and one.
It was a rough game for a Mere and I
know a lot of people are going after him, like
I think he's had a really good season overall. It happens,
But that was a game where you're up twelve with
I think eight and a half minutes left, you have
to close. And I will say this, well, yes, they
outshot them from three by half a percent.
Speaker 4: The Bucks also made five more threes the Clippers of
the game.
Speaker 3: Lopez, Yeah, this is this trend has not gone away
the last eleven games. Now, teams are shooting forty point
three percent from three against the Clippers. Uh, that's the
highest three against anyone over the last eleven games. And
a lot of it's happening in first quarters where I
think the Bucks had seven. Believe it or not, the
Clippers are giving up almost sixty percent shooting from three
in first quarters the last four games.
Speaker 1: Holy shit?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 1: And we talk about will We talked about this, I
mean for years where the Clippers would just start a
game and they're down ten and you're just like, Okay,
let's let's battle back right from the start. Is it
like the eleven game sample size that's not insignificant? Like?
Is it just a fatigue thing? Are we seeing the
team be old?
Speaker 4: I don't know, because Adam brought up go ahead?
Speaker 2: Well will you you brought up to that? Like, not
all of them. It's not like they're just giving up
wide open shots. Some of these have been well contested
and teams are just shooting above it. And like eleven games, well,
certainly is a large sample size. I mean a lot
of averages. You would think that wouldn't carry on forever.
I do think we do. We have seen them. We
have seen fatigues that in. We have seen them be
a step lay. I do think that this game was
it maybe as well timed as we've seen or like
everybody was like clicking as well as we've seen uh,
and of course there's new pieces, no normal Powell. You know,
things are a little bit up in the air. But
it's not like all these shots are wild. I will
say like that that that is one thing that is reassuring.
It's not like they're just getting like completely giving up
on these plays.
Speaker 3: It's like Kyl Kuzma, who is shooting twenty eight percent
from three started I think three or four. There have
been some waukee outlier shooting games against the Clippers that
I don't know. A lot of averages has to come
into effect at some point. I'm just thinking they probably
got away with some unguarded threes earlier in the season
that went their way, shots that were missed, that were
wide open, And now that's starting to even out a
little bit where if they're leaving a guy open right now,
it feels like they're shooting one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: The next thing I guess is there's like twenty seven
games left, so maybe we're going to creep in We're
right at the end of the season, we start getting
that good law of averages back right like the last
ten games, maybe teams start actually missing some threes against
the Clippers. That would be nice. This was another game
where one of the main players for the opposing team
didn't finish the game. Joannis didn't play the final six
minutes six and a half minutes of this game, which
was a big part of them making their comeback. Unfortunately,
it reminded me of how, you know, Turner went out
when they played the Pacers the last time, and we couldn't.
A key piece of the other team is out and
the Clippers, for whatever reason, aren't able to capitalize on that.
Speaker 3: That's a good point. I didn't think about that, Like
they did not adjust well to it. I mean again,
you're giving up thirty six points in a fourth quarter
two more Rockey Bucks team without Yannis and the clip
first could not defend without Fouling depended on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, super just just just a super rough break. It's
interesting that you bring up though that, like they were
a little bit better without Giannis on the floor in
that fourth And I do wonder if just the shortened,
you know, prep time coming off the break or something.
Maybe the game plan wasn't as strong for this game
as we've seen in other ones. Uh, you know, maybe
van Gundi needed his rest. You never know, but it
wasn't it wasn't an inspiring performance. And aside from the
three point shooting, I thought when he was on the court,
some of the some of the defense against Giannis, especially
like lacked some of the like physicality and grit that
we've seen from this team. Like there was a number
of buckets where like he had a wide open lane
and it just kind of felt like maybe guys weren't
to like bang around or get a body in there.
And you know, maybe that's just coming off of a
break and being like or maybe it's being a step behind.
You know, it might not even have anything to do
with people not wanting it so much as like for
whatever reason, they couldn't quite get there, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, yeah, there wasn't a Zoo did not have
a field goal attempt in the fourth, which is yeah,
annoying to see. Adam, who is having phone connection troubles,
mentioned that he was more upset about it last night,
and then when he went and watched some of the film,
he was a little less upset about it. But it
is an issue, right, like we.
Speaker 2: Can't yeah yeah, Law put out a stat I mean
this has been going on all year long, but you know,
basically the first three quarters of a game. This is
according to Law Murray the athletic Zubots, he's around three
three field goal attempts a quarter, three to three point
five around there, and then it drops to around two.
So you're seeing at least a thirty three percent decrease
in fourth quarters. And so you know, when you say
he has zero, it maybe doesn't. That's only two less,
but you know from a percentages from a you know,
percentages standpoint, that that is significant. I don't I don't
think that that was the reason alone obviously that they
lost this game. I mean, they, as Adams said, they
couldn't defend without fouling. I think it's like one of
those things that just we've all become heightened, like we're
more and more aware of just because it's such an
ongoing thing. So yeah, I wouldn't go as far as
to say that that's what lost them in the game.
But it's like it's just another one of those sort
of puzzling things that for a team that you know
is doing a lot right, it is still just kind
of it's just kind of confusing. It's it's kind of
I don't know how many times do is answered in
the post game now you know, like what happened in
the fourth or how many more times the guy can say,
you know, he's trying to look for a shot, but
you know he's not a shot creator, so you know,
it's it's kind of determinate upon his teammates UH to
find him in those in those areas. And I don't know,
you know, I don't know where that comes from, because
I do think the level of trust that everyone has
in Zoo is certainly different this year and even last year. Yeah,
since since Harden's arrival, I really feel like that the
trust and Zoo offensively it looks a lot different. But
I do still wonder if there's a thing where all
these guys are so used to carrying a team UH
late in game, and I mean I mean any one
of them. I mean even like if Norm has the
ball or something, and sure he's not used to carrying
the team as a starter, but he's certainly used to
carrying even this year's team to a certain extent to
where maybe the tunnel vision is UH is coming into
effect a little bit. And again, not the reason they
lost this game. It's just one of those things that's
like it's like the three point shooting thing where you know,
like opponents are shooting so well, it's it's just a
troubling trend. It's it's a troubling trend. Although one team
is infinitely here to fix than the other.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. It sucks too because I mean, Zoo
had twenty fifteen and four blocks. He had one of
his better games like of the season, just obviously box
score wise, but the fourth was rough. We've we've seen
the Ben Simmons and Zoo pairing get out scored the
entirety that they've shared the floor to this point. It's
not been a lot of minutes. But that's not a
I don't think that's a big shock to people. There
are some people being critical of Tyler's rotations last night.
I think it's a little yeah.
Speaker 2: So I think with that one Tyler did is sort
of expressed that he was interested in trying as many
machinations like around Ben Simmons, like he's basically he not
even basically he has been in a rotation. He is,
he has been in a rotation with every player that
that is on the roster that's gotten played when it's
in those two games. So I think that it kind
of makes sense. I don't know. To me, the zoo
like the zoo and Ben Simmons sing is kind of
like it will DOUI like, I just you know that
that one that pairing, like it just seems so obvious
that I don't even know why you have to try.
But hey, he's the basketball mind, not me. You know,
who knows if it would have worked. You know, I'd
have to be over here eating my hat or something.
But what does seem interesting and is a thing that
I think you could have predicted, is that all of
Ben Simmons' best lineups come next to Niko Batun, which
I think is great because you know, that's that that
seems to me to be a natural pairing when we
have bench minutes, when we have likely you know, either
cohi less minutes or hard endless minutes, that to me
seems like a likely pairing. But it's it's nice that
there are some things that are working as far as
Ben Simmons goes, especially for his confidence. You know, you
kind of like I think it it It's understandable if
we go through a stretch where you know, the fit
doesn't seems as easy as or as a parent. But
I think for like his confidence and like where he's
at right now, Like I love that he came out
the gate that game one was so great, and you
know yesterday overall solid, not the greatest offensive game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and again like it's his second game too, so
it's like, yeah, I feel like it's it's one of
those things where we're all we all really wanted it
to work, and it was so good in the beginning
that we're like, well, great, it's like, oh yeah.
Speaker 2: We'll still the beginning, I would say.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, just like Kawhi's return. Right right when it started,
it was like, whoa, he's looking a lot better than
where I thought he would be. But then as you
get into it and the rhythm of trying to get back,
things don't go well. The Clippers were outscored by eleven
points per law Murray in the three and a half
minutes Leonard was off the floor in the fourth quarter
getting Kawhi back. Adam Alven, who should be back soon,
always says that one of the biggest things the Clippers
can do to improve is just getting Kawhi Leonard to
thirty six minutes per game. He's at thirty two right now,
Like that is such a big I mean, we sound
like a broken record who's set up for the last
four years, five years, like just getting him back, so
the normal minutes should solve some of these problems.
Speaker 2: Of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I wonder of that eleven game sample size,
how many was Kawhi playing, And not that he's personally
responsible for the opposing team's three point shooting percentage, but
I think just his presence, he's a second thought out there,
because there's like I think there's a there's obviously a
mental thing to certain defenders as well, like Adam and
I were talking about how you know, some of these
shots are well defended, but I think it's a difference
if the if the defending player is more of an
imposing force mentally, if that makes sense. But you see,
you see Kawhi defending you, I think something different is
crossing your mind than a mere coffee. Even if a
mere coffee is guarding you very competently.
Speaker 1: A hundred reputation precedes itself in the NBA, yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah, I've never seen a
mere coffee, you know, block a dunk with a single
middle finger, So you know that not in the back
of your head.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they they lost that one, which is not good.
They have a back to back coming up. This is
very funny. The Clippers these three games against the Bucks,
the Pistons, excuse me, the Bucks, the Pages, and the Pistons.
That's four five six in the East seating wise, so
kind of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then they then they are technically on the
road to take on the Lakers twice, I believe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So that's stretching agains stretch against which do we
think Kawhi sits out? Which would you prefer? Does it?
And I don't mean this as a disrespect to the
to these two teams. I don't mean that at all.
Does it matter? Both these teams are playing pretty good
basketball right now, you know what I mean, Like they're
they're they're not bad. The Pistons are young, which is
a pain in the ass for this old team. Do
you prefer him to sit out any any any either
of these games? Does it matter to you?
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1: I feel yeah, Like I just think.
Speaker 2: These are both Like these are both pretty difficult games.
I guess I would say it just depends on how
you want to play. The rest coming up into the
Lakers series, because I think you have to you have
to at a bare minimum split those games. You've already
dropped one to the Lakers in embarrassing fashion. Uh, so
you have to at least win one of these. And
so I think if you want to play him so
he has the most rest going into that lineup, you
playing the first under the back to back against the Pacers,
if you want him to have the most consecutive rest
through travel, maybe you haven't played the Pistons game, and
then it's it's less day's rest, but less you know,
like less play travel play, if that makes sense totally.
Speaker 1: No, Yeah, that's a really good call.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it just depends on how you
want to game that because but either one of these
teams is going to be really good, and this Pistons
team like young team. This is not a great matchup. Now,
neither of these are particularly great matchups on the road
for this team.
Speaker 1: I think the Pistons one is the must win of
these two because I was looking at the Pistons schedule.
This is gonna be the second night of a batter
back for the Pistons and the final of a three
and four for them, which Okay, they're in San Antonio
and then they're in Atlanta and then they're back in
Detroit to play the Clippers. So like travel wise, they
got kind of hosed on this one. And if they're
gonna be a tired team like the Clippers, gotta beat
tired teams, you know what I mean. The Pistons are
really good at rebounding. Their top ten in each major category.
They have a guy in Cade who can give the
Clippers issues. Like, but I think with the rest situation, and.
Speaker 2: They just have momentum on their side right now, Like
you know, they're on a four game win streak. They've
been snapping off wins, like they're looking they're looking like
they got something cooking.
Speaker 1: Finally, they look like a legit, like where they're seated,
you know, like they're not like a weird you know.
You see some teams you're like, well, they're not going
to stay at six or whatever it is, and I don't.
I think the Pistons probably will. The Pacers game is
also difficult because the Pacers get three days off before
they play the Clippers. Yeah, so like that one might
be the one to punt. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's tough.
Speaker 1: They're not a good defense, they're not a good rebounding team,
but they will shoot the lights out like this is
I don't know, man, Like they gotta we know this obviously,
they have to go at least one in two like
on this trip. I don't think they're getting to two
and one on this road trip. I don't think they're
winning this back to back. Like I don't think they're
going to go over the back to back. I would
like them too, but I don't want them to.
Speaker 2: No, every time I get every time I get too
hyped on that how they're gonna do on a road trip?
That was just funny. Adam is he's gonna have to
go into the studio.
Speaker 1: Damn. Okay, Well we can vamp a little bit. We're
gonna talk standings in the next segment. But this is
like because we were gonna do a show before the
Bucks game and we were gonna say one is that crazy?
And now it's like I'm praying for one and two
after a while that Bucks came.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But like, how does that game? Is it just
because they threw it? Is it just because they had
a lead and threw it away? That doesn't like that's
worse to you than when like say the Lakers games
or other games recently where they're not even in it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the fact that they weren't able to close with
Giannis off the court for the half of the fourth,
that's why if they would have lost by one on
a last second shot or something like, oh shit, that
sucks obviously, but they were in such a position to win.
They were they was, yeah, their game like and there
were some good things. Bob been fault after.
Speaker 2: Playing from behind a little bit.
Speaker 1: It was like back and forth totally, Like there wasn't
like a.
Speaker 2: Wire It wasn't like a wire to wire thing where
they then just blew it in the fourth.
Speaker 1: That would have been a lot worse. Yeah, it's very
good call, but yeah, it's just that issue of like
the clothes right, just being able to really put a
team away. And yes, that's obviously so much. It's different
than it used to be. Scoring is you know, back
and forth like that, but there was just like the
fouling was brutal.
Speaker 2: Again, that that part I think is difficult because that
to me is sort of uncharacteristic for this Clippers team,
especially against a guardian Dame who they've seen so many
times and played yeah, and have historically played really, really well.
I can see for the people that are really irritated
with this loss, I can see that, like some of
the things that are a little bit more uncharacteristic, I
can see you know, looking a little bit gassed in
the fourth after an All Star break, raising your alarm bells.
That certainly makes sense. This one isn't worse for me though.
Speaker 1: You thought the worst one yet. Yes, yeah, all right,
let's do our player of the back to back picks.
The Clippers have a back to back. They get a
team that is on a big rest advantage and then
a team that is on a borderline rust disadvantage in
the Pacers and Pistons. We cannot pick James Harden, Norm
Powell or the Super Bowl I'm.
Speaker 2: Now, Typically they would be excluded from the Kawhi Leonard
James Harden, Norm Powell of vitza Zubats player of the game. However,
it's questions about his injuries arising. I'm gonna go out
on limb. I'm going Norm Powell.
Speaker 1: You're saying, Norm Powell, he's playing both games.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, buddy, Adam, you could take that to the back.
Speaker 1: So just just the heads up. We're doing our player
of the back to back picks. We just talked a
little bit about Pacers and Pistons. Which of these games
are you more concerned about? I think the Pistons games
that must win based on their travel schedule. We get
them on the second nd of a back to back.
It's a three and four for them. They travel the
first two games, and then they get the Clippers at home.
Which one are you leaning for a must win here?
For the Clippers, well.
Speaker 3: I think the tougher games in Indiana. I do agree
with you. The Pistons game they have to win. They
can't start zero to three.
Speaker 2: On this road trick. No, they can't.
Speaker 3: And the problem is if you chase the Indiana game
with let's say Kawhi and Ben Simmons both playing that game,
and you lose it and you're not gonna have them
the next night, that's scary. Plus does Norm play that game?
Is not going to play in a back to back? Now,
I know he's Will's player to watch, but uh.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go with.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with, Well, I wanted to say big Zoo,
but that's crazy. We can't do that.
Speaker 1: You might have to rethink some of these rules though,
if they keep playing not very good, because like when
the team's playing well, you obviously can't pick them, but
when they're not playing well, Uh.
Speaker 2: I'll go with Bogey Bogie ball.
Speaker 1: Okay, he found his he found a shot against the Bucks.
Like he was good. He was really good.
Speaker 3: I mean he's been what good.
Speaker 2: We haven't talked about Bogie enough. He's really good the
last two games.
Speaker 1: He's a low key guy. Yeah, he's playing. I like
the Bogie pick for for player of the back to
back because he's he fits the mall. He's a bench
guy who can get his own shot and go on
a streak. That's the perfect That's exactly what you need
to sneaky old, that's what Yeah, Will shocked. Will's number
one Google search is bogged in age real.
Speaker 2: He made to be older so he could get so
he could play basketball earlier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, so I've never seen it. Well, do
you do you want to stick with Norm Palell as
your player in the back to back?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, he's playing both baby.
Speaker 1: Mark it down, baby. And then we got Bogie Man.
We didn't even really talk about it, but it felt
like a KPJ revenge game last night. He played his
best game of the season, which was annoying as hell.
I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: Have it. Keep it, buddy, keep the revenge.
Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, that's fine. I'm gonna go and we're gonna
talk about this guy's spot in the rotation. He hasn't
exactly been lighting it up. I'm going Derek Jones Junior,
We're gonna need some legs. We're gonna need some guys
to bring some energy. He could feast against the Pistons
based on just how their their travel schedule, anything like that.
Derek Jones Junior being able to get the Clippers some
easy transition buckets, get the team excited. I think we'll
go a long way in this back to back and
you can take that to the bank as well, would
say Adam. Any quick final thoughts before we start talking
about the Clippers. One big thing each of us thinks
they need to work on for these final games. The
standard brutal and they got a tough stretch coming up.
Speaker 3: They need to win both these games. I think if
you want to be a top six seed in the
Western Conference, Minnesota's coming. The Lakers did have a miserable
loss to the Charlotte Horns to bounce back last night unfortunately,
So it's going to be a race to see who
can hold on to a top six spot. But I
think between those three teams right there.
Speaker 1: And wouldn't you know what, we have some pretty important
games coming up against one of those teams. Coming up
after this quick audio break, we're going to talk the
twenty seven games up after the All Star break, and
then one big thing each of us wants the Clippers
to work on. We have ads on odd You know,
if you don't want to deal with the audio ads,
you can always watch us at YouTube dot com at
Clippers podcast some quick audio ads and then what the
heck do the Clippers got to do? Coming up in
three two one.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back into Clips and Dip. If you
were if you were singing the Clippers praises going into
the All Star break on a wind streak, you're probably
bemoaning they're terrible, They're terrible. Fortune. Right now, however, there
are twenty seven games left after the All Star break.
We're going to talk about what is something to work
on for the Clippers. At the time of recording, we
are currently six in the standings about two and a
half games back to the Lakers, who have dropped us
a couple of favors in losing in losing a couple
of winnable games. So we need to take advantage and
tighten that gap a little bit, and we will have
two opportunities to take take them on against the Lakers.
Look the Clippers, you know, it was sort of a
mixed bag, but I feel like they were headed in
the right direction at the All Star break. One game after,
things feel a little different. Adam, where are you at?
What is your one big thing that this team needs
to work on to stay in the playoff picture after
the All Start break?
Speaker 1: Are we doing playoff overplay in? Sorry, just to level
set that we want them out of the plan in
this sense or is this counting the play in.
Speaker 2: I'm not, They're not. They need to stay in the
playoff picture by not being in the plane.
Speaker 1: Okay that's what?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I need them to work on Kawhi
being a top ten to top five player.
Speaker 4: In the NBA again, to be honest, like.
Speaker 3: We're sixteen games in now, I need to see Kawhi
start to step on the gas a little bit. If
there's something there. I need to see it. Because there's
twenty seven games left in the season. How many back
to backs are left? Six or seven?
Speaker 1: Yeah, something like that, So he might play.
Speaker 3: Twenty games like he doesn't have much time to show
that he can be the all NBA version of himself
that he was last season. I think it needs to
start to happen here, like last night it took him
twenty two shots to get to twenty five points. I
understand the minute situation. It's difficult to adjust, but he's
got to start and I don't know why. I don't
know if you guys have noticed this too. It feels
like they're not running much elbow action with Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 1: When they are not doing that, it's usually working out.
When they are, it looks nice they're spacing, but you
just think they they give that right now, hammering that
to get him comfortable.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems like he's having to do far too
much to get to his comfort spots on the floor.
When why not just find him on the elbow and
get him in that place where it feels like he
can't miss in the mid range for two weeks. That's
the Kawhi I think we need to see for them
to stay at top six seed, that's what it has
to be. So I think there is some stuff that
they can do to give the best chance of that
happening or to get the most out of him, and
that's getting it to him in his sweet spots on
the elbows.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty good one, I'm gonna be that's a
really good We talked about it last segment too. Kawhi
getting the thirty six minutes really helps games like last
night right where if he's playing the full thirty six
that Tyler wants him to play, things are probably going
probably a little differently in that game if Kawhi is
not having to sit out. I think I'm not sure
what they can do about My one big thing, the rotation.
And I've expressed this on this pod a couple of times.
The rotation with factoring in Norm being in and out
of the lineup. You know, Kawhi not doing the back
to backs, Ben Simmons not doing the back to backs,
We're still switching out starters between and Derek Jones Junior
and stuff like that. We got to figure out this rotation.
And like to your point, Adam, there's only twenty games
left with a full rotation. If everyone stays healthy and
Kawhi follows the don't play on back to back thing,
that's only twenty games with the full rotation, and we're
still figuring out how to integrate, you know, the backup
five because we just got him. I do understand that part,
but like not having a set rotation, it makes me
nervous from what this thing's gonna look like down the
stretch because it just it's just too difficult to watch
a lot of variables.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of variables to figure out on top
of you know, trying to work in guys who are
factor to be you know, at least somewhat significant pieces
of your playoff rotation. You is the guy who just
went with Derek Jones Junior as your player or the
back to back? Where do you think he should be
in the starting lineup? Like this is this your rallying cry?
Is this you grabbing ty Lu by the scruff of
the neck and saying, hey, this guy needs to be
in the starting lineup. I'm not Charles Mackler stand on
business and Derek Jones Junior needs to be in this
starting lineup.
Speaker 1: I will say I stand on business with Derek Jones
Junior being in the starting lineup. I am not going
to grab TYLERU or anybody by the scruff of the
neck and tell them that he needs to be in
the start. But I don't. I don't even think I'm
in the minority with that. Like we've seen how good
the Adam you talked about it, and where are you at?
You're a dunehead, the best starting five with the four roster, like,
it makes sense fully healthy for Derek Jones Junior to
be out there. No disrespect to Chris dun, but he's
an offensive black hole. We can't have that on the
starting lineup.
Speaker 3: Chris Dunn well known fact six first last seven from
three guys.
Speaker 1: I said, but the game.
Speaker 2: After what was the tally before, like three for twenty two,
it was like.
Speaker 4: One, Yeah, it was bad. Uh.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know if it's really hurt them that
much doing the rotating thing with him or Chris Dunn.
Like the Memphis game, it worked out just fine. But
if I had my drothers, I would just go with
DJ starting every game because that's the lineup with about
one hundred and fifty minutes that has the best starting lineup.
Speaker 4: Net rating in the NBA.
Speaker 3: And it's just it's it's easy to figure things out
with DJ because he is more multiple than Chris Dunn
with guys you can guard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Chris Dunn is a better defender of specifically guards
and stuff. But you're right, like Derek jn Junior can
guard four and half positions on.
Speaker 2: The floor for thirty six though one of those for
thirty six numbers.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and and the rotation thing too, It's like,
it's not like say the Clippers, you know, they have
to be in the play in and they win, they
win that game, right, we get to the playoffs if
we're gonna have different guy like serious, I don't know.
It just makes me nervous. Maybe I have PTSD from
Clippers having to kind of rotate lineups before, but I
don't like that that the rotation is having to be.
As Will said, there's a lot of variables, and as
a Clippers fan, I fear change and we don't need
any more variables than we're already dealing with. So that
would be my thing to work on. But I also
don't know how you work on health because part of
it is health and I don't know how the Clippers
can work on that.
Speaker 2: They don't know, They still don't figure it out.
Speaker 1: It's a very good point too, So I'm going Rotation,
will what is your one big thing and why is it?
Try and get Kevin Porter Junior back?
Speaker 2: It needs to be done.
Speaker 1: Send it.
Speaker 2: My thing is about it all year. But like when
are we taking off for azbots? Like when are we
going to be able to see him throughout the game
as a viable offensive option.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: I do think that it muddles it, even with Ben Simmons,
although I know that you aren't going to play together,
but you're just you're still kind of game playing around
two different centers and skill sets. Well you disagree, they've
they've been playing together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I agree they.
Speaker 2: You know, but that's not gonna be permanent, that's not forever.
We talked about this while you while you were wherever
the hell you were not. But Tyler, I mean Tyler
said he wanted to try Ben Simmons out with basically
every Rotation player, uh even even those two together, which
I don't know why he would even need to try that,
But I do think that you know that again is
another type of player that at the center position offers
something different. I realized they're trying to use them in
some of the same short role sets, trying to do
some some of the same things. But I think that,
you know, these zu wats needs to remain active offensively
throughout the games. And it's one of those things that
just feels really simple, especially when they go through these
droughts when the Clippers are for whatever reason, choosing to
take the most difficult shot on the floor and they're
just not going down. And when they are going down,
it's fine, like, hey, you you know, you want to
work twice as hard to get the same amount of
work done. I like, I've got coworkers like that. I
love those folks. That's great. But when it's when it's
not going down, it's, uh, it's a little bit more frustrating.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, we're talking to the number one two
Bots fan Adam Oslin here. I think I hope it
changes because, like you know, will you brought up that
the La Murray thing about how his shots per game
or per quarter.
Speaker 2: Thirty three percent less in the fourth quarter versus every
other quarter, and like there are games that you can
point to like that. It makes sense like it. You know,
it wasn't an option on the floor. You know, I'm
all in favor of you know, if teams are going
to throw the double at zoo, you have better options
on the floor, You have other options on the floor.
I think that that's fine. But otherwise, like you need
to get into an easy offense, especially when you're a
team that struggles to get buckets.
Speaker 3: Like I was as mad as anybody in frustrated with
what happened last night and him not getting a shot up.
But I had to call myself out because it's easy
to put out a tweet that says, how does the
beats Zubas not get a shot? It's a lot more
difficult to actually watch the entire fourth quarter with him
in the eight minutes he was out there seven minutes
and see that, Okay, they're playing zone, he's probably gonna
have to give it up right away. And multiple times
when they tried to get it to him, there was
a turnover. So it's not like they didn't try at all.
It's not like it was just Brook Lopez playing him
one on one. It's a lot more complex than that.
Speaker 4: And you do have two of the.
Speaker 3: Best ISO guys The two best ISO guys in the
game last season were Kawhi Leonard and James Harden most efficient,
and they mash up hunted and the Bucks were really good.
I think sometimes people got to remember the part where
two good teams are playing each other and sometimes the
other one gets the best of you, Like it does happen.
They're all expecting to win too.
Speaker 1: So let's say the Clippers fix all three of these
things and we get all of our brothers met. Do
you meet the Druthers? I don't know. We have our
Druthers in a bucket and things are going great. Where
do you see the Clippers finishing seating wise? I know
Will's talked about it. We have two at up to
this point, one of the most important games of the
season against the Lakers coming up seating wise, We're down
two and a half games to them. Will, Where are
the Clippers finishing seating wise? Should our Druthers fall from
this guy?
Speaker 2: Man? That's really I just think it's going to be
pretty difficult to make up much Brown. I think optimistically,
which is kind of you know, where we've been at
for a while, Like, I think optimistically probably looking at
that four or five matchup.
Speaker 1: Optimistically, and I think I think I mean, like, I
think holding on to six Like to me, that's not
the worst either though, and they need They are barely
holding on right now. We're a half game up on
the way, they're not catching the Grizzlies. I don't think
unless something really crazy happens with that, yeah, I think
four or five, and I think we'd be closer to five.
Speaker 2: I think I think it's firmly five. I don't think
they're covering. I just don't know that they're gonna get
three games up.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I think, and if they do, they
need to win two of the games. They need to
win both the games against Lakers coming up for their
best shot at that. So yeah, I'm gonna say I
think five to six. Adam, where are you at?
Speaker 3: But I think we're right back where we were with
predictions to start the season, where we all kind of
said they're a six seed at best, Like that's best
case scenario that they end up with a six spot. Now,
if they do beat the Lakers in both games, then
they have a chance, then they have a real chance
to get the five spot. But I wouldn't hate a
six to three matchup as it stands right now against
the Memphis Grizzlies in the first in the first round.
Like that, that's ideal to me.
Speaker 1: I don't know if ideal is the word that I
would use, but I can understand. I can see where
you how you could want it. But yeah, that's a
great point. We've come full circle now, right like we
saw this team overperform and think holy shit, maybe hey,
maybe there's something there. We get that four into it,
rocking for the first home playoff series, and now we're
firmly back to like six is is where it feels
like we're gonna be Hey.
Speaker 3: If Kawhi finds the version of himself from last season,
then they could go like fifteen to five in his
last twenty games of the season.
Speaker 4: That's that's the difference, man, the ideal.
Speaker 1: So they go and in my mind, in that scenario,
you know they're going seventeen to oh seventeen and oh
in March that they're winning a couple other games here
and there, and then they're they're losing the other one.
Speaker 2: Start Simmons next to Zoom, Yeah, fucking over, it's a
game over.
Speaker 1: Yeah you got you said Norm to the bench. You
start Simmons twenty five and two Paddy Mill. We also
got to figure we haven't talked about this very much
before we get out of here. There's some guys who
still are going to be working in the lineup, Like
if Patty Mills is going to play at all, is
Drew Eubank's going to play any real minutes? Like it
just feels like we're at that thing again now where
it's like these guys are just here, no disrespect to
them at all, but they're not playing.
Speaker 3: I think Drew you Banks could situationally against a bigger team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't think.
Speaker 3: Patty Mills was brought in to be a rotation player.
I think he was brought into entice. Maybe Ben Simmons,
and he's a great familar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he knows how to win. Yeah, that's a good call.
All right. Any other final thoughts before we head out
of here. I'm in weirdly Balmby Montana right now. Adam
escaped the void. Will is at his house. Any final
thoughts before we send these these Clippers fans back to
their weekend.
Speaker 2: It gets better, all.
Speaker 1: Right, it gets better? All right. We're going to be
back early next week, maybe do some postgame streams. It
depends what we're doing. Here's to a good stretch because
we have some very stressful games coming up. Will where
can people demand that their bosses, union leaders, mail people
listen to this podcast just to help them. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you want to help yourself, you can check
out this podcast wherever you get your podcast. If you
happen to listen over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you
can give us a little rating and review always helps
us out. If you wanted to watch us, which you should,
you do that over at YouTube dot com. That's at
Clippers Podcast. But yeah, however, you know you consume this show,
just know we appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We absolutely do, and Adam, we gotta do it. One
positive thing for the Clippers heading into this back to back.
Speaker 3: Just gotta feel like at some point the three point
shooting by opponents is going to turn back in the
clippers favor. Last eleven games in first quarters, they're almost
shooting fifty percent from three against the Clippers. Last four
games at first quarters, they're almost shooting sixty percent from
three last eleven games. Overall, all quarters, they are shooting
forty point three percent from three against the Clippers. While
the Clippers are still top ten an opponent three point
percentage on season, they have been good in this area.
What is happening here? Pacers please cool off? And they
did have a fifty point quarter I think that was
a franchise high for them yesterday. So maybe they got
out of there system and the Clippers will get an
Indiana Pacers team that will be overly confident and lay
down a little bit.
Speaker 1: There we go. I hope it happens. Thank you to
everyone for listening, thank you for watching, and as always,
let's go. Clips kind of got my fireworks