Speaker 1: What is going on, Clippers fans? It is me William
Updyke here with clips and ditt We're coming at you
Season three, episode forty seven. I hope that's right. If
you didn't notice, Charles isn't here. But we're gonna talk
about the Clippers putting away a couple of good wins
after we were worried about them limp beating into the
All Star Break. We're talking about the new additions in
Bogie and Ben Simmons, and then just talk a little
bit about the All Star break. Who needs this rest
the most? What we want to see from the Clippers
coming out of the All Star Break, And we're gonna
look a little bit at their schedule too, which is
a little grueling if you're looking at it. I'm joined
by Adam Oslin. Adam, I see you're in your car.
It's a beautiful day. How are you doing man?
Speaker 2: Speaking of things looking grueling? No, it is a beautiful
day out, so I thought i'd pod from the car.
I'm excited to Clippers here. It is day two of
the All Star Break, oram Palace on the three point
contest tonight, but we got to review what's been happening
then over the past week and just you know, going
from losing three games to winning three games row heading
into the All Star Break.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's a it's quite the change of fate. Uh. Well,
let's talk about this because we had a couple of
couple of good wins here, big win over the Jallis
Grizzlies one fourteen. Kawhi I think was probably most notable
in this one. He came out with twenty five, five
and four. Not as efficient as we're used to, but
I think if you if you go back and look
at all the shots that he took, it's very it's
very much like the Kawhi kind of highlight reel. He's
getting to his normal spots. He seems to be moving. Uh,
he seems to be moving really really well. We talked
in our last the last time all three of us
were together about some of the concerns about Kawhi. Did
this do anything to a sage any of your fears?
What were you seeing from uh from the claw on
this one?
Speaker 2: Oh? Is this a sage or a swage? Because I've
been saying a suaye forever? So am I dumbass here?
Speaker 1: I don't know you're asking the wrong person.
Speaker 2: Well, I did think it was a good perform Ormans
by Kawhi. It did quell some of my fears because
the three days off were significant. You wanted to see
how he looked after three days off, after he'd been
playing every other day for eighteen days. So it kind
of told us he was a little bit gassed out
there because he was moving noticeably different against the Memphis Grizzlies.
And I'll say this, I think he missed his first
three shots, so what was he nine for sixteen or
something like that after that, So he kind of got
some misses out of his system early. He got a
lot of good looks that still just didn't fall for him.
But it's all about the movement the gate. Does he
look like he's fluid out there? And I think Kawhi Leonard, Yeah,
he put a lot of that stuff to rest and
that's all I wanted to see. That was huge.
Speaker 1: He finally hit that three and then he ended out
his first shift there on kind of a little heater
and yeah, so he definitely got the misses out of
his system early. What about from the defensive end? Are
you feeling? And it is assuage by the way I'm
the dumbass, not you, So.
Speaker 2: It could probably go both ways, right Tomato Tobado.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm probably wrong here, but go ahead
and get at us pronunciation enthusiast in the chat. What defensively,
because I feel like that was that was your beer
concern really, right, Like, despite some of the offensive struggles,
you thought the way he was moving defensively looked notably different.
You bring up the fatigue. What were you seeing in
this one? Is he looking better on both ends of
the floor?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought he looked pretty good defensively. There were
still some rotations and little things that if you're nitpicking
and focusing in on one guy, you might see that
with anyone, even some of the best defenders in their prime.
Right now, I still think Kawhi it was interesting a lot.
Murray asked him postgame about how would you grade yourself defensively,
and Kawhi kind of threw it back at him and
then talked about, how, you know, I'm still learning Jeff
Van Gundy's system. It's a process right now. But I
think overall, all the numbers say they are much better
with him on the floor, not just offensively, where they
are like ten points per one hundred possessions better, but
even on the defensive.
Speaker 1: End, so mind blowing stuff that they yeah.
Speaker 2: Better with kawhile I just some people were still skeptical that, well,
they're so good defensively this season, any drop off could
be problematic. But Kawhi, he only strengthened strength for you,
so as long as he's moving well out there, and
I think this is more about a conditioning thing, him
just having more of his win because the minutes have
been going up while he was playing more games, So
it was very understandable that it could only be or
that it very likely would be just him not having
the gas in the tank, and then he had more
after three days off. So for me, that's all I
needed to see.
Speaker 1: I think, especially with like losing all the weight, I
think there's there there was bound to be a bit
of an adjustment period there too, because like you're stamming
and everything is different. Overall, I think it's great. I
love that he's like the leanest we've seen him in years,
but I do think that there might have been a
very real and it could still be ongoing, like sort
of an issue with some of the stamina stuff.
Speaker 2: That's a good point because just because you are leaner
doesn't necessarily mean you have better cardio. Like you're changing
your diet or eating less calories. Your body does have
to adjust to that. As someone who wants attempted to
get to ten percent body fat before the Clipper season started,
I know a little bit about this.
Speaker 1: Did you put that one to bed? Is that over? Now?
Speaker 2: It's over until I hit my mark that i'mo'd be
like I made it. I did it, and a span
of it'll be some awkward goal like you know, I
was just trying to do it within like a two
year stretch. So I finally got there. I met my goal.
You guys didn't know what my goal was.
Speaker 1: Clippers Western Conference Finals appearance or ten percent body fat?
Speaker 2: Why can't it be both? Probably with the way I've
been eating the last couple of weeks, I've been in
a bad place basically since Christmas. So Clippers Western Conference Finals, peirers,
I'll go there more like all right?
Speaker 1: Uh So we gotta talk about Chris Dunn. He was
back in the starting lineup in this one. He was
tied with Kwhi for a team best plus twenty five
in those minutes fourteen, three and five on some nuts
shooting splits eighty three percent from the field one hundred
percent from three. I'm curious what you thought, like, is
this a return to form for him? We've talked so
many times on the show. I feel like about the
law of averages, Like, yes, he's a low thirty shooter,
and so that means that he's gonna have stretches where
he goes what did he go at one point one
for twenty one or something like that, and then he'll
have like one hundred percent night performance to boost this up.
What did you think of him being back in the
starting lineup? Are you a fan still of this rotating thing?
And is this a could this be?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: Could this be a step in the right direction for
Chris don Like is he getting to where we'd need
him to be?
Speaker 2: I mean, for a second, I thought they were very
quietly phasing out the rotating positional thing with him in DETA.
Speaker 1: You would hope though, too, right?
Speaker 2: I yeah, But you know I did say initially, if
there are two guys who can make this work, because
DJ was really good off the bench in that game,
it is DJ and Chris Donne, because they're willing to
sacrifice because they do the little things out there, and
I don't know, they just seem to play hard no
matter what their role is. I was happy to see
him because I think going into that performance where he
was four or four from three against Memphis, Chris Dunn
was two for his last twenty three from the outside,
and I ran the numbers after the game, and just
going four to four in one game from three raised
his three point percentage from thirty percent to thirty two
percent on the season. Go so a lot of averages. Baby,
He's back where he's at as a career shooter basically
from three now. He went zero of one against Utah
the very next game, but obviously not high volume there.
I just felt like, aside, even aside from the three
point shooting, and maybe that played into his overall game
because he's knocking down shots, more confident out there, but
the five steals, he was so disruptive and it did
make sense to play him even against the jawless team.
They said pregame he was going to be the starter,
So when they found out Joe wasn't gonna be in
the starting lineup or playing for the Memphis Grizzlies. It
wasn't like they were gonna go, okay, we're going back
to DJ now twenty minutes before the game starts. They
were gonna stick with that. But that does make sense
to play him against a team like the Memphis Grizzlies
to have him back on the starting lineup, and it
played out that way. So I don't know. I guess
I can't knock it until there's a decent sample size
of it not working where they're rotating him in DJ.
Who again, DJ very good off the bench his first
time in a while, and he looked good.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Another guy I want to give a shout
out to a mere Coffee had like a great offensive
out pouring in this one. Fourteen points he got. He
got to the line seven times and shot one hundred
percent from there, so that was great to see. Also,
pretty good debut from Bogdon. We're not gonna go too
into depth right there right about this right now, because
I want to talk in the next segment a little
bit more about what we've seen from the new guys
so far. But let's move on to this overtime thriller
versus the Jazz Clippers pulled this one out in overtime,
they were down twenty points, ended up winning that one
one one sixteen. I mean, the highlight of this game
has got to just be the offensive heroics of Norm
and Harden. Right, Harden finished with thirty two in this
one and Norm had forty one, shooting fifty percent from
the floor. What was it like? Was it just back
against the wall? Need a win for the All Star Break? Like?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: This is the best duel like offensive outing we've seen
from both of them together in a while. What were
you seeing there? Is this replicable?
Speaker 2: Hey, not to mention the offensive heroics of Ben Simmons doubling.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to it. We're going to get
to it. I said the highlight.
Speaker 2: Okay, James Harden playing fifty minutes basically on the second
night of a back to back is just insane and
waving off the coach trying to bring him out of
the ballgame. He plays the entire second half into overtime.
He is a badass. He's an absolute tank. He is
one of the more reliable players at this age in
an NBA career that we've ever seen. Just taking on
the minute slow and.
Speaker 1: Have a problem with this guy you know what I mean, Like,
I just feel like he has such a bad reputation,
like as a teammate and like player and worker, and
I feel like it's one of those bizarre narratives where like,
if you've ever had him on your team, the man
is trying to play as many positions in every single
possible game.
Speaker 2: And you know, maybe late bloomer when it comes to maturity,
and maybe some of those issues were real. But give
him credit because he's been awesome as a Clipper. All
I care about is how he's played with this organization.
I'm not worried about whatever perceived baggage there was before
because he has been perfect for them this season, especially
starting with the offseason workouts. He held them privately in Arizon,
getting all the guys together, and then just leading by
example on the court, making sure that he is still
the system with having that responsibility of having to score
out there while also setting up everyone. But that game
just epitomized him being the MVP of this team this season.
There are a lot of guys who've been great. You
can make the argument for Norm, you can make the
argument for Vitzuzubas, but I'm still going with James Harden,
even though the efficiency numbers haven't been there as much
when you look at somebody in his min thirties doing
as much as he is tasked with, I just feel
like everything else is more reliant on James Harden than
he is on those other variables and factors from players
out there. It starts with James Harden. And for him
to have those ten points in the fourth quarter after
they were down by nine, hitting into the fourth quarter,
they don't get into overtime without him big shots and
I don't know, I just him pulling them through at
normOn Pall, obviously in overtime, really pulling them through at
the very end. That was one of the best performances
of the season, easily, even against Utah. I mean the
Lakers had just lost to them the night before in
Utah that they easily could have had a foot out
the door. They could have said, hey, we just beat
this team by twenty back into it home last Saturday
less than a week ago. They didn't have a letdown.
I don't know how'd you feel about that one and
where it ranks on the season, will because I thought
that was one of the best victories.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean anytime you're getting a twenty point comeback,
especially if you're a team like this that struggles so
much offensively, you know, it's a massive win. The all
around performance from James was nuts because he still added
ten assists and seven boards to the scoring there. And
I think, like, to me, it's almost even more impressive
because as you brought up the minutes load and the
second night of a back to back, where in the
first night against the Grizzlies, it's not like Harden and
how were non factors do just relatively quiet nights for
both of them. So knowing that you're coming into a
long break, like, it's like you said, it just be
very easy to check out. It'd be very easy to
have one foot out the door. And even as like
a fan and someone who covers this team all the time,
I'd be like, it's kind of understandable, you know, at
the last game before the break, but for them to
like really put their foot on the gas to get
this one out, I mean, yeah, it's a huge win
and a huge thing. I just think that we were
all concerned about was limping into the All Star break,
Like it's just not a good look. It's not a
good feeling, and for them to go into the Aulstar
break with the three game winning streak, it's just drastically
kind of different than where I thought we might be,
say a week ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so many people after the three game losing
streak were saying, Oh, we didn't do enough at the
trade deadline. This team is run out of gas, they're cooked.
This is that turning point. Maybe Kawhi is not helping,
he's actually hurting this team. All the sky is following
stuff I had heard has been put to bed now
because of the way they played the last three games.
Even when they weren't their best, they still found ways
to win. Because they're down twenty in the first half.
I think it was fifty to thirty in that game
in Utah. Then they're down sixteen with four minutes left
in the third quarter, they had every reason to say
it's not our night, it's not gonna happen. Unfortunately, we
are hitting the wall at the wrong time, right before
the All Star break, and instead they say, no, we're
gonna get this one out. We're just going to find
a way to win. I think in past years they
lose a game like that, So what showed their Will
It showed their mental toughness out there, so great.
Speaker 1: A great couple of wins for the Clippers. Great to
go into the All Star Break on a three game
win streak. Coming up next, we're gonna talk the new
editions in Bogie and Ben Simmons. So yeah, there's gonna
be a quick ad coming up. If you're listening on audio,
if you're watching, hey, we'll just still be here. So
ad coming up in three two one.
Speaker 2: Welcome back. In It's Clips and Dips Season three, episode
forty seven, I'm a a Maslin. We got Will Updyke,
no chef Mockler. But a lot to get into with
these new Clipper here.
Speaker 1: First, you gotta address things are gonna look different. What
do you mean where are you? What happened? Your car
turned into a studio.
Speaker 2: It's just changed the green screen.
Speaker 1: Oftimus Prime over there inside.
Speaker 2: The car, auto bots transform and roll out. Yeah. I
had to go into work because I was having some
connectivity issues here with my g damn phone in the
hotspot I was using that was very much ineffective. So
I came into the office. We are back on. This
is how hard we work for you guys to make
sure you got a new episode of Clips and Dip.
Let's talk about some hard work and new clippers here. First, Bogie,
he's played two games Ben just one against the Utah Jazz.
But Bo, Don, Bobdanovich, your early takeaways from one of
your newest clippers here will I.
Speaker 1: Mean, I thought, offensively, he looked really good versus the Grizzlies.
I believe he was a team worse minus ten, but
I'd have to go back and like look at those
lineups and what was going on there. But he is
incredibly efficient. Seventy five percent from a floor, fifty percent
from three looked really comfortable and confident. Honestly, similar numbers
against the Jazz seven to one and two, so you know,
he's like basically identical. The shooting splits from this looked
a lot worse. He was three of ten from the floor,
is just one of six from three. He did add
three steals in that one, which I think is something
interesting to think about, is like how he's going to
fit into the defensive plan for everything. I guess the
shooting thing. I feel like we've talked about this with
other Clippers before, like it's it's been so bad this season.
Then you know, again back to the law of averages,
I have no choice but to believe that it's it's
going to be better. I just don't think that it's
going to continue at the rate that it has all
season long. But you know, I think that just having
another guy out there who you have to respect on
the floor, and I think even in his current shooting
slump on the season, I don't think that most defenses
are playing to it averages. I still think they're depending
on who was on the floor obviously, but they're still
going to respect him as a shooter. And we just
need another guy who can kind of move around off
ball and just kind of open things up a little
bit more. What have you seen so far? What do
you think about the shooting splits? And then how do
you think he fits into this defensive identity for the Clippers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't put a ton into him only shooting
thirty percent from the outside with Atlanta this season, because
he only took one hundred and forty six threes like
the year before he took six hundred and forty one. Oh,
We're talking about a guy who typically is at a
much higher volume than this, and I just don't think
it's obviously not indicative of who he's been throughout his career.
He's a thirty eight percent right on the dot three
point shooter his career average. I think, you know, maybe
he won't get back to there, maybe he'll only be
thirty seven percent or thirty six percent. But he's not
going to shoot thirty percent the rest of the season
with the Clippers, I don't believe, as long as he
gets a healthy amount of three balls up. And his
first shot in this first make with the Clippers was
a three on like a slip screen on I think
the right wing in that game against Memphis, off a
pass maybe from James Harden. But I've liked the activity,
I've liked the movement. I've always liked the player, and
I think this Clippers team has had a need there
because the three point shooting was way down. Over like
a fifteen game stretch, they were shooting thirty three percent
from the outside. Now over the last ten they're shooting
almost thirty seven percent from three. Obviously a lot of
that has to do with Kawhi Leonard being out there
and not necessarily what he's been shooting from three, but
the gravity, the spacing, all that stuff helps, and I
think Bogie can help in those areas too. He's another
floor spacer, and even though he wasn't knocking down shots
at a high rate against Utah, he was one of
the guys that was between him and Chris Dunn rotating
out in that game late against the Utah Jazz. So
coach Lou already trusts him as he should. He's a vet.
I'm a big Bogie balls, so I'm expecting good things
with him in a Clipper's uniform.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And then I mean this segues into the other edition,
Ben Simmons, who through one game I think is overachieved,
even for the Ben Simmons optimists. I think he even
for you, yeah, even for me. Yeah. He played twenty
seven minutes in his first game as a Clipper, finished
with twelve seven and six, added three steals in a
block he was four or five from the floor. And
I think the thing that's like most significant to me
is I loved the shot profile, like I loved where
they were getting him. You know, he got to the
rim a couple of times on his own, which was
great to see that that that sort of like athleticism
is still there and just like the confidence and drive,
because I do think I do think the confidence and
like the mental game was a huge took a huge
step back for him obviously, you know, having a back
injury and that that sort of stuff being so sort
of mercurial and up in the air doesn't ever help.
But seeing him confident to get to the rim, I
thought was great. I loved I belie his first made
bucket as a Clipper was an oop from James Harden
wherein he kind of a seven foot man kind of
snuck behind the defense. If you if you go back
and look at the clip, he's literally like kind of
crouched down, like literally like slow creeping towards the rim,
behind the defense. And I think that that is going
to play as a huge Clippers strength. Defenses are going
to ignore him. That'll change obviously in the playoffs. That
will change if he continues to perform the way he does,
but that like it is going to be a very
real thing where he is not going to be watched
as much, especially off ball, and I think that, you know,
obviously he's not going to be a shooter. I'm not
expecting anything like that from him, but just him being
able to get those sort of cuts. Him being able
to get behind a defense I think is great. We
also saw him used in sort of the short role
at how they kind of use Zoo and he had
those you know, he had He had a couple of
little nice shots there. So I'm loving the shot profile.
I'm loving the athleticism and his ability to sort of
push the ball. This was better than I expected. I'm wondering,
like it could this? Is this too good? Too soon?
Are we because I think that we're bound to be.
There's gonna be a stretch of Ben Simmons games. I
think it was a law that said that used the
word patience. I think it's one of those things that
Clippers fans might have to exercise some patients with through
some stretches. What are you seeing so far? What do
you think is the ceiling for Ben Simmons on his team?
Speaker 2: Honestly, a performance like that he may have peaked in
Game one. No, I think he has more of those
in him, But it's not gonna be like that all
the time. Is by point he's gonna have.
Speaker 1: Some If he does, this team is like in a
different stratosphere. Yeah, Like I'll just say that, Like I
don't expect that, but to be fair, if you if
you did or could, it puts this team in like
an entirely different stratosphere.
Speaker 2: Well, I do think he adds another dimension. I don't
know if they win that game without him against the
Utah Jazz because they went small. What was interesting was
he was playing the four on defense, but the five
on offense, the point center on offense while still not
guarding the big guy out there that was Niko Batoum
playing the five defensively. They just have so many ways
to match up now if they can unlock the best
version of Ben Simmons. And you talk about his confidence.
He had that steal where he took it the other
way for a layup and I thought when he got
it he was gonna wait for the cavalry to arrive
and dish it off and give it somebody else to finish. Instead,
he did and I think he fell to the floor.
It was a tough layup in transition that one. Yeah,
that easily could have been a foul there. And he's
still getting no respect from the officials. But it's one game.
This is somebody who I don't know, I have high
hopes for because it would just be cool to see
another guy who has a resurgence as a Clipper and
it's all there in front of him for this to
happen in a Clipper's uniform. Like, I really do believe
in his skill set and as long as he is confidence,
the mental game is there from him and that support
system with the Clippers I think is very important. This is,
you know, the best place he's been cultural ever in
his NBA career. Like, it's laughable to me that people
still hold him accountable for some of the stuff in Philly.
It's like, wait a second, Ben Simmons been gone for
a while, Guys, it still seems like they got issues there.
I don't think it was him, Like I'm not trying
to point any fingers, but well it's pretty obvious it
wasn't Ben Simmons that was the problem.
Speaker 1: And again I don't want to point fingers. Yes, there,
he like had the opportunity for a layup that would
have tired or given them the lead in that game
that got eliminated in But like Joelle Embiid has also
never had He's never matched even his regular season production
in like it through a postseason. So there's a lot
of issues there. I'm not going to point the blame.
I'm not gonna throw anybody under the bus. I'm not
Doc Rivers here, But I do think I'm curious your
thoughts on this because we talked a little bit about
the rotating lineup with the additions of Ben Simmons and
bogged In. What do you think that does for Chris
Dunn spot in the rotation? Like, does that facilitator necessity?
Hey a move for him to the starting lineup? If
you know, if he if his three point shooting continues
to be more of the two for twenty three type
of stretch we saw versus the one hundred percent stretch
that we saw, Like, does that make it a little
bit more difficult to have him on the floor in
a second unit with these two other guys? Like what
do you think this does for the Chris Dunn of
it all?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously it puts more of a necessity
on him knocking down those shots from the outside because
Ben Simmons, that's that's never been a part of his game.
That's not it won't be a part of his games.
So you already know going in kind of where those
two guys are when it comes to shooting. I'm trying
to think how much they played together in those small
ball lineups, because I mentioned it was Bogie and Chris
Dunn getting rotated in and out near the end of
that ball game. I think Chris Dunn just needs to
be somewhat of a threat because you can't have like
it's gonna happen at times Coach lou Will try as
he did Ben Simmons next to of Vitza Zubats, And
I'm not saying that that was the entire reason. First
of all, Vitza Zubats had a bad game and off
game for him, but they went I think minus five
and three minutes with those two on the floor next
to one another. And meanwhile, Ben Simmons was really good.
I think was like a plus I don't know, fourteen
and sixteen minutes in the small ball lineups. It's not
always going to be like that, but yeah, I'm looking
at Okay, Niko Batoum next to James Harden, next to Bogie,
next to Ben Simmons, next to Chris done that line up,
So him next to Chris done there, and that specific
configuration went minus four and three minutes in that game.
So I'm trying to see how many minutes he actually
played next to Chris done if that was the only
stretch of him in the small ball unit, and he
may not be able to play those guys next to
one another. It's very possible here will, I mean, it
makes all the sense in the world. You can't have
two non shooters like that that don't It's one thing
if you have a guy who's a rim runner, like
a Visa zoobots even out there next to Ben Simmons.
But what exactly if Chris Dudd isn't shooting, it will
going to be doing next to Ben Simmons out there?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and then it just depends on who else
is out there too, because then you can't play Kawhi
out there. I feel like that gets like sort of
his areas where he likes to operate so clogged, Like
it just puts a lot of defenders in areas where
he likes to move. Yeah, I don't know. And it's
different too, because obviously there's still a fair amount of
the regular season left, a little less than half, so
we have some time to figure it out. It's it's
much different to me in a playoff scenario because you
know you're not going to see as many bench heavy lineups,
you know, like there's always going to be I would
assume for the most part, there's going to be two
of the of Norman Powell, uh Kawhi and Harden on
the floor at all times, or you know, much as
they as much as they possibly can. So that kind
of changes things out a little bit, and you're really
just at that point, you're really just lean in either
Simmons or Zoo. I would imagine, I think we'd be
past the point of trying to play them together at
that point, So I think, you know, my thing with
Ben Simmons and why I was so high on the addition,
is like we just need another true sort of ball handler.
I think that this team could always use more athleticism
and size, and he certainly brings both of those things
to the table. But the question was, just like Ken,
you surround him with enough shooting, and I think for
the most part the answer is yes. It just depends
on you know, what Chris Done looks like, and honestly,
like like Bogden and his shooting and how that all
works out is going to be a factor as well.
The thing with Bogden, though, that I think helps a
little bit more is just his motion off ball and
how how comfortable he is moving without the ball, and
I think that that is a little bit more dynamic
than Chris Dunn where and even if Bogden isn't making
those shots, like the motion and the activity still demands
a little bit more respect from the defense.
Speaker 2: And to be fair to the conversation surrounding Ben Simmons
playing next to Chris Dunn, I brought up that minus
four lineup, but there's another one that went plus five
with Ben Simmons next to Chris Dunn, with Niko Batoom,
James Harden and Norman Powell instead of Bogey in this one. Now,
they played nine minutes and they went plus five. So
you know how much of that is just okay, James
Harden was hot during that stretch, or normOn Powell that's
when he was cooking during that stretch. Can you put
a lot into it? Fundamentally, it doesn't feel like you
should be able to play Chris Dunn and Ben Simmons
next to one another. But maybe it's if Ben Simmons
is such a good passer and connector out there that
he can be a hub on offense and keep the
ball moving, and Chris Dunn is also a willing passer.
They still can create open shots because they're not slowing
down the ball movement. And maybe that's part of the
theory that if you have both them out there but
they're passing it well, and you got them next to
Norm but Toom and James Harden, like in that lineup
that was a plus five there, maybe there is something.
Maybe there are ways, and it's gonna come down to
matchup still, and you do have more guys that might
be specialists with this Clippers team that you really have
to be careful with how to use them. And Ben
Simmons is another one of those guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I want to practice this by
saying I'm not taking any anything away from Zubax, like
what he's done this season. You know, the body of work.
We know that he should be demanding the minutes, should
be demanding the shots. But when he's not on the floor,
A front court of Nico and Ben is like really
exciting to me just in the way that you know,
you have some shooting with Nico, you have two phenomenal
passers and guys who can you know, really get after
it defensively, you know, still pretty switchable, even Nico at
his age. So I like, I think the bat is
a really really interesting front court if you can make
it work. It depends on the sort of the machinations
around it. But I think anytime you can't have Zoo
on the floor like that to me is like your
is your best anecdote or your best antidote to not
having uh to not having your you know, your one
a big man on the floor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is playoff type stuff because I don't
know what did be two me end up playing in
that game thirty minutes. That's not something I want to
see much moving forward outside of a few select games
here and there, because I've been saying since the beginning
of the season, you have to preserve Niko Batoum because
he can swing a playoff series for you, not just
a game, but using him the right way in a
playoff series with lineups like these can change everything. I
still believe that's there in him, just like it was
in the twenty twenty one run for the Clippers, where
he can be that impactful for them against certain teams.
So I don't want to wear him down. I understand
they're about that the All Star break. It makes all
the sense in the world to empty the tank in
that game against Utah, so he played heavier minutes. But
that is something I'll be monitoring.
Speaker 1: Definitely, definitely, all right, before we move on to some
All Star Break talk in the Clippers upcoming schedule, do
you have any other parting thoughts on Bogie or Ben?
Speaker 2: I really think they brought in two guys that First
of all, the only reason they could get one of
them is because he was bought out and is no
longer a superstar that you know, we'll be making forty
million dollars on his next contract in Ben Simmons, And
it was on a team that was tanking, and so
they want to take away one of their better players
so they can have a better chance for Cooper Flag.
So very very strange situation there. And then you have
another unique situation with Bogie only playing twenty four games.
His shooting has been off, coming off a season where
he might have his best year just you know, less
than a year ago where he was they had seventeen
points per.
Speaker 1: Game, finished top five in six year voting.
Speaker 2: So I think he was right behind Norm, Like Norm
was fourth and he was fifth. So the only reason
you were able to get these two guys, it's not
because you know they were doing great and the Clippers
had to give up so much for them. They really
were able to get two guys with much higher upside
because the unique circumstances going on right now, Like Lawrence
Frank cooked with these two because people have been talking
about how and you, I think you brought it up.
Ben Simmons. It's two birds one stone with him, because
not only did they need a ball handler and a playmaker,
they needed something else to the backup big position. He's
not traditional big, but he can do some things there.
And then Bogie was very much needed with his shooting
with this team. I think they really they really well.
Time will tell, but this could be one of or
two of the sneaky good moves of the trade deadline
that are being a little bit overlooked just because of
how those guys were currently or the situations they were
in and how they were currently playing. They're both better
than what we've seen at those previous stops, and if
the Clippers bring out the most in them, they might
also swing a playoff game or turn a series around
if used correctly, and if they're at the top of
their game. Again with this Clippers team, I think they
really made some interesting moves here at the trade deadline.
Speaker 1: I yeah, I agree one hundred percent. And this is
one of those moves that, given what the Clippers could
do or we're willing to do, not even could do,
but like we're willing to do. We know they weren't
willing to empty the coffers. We know, you know that
they don't want to take on a whole bunch of
long term money, and obviously they need to hold on
to what few assets they have. This was the best
case scenario. This was the best possible trade deadline that
they could have had, given you know, what they want.
And I think it's going to get overlooked, probably rightfully
so with some of the larger additions and movements across
the league, because this was kind of an eventful trade deadline.
But this isn't a one of these are these aren't
nothing moves for the Clippers like this, you know, we thought,
you know, we we thought that we might just be
looking at a consolidation move, you know, like just just
sort of consolidating some of the players. I think that
this team got you know, did more than consolidation. They
got better theoretically, you know, we still have to see
how it all pans out, but they got were able
to get better at the trade deadline without you know,
giving up needed assets, still a bummer and loose terns,
but not giving up like super crucial assets or having
to sort of up end the team's identity that they've
built so far through the season. So I think that
this was like really really great.
Speaker 2: For what they gave up. Basically, they might have gotten
significantly better in a playoff series for what they gave up.
Like it could turn out to be the case, but
as you mentioned, we'll see.
Speaker 1: We will see. So coming up, we're gonna talk a
little bit about the All Star break and the Clippers
hillacious schedule coming out of there ad break coming up
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Speaker 2: Well, welcome back in clips and dip. I'm out of Maslam.
We got will Updyke pour one out for Chuck Mockler
Valentine's Day weekend whatever he's got going on. We're visiting
him right now, but we're pushing forward and we're looking
ahead to what the All Star post All Star Break
schedule is going to be for this Clippers team. First
of all, when we're talking about who needs it most,
I don't know if there's anywhere to look more than
James Harden after just playing fifty minutes on the second
night like that was insane. Big Zoo also looked gast
in that game, and I think Kawhi Leonard a little
bit of a reset after playing every other day. I
know we got three days off before the Memphis game.
Speaker 1: Could also what's the difference Stark and how he looked
on the floor.
Speaker 2: So with the upcoming schedule with more back to backs
where he will get more rest because of that factor,
they're not going to have another stretch where they play
I think nine games every other day the rest of
the season, this could be big for him too. I
don't know, is anybody who are missing here will?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: I like that you brought Zoo into it too, because
I feel like he's one of those guys who I
think endoors through a lot and sometimes it shows on
the floor. Yeah, Like there have even been games this
season where you can tell, uh, the way that he's
moving physically running up and down the court, that he's
like definitely a little gassed. And I don't even mean
to like, I'm not even calling into it into question
his overall conditioning or anything like that. I think it's
like a cumulative knocks thing where he you know, he's
an iron man and he's like trying to play through
a lot of stuff. So I think I think that
one's huge. James Harden is, you know, the most obvious
one what he's done this season. You know, we talked
about it up top, but it is truly unique and incredible.
What a guy with both his age but also his
specific usage, what he's still doing is absurd. So I
think the break will be good. I'm curious to see
if there's like a little bit of a readjustment period
for him, you know, like if he has a couple
of less than ideal games out of the gate, out
of the All Star Break. But yeah, I think that
those are the main ones, and I think that it
could be big for Norm as well. And then obviously
just getting a few practices in with these additions that
we talked about last segment could be so huge for
the Clippers. I think that it's big and you know,
maybe Chris Dunn can get some shots up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a few different guys need to bull Durham clear
the mechanism a little bit when it comes to some shooting. Wow.
Was I also wonder is Kawhi gonna step on the
gas a little bit more coming out of the break.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a great point.
Speaker 2: Twenty eight games left something like that? Is he really
gonna show us something more? Because they've been going through
these phases of him coming back and at first it
was like the preseason he's playing twenty minutes, then twenty four,
then twenty eight, then thirty now thirty four. Are we
gonna see Kawhi now in a place where he's you know,
as close as you can get to playoff Kawhi, you know,
ramped up regular season Kawhi where he's got more of
a green light to take over to ISO and we
just see more burst out there. Generally, I think that
game against Milwaukee, what next Thursday is going to be
really interesting to watch Kawhi Leonard and see how he looks.
Speaker 1: That's a great point too, because you know, we talked
about it when he first returned how it was pretty
clear that he was kind of playing with the governor
on on the offensive side of the floor. He wasn't
you know, he wasn't quite as aggressive, And I think, yeah,
looking at how much is left of the season, certainly
looking at the standings does give him a little bit
more of a green light to sort of empty the
tank and really go for these things. I think got
you bring up the schedule because the first game out
of the break, we are taking on the Bucks, and
then it's a right after that, it's a three and
four on the road with travel you got the Pacers, Pistons,
and the Bulls, and then it's back to La still
technically away, still technically a visiting team for a double
header versus the Lakers. What are you expecting from the
Clippers from this stretch? What did the Clippers need? Like,
what's the most important thing for the Clippers coming out
of this All Star break?
Speaker 2: You think? I mean, they got to win some games
against the West, and if they could win both against
the Lakers, that would be huge for the head to
head tiebreaker going on, Like, that's it's imperative for them.
Speaker 1: It's the other situation where you're fine if they go
two and four over this stretch as long as it's
both wins against.
Speaker 2: The uh No, not this close to the finish line.
They need to win ball games like they probably Let's see,
if they want to be a top six seed, go
four and two. If you want to be a top
six seed in the Western Conference, go four and two.
And if two of those victories are against the Lakers, great,
they have to at worst get the split against them.
But yeah, I don't know if that's gonna be enough
because the Lakers, you know, then it bumps to conference record,
and they have a much better conference record. I don't
think it goes to Pac DIV after head to head.
I think it goes to conference record.
Speaker 1: It's conference.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So man, those two games are going to be
massive and fascinating watches. Of course, the Lakers with Luca now,
but I think four and two is what they need
to do if they want to be a top six
seed in the West, because things they're gonna be too tight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's certainly possible. Like I said, you worry about it,
I mean, you worry about the rest. Then it is
kind of a lot coming out of the All star break,
but hopefully with a week they'll look a little bit better.
Where where do you think what side of the ball
do you think needs the most attention right now for
the Clippers? Are you seeing the defense like sort of
after a bit of a fallof are you seeing it
snap back in the place? What do you think offensively
like that? Because that's where the team has struggled all
season long. Are they in a little bit better place now?
Speaker 2: I think they're figuring it out again defensively and Chris
Dunn getting back to playing his brand of basketball has
been huge for them the last couple of games. Aside
from those hot shooting against Memphis again, he just looked
more like himself with the defensive effort there. And they've
been generating turnovers again, which was something I was worried
about for a while, where they just weren't doing something
that is kind of a non negotiable for this.
Speaker 1: I think twenty one versus the Grizzlies something like that.
It was it was a lot and they.
Speaker 2: Had forty one points off of turnovers, which may have
been a franchise high since they tracked it in like
ninety six or something like that. It was an absurd number,
and they got turnovers again against Utah. This is something
they have to do. Almost twenty percent of their points
in every game come off of turnovers. They're the second
best team behind Oka See with points off of turnovers.
So defensively, I am feeling better after a stretch there
where it just seemed like, yeah, they were tired, but
they also wanted adhering to those defensive principles. Offensively, Coach
Lou has been talking about almost like a reset with
what they're going to be doing there and maybe getting
back to basics or fundamentals of what Coach Lou always preaches.
But it seems like they're trying to I don't know.
I have a clean slate for the Vets, the guys
who've been there for a while, and then also the
new guys obviously, so everybody's kind of starting in the
same place as they build up the offense. It almost
sounded like a complete teardown, but I don't know if
it can be that extreme this late into the season,
and I don't think coach Lou is completely changing what
he's been doing forever offensively, and they're still going to
lean into ISO with Kawhi and James Harden because they're
top two. Last season, they were the top two ISO
guys in points per possession. You play to your players strengths,
but I think offensively, it's going to be more interesting
to see what happens down the stretch here because obviously
on the season where they seven teenth or eighteenth or
nineteen somewhere there in offensive rating, but the last ten games,
I want to say they're thirteenth or fourteenth. So clearly
with Kohai back, he has helped them almost get back
to being a top ten offense, you know. So if
they get to a top ten offense while not falling
out of being a top five defense, that's the sweet
spot right there.
Speaker 1: To me, Yeah, I think I don't think they need
to like reinvent the wheel so much. I am in
favor of sort of like a return to fundamentals and
maybe a teardown. We talked about sort of how there
was a lot of guys on the Clippers roster that
are sort of like one specific tool, and I do
think that, like offensively, that that means that you sort
of have to broaden how you play to adjust for
a lot of people, and like what I see with
these couple of auditions like editions here is like Bogie
very much filling a role that the Clippers have kind
of traditionally had. You know, you can you can pop
him into like old lup Caernard sets. You can certainly
use him in ways that they would use norm off
Ball with that second unit. And then in Ben Simmons,
I mean, I think that he's such a great fit
because you can, you know, you can run a lot
of the same stuff that you run for Zoo for him.
So I think that there can be sort of like
a simplification and a return to basics that I do
think could just make things a little bit more direct,
and I think that the Clippers would sort of benefit
from that.
Speaker 2: You know, what does concern me about the schedule here?
As soon as they get back three of the first
four teams they face our top ten in pace that
would be the Bucks, that would be Indiana and Chicago.
I worry about the cumulative effect that could take. Talking
about in early three and four.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of games. Yeah, that first game back
is the twentieth, I want to say, and then.
Speaker 2: Whatever next Thursdays, Yeah, February twentieth, you're.
Speaker 1: Right, And then they Yeah, so they have that one.
I think they have two days off and then a
three and four, so is definitely gonna be I mean,
that's definitely gonna be a stretch to watch for, especially
if they if they need to go four into as
you as you're thinking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and teams that are playing fast there, so there
could be some tired legs early on. Or maybe it's
a blessing in disguise to get those fast teams right
out of the gate after you have a bunch of
time off. I don't know. The schedule is gonna be brutal.
We've known this all season. We know how it goes
with the Clippers. They just have to find a way.
And if Kawhi is ramping things up or feeling even better,
like we're fifteen games in now and so far Kawhi
says he feels great, that's a blessing in itself that
there's been no setback, you know, knock on wood of course,
speak of the Dell. I just you know, I have
a lot of concern of course over the knee swelling,
and so far, so good. That's something right there. We
should probably acknowledge fifteen games in that everybody talking about
you know, when they lost three games in a row
the sky following stuff I mentioned earlier, It's like, guys,
they're in good shape. They're eight games, about five hundred.
They've had Kawhi for fifteen games. He hasn't had a
setback yet. We're doing all right here, I think, Yeah.
Speaker 1: We're looking pretty good. We're looking pretty good. Where with
All Star we can going on. Where do you think
Norm finishes in this three point competition?
Speaker 2: I mean number one, one, one one's he's so damn competitive.
I'm excited for this. When we saw some of the
practice footage of him getting up shots and he looks good.
So I hope he's not putting too much pressure on himself.
And I think I'm going to live stream watching it
later tonight on Clipper's Talk. But I hope he's not
putting too much pressure on himself because that's where things
could go wrong, where coach Leu has had to tell
him like it's okay, you're going to miss. Sometimes you
do have to be so hard on yourself. But he's
a maniacal worker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you think James Harden gets a strip the All
Star Game? Yeah, he adds. He adds an All Star
Strip to the to the Hard and Strip Club.
Speaker 2: I mean, if they're playing a level of defense that
they should be to make it a competitive game. Yeah,
I hope. So that's all I want to see. I
don't know, I don't even understand some of the format.
I'm watching the rising.
Speaker 1: I don't even bother, baby, I don't even bother trying
to keep up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a moving target. With how they're doing this
All Star game and switching things up, is it's still
the elam rules, but with I think that what they're
trying to do is and I saw this last night
too where they had three games four teams leads to
three games. Two teams play each other, and then the
winner of that game play each other. So the hope
is I think the NBA is saying we're bound to
get one good game if we have them playing three
on Sunday. That's that's what I think they're going with.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that holds, but I you know,
I like the I like the thought process. I suppose
do you have any uh, do you have any parting
thoughts on on All Star weekend or where the Clippers
are heading in or where they need to be coming out.
Speaker 2: Uh. I just want to commend them again for that
level of focus heading into the All Star break. There
is you touched upon it earlier too. That speaks to
something about this team that is not nothing. To be
down twenty in Utah and not pack it in, to
be down sixteen with like sixteen minutes left and not
pack it in, that was a I don't know, a
character building type of win. Something born out of this
type of win. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah. I took
a long way to get to where I eventually was
going the entire time. I just I don't know. I
like the competitive edge this team showed against Utah in
that game, because you could say, oh, why would they
down twenty to begin with? At them? I don't know.
They hit nine fing three's of the first quarter. The
records eleven, they hit nine.
Speaker 1: It was as a team like I think they only had.
They were only like three Jazz players who weren't in
double digits.
Speaker 2: It was you know, yeah, Philipowski had his best game
as an NBA player so far. They played well. They
were playing to win too. So the important part is
the Clippers gutted it out when they needed to, and
I think that bodes well for what to expect from
this team in the future. When the going gets tough.
We saw him just lose three in a row. They
made up for it. They won three straight and a
game where you can make all the excuses in the
world to lose, and they didn't lose it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That being said, when the going gets tough for you
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You know we gotta do it before we before we
send these fine folks out of here's what's what's our
shining light? What's our positive thing that we're gonna end on?
Speaker 2: Oh? I spoke about so much positivity already I should Okay,
I got something. So over the last ten games, this
is a crazy number teams are shooting their best three
point percentage against the Clippers. Over the last ten games,
teams have been shooting. Hold on, stay with me. Teams
have been shooting forty point four percent from three over
the last ten games, and that's against the Clippers. It
is the worst percentage or the best percentage, depending on
how you look at it. If you're the opposition, they've
been lighting them up. But I've looked into a lot
of the numbers and they're giving up the same amount
of open threes and wide open threes, and I think
it's just flooky shooting. It just happens sometimes like you're
on the wrong end of it. I think at times
they've been on the right end of it where they're
not closing out and guys are just missing against them.
But the point is to be six and four over
a ten game stretch where teams have been shooting over
forty percent against you, that is very rare. Like they
should be four and six at worse, not at worse,
but at best, And somehow they're six and four over
that time Like that. That tells you. Because their defensive
rating over the last ten games isn't twenty ninth, it's
still I think thirteen, So they're doing things right in
all these other areas. There's just some shooting that's gone
against them, but it hasn't. Yeah, OK, that's impressive.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll take it. Thank you so much everybody
for tuning in, and as Charles always says, let's go
clips