Speaker 1: What's going on? Clippers fans just doing a very quick
thirty minute hang or so to talk about that fantastic
win against the Nuggets in Denver. My name is Chuck Buckler,
not William Updyke, like the name tag says. What a
what an afternoon for Clippers basketball. The Clippers win one
O nine, one oh four behind a hute an insane
game from Norman Powell. James Harden was dishing chunk. We
absolutely are up. I believe Will Updyke is gonna come
hang in a second. Uh a game. We're doing a
quick street before the Dodgers game. How's everyone feeling? Yes,
what a wain. Jimmy g Zoo was huge. I think
I think Norm gets the game. Ball is what we're
going with. Uh oh, it's William, It's our year. Up dyke,
will how are you feeling?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man, incredible, incredible, Never doubted it is the is
the crazy thing. Never doubted it one time. Uh No,
what a game. Jokic career high in threes, going absolutely
off like that. The Clippers, who supposedly aren't even supposed
to have an offense able to overcome that one. Just incredible,
just incredible stuff. And the execution down the stretch was
a vast improvement from what we saw in Game one.
So it's nice to see that this team is already
kind of figuring stuff out on the fly. You know.
We the thing we've talked about is like what ultimately
is gonna sort of determine this team's like seating where
they where they ultimately end up landing, is like how
quickly they can kind of figure these things out and
are able to adjust. There's not a lot of room
for Aaron for air. There's zero margins for this team.
So in game you got to figure out the things
that are working and kind of spam those and if
it isn't working, you got to get it off the
court real quick. Today Terrence was a little bit of
a victim of that, but you know, it resulted in
a win, so I'm not gonna I'm not gonna question it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Terrance stuff, we'll talk about in a bit
fifteen minutes or so before we get out of here.
Norm Powell, with his best game as an LA Clipper,
absolutely did what we all thought Norm Powell could do,
which is score the basketball. He was phenomenal in this one.
He was getting foul calls, as he often does, the
thank you Robert Flamm the bank shot laid off the glass.
The runner was absolutely demoralizing for the Nuggets. You'll love
to see it from nor Zoo twenty four and fifteen
forty minutes, thirty nine minutes. Excuse me every again. Something
we've been clamoring is a great way to get easy
buckets is to play zoom more minutes played thirty nine
to night and James Harden thirteen four absolutely clutch free
throws to close this one out twenty three to six
in sixteen seven turnovers, which I don't we got we
won in Denver. I don't. I know there were some
things that Clippers needed to clean up, but I think
this game is the definition of what Clippers games against
better opponents are going to be. If the defense and
the shooting can kind of get it done in the beginning,
you're gonna see the other teams just try and lean
on us. But if we get like you said, late
game execution like we got with a scoring punch like
from Norm Powell, it's gonna be a coin toss every time.
This was another coin toss game, but the Clippers came.
Speaker 2: Through like the amount of like clutch minutes this team
is going to play this year given the relative age.
I mean, that's why I think we have to get
a little bit younger along with leaning into the defensive identity.
It is going to be a staggering amount. I'm predicting
it is going to be a staggering amount of clutch minutes.
So yeah, like I said, this is just this is
what they have to build upon. This is this is
the type execution they have to build upon every single time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, Jimmy g giving a shout out to Chris Dunn.
Very active defender Chris Dunn. I mean it was only
the second game four for six he had. He wasn't
foul trouble a little bit, but he was annoying as
hell to play against. He got a key Steele in
this one that led to a dunk transition late. Yes,
a lot of love for Chris Dunn in the chat.
We love to see it.
Speaker 2: At the tune with no points before boards and three says.
Speaker 1: Like dude, Nico hit I think it was the only
bucket that KPJ made today, one of his two buckets
other than the dunk. Nico hit him with a pass
off the elbow and it was just like it was perfect.
It was exactly that kind of veteran thing you need
with a young guy out there who's not.
Speaker 2: Good call I mean coffee having, like absolutely struggling to
produce offensively, still getting extended burns, still trusted late in
this game, which is pretty pretty incredible and again just
speaks to uh just just speaks to his impact on
the floor. I think there's something like I feel like
every year teams, especially those in championship contention, are like,
you know, we're willing to sacrifice whatever. Nobody has an
ego on this team. This team might actually other outside
of like KPJ and some guys who are kind of
looking for a spot, I would say might be one
of the lower ego teams in terms of in terms
of putting up numbers.
Speaker 1: I like that idea. That's a great call. Okay, people
in the chat are talking about Terrence. This was a
rough Terrence game. Zero points, which is absolutely insane, only
four field goal attempts, he had three boards and assists.
He turned down shots. This was the game that makes
you wonder what b maybe looks like or a mirror
looks like in the starting lineup. Is not.
Speaker 2: He's like, I'm sorry, just just cross that idea from
your minds. I think I think the I think the
role that he's in right now is perfect. I think
nico Is is best when used in short burst when
he can be his most effective.
Speaker 1: That's fair.
Speaker 2: He's not really like a player who can kind of
tread water when he's on the court, you know what
I mean, Like, yeah, out there, he's expected to He's
expected to kind of do a lot given his age
and and you know, like being this sort of utility
glue guy. I don't unless there's like math like, uh,
unless there's something that necessitates it, I don't see him
move for him into the starting lineup.
Speaker 1: A mirror then, is the one because two and three games, no,
I know, but this was that this has been a
not coming into the season on Terrence right like they've
they've been saying that he needs to do more. The
idea is, uh, you're right, it has been two games.
There's still there's still I mean, at least eight games
probably until we see some kind of change. But there's more.
Speaker 2: Work offense starting lineup than not working. If we're being like,
if we're being totally honest, sure stuff is working, like
we're seeing Djj's impact. Zoo is finally getting Tonight, it
looks like Zoo is kind of getting into the place
where we all hope that he would be able to
get to poseason, being able to use the being able
to be used on both ends of the floor, hardened
leading this offense. It you know, it had some it
had some issues. It's still not perfect, but uh, it
looks a lot more cohesive. I think even at times
then it would look with two one three, uh in
the sands hardened era. So I'm liking that a lot. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the Terrence thing, you know I talked about tonight,
not trusted. I mean obviously Norm was playing so good
that he wasn't in the closing lineup.
Speaker 2: And normal, Like I was kind of wrong about Norm
in the in the starting lineup. I I wasn't sure defensively,
I didn't love the size disadvantage, but against the larger
team like the Nuggets, who when we talked about in
our game preview, like, I don't like that matchup necessarily,
especially from a size standpoint, Like Norm is holding his
own I mean, he absolutely deserves me in the starting lineup.
I was a fool for thinking that it would be
too much as hampered defensively. So yeah, getting some KPJ
sucks stuff in the in the chat. Wait bring Bones back?
Why not let Bones have his his damn revenge game
this time round.
Speaker 1: One thing real quick about the Terrence thing too. I
think what helps Dorm in the starting lineup is that
Terrence man defense that he offensive is rough right now
from Terrence for sure, not going to pretend that that's
been good somebody.
Speaker 2: I think Chunk is actually like putting it pretty well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's an okay, good guy.
Speaker 2: He doesn't like Terrence right now. The knock is that,
like he doesn't really super excel in any one area.
And now some of that is like the fault of
the actual will player development of the Clippers and him
being asked to fill so many roles. I don't think
he's like really had an opportunity to uh like Bloom
or Foster and like any aspect of his game. So yeah,
I mean, like that's the thing. He's He's a guy
who's like pretty good at a lot of stuff. But
if one of those things is like below below average
or uh you know, inconsistent low floor, it's it's gonna
be rough. It's it'll it'll be tough at times, and
there's definitely gonna be some growing pains. And I mean
he's got he's got right now, he has the most
questions to answer of anyone in the starting lineup, and
that is a difficult spot to be in. Yeah.
Speaker 1: From a guy who has been the glue guy who
they kind of rely on to do these things to
now having to answer questions, that is definitely such a transition.
We're hoping, Hey, he's got a chance to bounce back tomorrow. Right,
Your shot, as Lot Barry always talks about, your shot
to redeem yourself, is gonna come back very quickly in
the NBA. Just fantastic stuff off the bench from the
Clippers today. Chris Dunn was huge, Kai Jones not very good.
We got to talk about Kevin Porjunior. A mere coffee
had a bad game, but he was plus twenty two.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say a mere coffee had a bad game.
I would say offensively went over offensively, he struggled.
Speaker 1: Sure, okay, Lot. There was a lot of people in
the chat talking about KPJ and KPJ being bad. Someone
said that KPJ has been bad this year. I agree
that he's been bad. I think this year is doing
heavy lifting. When it's been two games. He does a
bunch of spin moves, which I don't understand why he's
forcing those. He is just dude.
Speaker 2: The thing that drives me absolutely is insane. And I
knew that this was gonna be an issue. We talked
about this in the preseason. Is like when he is
out there, he does not see anyone else on the floor,
like he's the same, Like he's trying to be the
same player that he was in Houston. I told y'all,
I didn't think that was gonna work.
Speaker 1: Like, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't see how that could work on this team.
I don't. I just I don't see that being a fit.
I don't see that being something that's gonna be particularly helpful.
We have enough ball handlers. Like, uh yeah, he's just
gonna have to change a lot about his game if
he's gonna be effective. And I know people were excited
about because of his athleticism from the defensive upside, I'm
not really seeing that. I'd have to look back to
the film, but I, uh yeah, I gotta be honest
with you, I'm not really seeing it. Again, it has
been two games. So if there's any KPJ. Truthers out there,
don't dox me just.
Speaker 1: Yet, don't put the address out. Yeah, yeah, it's and
there's you know again guy who's been out been out
of the NBA for a minute. It's it's just not
two games in, it's not looking super good. He's made
what three shots on eighteen attempts or something like that,
not ideal a lot of attempts.
Speaker 2: And I know people have brought out up that like
some of those line up, you know, it makes sense
that he is a little ball dominant, just given like
there aren't a whole lot of scorers out there, which
I understand, but like I mean, like him trying to
go ISO on the league, I think is gonna whatever
his current field goal percentage is. I would say it's
going to continue out about that clip. Yeah, And it's
just and it's it's only hurting himself, is the other
part is that it's only hurting what he can maybe
bring to this Clippers team. All Right, we got about
ten or so minutes left. We discussed player of the game.
Speaker 1: If you're just getting into the stream, the Clippers beat
the Nuggets in Denver for the first time in what
feels like fifteen years. There's a dog barking if this
one feels great. They getting the split on this back
to back is so great given the fact that they
have to go and play the Warriors tomorrow. Not sure
what the legs are gonna look like. Genuinely don't really care.
And I mean that in a nice way. They got
a hard fought victory in Denver. They played good defense,
they overcame Jokic making the most threes he's ever made.
If they go out and have good process and they
lose tomorrow to the Warriors, I'm bummed, But I'm not mad,
you know what I mean. If there's good process, if
it's some of the same stuff, there's a lot of
good building blocks that we got in the first game,
and we saw them kind of come to fruition in
this game against the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it'll be another It'll be another great
test back to back, like our first look at a
back to back on the road. I'm curious to see
sort of how tylu is able to alter the rotations. Obviously,
you know I thought that he did a better job.
I bet that he did a I thought he did
a better job with hards minutes even with him playing
so much in the third, and kind of happy to
bring him back in. I'm just curious to see what
it's gonna look like tomorrow and what the guys are
gonna look like tomorrow, because our big sort of like
silver lining or upside, even if like maybe the talent
level is in his high ceiling is that there is
more youth than athletics as on this team. So I'm
kind of hoping, second I have back to back, we
can lean on that a little bit to at least,
you know, at least keep us in this game.
Speaker 1: Yes, while he's bringing up something that I was looking
at on Twitter too, is it weird that I'm worried
about Harden's mileage.
Speaker 2: Of It is not?
Speaker 1: It is, No, don't be don't feel weird about that
at all. Man, he's gonna play a lot of minutes.
There's gonna be a lot. He has so much to
do offensively.
Speaker 2: That's why I was saying, like, it's gonna be interesting
to see how those minutes are run tomorrow. Like I
think that we're gonna get Yeah, we're going to get
a better look at what that's like. At least it
is against an overall like older team as well.
Speaker 1: So uh yeah, and what I'm yes, and I'm not.
This is not an excuse for Harden, but just expect
to see there's gonna be possessions where it's like, oh,
I wish he jogged back for oh this happened. He's
going to be very tired at some points in the game.
And it's not weird at all to be worried about this.
He played a bunch of it's for the Clippers last year.
It's one of the reasons why he's a great addition
Slippers because he plays so much. But managing it is
going to be very crucial. And like you said, what
tomorrow looks like probably a lot of Chris done. Yeah,
maybe Terrence gets more run with the second unit, specifically
to be more of an initiator there as a ball
handler or something like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, can you keep him? Can you afford to keep
himself thirty five minutes on the second night of a
back to back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably not would be my guess. JCC saying Norm
spared us. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. This is
a game it feels fantastic to get this win. We
don't know if he's fine. He also is not necessarily
finding other teams another guys, Yes, sore losers gaming. The
first time in Zoo's career that he's had back to
back twenty point games, I believe, which he loved to see.
If we wanted too to get more minutes. He got
more minutes, and he's turned it into he turned it
into twenty four, fifteen and four and played some good defense.
You know, Jokicu're not at forty one. You gotta hope
everyone else shuts down. And that's what after Michael Porter
Junior was afraid to shoot. So it's a perfect storm
of the Clippers playing good defense and the Nuggets looking
well a little rough. Russ was horrible in this one.
Loved all of his minutes from the Clippers' perspective. So yeah, hard.
Speaker 2: Foul too, that last Russ foul that was brutal.
Speaker 1: Yeah that felt a little aggressive from from Russ point.
It was pointed for sure, Yeah, it felt pointed. Note
from Chung, I will say though with James, he is
the engine, but because the athleticism is here, he doesn't
take on as much. We saw how many assists James
Harden had in the first quarter in this one. I
think he had seven assists before he had a single point.
He knows that there's guys who can get into space
and do what he can direct them to, which is
a great point. I think.
Speaker 2: Well, that's why I think, like, that's why I was saying,
like talking about the managing of his minutes, because we
can't afford to have him out a lot of whole games.
So in game sort of rest management is I mean,
it's gonna be absolutely paramount because we know that James
can start seasons hot and sort of it can wear
down on him. The rigors of a season can wear
down on him, and with him being so crucial to
his team, we just we have to figure out a
way to make things as easy on him as possible,
because I mean, if this team is gonna, you know,
avoid the plan, I mean, hell, maybe even to make
the plan, he's gonna have to play. But there's no
way they can do it if he plays less than
what fifty five games.
Speaker 1: Something like that. Yeah, because they don't know Kawhi status.
Of course, they think when he comes back he'll be
healthy and good to go. But we'll see it'll be interesting.
I think that about wraps it up. I'm feeling great
after this win. It's on to the Warriors. Shout out
Norm Powell, James Harden made things happened. Zubots was great,
Chris Dunn had a great game, a lot of good stuff.
The blueprint for how Clippers can get victories against teams
like the Nuggets was today. Start off hot.
Speaker 2: We're gonna have to start making it the Kawhi Leonard,
James Harden, Norman Powell.
Speaker 1: Player of the game or of Viatza Zubats. That's fair
because I think I think that's a big thing too.
Speaker 2: Basically, you can't pick a starter unless you think Terrence
is gonna have it or Derrek Jones Junior, which I
did pick in our game preview.
Speaker 1: There we go. If you're new to the our show,
we are called Clips and Dip. I'm Chuck Mockler. That's
William Updyke. Adam Austin's also on the show, but he's
working right now and Will's about to be on the
radio with him. I believe we're coming at you a
couple times a week. Find us on YouTube over here
at YouTube dot com. Slash at Clippers podcast and on
Twitter at clippers pod. Let's go Clippers. Hell of a win.
Let's hope they can split against the Warriors tomorrow