Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans? Welcome to season four,
episode twenty six of Clips and Dip. I am Chuck Buckler,
joined by Adam Osen. William Updyke may show up. He
might pop in here, confuse that we'd already started. But
it's us for the day. Thank you for listening to us,
Thank you for watching us. If you want to watch as,
you can find us a YouTube dot accomplish at Clippers podcast.
You can find the audio anywhere you find your normal podcasts.
We're gonna talk about Darius Garland's debut. There's a winnable
game coming up tomorrow. We have some kudos to give out.
But Adam, the Clippers are two and oh to start March,
two and oh to start the five and seven. How
are we feeling?
Speaker 2: I feeling like March should be every month, Chuck, No
of them eighteen games every month in February when it's
not thirty one days. Though they're good. So far, so far,
so good. And I thought last night's win was special,
a nice character revealing type of victory out there. You
bring in a new guy, you're trying to integrate the
line up with Darius Garland, who really struggled in the
first half. I'm not putting it on him. I think
it's just a lot of different guys playing next to
one another. New guys. Yeah, and then in the second
half they really won them the game because they went
I posted some fake news on accident. I said it
was plus eleven in the seven minutes without Kawhi Leonard
from the end of the third to the start of
the fourth, it was plus thirteen during that time, they
were awesome. And then Kawhi came back in hit I
thought a kill shot three in that fourth quarter and
Darius Garland. You see why it's such a shift in
point guard play and style of play with him out there.
Speaker 1: Yes, Kawhi got to thirty eight games and plus twenty
points against the Dubs. I feel like the Clippers.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I shouldn't say this? Do you
know what SGA is at?
Speaker 1: What it thought?
Speaker 2: I saw like two hundred. I swear to god, I
thought I saw that the other day. Oh, that's probably
fake news too.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's probably fake news. Fake news, Aucel.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I brought that up. It was
on my mind.
Speaker 1: I feel like we really saw the kind of second
night of the back to back Clippers in the first half,
and then in the second half they locked in a bit. Also,
Putzemski didn't score twenty points again in the second half.
I had a homerish thought. Is the fact that Kawhi
averaging a career high in points per game, not getting
enough recognition, no haggle, and I was looking at the stats.
I'm just like, this is crazy, Like it's.
Speaker 2: Incredible at the empisides of three points shooting him, knowing
he has to score out there, having the healthy offseason, everything,
all that combined, it's just a lot of factors that
ended up being positive. After he started off slow, he
missed ten straight games, he came back and then just
hit the gas and from there he's looked like a
top five player in the league.
Speaker 1: At least, it's incredible. Kawhi gave Chris Dunn the first
team All Defense shout out after the game last night,
and I think unprompted.
Speaker 2: Unprompted, he was asked about Chris Dunn, but he was
It wasn't like probe like, hey, do you think Chris
Dunn should make All Defense?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's starting the campaign early. Chris Dunn does a
thing where He'll intercept a pass and then get a layup,
and it will happen usually two or three times, you know,
in like a five play span, and then the Clippers
kind of go on a run or the run continues.
And he did that last night, and I think that's
so fun to watch when he's not being super antsy
and he's being more calculated because he was just it's
kind of pete Chris Dunn last night.
Speaker 2: Those are game breakers the end of the third and
then one more start of the fourth quarter. Total momentum
shift off those plays, easy offense for the Clippers and
Chris Dunn, and I think there were backbreakers for the
Golden State Warriors, or I mean they could make reads
out there with Chris Dunn and not crashing their passing lanes.
He was just an absolute menace. He's been so awesome
after I thought, and we all kind of thought, you know,
maybe he was over he was maybe chasing a little
bit too much for steels early on in the season. Yeah,
and not staying home. Yeah, he's found that balance again.
And I get maybe why he did it, because the
defense was so bad. He was just trying to like
do it all by himself. And that wasn't going to work,
of course.
Speaker 1: But everyone was trying to do everything by themselves.
Speaker 2: But now, oh, it's within the team concept and he
deserves all NBA first team. He would have been at
last year second team whatever if he just had the
minutes requirement, and this year it looks like he has
a good chance of hitting that. So really proud of
Chris Dunn. And he spoke with Austin Rivers post game
and made an awesome comment about what it takes to
be in this league. He said, first, you gotta be good.
Second did he talk about role or be a great teammate?
And then third like you got to embrace your role.
And he has changed his game completely to stay in
this league and become a vital role player.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I cause was it last year the year before
where it was Chris Dunn talking with some of the
two way guys at his locker? You know what I'm saying.
There was like a photo of it. I can't remember
who posted it, might have been Joey Lynn. But he's
a consummate pro.
Speaker 2: He's a badass who legitimately is way underpaid paid right now,
way underpaid for what he is giving this team. Like
it's insane because he's been asked to the last couple
of weeks to be their starting point guard, not just
be the great perimeter defender. He's been averaging I don't know,
six assists seven assists per game during this stretch before
Darius Garland came back last night and doctor Shapp brought
up how he's almost had like a five to one
assist a turnover ratio. That's great, it's been Yeah, he's
been awesome.
Speaker 1: How many more? How many games do you need for
the All NBA threshold five?
Speaker 2: I forget if it's sixty sixty five somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: The Clippers are going to have him for five point
six million next year too?
Speaker 2: Is that that's a team option? Oh man, that's that's
I think I've said before. We're keeping him in DJ
after the trade deadline. Not losing one of those guys
really four this team's identity defensively and staying there because
I think you lose one of them, and they were
missing DJ for some time, but it's just not the same. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like that, And that pairing is nuts too, because
DJ also has he's gonna be underpaid next year at
ten million dollars. So that's that's nice to see. We
saw you talked about the best lineup last night, which
was Garland, Dunn, Mathrin, Jordan Miller and Yanick. Before we
get into the Garland stuff, Yanick showing that verticality at
the rim uh the black was insane. I will say
a lot of people have been taking victory laps about
how good Yanick is, and I just if you go
back and watch our stream from the NBA Draft night,
we were the first people. No, we weren't the first,
and it doesn't matter that we were the first, but
we were. We were cooking up some of that Yanick.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I h I still go back and pull
my summer league analysis once in a while just to
prove that I was dangerously high on yawn It from
the get go, after that big throwdown he had on
the Lakers, and I think in his first summer league game.
While everybody else will say they should have taken cough
Brenner and they said that two months into the season too,
I think everybody realizes how high a ceiling is now
and why they took him into the first round and
Orange Frank cooking, cooking, Baby, Let's go.
Speaker 1: I love the photoshop earlier.
Speaker 2: Oh did my best.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Garland came off the bench last night, which
some people were like, I think, kind of freaking out
about to a degree that I didn't totally understand because
it's his first game back. The explanation I was, I
was satisfied with where they wanted to play through him
more so he can get into a rhythm. He hasn't
played for a while, and there was obviously some rust
and the Clippers have to win games so the rest
and I don't know it, like, I think it's just
fine and it's not just gonna be one game either.
Speaker 2: People. I think I think we do it. We fall
into the traffic times obviously too. We all do it
where we overanalyze starting lineups far too often instead of
thinking of closing lineups, or which lineups are going to
play the majority of minutes to, or which two man
lineups or three man lineups, or you know how things
are going to be configured for the majority of the game. Uh,
Darius Garland will be starting eventually.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: The logic you spoke of with coach Lou pregame was, well,
if we put him next to Kawhi, he's not going
to be as much as of the focal point, and
we want him to feel comfortable getting his own rhythm
and going out there and being aggressive immediately basically, which
is what they always say, basically, be yourself when you
guys come in and if you're doing too much, we'll
pull in the range or we'll pare it down a
little bit. So he obviously has some turnovers and coach
lou took the blame post game for the first half
because he felt like he was running him into two
May double drags where they were trapping him defensively, they.
Speaker 1: Were blitzing everybody last like it was a Steve Kerr
masterclass and like, what the hell are we going to
get defensive leave. So that's a tough first game to
scheme wise to go against.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but once he got him top of the arc
high ball screen from Yonick, now he's got all this
optionality and Darius Garland found his groove to an extent.
This is still just like Tippy the Iceberg what he's
going to be able to do for this team. But
it was pretty exciting to watch some of those plays.
The wrap around pass he had who got fouled on
that Derrick Jones.
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're talking about. It was Derek
Jones Junior, and I was like, yeah, I like stood
up and was just like this, Yeah, like cannot wait
for more of this.
Speaker 2: I think lost in analyzing, you know, the box score
and what he ended up doing and how much he
struggled the first half or the second half was who cares.
He looked healthy, and that play to me told you
just how good he was feeling out there, because he
absolutely was a blur. That's as fast as I've ever
seen Darius carl And move around of defense to make
that fast.
Speaker 1: He mentioned too that that the high one of the
high screens from you Onick into the three. He mentioned
a lot. I saw the clip from Law to Day
where he was like, that's what I felt like, Oh,
my rhythm is a little more back, and we saw
what I loved. Is the other reason you know his
healthy is because he genuinely tried his ass off on
defense and at one point boxed out Al Horford, which
the Clippers did not take advantage of and gave up
the offensive rebound, which was a theme for part of
that game. But he was out there trying on defense.
You know what I mean, Like he's not We talked
a little bit when we signed him. Yeah, like he's
He obviously has physical limitations, but he knows that and
he's trying his ass off. There's guys who do have
physical limitations who don't try as hard, and he is.
Speaker 2: Not no disrespect. I know he's playing again soon for Washington,
that's actually happening maybe tonight. But there are guys who
are undersize that don't give the requisite effort on that end,
or you know, some guys there is more than just effort.
Obviously defensive instincts, knowing where he's supposed to be. He
doesn't fall asleep off ball. He's very much in tune defensively,
like he's a part of it. Last night you mentioned
how Horford and the box out he had. There was
also a player where they got the switch without Horford,
he had to foul him. Yeah, in the second half,
teams will try to do some stuff like that here
and there against Darius Garland. That's the downside to a
guy who's underside. But they might have tried that with
James Harden too, even though you know he's much bigger
than him. Just they're going to try to take advantage
of anybody out there at some point. Matchup hunting is
in vogue like it's never been before. So some people
were asking, like, you know, is this a fatal flaw?
Is this something that you know you can get by with?
And the two things I thought of right away were
Dallas started Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving and got to
an NBA finals and lost to a great Boston team
in five. And they had those two guys starting. Kyrie
Irvings undersize, but at times he can be a really
good defender out there. It's not just the offensive games
that are similar, I guess with Daris Garland in that way.
But then the other guy, Jamal Murray, gets picked on
at times. They won the championship in twenty twenty three,
So the idea of now, yeah, and Luca is at
least a big body, but he obviously doesn't move well. Laterally,
I'm just saying there is there's a team in the
Denver Nuggets. You can say, well, Dallas lost, Well, there's
a team of the Denver Nuggets, that one with a
guard who gets picked on. Yes, he's bigger than Darius Garland,
but Darius Garland I would say, is a better effort
defender than Jamal Murray.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with that, so you can win
with him.
Speaker 2: And I think this team obviously is built to compensate
for something like that. Already this isn't We got a
guy in and now we have to reorient the team
and reconstruct it this summer, like the Lakers have to
do with Luca. It's like this roster doesn't match his
skill set to minimize his weaknesses. They actually have guys
already in DJ and Done, like we talk about in
Kawhi and other guys who played defense around him.
Speaker 1: Was it Done who said postgame last night that he
thinks Garland can get more steels because of if he's
around the right guys. I thought that was Chris Dunn
who said that, but he said something to that effect
of like, if he's around the right guy, like he's
active trying to get the ball, and if you can
kind of do the like you know NBA, you stand
them up and I don't know, like if something is there.
Speaker 2: Garland also spoke to with that pairing that he likes
being next to Chris Dunn with all this talk of
starting lineups and yeah, especially after last night. Is it
gonna be DJ or somebody else next to him? If
he likes Chris Dunn, that's probably the end of the
discussion because he brought up how how I'm comfortable next
to another guard because that's what he's been playing with
with Donovan Mitchell. And then also he thinks that they
work well defensively together. So for all the people say,
you know, they might have to change things. And I
asked Coach Lou about it right away. Could there be
a different combination you like next to Darius Garland in
the backcourt versus James Harden And I think it's it's
not just gonna be Chris done maybe for you know,
the immediate future, but maybe long term with with Darius grlt.
Speaker 1: That's a good call. Watching him get two feet in
the paint was felt like, yeah, like a revival. I'm
was already sold for sure. He got three minutes with
Kawhi on the court last night, I believe is what
stats that the NBA said, So nothing to glean from that.
But I don't know. He's going to make life easier
for I think Matherne's going to be better for this
long term. I feel like mathns somehow gassed offensively right
now or something, But it.
Speaker 2: Looked better in the second half last night, ended up
with seventeen and he had that tough scoop lay up
and one. Yeah, he s to me, it looks like
he's in his own head a little bit after making
that three pointer to beat Orlando.
Speaker 1: Oh good call. Yeah. Yeah, because like him in transition,
sometimes it was like some interesting decisions or non decisions.
You can it's kind of the Terrance Man thing. You
can see the gears moving a little too much.
Speaker 2: Yeah. He definitely has turned down some shots here and
there since missing.
Speaker 1: That one and taking some weird ones.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The wild one that he missed was a deonic cleanup.
Speaker 1: Yeah, where he like, he's.
Speaker 2: Like, I think shot clock I've been running out Maybe.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I thought he'd a dish off, yeah,
because it was kind of like what we have, I
have some kudos to give an order. I feel like,
uh Brook Lopez kudos. He's been very good the last
handful of games at doing traditional center stuff, and that's.
Speaker 2: Definitely better in the short role. Make us good passes.
Speaker 1: There was a Garland I think the only I don't know.
I think it was a Garland pick and roll with Lopez,
and Lopez found either Derek Jones or Kawhi for a three,
and I was like, hell, fantastic, Like this is that
short role opens? Yeah, I just feel like Brook has
been doing a good job lately and his defense has
been better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's been solid. The game against New
Orleans he went four to six from the outside last
night he was zero four. But I think he's up
to east thirty out from three, so about he's two
percent below where he's been the last five or so years. Yeah,
maybe we can still get, you know, some progression to
the mean, he's still due for a hot streak from
distance because he still has missed, like seemingly some good
looks out there. But the other stuff is there, and
that's that's more of what you can control, and he's
doing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially with Janick doing a bunch of other stuff
from a young center's perspective and Jordan Miller over the
last five games is averaging thirteen points on sixty seven
percent shooting. LA Clippers film brought up his patients in
deceleration and it is a trip to watch him handle
the ball in the pay in traffic he's doing it.
This is exactly the kind of stuff you need from
a player like Jordan Miller in a game where you're
in a month, we have eighteen games like this is
really helping the Clips out.
Speaker 2: He's been such a badass the last five games. And
the deceleration clinic with the one going left in the
fourth quarter last night literally looked like slow motion, like
slow mo Kyle Anderson, like he went so slow to
get that to go off the glass on the left side.
But it's awesome anybody that could play at their own pace.
You know, they're they're feeling comfortable out there and after
a little bit of a lull, like you look at
the five games previous one point four, nine, eight seven,
he's gotten himself out of it. He's stayed aggressive. The
efficiency's there, he's not taking many threes lately, but.
Speaker 1: He's kind of stopped.
Speaker 2: Yeah, although he is one for two so the last
five games.
Speaker 1: I mean, there we go. Do you have any other.
Speaker 2: Good to his passing eight assists against the Pelicans?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Do you have any other kudos you want to
go out before we get into the game preview?
Speaker 2: I guess you Onick, just bigy on call him once before.
Speaker 1: Big pretty good nickname.
Speaker 2: It's not bad. He was fierce last night. It was
interesting seeing like the national media wake up to him
and like Bill Simmons put out a tweet and.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure Kevin O'Connor has a yah,
has some other new comparison. Maybe instead of being Harden's
new capella, he'll be I don't know, the Clippers do
Elijah lot or something like that.
Speaker 2: Well, I know he wouldn't be out there screaming I'm
not Clint Cappella. Okay, Hey, that's not in His crime
was an absolute problem. Uh. And Yannick can finish with
the best of them. Now he has not finished a
lot of these huge dunks because they're so absurd. But
I think it's great actually because first of all, the aggressiveness.
You want to see that because how often with your
big men, how often with big men do you go, man,
why doesn't he just dunk it? Like what if I
was that big, I just dunk it. Yanick basically heard
that is trying to dunk everything, and when he misses,
he always gets to the free throw line. So it's
not a bad play because he's a good free throw
shooter too, So I love what I'm seeing from him
in the four blocks last night, and the block on
Horford was insane.
Speaker 1: It was one of his better defensive games for sure,
because he does the physicality and positioning. Still needs work
on defense, but the physicality was there last night.
Speaker 2: I thought some of the fouls had been down a
little bit. He had three last night. He had five
before that, but then he had a couple of games
with is one foul.
Speaker 1: It's a rookie, you're gonna foul. Yeah, especially as.
Speaker 2: A big I think coach lou and I think she
responded to the tweet when he challenged that goaltend on last.
Speaker 1: Night insane challenge.
Speaker 2: It was so I may ask of this tomorrow, but uh,
I think maybe the reason he did it was just
too him bold and Yon it to go, hey, do
not stop the motor that you have out there. You
know what, I'll try to I'll try to protect you
and challenge some of these because I love the effort
you're giving. I don't want you to be Gunshoy going
for these blocks because you get a goaltend here and there.
Speaker 1: Yes, that is fair. It was just very funny because
it was just like it. I mean they hit the glass.
Oh my one thing. I said this on the stream
where I was talking about like the March preview. I
love the explosive plays. I'm really looking forward to what
the off season work looks like and how he comes
into next year with some of the more non explosive
plays you have to make as a contributing center in
the NBA.
Speaker 2: Coach Lou really emphasized his jumper last night, say like,
we want him doing this, and but you got to
have this balance and knowing when and so all that
will come in time. But I just like the fact.
And I asked him a few weeks ago, liked, Giannis
have a green light for twa making threes? How what
are the parameters around it? And I said, is he
just not there yet? And Coach lu said, Oh, he's there,
that's not that's not the problem. We just want the
right type of shots.
Speaker 1: The issue.
Speaker 2: He can hit them, but you got to take the
right ones and you know, within the flow of the
offense and not force it. All those things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's really exciting. It's making a very i think,
kind of surprisingly really fun like post trade deadline even
that much more enjoyable because they're.
Speaker 2: Just because it was heartbreaking losing Zoo right.
Speaker 1: Yes, who is not going to play tomorrow night, which
we'll talk about after this audio break. If you're listening,
there's gonna be some ads. We've been told they can
be loud. We have no control over how loud they are.
If you're watching us, we're still gonna be here.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: We are proving the Pacers game tomorrow, colling after some
ads in three.
Speaker 2: To one, Welcome back, I'm at I'm as Ony, Chuck Mockler.
It is Clips and Dip Season four, episode twenty six.
William Updyke is unavoidably detained. We have ascertained at this point.
I hope he's good. Hope he's cooking up something for dinner.
That guy. When I use my airfire, I feel like Will.
I'm like, damn, this tastes good. I met Will could
cook something as well without an air fryar Clippers taking
on the Indiana Pacers tomorrow night. It beats a Zubox's return,
but he's not playing in the ball game. However, that
doesn't limits you to not getting a video tribute, which
should be a pretty extensive one for a guy that's beloved,
and I will be standing and clapping during that because
I don't think it really didn't hit me till later
that night. I was live streaming when it happened, and
then later that night I think we did we did
clips and dip and then like at nine o'clock, I
was like, I haven't felt depressed, and I was like,
what what is the heal league?
Speaker 1: What is.
Speaker 2: What is this watery discharge? Uh? See, I it hit
me like it was just weird. It was such an
end of an era, and for a guy that is
in his prime, that you didn't think was going to leave,
that you thought might have been a clipper for life.
It's really the first time since I was young that
a player leaving really emotionally affected me, Like I hadn't
felt like that since you know, I was I don't know,
at least in my teens or late twenties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a It was weird, and it was
also you know, Harden left, Zoo was gone. It was
just like, all right, we're out of this era, Kui
is still here, so we're It was uh abrupt, Yeah,
it was abrupt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very odd, jarring, Yes, and he just
he's the man like I love Like it's not even
just his play. People think, like, you know, I'm a
Zoo defender or Zoo apologists or whatever. It's also because
he was the most relatable, nicest, down to earth guy
that got Clipper Nation better than anyone and what people
have been through the fans of this organization, Like he
always sympathized with the fans and saying like, I know
we'll let you guys down before, but we're gonna try again,
And like I just I don't know. I love the guy,
and I know I know he'll get it. He'll get
that saying ovation.
Speaker 1: And the way the Clippers got him is so funny
because things like that don't usually happen to the Clippers
getting of viatza zoobots for Mike muscal is usually it's
the other way ofround in terms of luck and things.
Speaker 2: Like that magic assist.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, So he'll get a tribute video. He'll he'll
probably get too. I bet there will be multiple Zoo
things throughout the night.
Speaker 2: Every quarter.
Speaker 1: Why not every dead ball, there's got to give.
Speaker 2: Him a tribute with a thirty thirty game.
Speaker 1: Yet with a three there's no John Collins because of
the next strained. He cannot catch a break, which is
frustrating because he looks when he came back.
Speaker 2: Chuck, you're a doctor. Once in a while, it is
getting the stinger maybe on the right shoulder connected and
maybe that's what's going on there, because it looked like
he ran into Derek Queen and initially was up with
the shoulder. Yeah, it's all connected.
Speaker 1: It's all in there, you know. Yeah. I it looked
like it hurt. I was.
Speaker 2: I was worried. I was like, labor please God. No. Yeah,
that took out Paul George.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, timetable, but I have to imagine he'll be
back Sooners. I don't know if he practiced or if
they even practiced. Probably didn't.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking Friday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 2: Uh. I don't care. Like the loss that they had,
Uh who they lose to the other night? Uh? Not
that they beat Denver, the last loss they have without Kawhi,
without Garland, without John Collins. Loss that they had, No,
not the magic loss the Lakers after that, Minnesota. The
loss to Minnesota, I was that was an understandable loss
given the competition and who was available for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Nico took one shot in that game, which is very sorry.
Speaker 2: I do not care who is available tomorrow because I've
seen who's not available for Indiana, oh Ma, and I
know Indiana is trying to hold on to their pick,
so the Clippers don't get it. So they got to
win this game.
Speaker 1: Yes. As of this recording, the Clippers are one and
a half games back of the eighth spot and one
game up on the Blazers, who they play the last
game of this month. Here's some stats for the Pacers
since the All Star break. To your argument, Adam minus
fourteen net rating twenty eighth in the league, one twenty two,
defensive rating Anthon turnovers per game with eighteen. They're doing
everything almost as poorly as you could do it, except
for defensive Rebott. But I totally agree with you. The
injury report. Russo tweeted it out for the Pacers. Furfey's out,
Haliburton's out, Nemhart's questionable, Nye Smith is questionable, Pascal Siaka
was questionable. Will be top On is probable, it meets
you Bots is out. It's a lot of people. Is
this a game that Mathern could get right on?
Speaker 2: Well, it's a revenge game for him too. I think
it's I think it's a great opportunity. Yeah, you look
at the stats last night, like he played pretty well.
Speaker 3: It wasn't the end of this game though, because he
was in He had a couple he was enjoying the
last couple of minutes of his stretch.
Speaker 2: True, true, matha and revenge. And that's the type of
guy you'll look. Said, they have to prove that they're
better without me, the Indiana Pacers after trading me, going
back to his Lebron has to prove he's better than me.
Speaker 1: That's a good call. Do you think we see I
think Garland will be off the bench because it was
just kind of alluded to already by coach Lou. Do
you think we'll see more than three minutes of Kawhi
and Garland together.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's definitely gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I'm excited for it against this particular team because I
think it might look pretty good against this Pacers person.
Speaker 2: Well, then what are we gonna learn?
Speaker 1: I don't care about learning it right now, to be honest.
Speaker 2: With you, No, I think they'll get some run out there.
I'm gonna say five plus minutes together Hell yeah.
Speaker 1: I hope Kawhi can get an easy early night. Obviously
in this.
Speaker 2: One they need to get greedy. And really the defense
the last game and a half, the second half was great.
Apparently Jeff Van Gundy and Coach Lou got autumn at
the half for their lack of intensity good even the defense.
A lot of the defense in the Pelicans game wasn't
great and Coach Lou wasn't happy about that.
Speaker 1: Seventy points in half. It was like we were only
up five.
Speaker 2: It was lack of day's a coal. The closeouts weren't
very good, they weren't as sharp. I felt like it
bled into the first half of the game last night.
So if they come out and actually bring it like
they saw like we saw in the second half last
night against Golden State to start tomorrow, that would be
huge for them when you're talking about trying to take
a team out early.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that. And again, the Pacers, their defense
is very bad since they all star break, their offense
obviously not that much better. I think they have like
a one to oho three offensive rating or something like that.
Speaker 2: I kind of hope Siakham plays because Kawhi usually has
something for him Yeah, they're friends.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't we'll see. I don't know. I
don't think Kawhi is gonna get blitzed as hard in
this game. I mean maybe, I kind of hope he does, actually,
because I think the Clippers would. It's a lot different personnel.
So if he if he can get going early, and
then yeah, letting Garland get just some like real now
that he's had a game under his belt and he's
gotten a little bit of that rest off, there's gonna
be a little bit more, but like giving him some
extended just run the show minutes against this Pacers team
will be helpful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they could use a game. You don't overlook anyone,
You don't disrespect anyone. There are upsets weekly nightly in
the NBA, and you mess around, you will quickly like guys. Yeah,
the guys who are out there for Indiana are going
to be playing very hard. But would it be nice
if the Clippers, you know, could work on some things
given that Darius Garland is just playing in his second game,
it would be nice if they weren't pushed as hard
as they were last night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm wondering where the scoring is going to come from.
From the PACs. From the Pacers, Pascal has played one
game since the All Star Break, he scored thirty points.
If you take out that game, which isn't really someone
averaging that over a whole month. There isn't a Pacer
averaging more than eighteen points per game since the All
Star Break. And so this this game comes down to
the who has the most talented player on the floor
and the Clippers. If you put all the players in
the most talent on the list, the Clippers probably have
the top definitely the top two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, depending on Ifciakam plays, they might have like the
top five.
Speaker 1: Right. Oh, yeah, this is a game again, there is
a legs factor. This is an older team. We're gonna
see that really hit.
Speaker 2: But you know what, though they just played one game
in six nights, they just had an All Star break.
Speaker 1: You're saying the nineties were different. Those guys went out
and play.
Speaker 2: I'm saying that's not going to be an excuse for me.
If this Flippers team.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'll still be upset. This would be this would
be up there if they were to lose one of
the worst losses of the year. If nobody for this
Pacers team plays and zoos out officially. If Siakam doesn't
play like.
Speaker 2: It just doesn't even make sense. Though they've had too
much time off. Guys got pulled early in the Pelicans game.
There was some garbage time last night too. Yeah, they
shouldn't be tired. They should not be tired. That would
be concerning to me.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, does.
Speaker 2: Not get tired. Yeah, well that makes bleed his on
cardio or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have going three and zero to start this
month would be fantastic. It's built to do that with
these opponents to start this Like so.
Speaker 2: Far, what was your prediction for the month, Jef.
Speaker 1: I don't even I don't think I I think I
said that I would be fine with ten and eight.
Speaker 2: So I wait eleven and seven, so we're right in
the same range.
Speaker 1: And with and if we were at nine and nine,
I'd be like, okay, like this hurts, but I guess
we didn't bleed anything.
Speaker 2: Ten and eight though, still won't have them a five hundred.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm I don't care about that in this context.
I want them to be but like ten and eight,
you know what I mean? Like that didn't affect my one.
I think their record would be I always even want
them to be over five hundred, but I'd be fine
ten and eight.
Speaker 2: So they have six more games after March. No, excuse me,
seven games in April. It's just you know, there was
a time when they were really rolling. We were like
they might get to five hundred before the All Star break.
We really thought that. And now they went that little
three game losing streak. They got to make up some
grounds here. I'm hoping eleven and seven. Somebody hit me
up on X and was like, they're going twelve and
twelve and five or thirteen and five. Now twelve No, no, no,
they said fifteen and three. Excuse me, they said they
did that in three.
Speaker 1: Russo tweeted out they have to go at least thirteen
and nine to get to a fifteenth consecutive winning season.
So if they go twelve and eight or twelve and ten,
they will be at five hundred. I think, yeah, I
don't know if if we're gonna go fifteen to three,
but I.
Speaker 2: Think eleven and seven. I'm twelve and six.
Speaker 1: I'm we'll see how tomorrow goes. The first five and
seven is so important, I said, the first because there's
two listeners. If you somehow are listening to the show
and miss the Clippers schedule. But I yeah, I will go.
I'll go twelve and six. I think it's doable. Anything
after that I have to be a talk to me
on March tenth.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's probably the ceiling. Twelve and six realistically.
Speaker 1: Awesome, people are healthy.
Speaker 2: Like, how many five and sevens? Two? Back to back?
Right away?
Speaker 1: I think there's only two?
Speaker 2: So okay, the first ten games take place within a
five and seven.
Speaker 1: Something like that? Yeah, wait, do they.
Speaker 2: I felt like that was true to Mayer was tweeting
a bunch about it. You might have to double check
the work here.
Speaker 1: Let me hold on, let me pull I've.
Speaker 2: Had an alarming amount of fake news already.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've really been poisoning the well of information.
Speaker 2: But that Shase stat rattled me.
Speaker 1: That's like, oh my god, Okay, come on, come on
there we go. Okay, so they got Now the other
five and seven is next week. It's the thirteenth through
the nineteenth.
Speaker 2: Right, the first ten games take place. We got a
five and seven now and then one more after yes,
back to back five and seven.
Speaker 1: God damn, what a nightmare.
Speaker 2: Take that for fake news data.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then we go every other day from the
nineteenth until the end of the month.
Speaker 2: It's called building up a rhythm, a lather.
Speaker 1: Twelve and six, Sign me the hell up, Sign me
the hell up for ten to eight.
Speaker 2: I need eleven and seven bare minimum.
Speaker 4: That's fine. What's the April schedule we got against the Warriors?
I know that one, right, I'm sure that won't be stressful.
Speaker 1: Oh it's the Blazers. Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2: Uh So March thirty first, Portland and then April starts
on the second. So no April fools game, Thank goodness,
we ain't no fools. April second, San Antonio at home.
Then they got two days off, and then they just
got to go north to Sacramento April fifth, Then they
got a day off. April seventh, Dallas at home. Then
the second there's back to the back their last back
to back though, April seventh, Dallas at home, April eighth,
ok See at home, and then a day off up
in Portland April tenth, a day off, and then the
Golden State game and into it Unil on April twelfth.
Speaker 1: Those last two games are insane. It'll be home court
for the play in. Essentially and avoiding.
Speaker 2: Yeah, playing game probably, but Phoenix is still the team
you know, you gotta monitor right now? Yeah, like Phoenix
is they somehow beat the Lakers here night. Let's see
they got Sacramento tomorrow and know tonight Phoenix is the
team in that seventh spot. Now. I don't want to
say securely, but they're five games up on the Clippers
in that seventh spot from homeportant to playing tournament. We
need Phoenix to lose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be stressful.
Speaker 2: I feel good about catching Golden State though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel really good about that. I feel great
about that.
Speaker 2: They look yeah, if it's a seven eight playan though,
and they got to go to Phoenix, I know the
Suns have eating them in three playoff series? Is our series? Whatever? Uh?
In a one gamer in Phoenix? Is Dylan the villain
even going to be back before the season ends?
Speaker 1: Phoenix?
Speaker 2: I know? But I just feel like the Clippers should
win that game, both teams healthy, or if Phoenix still
doesn't have Dylan. Dylan Brooks like, yeah, I'm just saying
it's not the worst thing in the world. Of course,
you want, well, what would be beat? So San Antonio
is now three games back. Okay, see there was a
second there. It looked like they remark catch Okac for
a number one seed, and then you're like, wait a second,
now we're getting Okac in the two seven matchup. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I can't quite subscribe to this. The Spurs matchup will
be like I mean, I well, I want to say
other Clippers are playing.
Speaker 2: It's the best of the worst options. Chuck, It's not.
It's not like the Spurs can beat them in five.
Of course they're really good. I'm just saying, who would
you rather have? I mean, I'd rather have Houston, but
they're five games back of San Antonio.
Speaker 1: That's not gonna happen. Yeah, sure I'll take I'll take
this purse. We get to lose to hopefully the next champion,
and it's not.
Speaker 2: The versus Wemby. What if is the Lemby stopper?
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll have I guess we'll have seven games. We'll
find out.
Speaker 2: This is my receipt that I'm marking this right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's time stamp this. March third, six, twenty eight PM.
Adam Osen declares, doesn't declare, asks politely, what if Janick
is the Webby stopper? Got it?
Speaker 2: Questions.
Speaker 1: I'm just asking. You're just asking questions, and you're just
putting information that you get from those questions out there.
Be it true information? Vietnam? Who is your player? The
game pick for the game against the Paper?
Speaker 2: I think I gotta go Bennet mcmathern Revenge Game.
Speaker 1: I like that. I hope it's a good game for Mathron.
Speaker 2: That means I need I need twenty plus for Mathron.
Well that the watch to hit twenty two, Yeah, twenty
or more and I'll feel good about it.
Speaker 1: Okay, I like that. Off the bench, I'm going Darius
Garland because he's not on the picks of guys we
can't pick yet, list of guys we can't pick yet.
That does feel kind of like a cop out, though. No,
I'm gonna go Yanick. I think he's gonna be like,
I think there's you know, so he's gonna be there
watching it. It's gonna I think Yanick is going to
be like, this is what I bring as a European
center to the Clippers.
Speaker 2: You're saying he's leaning up in his chair and saying
bet yeah yeah, watching the Zoo tribute.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it gonna be Yanick. I think, I
just I want to see good defense would be awesome.
He has a chance to get a couple of highlight plays.
I'm sure I hope Garland throws him a couple oops.
We can see that pick and roll really work. I
hope Garland connects on the Kawhi oop that he attempted yesterday,
because that would have been insane. Who was will picking
for the player.
Speaker 2: Of the game, Russ Russ Brooke, I'm sorry you don't
show up.
Speaker 1: That about wraps things us up for us. I think
we're gonna be doing a little Happy Hour stream on
Thursday night. I have some work, not a work commitment.
I'm going to work Happy Hour on Thursday, so I'm
gonna do a live stream after that at eight. Everyone
is invited. It's a YouTube dot Com Clippers podcast. Hopefully
Adam's there. Probably a full crew episode on Sunday to
talk the end of the five and seven. And Eric
bue Loll WTF. Eric on Instagram and on Twitter is
starting a Kickstarter to make a coffee table book of
his Clippers lose series of drawings. It's already gotten past
the goal. It's been up for one day and he's
passed the goal.
Speaker 2: I can is it true? You can find it at
the Clippers store.
Speaker 1: I'm not yet, but go. You can still support it
helps him do the whole project, so check it out.
He's brought a bunch of joy and gallows humor, which
is something the Clippers faithful you should be used to
at this point to a rough start, So shout out
Eric Boe. Reviews really help us. You can do that
anywhere you listen to the pods. You can do that
on YouTube. If you want to review us, leave a comment.
That would be fun. And Adam, we've been pretty positive
this whole episode, but one specific positive thing to send
Clippers fans into the middle of this five and seven.
Speaker 2: It turns out you get Kawhi back, now, you get
your point guard back, and all of a sudden, the
Clippers can put over thirty threes per game up again,
since that three point issue seems to be resolved now
since they actually have guys that are being doubled out
there and getting the defense in rotation. And yeah, they
got up thirty one threes last night. They only made
nine of them, but honestly, that's a good thing to see.
You could still win a game like that. I think
did Justin Rousseau have that crazy stat. They're seven to
six their last thirteen games since February first, and in
only like two or three of them, they've won the
three point battle in those games.
Speaker 1: And they've that's wild, some really good teams in that stretch.
Speaker 2: Honestly, that's one of the most encouraging stats I have seen.
When you can win games and you're not out shooting
the opponent, that's not easy to do.
Speaker 1: That is crazy.
Speaker 2: They've been getting to the free throw line a lot more.
In the first half they only took six. Yeah, the
first half they only took six, and then that third
quarter they attempted twelve, and they really put the hammer
to them there being more aggressive.
Speaker 1: Here's to being aggressive tomorrow. Here's to making sure they
get the win against the Pacers. We will talk to
y'all on Thursday. Hope everyone has a good and safe week,
and as always, let's go Clip