Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans? Welcome to season three,
episode sixty three of Clips in dimp. The series is tied.
We are back coming at you ahead of Game three.
It is one to one clips in five for some
still very much alive. I'm not sure I'm attaching myself
to that train yet, but I am Chuck Wackler, joined
by Adam Oson and William Updike. Thanks for hanging out
with us. If you're listening to us and you'd like
to watch us talk about the Clippers or hangout on
one of our happy hour streams, you can find us
at YouTube dot com slash at Clippers Podcast. But no
matter what, thank you for hanging out. We're gonna be
talking Game three. I think that's pretty obvious what the
Clippers need to do, what they shouldn't be doing. But
before we get into that, fellas just some stats through
two games of Clippers Nuggets points, Clippers two hundred and fifteen,
Nuggets two hundred and fourteen, turnovers Clippers thirty one, Denver
thirty one. Each team lost the game where their star
player turned the ball over seven times. How are we feeling?
Is this as close as we expected? Adam? You haven't
been able to speak on this series very much over
the past week, so we'll give the floor to you first.
How are you feeling heading into Game three?
Speaker 2: Ah, they put the muzzle on me. Finally, I said
no more even talking too much about these Clippers on
this Clippers talk show. Yeah, it's I think Will's put
it best. It's been a stressful first couple of games
when you see the razor thin margins like that, and
especially even in Game one where they're led by as
many as fifteen, it still came down to an overtime
and still came down to some really crucial, high leveraged moments.
I don't think I'll say this. I think the Nuggets
have been closer to playing their best than the Clippers have,
maybe so far. Now Yokis can still reach another level.
But the stuff Russ has been doing has been really
big for them. Aaron Gordon having twenty five and more
than Kawhi Leonard in Game one, and his defense, the rebounding.
I think there is a lot that Clippers can prove
on and can improve on, especially if a couple of
guys find their shot, and I'm sure we'll get into
that at some point.
Speaker 1: Yes, we will be talking about those fine Clippers gentlemen.
Will how are you feeling so far on the eve
of Game three?
Speaker 3: Not good, man, not good? Not down on the clips.
It's just been a lot of anxiety. It's I mean,
it's like signing up to have a fucking two and
a half hour long heart attack every couple of days,
which is not ideal. Man, It's not ideal. And you know,
the way the Clippers were playing, the way to rolling
coming into this break, I was definitely an overly confident
in what this would look like. I mean, it was
definitely gonna be a close series. I wasn't a Clippers
in five as much as I would have liked to
have been on that train when it's inevitably proven, right,
But uh, you know, like this, this this series was
going to be a challenge, and I like what Adam
is saying that we've seen one team seemingly closer to
their peak than the other one. And regardless, even with
the series tied up, I mean, it's been incredibly close.
The Clippers are right there. I have no reason to
doubt that they can get out of this series. It
is just not going to be like comfortable. It's just
not gonna be comfortably, I guess, and that's fine. Like,
you know, a lot of pundits had this as like
the most exciting series of the first round, and I
would say, asn't disappointment.
Speaker 1: So yeah, those those NBA TV viewers are going to
be hyped tomorrow for for Clippers Nuggets. Before we get
into the nitty gritty of on court talk, there are
some comments made today by the Nuggets head coach, a
style of comment that I've never understood why you would
even entertain. But he basically said. He said that, uh,
it may have been a little misconstrued, but we know
how the internet works. He said that noise was pumped in.
He said, it's very loud, you know, and into it
because they pump the noise. Some people took that to
mean fake crowd noise. Others took to me and just
noise in general. I never understand when a place is
loud and an opposing coach or player is like, doesn't
sum that loud to me? Because it's all it does
one thing, which is make everyone true louder. But I
was already excited for into it tomorrow night. This added
I think La Murray said it bulletin board material for
an arena makes this very exciting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I gotta agree, And like, I can't speak to
that obviously. I mean, I guess I've never thought about it.
I don't think noise is being pumped in, But if
they were to do so, they are not the only
NBA arena doing so. Like, let's not like, you know,
let's not play around. The Warriors did it even during
their peak, you know, like there's it's not like it's
completely unheard of. So again, I don't know how this
was aggravated aggregated. I haven't seen the whole clip in
its full context. But even if this is like the allegation,
which again I can't speak to, it wouldn't be as
though this was the only arena where this was being done.
Speaker 2: So it first I thought, ah, this is pretty tame.
I think he just meant music wise, because he said
the quote is they have the crowd towards our bench.
It's like a high school crowd, which some people were like, ehugh,
they mean a high school crowd, which is actually really cool,
he said, after a huge compliment.
Speaker 1: If he went to a high school that had a
crowd that cared about basketball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all those high schools with a halo three sixty board.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: He said. The other thing is they pumped sound in
the place. That place is so loud, and he did
say it's very loud, whether the crowd is cheering or not.
So that makes it seem like he is saying there's
some artificial crowd noise there. And he compared it actually
to Phoenix and the Sons and playing them a couple
of years ago. And so I looked it up, and
it looks like they were being accused of pumping in
some fake crowd noise. So I think he does mean
I don't think it's just music he's talking about.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: He also made an interesting comment within the full two
minute clip about I don't know if it will survive
pertaining to the wall and be outlawed at some point.
It was it was strange the way he said it,
like he seems to be trying to tweak them a
little bit, like he is doing a little bit of trolling,
especially when you see his facial expressions there. He's got
a little bit of a grin on his face. You
can kind of see. I don't know, I think he
knows what he's doing. Maybe maybe it's e forra to
find out. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it's more so that because what is the
other result that they don't cheer like?
Speaker 3: Well, and this is already I mean like this is
already kind of an acrimonious matchup. I mean, you know,
like it's not it's gotten chippy, it's going to continue
to be so you know, these teams are like peaks
and valleys obviously over the last over the last five years,
but like have largely been pretty big competition to one another.
And I think that I think that it's a little
bit of gamesmanship, but I'm not mad at it. I
like it actually, but it's.
Speaker 2: Like it's not Does he think the players from the
Clippers are gonna get into this debate because it's him
versus the fans? Now, do you really do you really
want them screaming even louder? Does he? Does he realize
how creative the signage could get out there at the wall?
Speaker 3: You're saying he just poked the bear.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, he's like Dylan Brooks. He pokes bears.
Speaker 1: Like. There's some signs and I'm not going to get
into too many details. There's one particular style of sign
that I'm interested to see if it makes an appearance.
I'm not gonna go any further than that. We can
talk about it when US three or off the air.
I think Adam maybe knows what I'm talking about. I'm
was already very excited for this. If you get there
a half hour early, you also get a free T shirt.
So go. It's gonna be fantastic. To the on court stuff.
We're getting right into it. First segments, what the Clippers
need to do to win. Second segment's going to be
what could go wrong. I want to quick haggle, no
haggle for you guys, haggle, no haggle. Kawhi should try
and score thirty nine points on seventy nine percent shooting. Again,
Adam will kick it to you.
Speaker 2: You said quick, no haggle, no haggle. Well, there's different
ways to take that. Yes, if he starts off super hot,
keep going if you're in the zone. If he starts
oh five, he's like, I gotta get to that seventy
nine percent, So I gotta find a run in here
somewhere where I just hit twelve straight shot.
Speaker 1: I gotta make thirty in a row.
Speaker 2: Then maybe no, but yes, no haggle.
Speaker 1: Well you had to be pretty psyched because this is
obviously off the attack mode comments after game one that
Tyler said about Kawhi, what are you expecting from Kuhi
in game three? I don't think it can get any better.
We've seen it get better. But I I'm tempering my expectations,
but not in like a bad way, if that makes sense.
It's just such a treat that game too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, well, he knew that he had to
be more aggressive. We saw the adjustment. I mean, it's
not like he hasn't been in this situation so many times,
and you know, as much as it, I just don't
get how this is still baffling people. To be perfectly
honest with you, Like I feel like the conversation, especially
like around looser fans of the team or like looser
people in the NBA, they're like, oh wow, like I
can't believe Qui I did that, and it's like, no,
this is who he is, this is who he always is.
Like the health thing is really unfortunate, but like this
guy has like clawed us through so many playoff matchups,
and like if we had had even more than one
healthy postseason, the entire your conversation around this trade would
be completely different. So like there's my soapbox, Like I know,
like I'm just I just it's obviously it's impressive. I'm
not diminishing that in any ways, but like people act
surprised and like, I just I you did you forget
who this guy was? Like I just don't really, I
can't really comprehend it. I agree, I think you can
still do the same thing. We've seen him do the
same damn thing multiple times. A lot of Hawaii has
eight games like this, we're wearing a damn chit.
Speaker 1: Hell yeah.
Speaker 2: It's like they're acting as if Kawhi didn't play sixty
eight games last season. Man, Kawhi has it looked as
good and so long, motherfuckers. He had a thirty game
stretch last year where he put up fifty seven fifty
one ninety one shooting explicit it's the all time historic
efficiency rating over a thirty game stretch. What are you
talking about? I just yeah it. The national media, especially
espen some people have just been so insufferable how they
just woke up to this. Even Ernie Johnson said it
who I love he was, Like, man, I've seen Kawhi
look this good for so I was like, we have,
we have It's just about health. When he's healthy, he
looks great.
Speaker 1: I think the health I mean, I agree one hundred
percent agree with with both of y'all. And this game,
this playoff series, just how he looked so far is
also a testament to how well they handled the injury
this year. They handled it slow, they ramped him back up.
He was happy with how they were, you know, consulting
with the outside medical team, which is his I'm assuming
so like, I don't know if I'm gearing up for
for another thirty nine points, but I'm gearing up for
another efficient night with really good defense like he's been
and just there and.
Speaker 3: Just the aggressiveness like that.
Speaker 1: That was the thing.
Speaker 3: He did look to be a little bit of a
passenger and game in game one, and you know, he
made the adjustment. He knows what he has to do,
he knows who he has to be. And even by
Tyler Low's admission, you know, first games like game one
are a little bit of feel outs. Uh, you know,
they had the Clippers had some other things not exactly
going in their way, like visa via the bench has
not been has not been vis a vis what we
thought it would be, so it makes sense. But you
know he knows that. Ultimately, you know, the ceiling of
what this team does is tied to him, and it's nobody.
It's not necessarily somebody's team or any one person's team,
but I mean, if it was it's his.
Speaker 2: I like that you say my MF was also not
directed at anyone in particular.
Speaker 3: Is not your first f bom on this podcast.
Speaker 2: Absolutely more weight to it. Rarely ever say something like that,
but the national media is way behind on Lou Kawhi.
Speaker 1: Leonard looks better than ever.
Speaker 2: Why did you think we were so frustrated last season
because we had what looked like the best version of
Kawhi ever for sixty eight games and then unfortunately he
got hurt.
Speaker 1: Come on, I'm happy you dropped the mfor in the playoffs.
I can't wait to see what you say when they
win the chip. Well, you mentioned game one being a
feel out game. A lot of people are claiming for
adjustments which are a lot smaller than I think people realize.
The playoffs, one of the adjustments we saw was the
timing of the double teams in Game two. They talked
a little bit about this after practice. I saw some
stats from nikaias Duncan, who obviously, if you like, you
should follow him on Twitter. They stopped switching in the
fourth quarter and they were showing instead on the pick
and roll. So what that did was it cut down
on the lack of mismatches that Jokic could post up on.
And the first game he had nine post ups for
someone other than Zoo and then only four of those
in game twotment, that's like a small adjustment that we saw.
Speaker 2: Well, coach doesn't adjust, doesn't do anything. No, no, no,
that's all you pick it out.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: He didn't play Ben Simon, he didn't do that.
Speaker 1: But I just that was a good thing, and I
hope that continues, right because Adam, we saw the doubles
work a little bit better. It's still Jokic, but we
saw done get as you'll kind of sneaking up when
he had his back turn. It looked noticeably sharper.
Speaker 2: In game two, there was one that bothered me where
Zu didn't come to the level of the screen on
that Jamal Murray three pointer that he got, and I
think Chris Dunn thought he was going to he went
over it, but he was kind of slow to react
to it, thinking you have to drop back on Jokic,
and then Murray buried that big three. But outside of that, yeah,
they were they were tighter with their coverage. It's still
having said all that, Will and I were talking about
it off air, like they still got a ton of
offensive rebounds. Russ still made some really big shots and
Aaron Gordon missed a dunk, a wide open dunk. The
Clippers got really fortunate. They also missed what eight free throws?
How many free throws are the Denver Nuggets missing that game?
They were, yeah, fourteen of twenty two, and Nikola Jokic
missed four. And I think this series is right where
it should be with how close both games have been
and how both teams they have left some meat on
the bone, Like you can make the argument, and I
think maybe David Allman said this as well. They felt
like they played better in Game two and lost than
they did in Game one and one, And maybe the
Clippers played better in Game one and lost. You know,
it's it's been weird like that, but it comes down
to a few plays here and there.
Speaker 1: Well, how are you feeling about the turnovers because they
were ugly to start Game two, excuse me, and then
got a lot better as the game went on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's it's always that thing. They can
keep it to that sub fourteen number. I feel like
they're in a good spot, you know. I think it
was what was it eleven in that game too, which
is like incredible. I don't necessarily expect that to continue,
but they can keep it sub fourteen. They can play
this one. What I do feel like the transition has
been punishing. I feel like, I guess I'm just happy
it hasn't been worse, but it has been a punishing
style of play for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: They were better with it because they got I was
so worried in Game two in the beginning because the
first quarter the Nuggets, it was a track meet. And
then Van Gundy said this on the broadcast. In the
second and third quarter in Game two, they had no
fast breakpoints the Nuggets.
Speaker 3: So like we saw, we scored them on the break
in Game two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry, what was that out of.
Speaker 2: I think they had fourteen fast break points in the
first quarter and zero the final three quarters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which I don't trust, right, Like I don't I
don't believe that they're not gonna go scoreless in transition
for another three quarters in a row. No.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess the more troubling stat though, is like
in that that in that game too, they had more
than like three times the amount of second chance opportunities.
It was like eighteen to five.
Speaker 1: Let me pull that up. That is correct, yeah, fact
check myself.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And overall, the rebrounding has looked has looked worse. It
has looked a little bit more difficult against this Denver team,
which was something that I thought would get kind of
short up.
Speaker 2: I think part of it is just built in too.
You have to give up something if you're gonna guard
Yokics the way they do late in games, if they're
gonna double and triple team like they have at times, well,
they're doubling around the high posts. They're doubling on the elbows,
you know, like Zoo's over there, like asking where why
is the beats? Zubas getting rebounds because Joki is pulling
him out to the perimeter, and then Chris Dunnan is
being pulled over there too, or Kawhi or both.
Speaker 3: And you can't drop more, you know, like at that
point why even send the double like there's you're cooked.
Speaker 2: I do think first of all, Coach Lou ended up
being right. He kept normOn Pale out there in the
fourth quarter and he scored seven points, and that could
be a big turning point in this series of if
Palell can carry that over into really getting it owing
in all four quarters now and looking like himself. That
was probably the turning point for him. Before that, though,
I was like, I don't know, you might have to
pull him because if he's not scoring and he's not
gonna get rebounds, I would just rather try dj or
Niko Batoum. And that could still be a decision at
times late in the fourth quarter, just to have more
size out there and somebody else that can get a rebound.
If they're gonna continue to guard Jokish this way, because
they're gonna have the guys that they've been having there
to get rebounds. A lot of time is Harden and
Powell are the two guys back while other guys are
blitzing and trapping. You're gonna lose that battle to Aaron Gordon,
to Michael pob Junior, who had fifteen last game.
Speaker 1: Fifteen last game, and I think six offensive rebounds himself
the Norm thing. That's a great segue into this last
kind of like what they need to do keep the
same lineup. I said this after in the post game stream,
and you nailed it. What did Norm have? Seven points?
The fourth clutch three point? He also there are some
cool stuff today after practice, talking about how him and
Zoo have talked a lot about that interior pass to
make it easier to have a back and forth dialogue
he's had. I think most of his assists, not that
there's a lot in this series are to Zoo because
maybe the Nuggets just didn't realize that someone other than
James Harden would pass Zoo the ball or something like that.
But Norm, like this is why you don't switch the
lineup after one game. Like, yes, I'm not pretending that
Norm not being able to hit a shot is like fine,
but you let a shooter work out of it, and
he worked out of it incredibly clutch and incredibly well.
So don't be surprised if we see the same lineup
until as Adam pointed out, maybe there is a breaking point.
Speaker 2: To me, the overall point is and why coach Loues
stuck with him, is he knows he's going to need
him at some point. You're not going to win four
games against Denver if Norm doesn't have a big impact,
so to just say, oh, we'll go somewhere else. Oh
and by the way, the other guy you typically go
to is Bogee to fill in those Norm minutes, and
he's been worse. So I think Coach lou he got
put into a spot. I said this postgame. If Kawhi
wasn't as good as he was in Game two, Norm
probably doesn't play in the fourth quarter. Like he gave
longer of a leash because he kept the Clippers tight
and in it and that three pointer to put him
up by three to end the first half and saved shot.
Kawhi was so good he might have saved Norm there.
Speaker 1: Oh I like that idea.
Speaker 3: That's a great call.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right. Norm also had that nice
pass to Zoo for the end one. I'm really late.
Speaker 3: But if it's not, what is the answer, Like, oh,
let's say he doesn't have it going again, Like, what
what do you do at that point?
Speaker 2: If one of him or both you don't have a going, Like, yeah,
they're going to lose the series. Probably you can't you
can't survive when you're already at eight guys or eight
and a half guys right now that you're playing. You
can't have two of them just be no shows.
Speaker 1: You're down to six guys at that especially.
Speaker 2: The same position, especially doing the same stuff, yes, stuff.
Speaker 1: At least stressing that positional depth for sure. All right,
coming up, we're gonna talk about what the Clippers need
to not do in game three. Maybe we'll talk about Bogden,
who does If you're listening to us on audio, is
gonna be a quick break. If you're watching us, we're
still here. Coming up, we're talking what could go wrong?
Let us know what you think could go well at
Clippers pod on Twitter or at Clippers podcast on YouTube.
What could go wrong? Coming up? In three? Two one?
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back into Clips and dip. As we're
coming at you. Clippers have tied up the series taken
on the Nuggets for game three, first playoff game at
into it on Thursday. Now we got to talk about it.
No one wants to think about it. But what could
go wrong in this one? Adam, I'll kick it over
to you. What are you most worried about looking forward
to game in Game three.
Speaker 2: You know, in peking in the brain, that's like the
same thing we do every night, Pinky taking over the world.
It's like the same thing I'm always worried about. Nikola
jokicch Nikoleokicic is due. You can say all you want
about how well the Clippers have defended him, and they
have been great. It's not going to matter. At some
point he is going to have a game where he
doesn't try to ease his way in and get everybody
else shots. He's going to try to go for forty
or fifty, and that probably is coming up in game
three or game four, because right now, if you look
at his averages, he's at twenty eight points, ten boards,
eleven assists. Crazy, right wrong, That's still below his regular
season numbers with his triple double that was at thirty,
thirteen and ten. While he's playing eight less minutes than
he has been in the series. So he's actually putting
up less numbers while playing eight four minutes per game.
It's not going to hold up forever, and he is
going to have his Kawhi moment where it feels like
he's unstoppable. That's the game where the Clippers are gonna
have to have more than just Kawhi, more than just
Sam Harden, more than just a Piasa Zubots. They're gonna
have to have norm have it going. They're gonna have
to have Bogie contribute. Maybe DJ knocks out a few
more shots, but toomb out there who has been good.
It's gonna take everybody in a game like that, because
you can say all you want about just let him
score and stop the other guys. You can't just stop
the other They're not it's not him in bad Guys
from Clippers podcast or four guys from Clippers podcast next
playing next to Niko Jokis, they're all part of the
four hundred and fifty greatest players ever. And in the playoffs,
Jamal Murray, you could say he's not an all star.
He is the playoffs. He's a number two on a
championship team. It has been proven before. He's a playoff riser.
So just saying you can stop everybody else and let
Jokic get his they couldn't stop Aaron Gordon in Game one,
like a very good point. Come on, it's not that simple.
So how do you absorb that level of output when
Jokich is on that huge heater which is coming. It
is going to happen. He's inevitable.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering too, how that kind of goes with the
Clippers legs, because we saw some people talking about how
gas they look in Game one, all that stuff, Zoo
having a lot of responsibility, He's always had a lot
of responsibility against Yokich and having to guard Yokic, But
with the added offensive stuff that you can do, which
we love and is great, that's also draining, you know
what I mean, that's that's kind of compounding the energy drain.
So yeah, I wonder they're doing it right.
Speaker 2: They're doing everything right against him. It's just it's still
gonna happen, just like with Kawhi, that performance was going
to happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, we talk about this, I feel like
all the time, but like it doesn't matter, Like it
doesn't matter if you're the best defense. Like the game
is officiated towards offense. Elite offensive players and we're looking
at probably the best offensive player in the world right now,
are still going to get theirs. They're still going to
have their big game. It doesn't matter how well you
game plan, it doesn't matter how well you execute like
it's just going to happen, like that's just that's what
the game is. That's that's the way that it's you know,
that's the way that it's oriented.
Speaker 1: How rebounding talk we talked about a little bit in
the first segment. How concerned are we about this was
game two? It a bit of an anomaly. Do we
even know how Adaman teams will rebound? So if you
look at Game one, Clippers lost boards forty five to
forty four.
Speaker 2: They lost it miserably in the second half. They were
leading the board battle of half by like seven or
eight I.
Speaker 1: Yeakh and they and then game two.
Speaker 3: And that was apparent down the stretch too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they got smoked in overtime on the boards.
Speaker 2: I think that's what's so damn stressful when you can't
close out possessions. They're constantly missing shots, but they keep
getting more opportunities. You're just like, just get the ball.
Speaker 1: That's the legs thing too, right, Like that's I mean,
for all of Russ's faults, he got two offensive boards
in they're overtime. MPJ was a lot more active on
the boards in game two and just kind of played
better overall. They did in game one? What do we Tyler,
you talked a little bit about today about kind of
what you were saying, Adam. When guys are up and
doubling or something like that, the rebounders who are supposed
to do that are better at it are just pulled away,
Like what do we I don't know.
Speaker 3: Do you think less switching would would help combat this, Adam.
Speaker 2: If it's still Murray and Joki's on the perimeter running
high pick and roll, it's still a beats a Zubots
and Chris Dunn or Kawhi Leonard who's been guarding Murray
a lot late in games that are going to be
out there, and those are your two best rebounders with
the starters. So there's not an easy solution. Coach Lou
talked about cracking harder, just out guys, just just having
that will. I think depending on Let's say they're up
by like eight or something like that in the last
five minutes of the game and they've been getting boards
on you, and it's a problem, but you're up because
you're having a hot shooting game. I might lean in
to more defense or more rebounding then and go with
Patoomb or go with DJ over done or Powell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if we need the board. I was just looking
it up because I was like, oh they.
Speaker 3: Oh man, the stat was so good, Chuck fo.
Speaker 1: It didn't switch as much in the fourth Fuck.
Speaker 3: Okay, well say that it didn't. It didn't help.
Speaker 2: It didn't help, Chuck. We lost you. Yeah, they were bad.
They've been bad. This is my biggest concern will honestly,
because there's not an easy solution to this. Because we
talked about the scheme and what they're doing to the
clippers there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, ye, And I don't know. I guess it's just
an outwork thing. I do, like, do you think patun
minutes going up? That helps?
Speaker 2: I think it would, Like I I'm we're all comfortable
with more Nikova two minutes.
Speaker 3: And especially like if Norm, like if Norm and Bogdanovic,
I know, different positions, completely different needs filled, But I
feel like that's one of your better options, if you know,
like if your plan you know, A and B isn't working,
I feel like that's one of the one of the options.
I feel the less stretch, the least stress about on
the floor at least.
Speaker 2: Well, because what you could have then is the real
problem is James Harden has been matched up against Aaron
Gordon late in games. A lot Kawhi started against Aaron
Gordon early in that game too. But if Batube can
then go against Gordon, and you either have Kawhi or
done on Murray and then obviously have Jokic being guarded
by Vitsa Zubats and then it's James Harden who you
can hide on. Either Russ or who's playing who's in
that corner waiting for a three pointer a lot of
the time, or MPJ if he's in, or Christian Brown
like I like that more than Russ having try to
be physical against Aaron Gordon late going for a rebound.
I think that actually be hard and going out against
Aaron Gordon late, that's been the problem to me. Or
it's that at Powell like him and Powell being your
top two guys down low to close out possessions at
the end of a game against these freaking just Doberman
pinchers that are going after those rebounds with the Denver Nuggets,
with Russ and ag those are two of the better
offensive rebounds scrappy energy guys to get those extra possessions
in the league. Really, Yeah, I know, but Toomb's not
a great rebounder.
Speaker 3: But I mean, like just the size though and a hustle.
I mean, I like it more than having more guards
out there.
Speaker 2: He had four rebounds last game in eighteen minutes. Norman
Pale had zero and thirty three minutes. I think he
can do it. I think Nico is an option in
that situation that's still talking about the rebounding issue. It
does scare me more than anything because there's not a
quick fix.
Speaker 3: But we're talking about, you know, if if Bogie and
Norm continue as the trend has been so far, it's
outside of that that fourth quarter from more, you know,
I think more Nico, but two minutes is like one
of the only one of the only options that I'm
like feeling good about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there isn't really any other options, right,
Like it's not like we're at a wealth of bench
rotational guys who can come in and fill in the playoffs,
Like what do we do with Bogie?
Speaker 3: Like, honestly, yeah, Adam, this is your guy. I want
to hear what's going on with your guys? Break this
down for me.
Speaker 1: He got more minutes in Game two. He got more
minutes in Game two, he's just gonna get it. Seems
like he get his twelve to fifteen and if he
can make shit happen offensively great and if not, you're
kind of done, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like they could go to a mirror if Bogey struggles
for another game. It could happen at some point. But
here's what's so confounding about this. Bogie has been in
much bigger games than this. Huh Yeah, He's been in
bigger games than the NBA technically based upon first round
or second round. He's been in more high stake stakes
games there. He's been in much more high stakes games
with Serbia, like last summer where he dropped twenty on
Team USA and had him up seventeen and was completely dominating.
He was better than Jokic in some ways in that game.
I think he's just pressing and their defense. I heard
this earlier from David Adelman. This was interesting. They have
made it a note of trying to keep Bogee down
in this series. He was asked about adjustments, and I
think David Allen has been pretty brilliant with you guys.
Listen to him, and he's just super eloquent the way
he sees the game. I don't know, it's been interesting
to listen to, but I would big Rick Alman fan
obviously from sack Town, so maybe there's some bias there.
But outside of what he said today about into it dumb,
I was really starting to like him. And he talked
about how adjustments can be tricky because you try to
address one problem and now Bogey's starting to get it
going and now you have a new problem, so you
have to be very careful with what you adjust and
how much you adjust. He talked about how you know,
they always scored one hundred and five, so how much
is it really as our defense really been that bad?
Like should we really change things? Because he said, if
Bogey then starts to get it going, basically, then you
have new problems. So they have guarded him well. They
haven't even let him get walk into many like open
shots because he's a lesser player on the floor. They've
treated him like they know this guy could be an
X factor in this series, which he absolutely can be.
He just has to see one go and that's all.
Something else he said, if Bogey sees one shot go,
he's probably gonna get hot, but he's gotta be better.
There's obviously I can't defend it. It's been it's been
awful so far.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, I mean, if he makes those if it's
just so confounding though, like it's.
Speaker 3: Just what the hell happened?
Speaker 2: Mary, He wasn't very good against the Warriors in that
game too. Yeah, at the end of the season. Now,
he did have a big steel on Russ late where
he got the ball to DJ for that huge class game.
Maybe that gives him some confidence. It's not a shot,
but he took a possession away. It's I mean, it
was a big turnaround.
Speaker 1: If he could get like just a free throw to
go in, you know, just something so we can get
into the rhythm of seeing it. Because again, I think
he's gonna get his twelve to fifteen and Tie's gonna
be like, please, I hope you can make something happen
in game three because then we'll see that he.
Speaker 3: Still has gravity though, you know what I mean, Like,
regardless of the performances have not been good. I can't
defend that, but you know, he's still gonna get that
twelve to fifteen minutes because he has gravity out there.
That's that's still not a guy you're gonna ignore even
if he's like not going to play to the percentages,
you're going to play like the full career reputation of
this guy. So it's not we're not getting down on you, Bogie.
We're trying to lay a fire under you, is what
I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And the amir thing. A lot of people are yelling
for a mere I'm he is not. He has had
a very poor year defending a mere coffee. Has he's
foul shooters, Yes, he's biting on pump fakes. I love
a mere coffee, yeah, but it's going to take another
over performance from Bogie to get a Mere Coffee in.
I don't. Maybe happened second half or something like that,
but like, I just don't. A mer can shoot, for sure.
He cannot get as hot as Bogee. Don't send me
single games. He can't handle the ball as well. It's
just it's not he's just not here's a good player, yeah,
like him as a dude.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Just his clothes in the season was pretty troubling.
Speaker 2: And that's a good point. Players often ease into a
playoff series in high pressure at home. That is the
hope we all rally. We get behind Bogie and he's
not too amped up like he looks noticeably, just so
incredibly intense, and it's working against his shot. His shot
is not a power thing. It is a skill thing.
It is little motor skills going on. It's not that
easy to just say I'm gonna go out there and
play as hard as I can and as tough as
I can when you're a sharpshooter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is a good. Really, I'm gonna I'm gonna
hit these threes so aggressively.
Speaker 2: Yeah, next darity, it's yeah, it's grace.
Speaker 1: And then, Adam, you started off with the thing you're
always worried about. We can do another thing, limiting turnovers.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: The Nuggets made an adjustment in game two. In hardened
Zubac pick and rolls, they stopped doubling as much. In
game two they drop they stopped doubling like half. Basically
they were playing more of you know, the next pass
away out of that short role for Zoo. I hope
we get good turnover look right, like between forcing and
whatever adjustments we see. But the turnovers lead to fast
break points all that stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they like will said fourteen or less, and really,
if they had more than eleven in that game, there's
a good chance they lose. It's razor thin margins. You
have one more. So the idea is they're gonna be
a little bit better on the glass. So therefore, if
they do have thirteen or fourteen turnovers instead of eleven,
which is gonna be tough to get to again, it
evens out because they'll be better in the rebounding department.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what is I look at the points per game
of the Jokic Murray pick and roll versus Hard On
Zoo because while a lot of the focus offensively obviously
been on the Murray uh Yokic pick and roll, you know,
they spanned the hell out of it in that game one.
It has been efficient, or at least it's been af
It's looked very efficient, uh for the Clippers as well
in that in the Heart and in Zoo combo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that man is just like that's we'll have to
look at it.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you and Murray's is better, but I don't, like,
I'm curious just how much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it's interesting. Yeah, because game one, I think
Zach Low had it. They ran thirty five picking rolls
between them too, It was twenty five ran by Harden
and Zoo. They were both very effective. Uh, I don't know.
I'm guessing they ran less and not just less because
of Kawhi was doing so much in the game two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, and apparently it's gonna be fewer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you can't go away from it, like that's
another balance.
Speaker 3: And really hasn't like if it's one of those nights
for quiet, like I'm fine, Like just move away from it,
right Well, like Lett, Harden and Zo will get a
little bit of in game rest, save something for the
defensive end. We'll come back to it when we when
we hit you know, when we hit a hiccup, we'll
come back to liable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Harden can play much better in game three. I
expect him to, agreed, He wasn't. He wasn't terrible. He
had some terrible turnovers in the first quarter, and then
he had one terrible turnover in the fourth quarter where
after Dunn got the steel on Jokic, he tried to
have a long outlet pass and threw it right back
to Jokic. He kicked his own ass post game about it,
but shooting wise, expect him and less cowhis on the
same eater to be much more aggressive out there like
he was Gay one.
Speaker 1: Okay, last thing before we pick the player of the
game for game three, what are refs doing about these
Jokic flops because we haven't talked about it very much,
but the last game, and there was one in Gay
one two Game two was egregious. What he was doing
out there.
Speaker 3: I just either missed seen so many free throws. I
feel like, ball don't lie, Ball don't lie.
Speaker 1: Unethical hoops.
Speaker 2: They missed him and the ball still lied in Game one.
Speaker 1: That's true. That flop against I'm just sorry, I'm just venting,
but I'm just it's so annoying, dude.
Speaker 3: Like the normal one is so egregious.
Speaker 1: I just Wantary jumps into Chris John and like palms
his head like I can't.
Speaker 3: He's an expert at the wing too, at the like
the little little Chicken wing.
Speaker 2: Of course, Nuggets fans will say, what are you guys
talking about? You have James Harden on your team, so
I don't know, man. The Jokic mix versus Harden mix
of flopping in this series is drastically in favor of
the Kisch shot.
Speaker 3: Big shot, more than double the amount of free throws
in each of the games.
Speaker 1: And like Harden. First of all, Harden didn't even shoot
one the other game too, so it's like and Yokic
just flopping against Harden, So what's that do to their argument?
The elbow of the chest and then Jokic lost one
hundred and fIF fifty five pounds and was just down
on the ground that quickly, like, I don't know, I
hate it.
Speaker 2: I do push back a little bit with the free
throw disparity, only because Denver during the regular season free
throws attempted in the liveowl a lot, so it does
kind of track. But I still expect the Clippers the
disparity not to be as wide. In fact, they may
get more free throws in one or both of these games,
and into a dome there was still a home whistle
going on in Denver. I expect the Clippers to get
the same.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we got the home wall, which will be interesting.
Speaker 3: Welling up about point and was it was always going
to be the case, like gets who Denver was all year.
But you know when you're seeing like ten more, ten,
twelve more free throws and again they aren't falling down,
so I think comically there's something going on there bottle.
Speaker 1: Okay, finally we are picking our player of the game.
Speaker 3: Pitch.
Speaker 1: If you're new to the show, this one can be
a little difficult. We are not allowed, through uh mandate
to pick one of the big four, so we can't
pick Zoo I think I did. We can't pick Zoo,
we can't pick Harden, we can't pick Kawhi. Who else
can we not pick? We can't pick.
Speaker 3: Who might need to come off the trophy.
Speaker 1: You know what, let's take Norm off. We can pick
Norm now because he's been bad for three quarters seven quarters?
Will who is your player of the game for game three?
I still gotta go with bogey Man, my god, fighting
over to choose the guy that's sucking right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I still gotta go for Bogey Adam. I love
your point about role players settling in once they get
in front of that home craft gets settled down a
little bit. You know, maybe you can eat a big
lunch or something just kind of just kind of chill
himself out whatever he needs to do.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have a big lunch, take a little nap,
and you're you're good to go for the game. But
I'm I'm, I'm yeah, I'm ready for him to turn
it around. And I do think you know, as we
talked about earlier, if it's not Norm, it's not him.
The options just they get very scary. Uh, they get
very scary out there as to you know, how the
Clippers are going to continue to keep pace with this
Nuggets offense regardless of how good the Clippers defense is.
So yeah, I'm expecting him to turn it around.
Speaker 1: Adam, your pick.
Speaker 2: Resist picking Norm because it still feels too easy. It
doesn't feel right like this rule amendment. I don't know.
I'm so used to not being able to pick him.
I'm gonna go DJ. He has been good. Yeah, he
hasn't scored a lot, but he has been good. He
has been effective out there. I just want to see
if he ends up with ten or twelve points in
this game. A couple of high flying dunks, a three pointer.
I just want to see DJ get the crowd on
their feet and continue some momentum runs for the Clippers
with those exciting plays, a couple.
Speaker 3: A couple of timely TJ like DJ dunks. I think that,
like that, that is what could make this a Finally,
if we get one comfortable game in this series that
that would be the thing to kind of do it into.
Speaker 1: It's gonna lose its damn mind when Derek Jones junior
throws went down. I'm going Chris Dunn, who I have
loved watching play basketball the entire times with the Clippers,
and this series has proven how good and valuable and
how bullshit the new rules are for the first team
NBA and all that stuff. But Chris Done. He's done
exactly what he's done all year, yeah twice, which is
set the tone with his play on the court. He's
been a tone center for this team.
Speaker 2: We said, you heard coach lu say that recently. He's like,
we need to all be like Chris Dunn out there.
Speaker 1: Hell yeah. Like he's been fantastic.
Speaker 3: I'm really excited to see I say.
Speaker 1: That every day. Yeah, I'm excited to have a you know,
a Pat Bev esque big defensive play goes crazy. He's
hyping the crowd up. I'm picking Chris Done.
Speaker 3: He's only shooting like thirty three percent so far in
the series, and I think, I mean, I think you
can do better.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, and the offense too, whatever, Chris all right,
that about wraps it up. Oh, I cannot wait to
be an into a dome tomorrow. If you're going, please
be loud. We know you will be, but we just
got to say it. We're gonna be back with some
postgame stuff on Thursday, probably a Happy Hour stream on Friday,
because it's kind of a weird quick turnaround. The Clippers
play at three on Saturday. Will where can some of
our newfound listeners, if they'd feel so inclined, let us
know what they think of our content? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can let us know on basically any any
piece of content over at YouTube dot com slash that
Clippers podcast. That's, of course the best way to consume
the show. You get to see stuff this I don't know.
I mean, the show doesn't stop for.
Speaker 1: That day stuff.
Speaker 3: You get to see stuff. But if you're more into
the audio things, you can listen to the show wherever
you get your audio podcast. If you happen to listen
over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you leave a little
radi and review. You can comment now on Spotify. So yeah,
we'd love to hear from you. However, you can sue
the show. You know, we appreciate you. Here's to maybe
not having a heart attack one day.
Speaker 1: This week would Yeah, I agree with that. Now, Adam
final thing, real quick, one positive thing to send these
fans into game three.
Speaker 2: It turns out national media Kawhi Leonard is real mother
effing good.
Speaker 1: Still there we go. He censored it this time, but
go back there is proving him cursing. Thank you all
so much. We will be back with you all after
the game on Thursday, and as always, let's go clips.