Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to season three,
episode thirty one of Clips in Dip. We are back.
We took a small hiatus as a group. Well, Adam didn't,
he was working his ass off. I took and Will
and I took a break. But we are back. It
is the holiday season. We hope everyone had a good week.
Today we're gonna be talking the Clippers beating the Nuggets
yet again, some Tylou Coach of the Year talk, as
well as a preview of the upcoming back to back
because it's not a Clippers basketball week if there's not
a back to back. We want to thank everyone for
watching us over on YouTube dot com, Shack Clippers podcast,
and listening wherever you find your pods. But before we
get into all the basketball stuff, Adam, Will, how are
you doing? Adam? What was the worst dish at your Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2: God? I can't even hate. I had vegan Thanksgivings and
everything was really good and I didn't even miss the
turkey much at all. And then somebody brought me some
turkey the next day because they felt bad that I
didn't get any on Thanksgiving, and I was like, damn,
this is try as hell, why do people like turkey?
Speaker 1: Roller coaster of a Thanksgiving? Sounds good? Though? Are you
a vegan?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: Are you going a vegan?
Speaker 2: I'm getting there at one big dinner, you can eat
a lot of corn bread.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Will, How are you doing? We had Thanksgiving together,
so I'm not going to ask you what the worst
dish was because you cooked most of it and it
was all delicious. Yeah, I'm I'm good.
Speaker 3: Great Thanksgiving, great little break, and I mean the benefit
of some great Clippers basketball all things considered.
Speaker 1: Who abso fricking lutely? As I mentioned, if you've been
living under a rock, you miss that. The Clippers beat
the Nuggets again one TWI Norm was back. I know
we don't usually do like full recapture anything of games,
but this was a great game. I love watching the
Nuggets lose add into it. It brings me great joy. Adam,
how was the vibe on the radio? There was a
lot of things in this game that I think, to
me make it the best win of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it was because I expected to get
their best shot from the Denver Nuggets, who already had
their bad loss where they got blown out at home
by the New York Knicks. So Mike Malone really had
their attention, and they had three days off and they
got Aaron Gordon back. I know he was on a
minish restriction and it looked like at times the Clippers
were testing him and actually going at him and making
him have to work to see where he was at defensively.
That is a really good team. They just beat twice.
They've done that already with the Golden State Warriors, they
beat them twice. They've beaten Denver twice. So there's really
nothing you can complain about too much with their record,
with the being thirteen to nine, it's not inflated by
them just beating up on bad teams. In fact, they
lost to the Portland trail Blazers. I saw them. So
it is a good time in Clipper Nation. Everybody seems
to be in a very celebratory mood.
Speaker 1: Yeah, things of flip flops since that loss to the Timberwolves.
People were freaking out. Not forty eight hours before they
beat the Nuggets. Will were you as hyped on this
Nuggets win as Adam and I are? Are you feeling?
Because I guess I think this is one of the
big best ones of the season because it has solidified
like what Adam said, right, we're not beating shit teams,
We're not playing the pison, you know, like that kind
of stuff, Like they're beating really good teams.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I don't know how you couldn't be
pleased with this win, and especially you know, we've talked,
we've talked so much this year about how kind of
matchup dependent this team is, with how sort of you know,
thin they are from a death perspective, and this is
a matchup that I would especially with Gordon back in
the lineup, that I would say is a pretty difficult
matchup size wise for this Clipper team, and they've gotten
the best of them two times. Obviously, the regular season
is one thing, Denver Nuggets being a little bit of
their own kind of slump, a little bit of malaise
going on right now, so that's that's something to consider
as well. But you can't take anything away from this
Clippers team with these two really quality wins. And you
mentioned the wins over the over the Warriors too, Like
this team is showing up for big games and they're
also showing up for the most part even in these
lesser games. While I know we haven't always gotten the
results that we wanted, especially during that sort of like
homestand losing losing scratch where it took you know, four
losses into it into it Dom to finally get a win.
But you know, like aside from that, this team is
really competing at a level that I don't I think
we saw for portions last year. I just don't feel
like we were seeing the same sort of sustained focus
and execution on this level. And it is still early
in the season, but it's great to see. There's no
way that you can't feel good about this Clippers team
right now.
Speaker 1: I heard there's a great quote that Andrew Greive said,
I think like two years ago something about kind of
during the two wine to three era was there was
always something, you know what I mean. It was always
like there was Kawhi out, or there was like some
rumblings of playing time stuff in the locker room. There's
not always something this year. This team is here to
just deal with what's on the court, play the game
and do kind of the little things that you know,
think guys like JVG help and stuff like that. I
don't know which I'm more excited about from that win
against the Nuggets. It was James Harden who had an
efficient night, which we love James Harden. Efficiency has not
been the name of the game so far this year.
Or I know what, maybe Adam was most excited about
the Jordan Miller statement performance. Maybe you mentioned how they
were going at Aaron Gordon. He went right at Aaron
Gordon and got a bucket. He does things that the
Clippers need, like get easy buckets, get to the foul line.
There is no Kevin Porter Junior tomorrow in the game
against the Blazers, so we are going to see more
Jordan Miller. But are we getting close to like a
rotation controversy. I know that the Jordan Miller hive has
already assumed there was a rotation controversy, but after this
recent stretch, it seems logical, right, Like.
Speaker 2: The only reason I think there might not be is because,
first of all, Bones still isn't playing, and Coach Sleu
wants to have a legit, more seasoned ball handler.
Speaker 1: Out there, real point guard.
Speaker 2: And I think that's how you've used Kpja and I
get it.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: I also just think you can get by with Terrence Man,
with Chris Dunn and Jordan Miller, and we saw that
yesterday with guys like that bringing the basketball up because
Harden's gonna play thirty five minutes a night, right, it
probably is maybe somewhat matchup dependent, but they got away
with it against the Denver Nuggets. And I don't know,
I Jordan Miller's been so up and down. We're twenty
five percent of the way through THEE and you know,
I've wanted to see Jordan Miller from game one and
if it takes KPJ being out of the rotation for
that to happen, I'm for it. I don't think it's
realistic though. I don't think it's happening. I don't think
Coach Love's making that move.
Speaker 1: Will Are you on the coach Louse not making that
move train? Yeah? I think so.
Speaker 3: I think it's still a little it's still maybe a
little rash to uh to make that move, and I
think it gets a little bit trickier to depending on
how the rotations work out with dun being in that
starting lineup, because there goes you know, like you know,
it makes sense and obviously the starting lineup has been
all the better for it.
Speaker 1: But we sort of talked about at the time.
Speaker 3: Even you know, I kind of like, even though it's
not hockey rotations, I do like done having a more
seasoned point guard kind of with that second unit. And
now that's something you can totally mitigate depending on how
you run the rotations. Obviously, that's that's something that you
could plan for if you if you want to have
Jordan Miller out there a little bit more just staggering
those guards, especially with no back. If he, you know,
continues to operate at this type of efficiency, you can
probably get away with staggering the guards a little bit
more and getting getting Jordan Miller next to a you know,
a more prototypical kind of point guard, if that's if
that's the hold up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the point guard thing is kind of valid from
Tyler a little bit. We've seen what this team what
you know, it feels like the guys who are who
sometimes handle the ball when one of them is having
a bad night, it feels like they're all kind of
having a bad night, you know what I mean, Like
it's like contagious among the guys who have to try
and initiate the offense, and they are kind of different.
They are different players, right, Like Jordan Miller does do
things differently. Tyler said he wants to challenge Jordan Miller
defensively to be good every night. And Law Murray, who
posted a bunch of great uh Jordan Miller content today
over on his Twitter, was talking about like they wanted
to be aggressive on defense, they wanted not to foul
and stuff like that. That is the hardest thing to
me that a rookie who's not necessarily a defensive guy
is asked to do. Right, Hey, play really aggressive defense
without fouling during kind of like your initiation into this
lineup for a team that expects you, and rightfully so
based on how good they've been defensively to kind of
be a dickhead on defense. Like, so that's the biggest
hurtle right now is his defense. It's not like KPJ
was a turnstile. If KPJ was very bad at defense,
I think we'd be having maybe a different conversation.
Speaker 3: But yeah, and Adam, I mean Adam has pointed that out.
I mean, even with KPJ's sort of inefficiencies sometimes he's
like bad habit of kind of stopping the ball and
not not really looking for teammates, he has remained he
has remained really solid on the defensive end, which is
one of those things that will keep you in this rotation.
Speaker 2: He's been a good rebounder too for them. I don't
think Jordan Millner has been at all bad defensively so far.
I think it's just it's a staple of being a
Clipper now, like you got a played some defense out there.
Even James Harden has been doing it much more now.
He can get away with being the weak link because
he's so vital to what they do offensively. It doesn't matter.
But yeah, I don't know. I like everything we've seen
from Jordan Miller. And he had a quick eight points
early on in that second quarter, and they had an
old bench lineup with him, Terrence Man, a Mere Coffee,
Niko Batoom and Mobamba. Then they actually extended the lead
up to eleven. But then there was maybe a seventeen
to two run by the Denver Nuggets. And I watched
those possessions closely, and the Clippers just missed a bunch
of gimmes at the rim. It wasn't like their offense
stalled out and there was a heavily flawed lineup out there,
like a Mere Coffee was missing gimmes Terrence Man like,
they had good looks and they just weren't getting them
to go. I don't think there was anything to say that, Okay,
this can't work or these lineups with his backups can't
work out there, But it ended up being a tied
game by the half of fifty nine. So I don't know.
I'm all for Moore Jordan Miller, but I also get
the logic of playing Kevin Porter junior because he is
a more traditional playmaker and ball handler out there.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens tomorrow against a team that, as
you mentioned, we've lost you already, so we'll see what
happens with that. Amir and Terrence off the bench yesterday.
It sucks that, you know, when Terrence has a good performance,
now we kind of have to be like, yeah, maybe
he's coming back just because of how a season is gone.
But him and a Miir off the bench together. I
don't know what the bench nickname is for these guys,
but I absolutely love this dual off the bench. It's
such an annoying pair of guys to play against for
second units.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mir was having a really good game too. Before
you bang knees with I think a Visa Zubos and
he's okay, yep, But I love what coach flu did
once again, he just rode the hot hand well. Terrence
Man having his best game of the season, so I'm
gonna stick with him down the stretch here, and it
paid off. It paid big dividends when he had that
offensive rebound that eventually turned into that three point where
he hit off the pass from James Harden. But it'd
be great for this team of if Terrence Man could
actually strink together three or four straight games where he's
scoring ten plus points and it's just being more confident
out there with his shot. That'd be huge for them
because you know, some of the guys like a mere coffee.
While he was good from three last night, his percentages
have dipped. Chris Dunn, He's eleven for his last forty
one from the outside. DJ his percentages are going down
from the outside. That regression to the mean for a
lot of those guys that were shooting forty percent and above,
and we knew it wasn't sustainable, it has happened. So
if Terrence Man could all of a sudden pick up
where some of them left off, that would be big.
Speaker 1: What's I mean, it's almost January, right, so we got
about what twenty nine more days and then Terrence Man's
gonna kick it into gear and start shooting, like forty
six percent.
Speaker 2: Were shooting the shit out.
Speaker 1: Of the exactly. Russ gave all the fans free chicken,
which was great. The tribute video for Russ was good will.
Did you watch the tribute video? How did you feel
about Russ's performance overall? Oh, you're muted. We can't hear
all the curse words. It was ross, you know, I'm.
Speaker 2: Sorry to say it was rough or it was ross.
Speaker 1: Both one and the same. Same.
Speaker 3: No, I mean, like it's you know it, it's weird
because we we just know a little bit more about
like the details behind the scenes and everything. So I
think that that taints that a little bit. But there's
no denying that, like there were times where you know,
he was he was massively needed in terms of like
bringing that sort of energy and competitive spirit, and you know,
that's kind of what I was talking about this season
is like it it doesn't seem like there's the same
need for that, Like there's uh, this like this team's
version of something always happens is like, let's just make
it work. Like you know, they're they're constantly you know,
they're constantly down a guy all season and yeah and
then Nor and then Nor being out of the lineup,
and like, you know, there's no excuses. These these guys
are figuring it out. It's not always pretty, but they
have found ways to make it work. And I think that,
you know, I think that.
Speaker 1: In some ways.
Speaker 3: In I don't necessarily want to say addition by subtraction,
but when you remove a very vocal presence from the
locker room, sometimes like it can give other people a voice,
and it can it can allow other people to kind
of to kind of, you know, fill out that need
and fill out that thing. And I do think, you know,
like when they're not you know, when you're you're not
worried about aggravating the the m v P, the Hall
of Famer in the room. I do think that some
really positive things can come from really any level of
the roster.
Speaker 1: Anybody on this roster, I.
Speaker 3: Would be surprised if they didn't feel like they had
a voice that was heard in this locker room.
Speaker 1: I like that last part a lot about how everyone
can kind of feel like they have a voice and
something like that, because it is right like last year
and even in the Pat bevyears, there was one guy
who was the energy guy. Right like, it was like, Russ,
we need you to come in, grab some rebounds, sprint
up and down the court, maybe hit some threes. That'd
be awesome. We just need some energy. Now that's actually
dispersed among everybody on the team, and it's nice that
it's actually working.
Speaker 2: And it's not a ratic, out of control energy that
is typically a net negative. Russ, by the way, in
two games against the Clippers this season, three for nineteen.
Speaker 1: He's helping us out. I appreciate that. I think that's
a good guy. Russ moved. I love that he gave
the fans free chicken. He should have just said he
did that on purpose. I do think a bunch of
good Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: It's not and what he did yere for you guys,
so I thought I'd help you out too.
Speaker 1: Exactly. It's just a good move. All you have to
do is in the pres conference say don't say I
never gave you nothing. Yeah, peace, and then everyone loves
you for the most part.
Speaker 2: Is it a major relief Just having two massive egos
off the team with Russ and Paul George.
Speaker 3: Yes, there's and I think I think on multiple levels,
you know, like I talked about like player to player
relations and people's voices being heard in the locker room.
It also I think alleviates stress from the front office
and the coaching staff because I think that there's a
lot less input going on as to how things are
going to be run on the floor, what type of
acquisitions this team needs to make, Like it feels like
this team, you know, I think I feel like the
thing we've been saying all season is they committed to
this move in the off season and there's actually been
a through line of continuity where they're able to do
that because there's not like there's not these extraneous voices saying,
actually it should be this way, or I think it
needs to be this way, or I need to play
with someone who's gonna facilitate things this way and who knows,
you know, like maybe the balance will will shift a
little bit when is.
Speaker 1: Gonna get a big ego.
Speaker 3: But but I think when things are going so well,
if you're a you know, if you're an All Star,
if you're a Hall of Famer who's been out of
the lineup while the team is doing this good. I
think you're a lot more inclined to be like, Okay,
I'm just gonna settle in and see how see how
these things are going. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
read the room and go from there versus you know,
coming in kind of guns of blazing the man.
Speaker 1: The front office part, it just gives me flashbacks to
that before, how they got Russ of Lawrence Frank giving
a quote saying exactly what they wanted, and then tylu
and Paul George just being like, no, actually we would
like this one specific guy and then we go and
get him and it's just like shit, that didn't really
work out on any level on an on court level,
and then to Will's point, to an off court level.
Speaker 3: Like Adam, and it just takes players from themselves, it
really does. Like the game is just it it's a
lot different. And I realized that you had like they
have so much. They've forgotten more ball knowledge than I
will ever know. But it's just it's a it's a
completely different ball game from when you're sitting in the
driver's seat to what's actually like the whole bird's eye
view of what's happening on the court driver's.
Speaker 1: Seat gives me PTSD. I can't even deal with that phrasing.
Thank god that PJ. Tucker doesn't have more pull in
the lineup, because.
Speaker 2: I forgot three massive egos.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they've been down. We've been down two guys
all year, like cause again, PJ Tucker is an empty
roster spot like PJ. Tucker's is taking up faith. All right,
final thoughts on the Clippers beating the Nuggets again before
we get into the next segment. Anything that you fellas
would like to share.
Speaker 2: They've had a trend recently going back to the Minnesota
game where not going back to the Washington game because
they never were down, but uh, they they've gotten down
double digits and immediately have responded. It happened twice against Minnesota,
and then in that third quarter they got down by
ten against Denver and Norm came out and hit three
three pointers within like a three minute stretch, and James
Harden hit two and they went from being down ten
all of a sudden in a game they were up
by eleven and in the first half to being up
by two, and that big two point shot the little
MIDI fade away from Terrence Man at the end of
the third quarter put him up ninety two to ninety
the same score that they had total in the game
against Minnesota, ninety two points they had at the end
of the third quarter against Denver. But I just loved
the response they had when they really faced some adversity
and it looked like, well, Denver's about to pull away,
they might get up fifteen to twenty now, and Norman
just said, nope, I don't want to knock down these
threes in your face. And he went five of eight
from the outside. So're just awesome to see.
Speaker 1: No pal back, yeah, backlk. It never left well. Any
final thoughts on this game. Zoo had a rough outing, and.
Speaker 3: I mean the field goal percentage overall not the most efficient,
and I don't expect us to win many games where
like the rebound advantage is so slim. I think we
I think we won the day by like three total rebounds.
Not great floor efficiency, but we took nearly double the
amount of threes that Denver took. So great great stuff there,
great stuff there. We found a way to make it work.
Speaker 1: That is all the Clippers have been doing, and it's
confused me so much as someone who's watched this team
constantly find ways to make things not work. It's very refreshing.
Coming up, we're gonna be talking ty Lu as the
coach of the Year. If you're listening to us on
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ads and then coach that you're talk in three to one.
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back in to Clips and Dip your
favorite podcast that's you know that has to do with
the Clippers. We talked a little bit about the clippers
great win over Denver, and you know, something that we've
talked about certainly but maybe not enough is Tylu and
the job that he's been doing all season and Charles
you're pegging him.
Speaker 1: As a sort of dark dark horse Coach of the
Year candidate. I think as of right now, Monday December second, five,
three pm on the West Coast, Tylu, what's going on
in Cleveland. Is like, there's the guys ahead of him
in the Coach of the Year ladder right now, he's
currently plus twenty two hundred twin Coach of the Year.
So Vegas doesn't exactly believe in you're saying to put
that in, Yeah, Vegas is not believing in the Clippers
to sustain this, but he's behind Kenny Atkinson, e Ma Kerr,
Missoula and mostly who are all doing a great job.
I think Tyleru is doing I don't know if more
is the right word, because again, the wins aren't necessarily
there compared to some of those other guys in that thing.
Tyler's doing as much with less than these other guys,
and there's no disrespect to these other coaches. I think
right now Tyleru has to be Coach of the Year.
There's no Kawhi again, empty roster spot from VJ. Tucker.
They have the team believing in themselves and in the
defense and in getting rebounds, which we've all talked about
is kind of being the most surprising thing from the
Slippers team. They were pegged to be a very bad
rebounding team, but you look at their stats, it's just
a defensive juggernaut right now, like they're not good at offense.
I'm not wanting to think it seems like that's not
a high scoring team, but to me, that marks how
good of a job Tyler has done in instilling the
cists terms of JVG is helping with and making guys
believe that what they do matters. Maybe put the bat
on plus two twenty. I don't know if it's six.
I don't know if we're going to continue this win
percentage of the whole season. But I have loved Tylo's
year so far, and I think it would be difficult
to find people who rationally have disagreements to that.
Speaker 2: I don't rationally disagree, okay, but irrationally.
Speaker 1: I want to say that light off the handle.
Speaker 2: I think the JVG factor is so big that he
will be overlooked in a lot of ways for the
little things he has done with I remember the game
against Phoenix where they blew that twenty plus point lead
and he was calling all the right timeouts to try
to stop the runs. They're down, they're only up seventeen now,
and he's calling a timeout. I think the sense of
urgency has been awesome from him, but I do think,
and you you guys, tell me what your perception is
of Jeff Van Gundy's role, But I think we're talking
about a true defensive coordinator. And if the biggest reason
why either thirteen and nine is because having a top
five defense, and the biggest reason for that is because
Jeff Van Gundy, I think there's a case to be
made that those other guys are still ahead of Coach
lou But I'm not trying to make that case. I'll
just say it.
Speaker 1: I can see the argument if it's also funny because
like if Jeff Van Gundy wasn't Jeff Van Gundy, none
of there would you know what I mean, Like if
it was just an up and coming, defensive minded assistant
coach and not a guy who has like media clout,
Like I get your.
Speaker 2: Point, because he has implemented a completely different system. They say, yes,
they're doing things completely differently. Dan Craig the former DC,
and Jeff Van Gundy took that role and we kind
of put it on Dan Craig when he was here
that he was the defensive specialist, and I think the
same thing is happening. And then some with JBG. You
mentioned though his big personality and media presence. He doesn't
do the halftime assistant coach reporter interview. That's kind of interesting.
It's always Brian Shaw.
Speaker 1: You probably hated doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems like he doesn't want much of the attention.
Jeff van Gundy, like he just wants to coach and
be a darkroom guy and come up with stuff schematically defensive.
Speaker 1: Phil will are you putting down six thousand dollars on Tyler?
And where are you at? No? I don't know about that.
Speaker 3: I think like the the idea of him being overshadowed
is a very very real concern. It's also just I
don't know, it's it's tough though, just because of how
they've overachieved expectations.
Speaker 1: One thing I.
Speaker 3: Feel like though, with the with the Coach of the
Year award, it's generally kind of like a year behind,
you know what I mean. I feel like the Coach
of the Year doesn't really get it maybe in the
year that they deserved it, and they get it the
following year so I.
Speaker 1: Can be fired. Yeah, so I could.
Speaker 2: I could.
Speaker 1: I could see I could.
Speaker 3: See Missoula grabbing it this year, since I think he
finished like fourth in votes last year because of how
great Daniel was and and everything I may I would
take out of the thing he's They're not going to
give it to him.
Speaker 1: Kerr is interesting, Atkinson is.
Speaker 3: That's a really interesting one depending on how the rest
of this this year pans out. But that's that's that's
a really interesting one. And Jamal Mosley, I mean like that,
that's a really.
Speaker 1: Interesting one too. I don't know.
Speaker 3: So there's just a lot of really deserving candidates this year,
So I think, yeah, I think it's I think it'd
be really difficult for him. It just depends on how
much stock voters put into like the over like the
over achievement. And I think a lot of that sort
of like goodwill and over the and uh overachievement kind
of goes out the window when Koi returns, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1: Because then if the Clippers are great.
Speaker 3: You know, if the Clippers are out of the play
in and maybe as high as say a four or
five seed, it's kind of expected at that point, you
know what I mean. It's not like, oh Wow, what
a surprise. They really they really did it to him.
I think that, you know, there is a there's a
very real recency bias obviously in how these things are determined.
So I think he should definitely be in the conversation.
There's certainly a few people ahead of him though, where
it's kind of like, yeah, I mean, they're they're really deserving.
I don't, you know, I don't know what else to say.
Speaker 2: I think if if Cleveland finishes top two, it's probably
Kenny Atkinson easily.
Speaker 1: I think it's well deserved.
Speaker 3: Yeah, especially after the raw deal that he got after
turning around that NETS team.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, he's a guy who I feel like kind
of got kind of got dumped on, kind of got like,
you know, he was like flotsam in the in the
league for a little bit, for no real reason.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: And now he's got and now he's got another opportunity,
and I think it'd be I think it'd be great.
Speaker 1: And what he's done, what he's done with that team
is uh is impressive.
Speaker 2: I also think fair or unfair And I'm not on
board with this because I've talked about the little things
that coach Lou has done, like the timeout stuff with
him has been incredible this season. It's also like he's
like eleven and five and coaches challenges. I think he
might be best in the league there. But uh, I
think some people give credit to JVG for all the defense,
and then those same people give credit to James Harden
for the offense. So then where does that leave coach
Lou And I don't think this is accurate. I just
think there is a perception out there.
Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, I don't think you're wrong about that,
because it is all this praise being heaped not on
the head coach, but to me, that's the mark of
a great head coach. Right, You're like, they don't give
me any credit. I'm here, everyone in the building knows
what is happening.
Speaker 2: I think he's been great rotation. But okay, none of
those two things account for rotations though, Right, defense is
and how good James Harden is, that's not He's been
awesome with rotations for the most part.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really can't think of like I've just been
beaten into submission by being fine with four guard lineups
and three guard lineups because from the Tiler ten years
so far, but they've been solid and.
Speaker 3: This this would be different if it wasn't working, you
know what I mean?
Speaker 1: John Wall, Yeah, there's obviously a lot.
Speaker 3: There's a lot less than nitpick when things are going well,
and who knows, maybe, you know, maybe our feelings changed
should things take a turn for the worst. But no,
right now, he's done an incredible job. And I think
though it is you know, I talked about last season
being one of his hardest years to coach. This year,
his hand is so often forced that I do think
that he's obviously doing a lot. He's you know, like
I said, he is maximizing the returns for what he
has to work with. But at the same time, it's
like a little bit there's a little bit less of
a Sophie's choice going kind of going on, if that
makes sense.
Speaker 2: And specifically with two moves he made a lot of
people felt like you should just lean into defense with
the starting lineup, and he said, no, I'm going with
Norman Powell. That has worked brilliantly. And then he went
away from Terrence Man not after ten games, but after
eleven games. I think it was when he was struggling,
even though that was the incumbent, and he brought in
Chris Dunn. He has made some great moves.
Speaker 1: And he managed that move well from a off the
court perspective because Terrence is playing good off the bench
and guys are still believing in their role and stuff
like that. Yeah, the buy in need to have a
player like Terrence, but yeah.
Speaker 2: The buy in has been consistently otherworldly. Like I tell
Hell's to put it, like, guys every night are getting
up for games, and even though their offense consistently has
been bottom ten, it has not affected their defense at all.
And that's something I would have expected by this point.
I would have thought their offense would hurt their defense
at some point they wouldn't be able to hang around
top five defensively.
Speaker 1: I thought it was gonna be like yeah, like you
said around the twenty game mark, when it was like
oh shit, like here now we're kind of uh, you know,
reap from what we're sewing here. Other Clipper award ideas, Tyler,
but they.
Speaker 2: Should have effing fouled Minnesota. Yes, I agree with that,
but that wasn't easy.
Speaker 1: Tylu brought up Norm Powell being considered for most Improved Player.
I'm not mad at that. If this continues, the volume
and of what Norm has done, like I think this
is this, This is the most realistic season ending award
for a Clipper to win, or he split votes with Zoo.
If Zoo continues to crush about the best, the fan
vote kind of screws it. But like, he.
Speaker 3: Deserves an All Star appearance this year, and I don't
think it's gonna happen, but he's very deserving of it.
Speaker 1: Is there a K pop fan group that we can
get to vote for Norm Powell for All Start because
that's how you gain the system right there. We need
some kind of hive.
Speaker 2: I got a VPN scramble that's pretty good and I
can vote from a million times perfect.
Speaker 1: Adam's got it. We'll write a script, but most improved
player seems doable for Norm if this keeps up, I
was right how he's gonna look after the injury. It's
only been one game, but he looked exactly the same.
Speaker 2: Man he was And what did he have twenty eight
in twenty five minutes. Yes, if he ends up I
agree with Will, it's probably not going to happen. But
if he ends up anywhere near and the percentages are
not going to be near they are. But let's say
he's shooting, he could shoot forty nine percent from the field.
But let's say he's shooting forty five percent from three
as the voting starts to heat up, and he's getting
twenty to twenty three points per game, and the Clippers
are playing well and Paul George is not, and the
Philadelphia seventy six ers l still are still down. It
may bring some more eyes towards the Clippers and like,
how is this happening? Oh, look at this guy that
is replacing Paul George and looks better than him at
this point of their career.
Speaker 1: I like that. You're you're thinking the big picture, which
I appreciate. Norm is not even on I'm looking at
SI they're you know, the odds, he's not on it.
Chatt Holmgren has the worst odds at plus four thousand.
Speaker 3: Where's Fronz Wagner at He is also hot on this list?
Speaker 1: Okay, so this just might be a ship list.
Speaker 2: Do you even know what the game format is going
to be for the All Star Game this year?
Speaker 3: By the way, it's gonna be anytime I see anytime
I see.
Speaker 1: Someone running it down, I get a headache and I say,
I'm just not gonna watch. Do people even care this
much about the Like? Who gives a shit about the
All Star Game this much. This isn't the issue with
the NBA is watching the All Star Game the.
Speaker 3: NBA, I just know like they overthink the wrong They
just overthink the wrong things. Like they just they try
to make it seem like more complicated than it is
and it's appealing. It's not appealing to the average fan.
Speaker 1: No, they don't want to watch, like, oh, they got
a cool new scoring system. Who gives us? Yeah, I'm
a nerd and instituting new scoring rules is for nerds.
Speaker 3: Go back to East versus West and it's first to
one hundred wins. You have to play some defense, boys.
Speaker 1: I love that. Okay. One last thing about Most Improved
Player Awards, Victor webin Yama as the betting favorite, I
think the Rookie of the Year to Most Improved Player
Poplin should be shut the fuck down. Yeah that's not so.
He's just gonna win the MVP the next year, Like
it's gonna go Rookie of the Year, MIP MVP. Well
that's not how this should work. I don't think all
progress is linear.
Speaker 2: I don't think he's even been that great so far
this season, Like he's getting three more points per game
while playing three more minutes per game, but he's kind
of started to turn the shooting around. I don't know.
That doesn't make sense to me. Normous averaging like nine
more points per game and for.
Speaker 1: A team that, like the Spurs, are outperforming I think
what some people thought they would be doing. But the
Clippers are way outperforming what some people thought they were doing,
including the people who put the odds on wind totals
and shit like that. Right, thirty seven and a half
was like the thing, that's what.
Speaker 2: I want to Mia copa to come from the same
people that said, oh, they're going to be a bottom
four team in the Western Conference. Those people need to
be looking at why they're not and identify them and
vote for those players that are doing so well for
the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Now, the real question what do the Clippers have to
do for James Hard to win MVP. It's finished top two,
which I think might be impossible despite it being our year.
As Will has.
Speaker 2: Said, yeah, okay, see.
Speaker 1: That would yeah, that would probably do it. That would
do that would win James Hard the MVP. Where are
you at on that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'd be impossible. Man, he got robbed one in
his absolute prime. There's no way he's getting this one.
Speaker 1: Now. It's a makeup MVP. They got They do those
every couple of years, right, Yeah, like the Denzel training
day Oscar No, we are bad. That was our bad. Hey,
we messed this up. You get it for a movie
that's good but not his best role.
Speaker 2: Was Scorsese get Best Director for The Departed? I think, yeah, good,
which is good, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I don't know about that garbage. Not a
very good movie. My friend Ryan has such a great bit.
Uh he it went big on Twitter. But like there
was that thing in the Revenant about how Leonardo DiCaprio
to prepare for the role actually ate a bear's heart
and he had to do this through the movie and
my friend Ryan just said he didn't have to do that.
You didn't have to do that.
Speaker 3: No, he's said in interviews. They had something prepared that
looked real on camera.
Speaker 2: It was a gummy bear's heart.
Speaker 1: All right. Any other and we haven't done research on this.
There is not an Assistant Coach of the Year award.
If there was, I mean, we can all assume JBG
would get that. Any other awards that there's Clippers players,
you guys think they could win. I don't think there
is not even fringe wise, no disrespectful, But that's how
this team is made up, right, It's a bunch of
guys who are annoying to play basketball.
Speaker 2: Against most unexpectedly improved team given the loss of an
All Star.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think that is an award that the Clippers should.
Speaker 2: Definitely and without their number one player.
Speaker 1: Best recovery to Kawhi Leonard. Yeah, world's best best recovery
of the season. He would be a multiple Actually no,
would he technically not be a multiple time winner of
that because he unfortunately continues to get injured. I don't know.
Last year, I feel like he would have been deserving
of it. How much stock did you guys put into
the Pat Bev Kawhi Leonard text message story if you
missed it somehow, Patrick Beverley pir Patrick Bevery on this
podcast that the league is not good and that he's working,
they're ready for the claw and all this stuff. Did
it make you more excited to hear it come from
Patrick Beverley as opposed to Tyler which lot Murray does
a great job with the check marks he goes. Here's
your weekly check in on Kawhi Leonard doing everything to
stay healthy, you know, box jumps, all that stuff.
Speaker 2: I put a lot more into it until the very
next day there was a clip of Patrick Beverly talking
about how Russell Westbrook always raises his game in the
playoffs and he's like, and he shoots like for from
three of the playoffs. You guys don't even know and
it's like, I know, I saw going his last five.
Speaker 3: That's another one of those situations where I'm like, I
understand that you know more about basketball than me, Patrick Beverley,
but what are you seeing in the game, Like you're
seeing something that I'm not seen.
Speaker 1: They're good missus though, bro Online. Yeah, dude, there's good
misses and bad misses.
Speaker 2: Playoff snarl is different.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a completely fair point at him. So you
didn't get because you're the one who I saw the
clip from. You posted it with the eyes emoji.
Speaker 2: I know, and I felt pretty good at about it
until I saw the Russ clip from him, and I
was like, Okay, Pat's just talking about yeah whatever, He's
just he's just looking to get clips clipped.
Speaker 1: Do you think he asked if he could talk about
it on air because Kawhi being someone who is very
private about his injury stuff. I wonder if there's like
a hey man, could you not have maybe said that
the air?
Speaker 3: Also, how often is he sending text messages referring to
himself in the third person?
Speaker 1: I would guess actually maybe a lot. I could see
Kawhi be I could see Kawhi being a Kawhi is
hungry kind of guy. Speaking of the third I want
to tell one third person story and then we'll go
to the game preview. There was an old quarterback I
believe went to Arkansas whose name was Ryan Mallet, kind
of like a poor man's Josh Allen, like an incredible
arm not incredibly good at football, but like had the tools.
There's stories of when he was going to Arkansas. He
would just like show up to a test with like
no supplies, right, so he'd need like a pencil or something,
and he would just announce to the class, does anybody
have a number two pencil for Ryan Mallet? And then
someone would give a pencil, and then he go, does
anyone have a scantron for Ryan Ballet? And someone just
give him a scantron that classes with them. I'd probably
start just grabbing an extra one. Yeah, I mean, why not.
Speaker 2: Or whatever? Well was his Wonderlick score after that?
Speaker 1: Let's look it up.
Speaker 2: Actually, do you dominate score?
Speaker 1: We do all know the wonder looks is bad twenty
six above average for his position. The Wonderlick also not
a score indicative of anything. Oh yeah, man, the only intelligence. Yeah,
does anyone have a scan tron for Ryan Mallett? What
a power move for a team that was like, okay,
all right, coming up, we're doing the back to back preview.
They got the Blazers, they got the Timberwolves. If you
listen on audio, get ready for another small interruption. If
you're watching on video, we're still here. We got ads
coming up, and then the back back preview in three two.
Speaker 2: One welcome back in his clips and dip I'm at
a Mazon. We got Chuck Mockler and Will Updyke and
another back to back for the Clippers. The good news
is after they get done with this back to back,
they only have ten more remaining. Holy, I think this
is the sixth instance of a back to back already.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because they played five. They've had the leagues like
six hardest schedule or something like that.
Speaker 2: That doesn't seem high enough or low enough. They got
the Portland Trail Blazers, who I was podcasting earlier and
somebody was like, ha ha, we got Portland tomorrow, We're
gonna crush. It was like, h hello, they've already lost
to this team mat into it till and Portland's actually
had some decent wins. They've beaten Houston, they almost won
that game last night against Dallas. They're eight and thirteen.
You know they're not a team was just three wins
or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an annoying team to play against. The bench
got smoked the last time we played them. Our bench
was very bad. But what was like the fourth game
of the season. Yeah, it was pretty early. The Clippers
do need to win by at least twenty four points
to have any chance of making the knockout round of
the NBA Cup. Will do you think the Clippers are
gonna win by at least twenty four points tomorrow night?
I mean it's not impossible. It's definitely not impossible.
Speaker 2: Improbable won by twenty five I think over Washington.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the precedent has been set.
Speaker 2: Portland just isn't that bad. Shandon Sharp didn't play in
the first game against the Clippers either, and they still.
Speaker 1: Want shit he didn't. Yeah, I'm not I'm not seeing
that one. I'm not ready to get there. But you're
not ready to bet the Clippers at minus twenty three
and a half one of the odds same as Tyler
winning coach there around plus forty four hundred bucks there,
I mean, not a bad you know you put ten down?
Who cares?
Speaker 2: Also hard just played the entire second half of that
game the other night. Yeah, so there could be some
tired legs out there.
Speaker 1: Jordan Miller time, right, No, KPJ. Norm Probably I also
have to assume is tired. He did play, you know,
twenty five minutes, not a ton for this Clippers team
in terms of what his role really is. But I
think the tired legs, well, maybe see it? Do we?
We don't get him on the second end of a
back to back.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think either, because they played last night,
so they ain't playing three nights in a row.
Speaker 1: They should, They should start doing that. Let's just go
the other way with it and start making teams play
back to back to backs.
Speaker 2: Minnesota gets a day off too before the Clippers play them,
because they're playing the Lakers. Tonight and they have a day off.
Then they get the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we got the Wolves Wednesday. Wacky loss the
last time. Wacky is the word I would use. Some
people would maybe use infuriating. Norm's going to be back
for this one and that should help the three point shooting.
Are we sweeping? Are we sweeping this back to back?
Am I crazy to think that? I've been and drinking
kool aid all weekend since the last podcast.
Speaker 2: They have swept two back to back so far, right,
and one of them wasn't into it?
Speaker 1: Down back to back I believe so.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: How when did they win last year? None? I don't know.
I'm like, yeah, sure, that sounds right. They were an
old ass team. Yeah, these are going to be This
isn't I don't know it. It's not an easy back
to back, like you said, like the Blazers aren't necessarily push.
Speaker 2: They've been playing hard. I guess their fifth in offensive
rebounding percentage, which obsessed me.
Speaker 1: That upsets you. They have eight wins and one of
them is against the Clippers. Wow. The Jazz and Pelicans
are so bad. Sorry, I'm looking at the standings.
Speaker 2: Why they beat Houston.
Speaker 1: Well they're not as bad.
Speaker 2: They beat Minnesota twice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have some weird wins. It's like how the
Wizard's two wins are against like the Calves in Boston.
Speaker 2: Portland only lost by ten. Okay, see yeah.
Speaker 1: Basically, and we know what we're gonna get, right, like
we've kind of been talking about it. And the first
we're gonna get hopefully some hard nos defense, not annoying
stuff to play against. We got a hope. I mean,
the second game is the one that I'm obviously worried
the most about. I don't think anyone would would think
that because whatever Harden is gonna have to do because again,
not a lot of comfortable wins for the Clippers team.
When things go well, sometimes the fourth quarter ofers it's
had in the turnovers step up. So like, I think
we may be split just because I think second night
of a back to back versus Minnesota is a very
difficult hand to be done.
Speaker 2: And after they lost that game in the fashion they
did in Minnesota, I can't believe they did not intentionally
foul they It was just a.
Speaker 1: Keystone Cops theme playing the entire final ninety seconds of
that game.
Speaker 2: Zubats also made a comment postgame about how they can't
wait to play them again next week, which makes me
worried that they're completely overlooking Portland and having to play
them first. I hope that's not the case. It's an
nd season tournament game, as you mentioned, and Portland actually
is two to one so far in these tournament games,
so they have a chance. They have probably a better
chance of being a wild card team to make the
knockout round than the Clippers do. Yeah, that might have
them playing hardy, young team. You know, they don't have
much the differential.
Speaker 1: What do they gotta win it by?
Speaker 2: I don't know, Uh, probably less than the Clippers do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, twenty four. Yeah, I don't know about this one.
The NBA Cup.
Speaker 2: I could just see a younger team caring more about
this that isn't competing for anything this season.
Speaker 1: I think you're probably right about that. Yeah, the Clippers
are right like the Clippers are. Yeah, the Blazers are
second in the group. They're at minus five point differential,
Clippers are at minus six, Kings are at minus twenty
nine to three. Not cup. Not built for the Cup,
some would say, despite being in the hardest division in
the NBA. Yeah, This one's gonna be interesting. I'm hoping
that if things don't go is how we want them
to the next two days, that the good will for
this team is not used up. Because this team we're
not totally far away from five hundred, you know what
I'm saying, Like, this team still has thin margins, so
things can swing either way. I just hope that if
things don't necessarily go right, we still remember what this
team is capable of doing, which is playing annoying defense
and just not you know, still caring Portland.
Speaker 2: I look this up. The last ten games they are
turning the basketball over eighteen point one times per games.
Speaker 1: Ooh love it.
Speaker 2: So boys, if the Clippers bring their defense, they got
a great chance to get some easy buckets in transition
off of turnovers.
Speaker 1: All right, now, for the most important part of this episode.
We haven't done one of almost a week. Will who
is your player of the game pick for the back
to back against the Blazers and Timberwolves back to back.
I'm gonna go, Chris, don get those steals, get those turnovers.
I like it.
Speaker 2: Adam, I'm gonna say that something was born out of
that game from Terrence Man against.
Speaker 1: For it I didn't put on the breakdown because I
knew it was gonna happen.
Speaker 2: He's about to have three good games in a row
because I have him as my player. Are watching this
back to back.
Speaker 1: I like that tired legs, right, that's a guy who
can come and help it, help out with tired legs.
I can't believe you didn't say this, Jordan Miller. Jordan
Miller is gonna be the best player in this back
to back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, casual stuff, Oh.
Speaker 1: Casual stuff. We need young legs. It's gonna be Jordan Miller.
But it's gonna be you know, I just hope we
see some flashes from defense for so he hasn't been bad,
you know what I'm saying like that, that would be nice.
But I think it's gonna be Jordan Miller, a much
needed uh six to eleven points that the Clippers will need.
They'll be clutch buckets, you know, they'll be they'll be
very needed buckets. Okay. Or what if Jordan millercourse twenty
four and that's over single handedly takes the Cliffs. Yeah, yeah,
the Clippers are tied. Here's the scenario. The Clippers are
tied at one hundred points. Going into the fourth quarter,
Jordan Miller hasn't even stepped on the floor yet. They
subbed Jordan Miller in Clippers run that quarter by twenty
four points, then out of the lineup. Yeah, boom, all right,
so I think we got it nailed. That's great. I
want to give the stat that Lammery posted because we
got to show some love to the Wall, the entity
that is the Clippers Wall. Visitors to into It Dome
are shooting seventy two point seven from the free throw
line through the first six weeks of this NBA season.
That is the lowest free throw percentage for road tream
teams in and Arena this season, and would be the
lowest percentage in the NBA in nine seasons. So shout
out to the wall that love it. Yeah, keep getting
weird with it. There was a guy wearing a horse
head with a mask that said I miss you Dad
when Yokich was at the line, which is one of
the weirder things I've ever seen in NBA game. But
I love it. It's a college atmosphere. It's hectic. It's
been respectful too, you know what I mean. It's not
it's not gotten into Sometimes there's like some soccer changs
you hear where you're like, what the fuck are y'all doing?
So we love the wall, shout up to the wall.
Speaker 2: Mike Malone was upset postgame being asked about the atmosphere
and the arena, and he's like, the wall didn't turn
the ball over like we did.
Speaker 1: Yes, it did mine? All right, anything else before we
before we hit out of here? Any final thoughts? I
am gonna ask them for one positive thing after we
do some some promos, but other than that.
Speaker 2: All right, back to back.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be doing a live after one or both
of the back to back games over on YouTube dot
Comsat Clippers podcast. Come hang, make sure you watch Adam
on Clippers Talk. We're gonna have a fresh app out
on Thursday. The Clippers gotta have a break coming up.
Three days, three whole days. What the heck are we
gonna do with all that time? So we'll have an
episode on Thursday. Uh and will where can people, instead
of telling their coworkers what they did for Thanksgiving or
what they're gonna do for Christmas or whatever they're going
to be doing, divert the conversation to and tell their
their coworkers to listen to us instead. Yeah, yeah, divert
your co workers, gas light your.
Speaker 3: Coworkers, shift the conversation to clips and dip, which you
can find wherever you get your podcasts. If you happen
to listen over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, you leave a
little radio review. You can't leave comments on every podcast
episode now over on Spotify as well. But the best
place to get this podcast is over on YouTube dot
com slash At Clippers podcast. But you know, however, however
you enjoy this podcast whoever you guest, like your coworkers,
you know what, we appreciate.
Speaker 1: You, we really do. And we're all wearing green today,
which was not planned. But when you're in, when you're
some patticoat like this crew, it just happens. Adam one
positive thing, and we can send these Clippers fans out
to what might be the second least productive week of
work of the year.
Speaker 2: I think the Clippers just survive the toughest month of
the season.
Speaker 1: What about March.
Speaker 2: March, they at least have one stretch where they have
two days off in a row. They didn't have that
once in November, and they came out with being one
of seven teams I believe to get ten wins in
the month of November while having I think the toughest
schedule over that time, without having consecutive days off once
And now we got three days off coming up Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
and then there's a stretch where they only play three
games in thirteen days in the month of December. Are
you kidding me?
Speaker 1: I want some of that.
Speaker 3: Might some of that get changed with the when they
redistribute the nd season tournament games.
Speaker 2: It includes that, it includes that those two games, they
got two games coming that aren't currently on the schedule,
and I'm pretty sure it's like three games over thirteen
days or something. Law had this yesterday. It's it's more
arrest than I ever would have imagined. Yeah, for a
team that sorely needs it, and I don't know, this
is they weather the storm and they have a great
opportunity to now take advantage of this December schedule.
Speaker 1: It almost feels a little bit like things are lining
up for it to maybe be our you who knows
who knows wills been.
Speaker 2: Saying twenty four was our year baby.
Speaker 1: On the twenty twenty five, we're stepping up those steps
like that lady. All right, we will be back tomorrow
in an official capacity on Thursday, and yeah, as always,
let's go clips.