Speaker 1: Phoning in.
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Speaker 1: Let me guess it's about Kawhi. Here we are and
Speaker 1: now here he is the host of your LA Clippers
Speaker 1: free and postgame.
Speaker 3: At follow Adam a Adam Ousley.
Speaker 2: After losing two in a row, number two return for
Speaker 2: the Clippers and got them a victory here at Into
Speaker 2: Its Home one thirty one to one oh five over
Speaker 2: the Atlanta Hawks and Kawhi Leonard's debut this season. Welcome
Speaker 2: into Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Moslin to eight six six
Speaker 2: ninety seven two five seventy eight sixty six ninety seven
Speaker 2: two five seventy is the phone number. It gets me
Speaker 2: at follow out of May, whether or not you're watching
Speaker 2: on the YouTube side at Clippers Talk or on AM
Speaker 2: five seventy LA Sports where you can be listening on
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio. App Appreciate you, guys. Kawi returned to the
Speaker 2: court tonight in his first game at Into It Dome.
Speaker 2: Looked good out there. We're gonna hear from him in
Speaker 2: just moments as he spoke with Lauren Rosen on FanDuel
Speaker 2: TV postgame, Kawhi finished for twelve points in twenty minutes.
Speaker 2: I know some people were upset. You know, it's only
Speaker 2: playing twenty minutes. Why would he only played twenty minutes?
Speaker 2: It says first game back. I told you guys, you
Speaker 2: should probably expect around twenty minutes. And he played a
Speaker 2: big chunk of him in that second quarter where from
Speaker 2: the nine to fifty nine mark to about the one
Speaker 2: to thirty mark, so about eight minutes of play straight
Speaker 2: for him, and Coach Flu said that was part of
Speaker 2: the plan. And so at the half, I want to say,
Speaker 2: he had already played fifteen minutes. So therefore, when he
Speaker 2: hit that twenty minute mark early in the third quarter
Speaker 2: with the Clippers up twenty, Coach Lou had a sense
Speaker 2: of urgency called the time out and said, Okay, no
Speaker 2: moss for Kawhi tonight, but the rest of the crew
Speaker 2: could hold it down for this Clippers team because they
Speaker 2: were excellent. And Kawhi's return with the unselfish play from
Speaker 2: him and getting others involved. I mean there's a play
Speaker 2: that stands out early on the ball game. He's got
Speaker 2: a wide open three on the far side corner and
Speaker 2: turned it down to give it up to Chris Dunn.
Speaker 2: I think it ended up with the Norman pal three, who,
Speaker 2: by the way, may have had the quietest twenty points ever.
Speaker 2: Because we're focused so much on Kawhi's return. Terrence Man,
Speaker 2: how the team is looking different, rotations, DJ coming off
Speaker 2: the bench, and oh yeah, Noran Powell once again has
Speaker 2: twenty on Just how did he end up at sixteen
Speaker 2: shots eight of sixteen, four of ten from three led
Speaker 2: them in the plus minus category. Was a plus twenty
Speaker 2: eight out there. It just looked like the piece is fit.
Speaker 2: We do you have eight guys in double figures just
Speaker 2: the eleventh time in franchise history that happened tonight for
Speaker 2: the Clippers. It just fell seamless, and I credit Kawhi
Speaker 2: for not forcing things and for making those unselfish passes
Speaker 2: to keep things moving with this team. He took multiple
Speaker 2: threes that he was knocking down the first half started
Speaker 2: three or three. They were all threes, And I said
Speaker 2: to myself, this is a guy who has his legs
Speaker 2: underneath him already. That's great to see because when he
Speaker 2: first came back from the ACL in the fall of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. He did not look like himself with
Speaker 2: his lift, with his elevation. It took him time. It
Speaker 2: took him. First of all, he goes out with the
Speaker 2: right knee stiffness two games in. He comes back three
Speaker 2: weeks later, then he has an ankle injury. Then he's
Speaker 2: out for two more weeks. Then he started to build
Speaker 2: things up and by January he was averaging twenty eight
Speaker 2: per game. But that's coming off in ACL and that's
Speaker 2: what I've been talking about over the last week. It's
Speaker 2: different and he definitely looked different than he did in
Speaker 2: that first round series against the Dallas Mavericks two. That
Speaker 2: was encouraging to see just with his movement. I'm watching
Speaker 2: his gate. Is he limping as he's showing burst out there.
Speaker 2: There was a play where he started to run down
Speaker 2: the courters he thought they had numbers, and I saw
Speaker 2: Kawhi get into maybe third or fourth gear just for
Speaker 2: a second. I noticed a defensive play on Dyson Daniels
Speaker 2: where he was just suffocating with his defense on the
Speaker 2: interior and he sat down with sliding, moving his feet
Speaker 2: really well. There was burst there, there was athleticism, explosion,
Speaker 2: so that again as he wrecked that play. Eventually, I
Speaker 2: think it was after an offensive rebound by the Atlanta
Speaker 2: Hawks that turned into a far side, far sideline turnover
Speaker 2: by Dyson Daniels. The defense was there, and I've wondered
Speaker 2: how excited Kawhi Leonard would be just to get to
Speaker 2: perform defensively with this roster and playing next to guys
Speaker 2: who actually enjoy playing defense, and Chris Dunn and Derek
Speaker 2: Jones Jr. Every possession they don't take any off. They
Speaker 2: don't those two guys, and DJ comes off the bench
Speaker 2: and was willing to sacrifice like that. Coach lu said pregame,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be situational depending on the opponent, the matchup,
Speaker 2: on who starts tonight. They went with Chris Dunn because
Speaker 2: he felt like they need another ball handler out there
Speaker 2: because of the ball pressure by the Hawks. So we'll
Speaker 2: see if that changes Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Put
Speaker 2: the buy in from those two guys to just say, yeah,
Speaker 2: whatever is needed, whatever is needed from the team. DJ
Speaker 2: gets a new contract, comes over, wins that job to start,
Speaker 2: and came off the bench like it was nothing tonight
Speaker 2: and had four huge dunks, I think all of them
Speaker 2: in the second with one of the biggest dunks that
Speaker 2: big brother Jake said he had seen, and that left
Speaker 2: handed thrown down off a lob from about half court
Speaker 2: from James Harden.
Speaker 4: Huge.
Speaker 2: Huge, So everybody, when I say the piece is fit,
Speaker 2: you got somebody that's been starting all year and he
Speaker 2: comes off the bench and made it work. Terrors man
Speaker 2: just came back. He had missed a month. Look great.
Speaker 2: But it starts with Kawhi and him saying, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna disrupt the flow. I'm not gonna hurt what's been
Speaker 2: working and make myself the focal point and try to
Speaker 2: turn it into let's get Kawhi Leonard going and back
Speaker 2: in rhythm as fast as possible. The way to do
Speaker 2: that might just be blending in, might just be playing
Speaker 2: like one of the guys, and then at some point
Speaker 2: he's gonna have a twelve point quarter or he gets hot,
Speaker 2: finds his touch and starts to take over. But it's
Speaker 2: gonna happen organically. I think they're not going to force it.
Speaker 2: I just love the way this team played and the
Speaker 2: way Hawaii came out with that mentality tonight, and they
Speaker 2: looked so feisty on the defensive end outside the last
Speaker 2: two minutes of the first quarter where they're kind of
Speaker 2: a mess, and pour on the offensive end too, and
Speaker 2: gave up that fourteen to zero run. Outside those two minutes.
Speaker 2: For the most part, it looked like Atlanta won and
Speaker 2: no part of this game. They saw how good the
Speaker 2: Clippers can play on the defensive end. They hadn't seen
Speaker 2: them yet so far this season, and they said, now
Speaker 2: we're good. You know, I guess we're going zero to
Speaker 2: two in LA. They lost last night to the Lakers.
Speaker 2: They didn't have Jalen Johnson tonight. Trey Young did play,
Speaker 2: But man, this Clippers defense, it could make you tap
Speaker 2: out when you know it's not your night. I think
Speaker 2: there are teams sometimes that come out and say, all right,
Speaker 2: if we're hot from three, if we're feeling it, even
Speaker 2: though it's a back to back, even though we're tired
Speaker 2: and we're gassed, we're gonna go for it. But if not,
Speaker 2: if things go the other way and we don't like
Speaker 2: the way this game is trending, maybe it's just not
Speaker 2: our night. And that might have been their mindset because
Speaker 2: I didn't as a basketball fan, I didn't like the
Speaker 2: way Atlanta was played. I'm sure coach Quinn Snyder aka
Speaker 2: worm Tongue from Lord of the Rings didn't like it either.
Speaker 2: I likewise off from the Clippers. Though they can break
Speaker 2: you like that. They can do that to you, they
Speaker 2: can drag o you where you know. It's gonna take
Speaker 2: so much effort to generate good looks out there. A
Speaker 2: team that averages one hundred and twenty points per game
Speaker 2: only has one oh five. You get held to forty
Speaker 2: three by the Clippers thirty four percent from three and
Speaker 2: you have twenty three turnovers teams against the Clippers with
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard, No, it is going to be a tough night.
Speaker 2: And I told people in here that were concerned about
Speaker 2: Kawhi disrupting the flow and hurting them, And I kept
Speaker 2: telling you offensively, they're almost bottom five in the league.
Speaker 2: How exactly is he going to hurt them on the
Speaker 2: offensive side? And he's a two time Defensive Player of
Speaker 2: the Year winner, How's it gonna hurt him there? That
Speaker 2: never made sense to me. People's concern about Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 2: throwing them off. Now there was less of that talk
Speaker 2: after they had lost to in a row, but I
Speaker 2: had heard that over the last three or three weeks
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard could hurt them. Kawhi Leonard is a rare
Speaker 2: breed of superstar. Not just he's a two way player.
Speaker 2: He's really unselfish, sometimes to a fault. Lot Murray says
Speaker 2: it was his idea to come off the bench when
Speaker 2: he was coming back from the ACL. We didn't see
Speaker 2: that tonight, but that was him being like, well, if
Speaker 2: I'm only playing twenty minutes, you know, maybe we could
Speaker 2: do it in a way where I could still be
Speaker 2: available late in the fourth quarter. I just won't start.
Speaker 2: Not many guys are going to offer not to start.
Speaker 2: That's Kawhi.
Speaker 4: He is.
Speaker 2: A role player trapped in a SuperStar's body. I don't
Speaker 2: know exactly how to put it, but he's very special
Speaker 2: in the way he can affect a game. He just
Speaker 2: can impact it in so many different ways. And he's
Speaker 2: also one of the most skilled players in NBA history.
Speaker 2: And he didn't come out of college like that. He
Speaker 2: didn't have this refined offensive game. He earned it through
Speaker 2: hard work. So for the people that you know, always say, well,
Speaker 2: does Kawi love the game or does he even care?
Speaker 2: Does he want to play? In all these things. It's
Speaker 2: always been ridiculous to me because the stuff that's not
Speaker 2: fun is what has got him to this level, to
Speaker 2: being this type of player. All the training during the offseason,
Speaker 2: so first of all, you have to love the game
Speaker 2: and want to be great to go through the rigorous
Speaker 2: training sessions that he does, and then for his body
Speaker 2: to betray him and keep him from actually playing in
Speaker 2: the games. So all he's been doing is the hard
Speaker 2: work and not the fun stuff out here. It just
Speaker 2: seems like some cruel irony. So I'm happy for him
Speaker 2: just to be able to play again. This is what
Speaker 2: he loves to do. You don't train the way he does.
Speaker 2: If you don't love the game, you don't get to
Speaker 2: be I think one of the top ten best playoff
Speaker 2: performers ever in NBA history like Kawuiet his best in
Speaker 2: a seven game series is probably a top ten player ever.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's ten, I would take over
Speaker 2: him in NBA history. That's how he's been able to
Speaker 2: raise up his game since coming out of San Diego State.
Speaker 2: He's a tough shot maker, incredible defender, and incredible team player.
Speaker 2: High IQ guy doesn't make many mistakes. Out there has
Speaker 2: always been a winning player. I give san Antonio credit
Speaker 2: being in that culture, that environment, Tim Duncan and the
Speaker 2: way they brought him up, like yeah, you're gonna be
Speaker 2: disciplined and you're gonna play the right way. But a
Speaker 2: lot of this is just Kawhi. This is what fuels him,
Speaker 2: this is what he wants to do. So to get
Speaker 2: to see him out there again, you know. Part of
Speaker 2: me is selfishly is like, yeah, I want to see
Speaker 2: the Clippers that of course reached their peak, their pinnacle
Speaker 2: this season, and they can only do that with Kawhi.
Speaker 2: Part of it, I'm just happy for Kawhi. Like, Kawhi
Speaker 2: isn't on social media, he doesn't have all these other
Speaker 2: hobbies apparently that he's doing, at least that we know of.
Speaker 2: He loves ball and he gets to do that again,
Speaker 2: and I think that gets lost Sometimes people don't talk
Speaker 2: about that because it's easier to, I don't know, be
Speaker 2: cynical about it, be skeptical about, oh, does he want
Speaker 2: to play if he's not one hundred percent. I mean,
Speaker 2: Harold called in last show was like, he will only
Speaker 2: play if he's one hundred percent, and I had to
Speaker 2: point to all these different instances of him obviously playing
Speaker 2: hurt in his career. If he can, he will. There
Speaker 2: have been times when the Clippers have had to stop
Speaker 2: him from playing, save him from himself. So Kawhi has
Speaker 2: been one of my favorite players before he was a Clipper,
Speaker 2: and damn it, I am happy that he's a Clipper
Speaker 2: and happy who was able to go tonight. And now
Speaker 2: it's prayers up after every show that the knee responds,
Speaker 2: after every game that the knee responds. Well, right now,
Speaker 2: it's just I hope the knee doesn't swell up. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: those are the things we're gone be thinking about after
Speaker 2: every Kawhi Leonard game because I played sixty eight games
Speaker 2: last season and then out of nowhere, the knee swelled up.
Speaker 2: So there was no warning signs. So we'll hear from
Speaker 2: him coming up next. Might get to your phone calls,
Speaker 2: and I'll text Chuck and will here see if we
Speaker 2: can do some double dip tonight here on Clippers Talk
Speaker 2: after they win in Kawhi's return one thirty one to
Speaker 2: one oh five over the Atlanta Hawks. I'm out of
Speaker 2: mazas and you're listening to the Los Angeles Clippers Audio
Speaker 2: Network in AM five seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: This is the LA Clippers Audio Network.
Speaker 5: Best fans and best arena in the entire sport.
Speaker 1: Take us with you wherever you are on the iHeart
Speaker 1: Whi's Radio.
Speaker 2: Back to Clippers basketball. Clipper Nation feeling blessed Kawhi's back.
Speaker 2: Clippers win big, one thirty one to one oh five.
Speaker 2: Here it into its home over the Hawks. Something gets
Speaker 2: off to a winning streak with Kawhi being back. As
Speaker 2: they're in Minnesota on Monday. They have had some issues.
Speaker 2: That's so late, but that's the type of team that
Speaker 2: scares me. They are desperate for a victory. But so
Speaker 2: were the Clippers, and it was just good to see.
Speaker 2: They absolutely handle business with Kawhi back and dominated the
Speaker 2: game in so many different ways. But forty six fast
Speaker 2: breakpoints that's a season high. That's got to be close
Speaker 2: to a franchise record. That's an incredible number from them.
Speaker 2: They had sixty nine points off the bench with Terrence
Speaker 2: Man being back for the first time in a month,
Speaker 2: he had twelve. Derek Jones Junior came off the bench
Speaker 2: because Chris Dunn got the start. Because it's matchup dependent
Speaker 2: now between those two, he had twelve, KPJ played one
Speaker 2: of his best games as a Clipper. I love the
Speaker 2: way Kevin Porter Junior played, guys. There was a moment
Speaker 2: in the second quarter when a mere Coffee was cooking
Speaker 2: and had twelve points in the second alone, and he
Speaker 2: carried over that hot shooting that he had in Okac
Speaker 2: with the twenty six points he had seventeen tonight. But
Speaker 2: KPJ missed him in the far side corner. He was
Speaker 2: wide open from three and he was on a heater
Speaker 2: and instead KPJ got fouled trying to create for himself,
Speaker 2: and he immediately went over Kevin Border Junior to Amir
Speaker 2: Coffee and apologized for not finding him there and said,
Speaker 2: my bad. That was a great moment, great moment in
Speaker 2: this game, great moment in a Clippers jersey for KPJ.
Speaker 2: And he was much more unselfish out there, found a
Speaker 2: beast zubots for multiple easy ones in the second half.
Speaker 2: Clippers win by twenty six over the Hawks. I want
Speaker 2: to hear from Kawhi Leonard postgame on with Louren Rosen
Speaker 2: on fan Dual TV by Leonard.
Speaker 6: Clipper fans absolutely thrilled to have you back out there, tonight.
Speaker 5: How did it feel?
Speaker 4: Still great? You know, I was able to throw some
Speaker 4: paint on that canvas tonight and we're working a great
Speaker 4: sound beautiful, So let's let's keep it going.
Speaker 6: You are certainly an authority on good defense. What do
Speaker 6: you make of the defense that this team has been
Speaker 6: able to play this season?
Speaker 7: That's fart.
Speaker 4: Oh, We've got a lot of guys I want to guard,
Speaker 4: want to guard the best player that's taken pride on
Speaker 4: that end, and yeah, you know, they've just been carrying
Speaker 4: it and I just had to step in and keep
Speaker 4: going what they were doing.
Speaker 6: Communion, James Harden had fifteen assists tonight. Some of them
Speaker 6: found you what's it like to play with someone that's
Speaker 6: that prolific at that skill for all time.
Speaker 4: Great as scoring, he could pass the ball as well,
Speaker 4: and you know that's why you'll this Jersey will be
Speaker 4: in the Raptors.
Speaker 6: Fly Leonard, thank you so much, welcome back, Thank you go.
Speaker 2: While Leonard there at the end talking about James Harden
Speaker 2: being an all time great and how won days Jersey
Speaker 2: will be in the Raptors, James had thirteen assists in
Speaker 2: the first half, somebody else having to shift their play
Speaker 2: we haven't talked about him enough tonight. He only finished
Speaker 2: with ten points of nine shooting. He ended up with
Speaker 2: fifteen assists because they were up big in the second
Speaker 2: half and he played less than thirty minutes, but he
Speaker 2: had thirteen assists in the first half. I think his
Speaker 2: career high is fourteen assists in a half. James was dishing,
Speaker 2: it's an adjustment for everybody. As much as I've been
Speaker 2: saying credit Kawhi for wanting to blend in, it still
Speaker 2: is an adjustment. DJ's coming off the bench. Now, how
Speaker 2: many shots is Normanna get, Zu gonna get James Harden.
Speaker 2: It really just upends things and it's unavoidable. But everybody
Speaker 2: played their part and made it work. James said, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm facilitating. I'm gonna make it look easy out there,
Speaker 2: and it did. When they went on that's forty four
Speaker 2: to seven run in the second court after giving up
Speaker 2: the fourteen to Oher run at the end of the
Speaker 2: first quarter. The Clippers they look like they were completely
Speaker 2: outclassing the Atlanta Hawks, who maybe wanted to tap out
Speaker 2: and give up this Bowl game early when they saw
Speaker 2: the type of energy the Clippers were on. But I
Speaker 2: am extremely proud as I say a lot during this
Speaker 2: season of the way they played with a different challenge tonight,
Speaker 2: integrating or reintegrating Kawhi Leonard back in. This was the
Speaker 2: right way to play. This was the perfect type of
Speaker 2: performance in Kawhi's first game back, and the Clippers went
Speaker 2: by twenty six over the Atlanta Hawks. Let's go to
Speaker 2: who do we got? Mike in La Mike, you got
Speaker 2: thirty seconds here on Clippers Talk. What's up?
Speaker 7: Hey, Adam? So something you said earlier that Kawhi is
Speaker 7: a I think you say he's a stupid start trapping
Speaker 7: in a role player's body. I think it's exactly the opposite.
Speaker 7: I think he is a superstar trapped in a body
Speaker 7: that just can't contain his You know that that betrays him.
Speaker 7: He you know, superstars do the little things, that's what
Speaker 7: they do. The you know, role player trapped in a
Speaker 7: SuperStar's body applies to it.
Speaker 2: That's not true, Mike, Mike, do you know how many
Speaker 2: superstars are one way players? Do you know any superstars
Speaker 2: do not do the little things? That's not true.
Speaker 8: I would say those aren't true.
Speaker 7: Yeah, those aren't true superstars.
Speaker 2: I mean, it all depends on how you wanted to
Speaker 2: find it.
Speaker 7: Jordan did the little things, Kobe did the little thing.
Speaker 7: You know, these guys do the little things. YEP. I
Speaker 7: would say that these role player trapped in a SuperStar's body.
Speaker 7: Like I said, applies to a certain former Clipper who
Speaker 7: plays in Philadelphia. Uh, that guy has all the you know,
Speaker 7: talent and whatever, but doesn't.
Speaker 2: Have it, you know, Paul George. It's not that Paul
Speaker 2: George didn't do the little things, is that he didn't
Speaker 2: do the top end, high end things enough, look to
Speaker 2: score enough. Sometimes he was trying to be a role
Speaker 2: player instead of being a superstar. That's the difference that
Speaker 2: Paul George. It was never a criticism of like, oh
Speaker 2: he's not doing enough of the little things out there.
Speaker 2: It's like do you want to do the number one
Speaker 2: option things and go out there and score at the
Speaker 2: highest level all the time. So I just I get
Speaker 2: what you're saying. I appreciate the phone call, Mike, but
Speaker 2: I kind of agree to disagree there. Chris in La,
Speaker 2: you're on Clippers stock without a Miles and I Chris.
Speaker 9: Knew you at him. Man, that was a fun game.
Speaker 9: I wish I was there to see that. My Clippers
Speaker 9: and the Miz.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Miz was in the building, WWE fame. It
Speaker 2: was a good game, It was a great atmosphere all
Speaker 2: around tonight. Everything was going the Clippers way. It felt
Speaker 2: like it was some preordained thing where the Clipper just
Speaker 2: had to win big. It's Kawhi Leonard's return. I hesitated
Speaker 2: from calling it some story book type of ending earlier,
Speaker 2: but it felt like it was just made to be
Speaker 2: tonight the way things went for the Clippers.
Speaker 9: Right right, Yeah, So with Kwi being back now, I
Speaker 9: was wondering, how would you compare this Clipper team with
Speaker 9: the Toronto team that he played on?
Speaker 2: All right, interesting question here, Chris appreciate the phone call.
Speaker 2: Chris wants to compare this team to the Toronto Raptors
Speaker 2: team that Kawhi played on. There are similarities with guys
Speaker 2: buying in on the defensive end, Like they had so
Speaker 2: many two way players and good defenders out there. Ojan
Speaker 2: Andobi was like just getting started. I think he didn't
Speaker 2: play much, but siakam good defender. Fred van Vliet small
Speaker 2: but would defend out there. Serge Abaka, Mark Gasol, Norn
Speaker 2: Palell on that team too. They had Kyle Lowry, good defender,
Speaker 2: They had a lot of switchability, they had a different
Speaker 2: different ways to adapt on the defensive end, and they
Speaker 2: had a team that, if you want to compare straight up,
Speaker 2: even when they didn't have Kawhi, they could win games.
Speaker 2: I want to say they went something like seventeen and
Speaker 2: five in the regular season without him. If he missed
Speaker 2: around twenty two games, I want to say it was
Speaker 2: like seventeen and five that Toronto Raptors team. Now the
Speaker 2: Clippers haven't been that good, but they went nineteen and
Speaker 2: fourteen without him, and they have a Kyle Lowry, a
Speaker 2: guy who can set the table and get buckets like
Speaker 2: James Harden. They have a floor razer in that way.
Speaker 2: Norman Powell, who was on that team, is now a
Speaker 2: different player. Of course, a beats the Zubats. You know,
Speaker 2: Marcasol was a different point of his career. He was
Speaker 2: still good, but he wasn't looking to score as much.
Speaker 2: But he's a really good connector great passer out there.
Speaker 2: I've said Avitsa Zubas is the long lost Gassault brother
Speaker 2: at times. But yeah, they went seventeen to five. Daniel
Speaker 2: West just confirmed that without Kawhi that year, So they're
Speaker 2: also in the East, and Carlo hit me up with
Speaker 2: this earlier. Today. The Clippers have a bunch of games
Speaker 2: coming up. Fourteen of their next twenty three games are
Speaker 2: against the East, and at that time, especially Lebron had
Speaker 2: just come west. The East was down. Milwaukee was good.
Speaker 2: Toronto ended up beating them in six games after losing
Speaker 2: the first two in the Eastern Conference Finals in twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen with Kawhi. Actually, Philadelphia was really good because they
Speaker 2: had Jimmy Butler, Toby Ben Simmons before. You know, he
Speaker 2: went through a lot and hasn't been the same player since.
Speaker 2: Of course, Embiide there are similarities. This Clippers team isn't
Speaker 2: as dominant record wise without Kawhi, and that torontod team
Speaker 2: have been together for some time with DeRozan, obviously, and
Speaker 2: so they knew how they wanted to play, But they
Speaker 2: just got a new head coach. So there's something there.
Speaker 2: I appreciate the comment and the phone call Chris that
Speaker 2: this team can get by without Kawhi and then he
Speaker 2: can elevate them when he joins this Clippers team, and
Speaker 2: it feels like a seamless fit. He's able to just
Speaker 2: take them to another level, without hurting anything they do,
Speaker 2: without disrupting anything they're already doing out there. He just
Speaker 2: strengthens strengths. That's what Kawhi can do. We'll take a
Speaker 2: quick time out, we'll come back. We'll have Chuck Maklern.
Speaker 2: Clippers win big in Kawhi's return, one to one oh
Speaker 2: five over the Atlanta Hawks. I'm at Amsland and you're
Speaker 2: listening to a five seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: This is the LA Clippers Audio network, best.
Speaker 5: Fans and best arena in the entire sport.
Speaker 1: Take us with you wherever you are on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: Back to Clippers basketball.
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard returns victorious for this ball club. He has
Speaker 2: twelve points, four to eleven, shooting three of five from
Speaker 2: the outside. Great defense was there, Movement was solid overall
Speaker 2: this Clippers team with Kawhi Leonard. Oh, I know people
Speaker 2: are starting to dream out there right now. I know
Speaker 2: some people are feeling like it's our year. Speaking of,
Speaker 2: let's bring in Charles Mockler from the Clips and Dip
Speaker 2: podcast for a little bit of a double dip here
Speaker 2: on Clippers talk post game. Chuck, what were your early
Speaker 2: returns on that performance from Kawhi.
Speaker 8: Defensively, he was great. He was better than I thought
Speaker 8: he was going to be. They asked him to do
Speaker 8: a little bit more than I thought they would ask
Speaker 8: him to do the offense. It's gonna take a little
Speaker 8: bit of time. He had one drive in the half
Speaker 8: court tonight. He did cash the layup, which was good.
Speaker 8: But I mean, I give it a B plus. Right
Speaker 8: his first game back in a very long time. The
Speaker 8: spacing looks incredible. We can see what it's going to
Speaker 8: turn into when all cylinders start to fire.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he smoke that layup in transition where he tried
Speaker 2: to go with the left hands and then there was
Speaker 2: a long outlet pass to him where he kind of
Speaker 2: fell over. There were a few points where I was
Speaker 2: actually watching him pregame. He lost the ball in some
Speaker 2: weird ways, like tried to do some moves pregame against
Speaker 2: a trader that you just don't normally see because I've
Speaker 2: watched him meticulously go through his pregame routine over the years,
Speaker 2: and it was strange some of the stuff that he
Speaker 2: wasn't able to do out there. But overall, I'm with you,
Speaker 2: it looked like a B plus to me too, that
Speaker 2: it was as close as you could get to the
Speaker 2: perfect game, I would say, in Kawhi Leonard's return, yeah.
Speaker 8: I would agree with that. If if that, you know,
Speaker 8: if you would have dunked it or something, or maybe
Speaker 8: hit another layup, it would have been good. Or if
Speaker 8: that first steal would actually been a steal and not
Speaker 8: a foul. But it was great. I mean, Terrence had
Speaker 8: an incredible return to but seeing what Kawhi is going
Speaker 8: to bring to this team and already looking so you know,
Speaker 8: none of us really thought the comeback would be difficult
Speaker 8: to fit him into the lineup right, but seeing it
Speaker 8: look so well in the defensive end especially has to
Speaker 8: have people, you know, some high hopes, as you mentioned,
Speaker 8: I believe before I came on.
Speaker 2: Sorry, you're in twenty twenty five as well. So what
Speaker 2: did you make of coach lou going with Chris Dunn
Speaker 2: as the starter tonight and saying that it's going to
Speaker 2: be matchup dependent on who the opponent is, depending on
Speaker 2: you know, who he goes with. The between Chris dun
Speaker 2: and Derek Jones.
Speaker 8: Junior, I think we're gonna see call me crazy about
Speaker 8: ten games of sample size from both of these auctions
Speaker 8: for the lineup because it's just I love the idea
Speaker 8: on paper with Kawhi coming back, it makes a lot
Speaker 8: of sense. But no team in the history of the NBA,
Speaker 8: I think, is rotated starters heading into the playoffs or
Speaker 8: anything like that. It's gonna be volatile, as too intense
Speaker 8: of a word, but we're gonna see it rotated out.
Speaker 8: You know, the Hawks were down some size tonight, so
Speaker 8: we saw the three guard lineup to start this one.
Speaker 8: I think right now it's great. Talk to me in
Speaker 8: like fifteen games if it hasn't solidified. But you know,
Speaker 8: I think right now it's kind of what you have
Speaker 8: to do because we just haven't seen Kawhi.
Speaker 7: With this group.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder they are like the only two guys
Speaker 2: that I could see buying into the level you'd need
Speaker 2: them to to make this okay. And the chemistry is
Speaker 2: so good with this team you might be able to
Speaker 2: pull it off. But I do wonder about continent with
Speaker 2: just having a consistent starting lineup and if at some
Speaker 2: point they get to that. But this is, you know,
Speaker 2: a team that's going to have Kawhi in and out
Speaker 2: of the lineup. So it's just you got to be
Speaker 2: able to adapt. You got to be able to stay ready,
Speaker 2: I guess with this Clippers team, and that might be
Speaker 2: another way they have to do it.
Speaker 8: And it's not like, you know, they've had an incredibly
Speaker 8: continuity filled start with before Kawhi came back, right like,
Speaker 8: Derek Jones was out of the lineup, Terrence Man was
Speaker 8: out for you know, a month. Like unfortunate as it is,
Speaker 8: this team is used to adapting. And I think you
Speaker 8: are totally right at that point you made about the
Speaker 8: two guys that you want to be rotating out. I mean,
Speaker 8: Derek Jones said at postgame, right, he goes, I don't care.
Speaker 8: I care about winning. That's what I want to do.
Speaker 8: I can't imagine Chris Dunn has a super far off
Speaker 8: mindset from that one. So it is with the two
Speaker 8: best guys. But I think with fifteen games lest for
Speaker 8: the regular season, we'll be seeing in the same lineup
Speaker 8: into the playoffs.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like Thompson and Tari Easton with the
Speaker 2: Rocket is like they like each other so much that
Speaker 2: they'll do whatever is asked of them. Carlos said postgame.
Speaker 2: Apparently they always sit next to each other on the plane.
Speaker 2: They're embracing the D and D Factory of the Dungeons
Speaker 2: and Dragons nickname Chris Dunn and Derek Jones. It was
Speaker 2: just cool to see so many guys you know, play
Speaker 2: well in a new role or in the return tonight.
Speaker 2: It was kind of unexpected how well they clicked in instantly.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I do think. You know, they were playing a
Speaker 8: team that is very bad at defense and fully healthy.
Speaker 8: Who was down, who were down two guys on the
Speaker 8: second end of a back to back, It was the
Speaker 8: perfect environment for all these guys to come back or
Speaker 8: be in their new roles too. We saw Nico play
Speaker 8: more center than he has all year. I think that
Speaker 8: is something that we will continue to see with Kawhi
Speaker 8: back the you know, bomb was out of out of
Speaker 8: the rotation, you know, in terms of meaningful minutes, I
Speaker 8: think for the most part. I'm sure against larger teams
Speaker 8: will need him to spot some minutes. But Niko with
Speaker 8: the five looked great. Kawhi was plus twenty one in
Speaker 8: his eight minutes in the second quarter. Like it. It
Speaker 8: was a perfect night Into It and credit to the
Speaker 8: into A crowd, they were phenomenal tonight. The pop when
Speaker 8: Kawhi was announced was great. His first three pointer of
Speaker 8: the roof is going to blow off. It doesn't.
Speaker 7: I don't know.
Speaker 8: It hasn't gotten much better at into it since tonight,
Speaker 8: and I don't think it will for the playoffs or
Speaker 8: till the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now they're back out on the road. But you
Speaker 2: kind of touched upon it a little bit with Terrence
Speaker 2: Man and just how efficient he was. And this was
Speaker 2: lo KEI, I don't know, his third best game in
Speaker 2: the season, maybe his second best. The only game that's
Speaker 2: definitively better is that game against Denver where he had
Speaker 2: the big offensive rebound then knocked down that three point
Speaker 2: in the far side corner. He was just so in
Speaker 2: rhythm that to me, I didn't see that coming at all,
Speaker 2: and it ended up, you know, being a footnote because
Speaker 2: Kawhi was back, so everybody's talking about that, but Loki,
Speaker 2: Terrence Man has just missed a month and looked that good.
Speaker 8: He looked amazing. He like he came in and he
Speaker 8: looks like a guy who wants to give Tylo something
Speaker 8: to think about with the rotation, which you love to see,
Speaker 8: you know what I mean, Because there is again, as
Speaker 8: we've been here before with the Clippers, a log jam
Speaker 8: a bit with guards, and Terrence can play a lot
Speaker 8: of different positions. But he did some great stuff tonight.
Speaker 8: I'm really excited. I hope he looks good, you know,
Speaker 8: coming up on Monday. But credit to Terrence Man. He
Speaker 8: didn't miss a beat and I think points total wise,
Speaker 8: this was his like second or third highest scoring game
Speaker 8: of the year. He scored fifteen against Denver in that
Speaker 8: game you mentioned. But credit to Terrence. But again, the
Speaker 8: mark of a Clipper, right He's a Clipper for life
Speaker 8: so far, being able to adapt, being able to do
Speaker 8: what's asked of him, and another set up we have
Speaker 8: to give a shout out to him here, who I
Speaker 8: believe is at forty five percent three point shooting on
Speaker 8: not insignificant amount of three points. So it's it feels
Speaker 8: really good to be a Clippers fan right now.
Speaker 2: I know some people are trying to hate Man. Didn't
Speaker 2: do anything until garbage time. Well he can't control. I
Speaker 2: mean he can because he was playing so well. It's
Speaker 2: not his fault that he kept the pedal to the
Speaker 2: medal against this Atlanta Hawks team. But I'm talking about
Speaker 2: timing stuff where he had that spinning pass in the
Speaker 2: lane to Aviza zubox a no look pass like he
Speaker 2: was just he was doing them dirty, like there were
Speaker 2: some nasty moves out there.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and that's a confidence, right. You love to see
Speaker 8: confidence from a guy who's coming back, especially from a
Speaker 8: finger injury, which is important in basketball, to feel that
Speaker 8: comfortable with some new pieces. And he's you know, hasn't
Speaker 8: played with very much as well either. Just you know,
Speaker 8: we talk about Kawhi having the checkbox, I think Terrence
Speaker 8: checked the nice box to night too. Defensively, he looks good.
Speaker 8: There's a couple of Hawks who tried him on the
Speaker 8: inside and they couldn't make anything happen. But he was
Speaker 8: good and KPJ had a good game. And maybe there's
Speaker 8: something with the bench unit with KPJ and Terrence Man together.
Speaker 8: I don't know that probably obviously depends if Done is
Speaker 8: starting or if Derek jum Junior is starting, But the
Speaker 8: bench is shaping up to be a real nightmare for
Speaker 8: opposing rosters, which I'm excited.
Speaker 2: About this Clipper's team with a big twenty six point
Speaker 2: victory in Kawhi Leonard's return here. And I do have
Speaker 2: to comment because for some reason, some people think, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm an apologist. Other people think that I'm too critical
Speaker 2: of this player. So I feel like, if I'm getting
Speaker 2: hate from both sides, maybe I'm being objective about Kevin
Speaker 2: Porter Junior. But I thought this was one of his
Speaker 2: better games tonight.
Speaker 8: I think you're right. If you're getting hate from both sides,
Speaker 8: you you are being objective. But no, this was his
Speaker 8: best game, and we saw it in the first half
Speaker 8: of the last game when he plays decisively. When he
Speaker 8: doesn't play with his food is our friends over at
Speaker 8: the lab of the Jam of the Ponts. When he
Speaker 8: plays decisively as a score, it looks so much better.
Speaker 8: When he lets the game come to him a little bit,
Speaker 8: it looks so much better like it was. He looks
Speaker 8: comfort and him looking comfortable Terrence, I think is a
Speaker 8: pretty surprising thing as well, too, So credit to KPJ.
Speaker 8: Great game tonight. We need the consistency, but it was
Speaker 8: you know, you still got to put teams away. And
Speaker 8: for the person asking what I'm drinking, it's the water
Speaker 8: loose soda, That's what I'm drinking. You anyuary over.
Speaker 2: Here, me too, me too. Man Clippers win over the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Hawks one thirty one, one oh five here and
Speaker 2: into a dome. He's Lat Jeez, I was about to say,
Speaker 2: it's Law Murray of the Athletic. Maybe I've had Law
Speaker 2: on so much recently, or he's just on my mind
Speaker 2: because he broke the news. Shout for Law.
Speaker 8: Shout out to Law after what some people were trying
Speaker 8: to do to La Murray. Shout out to La Murray.
Speaker 2: They fought the law and the Law one. He's Chuck
Speaker 2: Mockler of Clips and Dip. We got a new episode
Speaker 2: coming for you tomorrow night with the Big Three. Charles.
Speaker 2: Thanks for doing a little Clips and Double Dip tonight
Speaker 2: here on Clipperstock.
Speaker 8: Thanks for having me as always. Let's go clips.
Speaker 2: Coming up next, we'll break things down. We got some
Speaker 2: postgame quotes coming out from Kawhi Leonard that are of
Speaker 2: interest after the Clippers win by twenty six in his
Speaker 2: return over the Atlanta Hawks. I'm out of Mosland and
Speaker 2: this is a five seventy LA Sports.
Speaker 1: This is the LA Clippers Audio Network.
Speaker 5: Best fans in best arena in the entire sport.
Speaker 1: Take us with you wherever you are on the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Back to Clippers basketball, Clippers winning Kawhi's return. He has
Speaker 2: twelve points in just under twenty minutes. He reached his
Speaker 2: minutes limit. We'll see if that extends to twenty five
Speaker 2: against Minnesota. I doubt it. He'll probably be on this
Speaker 2: for a week or so where you can only play
Speaker 2: twenty minutes Clippers in Minnesota on Monday. But he was
Speaker 2: asked postgame about if he had to make any adjustment
Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard with Jef Van Gundy as the defensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: and he said, quote, it's really not an adjustment for me.
Speaker 2: He watches a lot of film. He lets you know
Speaker 2: he watches a lot of film. Jeff Fan Gundy. He
Speaker 2: tells you nobody watches this s more than me. Jeff
Speaker 2: Van gundhy letting Kawhi Leonard know that nobody watches more
Speaker 2: this film than me. That's fantastic. I love this pairing.
Speaker 2: I love this squad. I love the way they constructed
Speaker 2: this team. I told you this summer Lawrence Frank was cooking.
Speaker 2: They rebounded perfectly after Paul George left. And then you
Speaker 2: get audition by subtraction. Guys who are looking for an
Speaker 2: expanded role are taking advantage of it. I mean, I
Speaker 2: haven't even talked about a visa Zubots in Is eighteen
Speaker 2: and eighteen tonight awesome again, Atlanta was not ready for
Speaker 2: Big Zoo. He was feasting, as Carlo Amennez said, just
Speaker 2: really cool to see everything come together be nineteen fourteen.
Speaker 2: Then get Kawhi Leonard back tonight and win in decisive,
Speaker 2: if convincing fashion like this with the claw where it
Speaker 2: just looked like he had been playing next to these
Speaker 2: guys all season long by the way they were connected
Speaker 2: out there on the floor. Atlanta warned, no part of
Speaker 2: this Clippers team. I'm hoping there's some scary hours going
Speaker 2: on right now for the rest of the league. Clippers
Speaker 2: in Minnesota for the start of another road trip on Monday,
Speaker 2: tip off at five pregame show at four. Before we
Speaker 2: get out of here, I do want to thank the
Speaker 2: Clippers organization, Ralph Lawler, Brian Seeman, Noah Eagle, Carlo Jimenez
Speaker 2: on the call, big brother Jake Warner, who saw one
Speaker 2: of his favorite dunks ever in person, as did I
Speaker 2: with that left handed throwdown the lob to DJ in
Speaker 2: the second quarter. You're probably asking which dunk. There were
Speaker 2: a lot of them, but the one from like the
Speaker 2: half court line to them, So that's not hear it
Speaker 2: into it, Dome, patch yourself on the back, Clipper Nation,
Speaker 2: you did a fantastic job out here welcoming Kawhi Enter
Speaker 2: back into the fold. He asserted himself what he needed to,
Speaker 2: but also played within the team structure. To the callers,
Speaker 2: the chatters love you guys. We will talk to you
Speaker 2: tomorrow at Clippers Talk on the YouTube side. For everybody else,
Speaker 2: We'll be back on Monday on A five seven LA Sports.
Speaker 1: This has been Clippers Talk right here on your home
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