Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to the season.
Speaker 1: For episode thirty two of Clips and Dip. I am
Speaker 1: Chuck Mackler in an undisclosed location with part of my
Speaker 1: family who you might hear in the background of the stream.
Speaker 1: I do apologize for that. Joined by Adam Oslin. William
Speaker 1: Opdyck is unavoidably detained. Thanks for hanging out. If you're
Speaker 1: listening to this, thank you. If you want to watch us,
Speaker 1: you can find us at YouTube dot com slash at
Speaker 1: Clippers podcast, or if you don't want to watch us,
Speaker 1: leave us a review wherever you're get in the pod.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Adam, we decimated the Kings. How are
Speaker 1: you feeling? What can we take from this? What's the vibes.
Speaker 2: Um? The handled business? I also shot the ball incredibly well,
Speaker 2: hitting twenty three pointers and seven in the first quarter.
Speaker 2: I still didn't think their defense was that good to start,
Speaker 2: but the second unit with John Collins next to Done
Speaker 2: Mather and Kobe and Jordan, that's that's when the defense
Speaker 2: started to set in. That's when they started to create
Speaker 2: steals getting out in transition. Those guys were awesome. They
Speaker 2: got up to nineteen early in the second quarter, it
Speaker 2: was down to twelve and the half, and then the
Speaker 2: starters were better than the third quarter and Clippers blow
Speaker 2: them out. But I really liked that John Collins lineup.
Speaker 1: Yes, he is effectively the backup five. Now I was
Speaker 1: wondering how much of this success was because, you know, Collins,
Speaker 1: everyone else was just kind of shooting super well, and
Speaker 1: we were playing the Kings, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like the opponent. It is a little difficult to take
Speaker 1: a bunch of concrete things away from the first game.
Speaker 1: They played well against that kind of team.
Speaker 2: I'll say this, the Kings actually were seven and seven
Speaker 2: in their last fourteen games, which was kind of surprising.
Speaker 2: They had been beating shocking, they had been beating teams
Speaker 2: in clutch time. They were like six and one or
Speaker 2: something like that. It was wild. So I was like, pregame,
Speaker 2: don't let it get to that point. And it didn't
Speaker 2: led by what thirty eight? Yeah, yeah, you have to
Speaker 2: take into account the opponent. But it was still nice
Speaker 2: to see maybe some fresher legs out there after two
Speaker 2: days off and a little bit more focus and the
Speaker 2: defense and a different lineup out there that had success.
Speaker 2: And I thought it was a great move from coach lou.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Collins, I think he was in the second most
Speaker 1: played lineup last night and it was the second best
Speaker 1: plus minus for the totals, which is great. I like
Speaker 1: the Tyler referenced him rolling to the basket being a
Speaker 1: big help, because that's something we've kind of you talked
Speaker 1: about the last time we did the pod, Like Brook
Speaker 1: Lopez is going to change his game and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden kind of roll to the basket. You need
Speaker 1: at least one guy who's going to say the screen
Speaker 1: and roll to the basket. And Colins, thankfully is fine
Speaker 1: with whatever role he's in and seems good in the
Speaker 1: hecticness that is being a Clippers player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to be versatile. You gotta be ready
Speaker 2: when your numbers called to play any position. And honestly,
Speaker 2: I don't know why he'd have an issue since he
Speaker 2: got twenty shots up in like twenty five minutes or
Speaker 2: whatever it was for him to be more the focal
Speaker 2: point because he's playing with backups. I'm sure he enjoyed it,
Speaker 2: but he also was knocking down three pointers. The all
Speaker 2: around game from John Collins. It reminds you of just
Speaker 2: how good he was at his peak this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was. I mean he got twenty four. Oh
Speaker 1: we got William Uptike on the stream, William Uppike sub fellas,
Speaker 1: how the hell are you buddy doing?
Speaker 3: Alright doing?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: I've been a weird Airbnb. We're talking about John Collins.
Speaker 1: He's back. I didn't. I think Russo put that in
Speaker 1: his his sub stack, which everyone listening to this should
Speaker 1: be subscribed to. How much are you taking away from
Speaker 1: last night's success, factoring in that it was against the.
Speaker 3: Kings, everything, everything, You're back, We're back in the circle
Speaker 3: of contenders.
Speaker 1: Baby, is it our year? Was that this is our year?
Speaker 2: Game?
Speaker 1: Not quite? Not quite? We're gonna have to see a
Speaker 1: little more this last week of the season. Mattherin looked
Speaker 1: really good last night. We talked about his six assist
Speaker 1: game against the Raptors being like kind of a breakthrough thing.
Speaker 1: But he only had I think like three assists last night,
Speaker 1: but he was passing super well. Yeah for those three
Speaker 1: assists even before that, Like he's not he didn't have
Speaker 1: the tunnel vision.
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah, Hey.
Speaker 2: We're going out of his way. He was going out
Speaker 2: of his way to make the extra pass out there.
Speaker 2: It looked like a guy that had watched his film
Speaker 2: from the last game and said, I need to make
Speaker 2: some adjustments here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he took what four field goal attempts, Like that's
Speaker 1: when's the last time he took that few shots? No,
Speaker 1: I don't mean that disresponding.
Speaker 2: More assystem field goals.
Speaker 1: Damn. I wonder when that's gonna happen again. That might
Speaker 1: be the fewest he's ever taken as a Clipper, I
Speaker 1: guess would be. Yeah. He was also like present on
Speaker 1: the boards, which we very much need given the center situation.
Speaker 1: So maybe he can like build on this because Matther
Speaker 1: needs to get to the line and kind of do
Speaker 1: more of what we saw yesterday if the Clippers are
Speaker 1: going to make any noise in the whatever kind of
Speaker 1: postseason basketball man play.
Speaker 2: I'll say this, he's been pretty good with the boards
Speaker 2: even when he wasn't assisting like this. But I mean,
Speaker 2: he's average in six He's averaging six per game almost
Speaker 2: the last month basically since he became a Clipper, which
Speaker 2: that's impressive for six or three guy. Yeah, he's got
Speaker 2: to share the basketball. I'm just guessing the coaching staff
Speaker 2: talk to him about that two on one with Kobe
Speaker 2: Sanders against San Antonio and yeah, this cannot happen.
Speaker 1: Is he averaging? He's urging about the same amount of
Speaker 1: boards as he had with the Pacers? Well, yes, this
Speaker 1: was crazy. Is this the end of the Nick? The
Speaker 1: Nick Batob getting rotation minutes Aaron got the DNP. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe you're trying to conserve a little bit of something
Speaker 3: that's left in the tank, but you know there's other
Speaker 3: options in this rotation has been short, like we've you know,
Speaker 3: we've we've seen it get shorter and shorter, and we've
Speaker 3: seen him come in like only in garbage time before.
Speaker 3: So you know how much that is like an act
Speaker 3: an act of conservation and how much is that you're
Speaker 3: just trying to lean on what else you have means
Speaker 3: to be seen. Yeah, the end, No, a diminished role
Speaker 3: for the for the for the time being, for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder if part of it was just like
Speaker 1: we're blowing this team out. We can give him a that.
Speaker 3: I mean, right, like, I you know, if you if
Speaker 3: you're up by more than twenty, like, does he really
Speaker 3: need to be checking.
Speaker 1: In getting the reps out of where were you surprised
Speaker 1: on the DNP?
Speaker 2: No, because he didn't play the second half against San
Speaker 2: Antonio and Kobe took his minutes there, so I was
Speaker 2: kind of thinking this is probably that time where coach
Speaker 2: lew was making the move. But he also said postgame
Speaker 2: after San Antonio, very briefly, almost terse, we'll see when
Speaker 2: he was asked about Kobe Sanders game more rotation time,
Speaker 2: So I think he knew then it was going to happen.
Speaker 2: But you give Niko Batoum the respect and plenty of opportunities,
Speaker 2: and it's not like he's had some terrible year. People
Speaker 2: acting like he's been awful. Here's a three point shooter.
Speaker 2: His defense has been solid. It's the mistakes. What the
Speaker 2: inbounds passes are so loud that it clouds everyone's thinking
Speaker 2: about how good Nico's actually been well.
Speaker 3: And with a smaller sample size too, right, like those
Speaker 3: things kind of stick out more. And yeah, and in
Speaker 3: that trail Trailblazer's game, I mean, he played a little
Speaker 3: bit in the first half, but then wasn't brought back
Speaker 3: in until garbage time, So it's not oh yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't know if this is a like I said, I
Speaker 3: think that this is more of like a partially conservation
Speaker 3: partially if you're trying to test and look at other
Speaker 3: lineups and see who you can lean on, like you
Speaker 3: know what you're getting from Nick Wutoun Like it's not
Speaker 3: like you know, like it's what is he doing in
Speaker 3: this in this year of his NBA career. That's gonna
Speaker 3: You're gonna be like, Wow, Nick Patoon can do that.
Speaker 1: He's honestly the only thing that would be awesome for
Speaker 1: him to develop is a hook shot. Nico is if
Speaker 1: he could develop just the hook shot, get him in there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The what's tough about the inbounds passes too, is that
Speaker 1: doesn't tie like choose him on purpose because he's been
Speaker 1: good at them. So he's been good at so many
Speaker 1: more than he's been bad at that. The bad ones
Speaker 1: stick out.
Speaker 3: Someone pull the someone pull the fucking compilation of all
Speaker 3: the terrible Clippers in bounds passes the season. Actually, I
Speaker 3: think you could point some more than Nico in that department.
Speaker 1: Well, Adam, you did a great breakdown on the one
Speaker 1: against the Spurs when brook Lopez passed it back to
Speaker 1: him when he was out of bounds, which is brook
Speaker 1: lopez His fault, not Nico's fault. Is that Wemby affected
Speaker 1: that Wemby was down low where Nico wanted to go,
Speaker 1: and then he just like, well, shit, like he.
Speaker 2: Had a fraction of a second to make that call.
Speaker 2: He didn't do it. He passed it into brook. Brook
Speaker 2: still thinks he's the trigger man, so he has to
Speaker 2: go right back to Nico, which that was just a mess.
Speaker 2: Like it's it's partially on Nico still for not passing
Speaker 2: it right away, but it's not the glaring mistake that
Speaker 2: everybody made it out to be. I think initially, like
Speaker 2: you watch Wemby turn there, it's like, yeah, you might
Speaker 2: get to that. There's a real good chance you might
Speaker 2: get to it.
Speaker 1: It is funny. That's like, that's like the most comical
Speaker 1: play of the Clippers season, right.
Speaker 2: Or the the inbound step on the line. But that
Speaker 2: was about to be a five second violation two against Houston,
Speaker 2: And I honestly didn't blame him for that because guys
Speaker 2: weren't even coming back towards the basketball. Kawhi and James
Speaker 2: Carden were like at half court and they had plenty
Speaker 2: of time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anyway, shout out Nico. He's going to be a
Speaker 1: great locker room guy either way. That's, you know, great Vet.
Speaker 2: I still expect him to make some big plays for
Speaker 2: the Clippers down the stretch.
Speaker 1: And the other part is I'm wondering how short the
Speaker 1: leash is for Kobe, Not that I think it should
Speaker 1: be particularly short, but ty when it comes to young guys,
Speaker 1: right will like you make one mistake. Lot Murray had
Speaker 1: a good tweet where it was like, if you're a
Speaker 1: young guy trying to get time in his Clippers team,
Speaker 1: like don't turn the ball over, don't make defensive mistakes.
Speaker 3: And I think that he like his in game IQ
Speaker 3: has come a long way since the beginning of the season,
Speaker 3: But I mean he's had his own trouble sort of
Speaker 3: floundering in this rotation. So I mean, like, do I
Speaker 3: think that he probably has a larger leeway for error
Speaker 3: than he would in a normal season where everybody who
Speaker 3: was expected to contribute for the Clippers was healthy. Yes,
Speaker 3: of course. Like is he still gonna get pulled for
Speaker 3: doing boneheaded stuff?
Speaker 1: Also?
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, Like this team just doesn't have margins
Speaker 3: to mess around with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's Yeah, I think I have confidence. Everyone
Speaker 1: wanted Covid to get more time, and now he's getting
Speaker 1: more time so that's good. We do have to shout out,
Speaker 1: what is it? Fifty four games of twenty plus points
Speaker 1: for Kawhi. He had an efficient twenty six before Garland
Speaker 1: with kind of a weird game. I guess he shot
Speaker 1: fifty percent but was brutal from three. But he had
Speaker 1: I mean, he had the positive assist to turnover, which
Speaker 1: is fantastic.
Speaker 3: So like that's the bare manimum.
Speaker 1: For a point guard. I think that is fair. Actually,
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to him getting more comfortable with the
Speaker 1: with the Clippers. Now. I don't mean in a mean
Speaker 1: way or anything, but it's just like there's still some
Speaker 1: feeling out going on with d G, which makes sense
Speaker 1: because guys are yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was still, you know, not as accurate as
Speaker 2: he had been from three, and you wonder how much
Speaker 2: of that is a regression to the mean, him being
Speaker 2: in a funk, being in his head a little bit.
Speaker 2: He wasn't gonna shoot fifty one percent from three the
Speaker 2: entire year, so naturally there was going to be some pullback.
Speaker 2: Is that all this is? Some will say, oh, it's
Speaker 2: level of competition. I don't necessarily think there's a big
Speaker 2: enough sample size to say that yet.
Speaker 3: I think he was wowed by the big lights of
Speaker 3: the Big Tomato after after a terrible loss to a
Speaker 3: divisional to a conference rival, he was.
Speaker 1: At the far table Capital of the World, as they
Speaker 1: call Sacramento. Shout out to Big Tomato. Do people still
Speaker 1: call it? That? Is that still a thing?
Speaker 2: I haven't heard it in a while.
Speaker 1: They got to bring that back, dude, standings check, which
Speaker 1: we are contractually obligated to do. Now we are tied
Speaker 1: for the Blazers. Whoa what whoa? You said contracts? What
Speaker 1: the hell? The Nuggets play the Blazers tonight, So let's
Speaker 1: go Nugs just for tonight and then they play the
Speaker 1: Spurs after that. So like the Clippers, theoretically could get
Speaker 1: a little bit of like, we have some schedule help
Speaker 1: from whoever puts the schedule together, the devil. So let's
Speaker 1: go those two teams because I think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: able to figure it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's gonna be an interesting to see.
Speaker 2: Let's say they are able to beat Dallas. She's not
Speaker 2: a given. I gotta play the right way.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about that in this second. Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I mean if the if the Trailblazers lose these
Speaker 3: two games and we end up going three and one
Speaker 3: over this final four that, I mean, it's pretty sealed.
Speaker 2: It's sealed. If they go three and one Blazers lose
Speaker 2: the next two, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1: That would be it because then we would also end
Speaker 1: up beating the Blazers in that scenario, right.
Speaker 2: Who's the who's the one loss? We're saying the Thunder?
Speaker 2: What if the Thunder don't play out to play anyone?
Speaker 1: Would they?
Speaker 2: They just need I think one more loss from San Antonio.
Speaker 2: I could see them playing guys a few minutes.
Speaker 1: Did their rest Guys? Did we play the Thunder late
Speaker 1: last year and they arrested people? Am I hallucinating that
Speaker 1: for some reason, I thought we had like a game
Speaker 1: against the Thunder and they didn't play everybody late. I
Speaker 1: would love that to happen.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean I think they'll still play some minutes
Speaker 3: just because, yeah, you have Shay still pulling for an MVP.
Speaker 3: I mean that's like I don't think they would just
Speaker 3: like outright cinema full game. I don't know what he's
Speaker 3: at game total wise, but I'm sure he's not in danger.
Speaker 3: But even still, it's just for for ceremonial reasons.
Speaker 1: You know how many games we check real quick. He's
Speaker 1: at sixty six, so he's good.
Speaker 3: Maybe they do then, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Why not. Honestly, Sam Presty, if you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: tell your coach. Sit everybody, we already did your favor
Speaker 1: with the trade, right help help playing team out.
Speaker 2: I think they just need one loss from San Antonio
Speaker 2: and they got it.
Speaker 3: Do they play hard to beat the Clippers to make
Speaker 3: sure or do they lose to the Clippers to make
Speaker 3: sure they don't have to play them in that in
Speaker 3: that one eight matchup.
Speaker 1: They're duck and Lopez. Bro makes sense. The Spurs are
Speaker 1: playing the seventy six ers right now, then the Blazers,
Speaker 1: then the MAVs, then the Nuggets, So the Spurs have
Speaker 1: kind of a that last game is going to be
Speaker 1: interesting against the Nuggets.
Speaker 3: Where are the Nuggets secured in their spot? Where are they?
Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, four is tied and yeah, dude, three four
Speaker 1: five is separated by one game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Lakers may be dropping back.
Speaker 1: What makes you say that.
Speaker 2: They're having some Clippers type luck right now?
Speaker 1: Dude, all my Lakers' friends, I was like, welcome to
Speaker 1: every single year of my life. For the past like
Speaker 1: six years. Dude, like it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I honestly, I don't like seeing anybody get injured,
Speaker 2: so I feel fast, Well, that's just an insane amount
Speaker 2: of bad luck. It into like two days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like Luca.
Speaker 2: Will happened from one game.
Speaker 1: Luca is legitimately, I'm not diminishing his skill. He is
Speaker 1: my least favorite player in the NBA as a Clippers fan.
Speaker 1: It's like he's very good at basketball. I'm not saying that,
Speaker 1: but even me, someone who's least favorite player in the
Speaker 1: league is Luca. This sixty five game rules trash. He
Speaker 1: had to go back to like see the birth of
Speaker 1: his child, which is counting against him. Now he gets
Speaker 1: this thing like he's played enough, he's played good enough
Speaker 1: basketball to get an end of season award, And that
Speaker 1: hurts me to say they're.
Speaker 2: Going to give him the exemption.
Speaker 1: I think I think the exemption for the lung. No, No,
Speaker 1: that's like a freak thing though, right, Like.
Speaker 2: But if you just start doing it because of injuries,
Speaker 2: like everyone's going to have an exemption. If it's Luca
Speaker 2: because he left the country for a few days and
Speaker 2: only a couple of days, yeah, that's more than Ell.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you fix it, but I think
Speaker 1: you just hope people have common sense when they're voting.
Speaker 2: I've looked at this and like the amount of times
Speaker 2: anybody that only played like forty or even like fifty
Speaker 2: games that got voted for an All NBA first Team
Speaker 2: or second team, It's very low. It's not a handful
Speaker 2: of times ever the last thirty years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think if you weren't already playing sixty plus,
Speaker 3: like the you know, the conversation is already sort of
Speaker 3: against you. But yeah, it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 3: But that this even at the time, felt like sort
Speaker 3: of a phantom, punitive impostment, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: It's like this, this was put in a place for
Speaker 3: the for like the inside the NBA talking heads who
Speaker 3: are convinced that no one ever plays and wins an MVPA, Like, like,
Speaker 3: truly the conversation. If you don't play sixty games, it's like, oh, well,
Speaker 3: he's so good, but he never he never fucking plays.
Speaker 1: Like and it's about Kawhi specifically, he is going to
Speaker 1: be first team All NBA because he's gonna play, well,
Speaker 1: hold on, I'm not going to jinx that he should
Speaker 1: be first team All NBA because it seems like he
Speaker 1: should play at these sixty five games.
Speaker 2: He can miss one more. I don't want him to
Speaker 2: miss one more.
Speaker 1: No, we're gonna need him. That's a great transition. Actually,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about Thunder, the MAVs Thunder back to
Speaker 1: back coming up after this break. For the audio listeners,
Speaker 1: if you're watching us, we're still here. If you want
Speaker 1: to watch, you can find us at YouTube dot complish
Speaker 1: at Clippers podcast. Coming up. There's gonna be a break
Speaker 1: and then MAVs Thunder back to back talk in three two.
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back into Clips and Dip. We just
Speaker 3: talked about the clippers incredible, good, life affirming win over
Speaker 3: the Sacramento Kings. Now we got to look ahead to
Speaker 3: the back to back, which comprises half of the four
Speaker 3: games remaining for the Clippers. I mean, I think we're
Speaker 3: all in agreement that the MAVs should be easy word,
Speaker 3: but they did just pull off a win over the Lakers.
Speaker 3: Where are you standing at now, Chuck?
Speaker 1: Who's laughing?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: I do like that you said life affirming because for
Speaker 1: that Kings win, Because honestly, I was like, we're fucking back,
Speaker 1: and then I woke up this morning and did the outline.
Speaker 1: It was like, I don't know about that. No, the MAVs,
Speaker 1: it's like they're so bad their stat profile. Remember we
Speaker 1: talked about the Raptors how they like don't take any threes.
Speaker 1: The MAVs don't take any threes and they don't make
Speaker 1: any threes. Like this is a game that the professional
Speaker 1: start has never been needed more than the late season
Speaker 1: game against the MAVs on the first side of a.
Speaker 2: Back to back. Luckily, uh, you know, Cooper Flagman have
Speaker 2: got it out of his system against the other team
Speaker 2: from LA. Now he's third in the most forty five
Speaker 2: point games this season. I would give him Rookie of
Speaker 2: the Year a recrd third in the most forty five
Speaker 2: point games this season. Shit, uh, I just think Charlotte's
Speaker 2: better and they're playing in the East. Colin has more
Speaker 2: help around him, and Cooper's had to do much more
Speaker 2: and the Maps are really not trying to win.
Speaker 1: And CON's like like one thousand percent more of a
Speaker 1: specialized guy, not a knock but like flag is having
Speaker 1: to do quite a bit for them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know about a thousand but flag is
Speaker 2: definitely more. Run your entire offense through him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and no disrespect to either guy, both having incredible scenes.
Speaker 2: Got business, Yeah, handle it.
Speaker 1: Another. I'm gonna There's certain teams that have confounding stats,
Speaker 1: and the MAVs have a couple of them. One of
Speaker 1: them is they're fourth and pace, but they take below
Speaker 1: average field goal attempts.
Speaker 2: They turnover a lot.
Speaker 1: Let me check.
Speaker 2: Or get fouled a lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, wow, the ESPN stats page is so fucking bad.
Speaker 1: Look at hold on, look at how bad this. This
Speaker 1: is like the worst stat page you can possibly like. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they like don't take threes, they don't make threes. Hold on,
Speaker 1: let me get their ship up. God damn twenty five.
Speaker 2: They've been like the worst team since early January, I
Speaker 2: think so.
Speaker 1: Like they're eighteenth in turnovers, so they're not like awful.
Speaker 2: You know what are they in throats hose fifth? There
Speaker 2: you go. It's that combination. You get up less shots
Speaker 2: because of that.
Speaker 1: What a rough team to try and watch. Yes, so
Speaker 1: this is like, this is a take care of business.
Speaker 1: Don't foul as much? Do we think? Is Garland gonna
Speaker 1: rest this back to back on one of the have.
Speaker 2: He hasn't played both back to backs yet, right, grow.
Speaker 1: Wait, grow up or stay up?
Speaker 3: He's young.
Speaker 1: Grow up? He has not played a back to back
Speaker 1: for the Clippers yet, No better time.
Speaker 2: I think it could depend on does Okay still have
Speaker 2: something to play forward? Depending on what Antonio does and
Speaker 2: did the Clippers win against Dallas?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I put a note in here will what could
Speaker 1: go wrong for the Clippers against Dallas?
Speaker 3: I mean, I think, like you said, like if they
Speaker 3: come out flat and give this team any sort of
Speaker 3: momentum going into this, I mean, they're already coming off
Speaker 3: of a big win. That's a that's a recipe for
Speaker 3: a long night.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: This back to back is so monumental for the entire
Speaker 3: standings of this Clippers season, and they have to get one.
Speaker 3: There's like, there's no scenario forward if they somehow go
Speaker 3: h to two on this back to back where they're
Speaker 3: not in nine ten. I don't think, like I mean,
Speaker 3: unless unless the Blazers really fall asleep at the at
Speaker 3: the wheel against that harder competition to end the season.
Speaker 3: So I think if I mean, if they lose this
Speaker 3: game against the MAVs, I would hope that that Garland
Speaker 3: is ready to go or alternatively that OKAC has decided
Speaker 3: they have nothing to play for.
Speaker 1: Remember we had Law on a pod I think last season,
Speaker 1: and he was like, you know, it's hard when like
Speaker 1: you're looking at a like tanking teams in the beginning
Speaker 1: of the season. They're not tanking, right Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Of course, end of the season is kind of similar.
Speaker 1: You're locked into the worst record in the league right
Speaker 1: or close to it. So if you're the MAVs, you
Speaker 1: get that feather in your cap win against the Lakers,
Speaker 1: that doesn't really affect your draft ons that much, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like, so it's kind of the
Speaker 1: same thing at the end of the season too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean like, yeah, like two big wins in
Speaker 3: l A. I mean, you know, it's it's an indication
Speaker 3: that process is going in the right direction, even for
Speaker 3: a disastrous season. And yeah, it's if it's if it's
Speaker 3: not going to negatively affect your draft impact, why would
Speaker 3: you not like And and that's the other thing too,
Speaker 3: is like you have young guys like these guys don't
Speaker 3: want to continue to fucking lose regardless of what the
Speaker 3: organization's intent is for uh for for you know, draft standings, manipulation,
Speaker 3: like they don't give a shit about that. They want
Speaker 3: to win games.
Speaker 1: Man, what do we think, Adam, What do we think
Speaker 1: they did on their day in LA because they played yesterday,
Speaker 1: had the day off today. What do we think the
Speaker 1: MAVs did today in Los Angeles?
Speaker 2: Did you say that game was in Dallas? Right? Oh?
Speaker 2: Did you see that was a whole game so they
Speaker 2: don't have as much LA nightlife to get them to bank?
Speaker 1: Oh dude, that was an NBA team. I'd be like,
Speaker 1: we're flying into fucking We're flying into Burbank, which is.
Speaker 2: Being a panda right next to it. We're going into Burbank.
Speaker 1: They're remodeling the Burbank Airport, which is insane. It's perfect.
Speaker 1: It has two guy fiery restaurants. It has a guy
Speaker 1: fiery sandwich shop. What else does it need? Yeah, third
Speaker 1: third guy restaurant, Third guy Fiery restaurant.
Speaker 3: Third guy at the Burbank Airport.
Speaker 2: I do think there's a race of the bottom right now.
Speaker 2: I gotta be honest, Like the players don't want that,
Speaker 2: of course, but teams. I think, like the bottom ten
Speaker 2: teams in the NBA with the last like fifty games
Speaker 2: or something like winning it like a ten percent clip,
Speaker 2: like it's been really bad.
Speaker 3: Thank god, they'll have to joust next year when the
Speaker 3: new anti tankings is going to.
Speaker 1: Effect GM versus GM hand to hand combat. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you are incredibly right at them in the East thirteen
Speaker 1: fourteen to fifteen, separated by one game, that's or two
Speaker 1: games excuse me, Yeah, in the West, damn.
Speaker 2: But this is something where they're competing off. They're competing
Speaker 2: with each other though for draft positions, not like it's
Speaker 2: the West has their own draft. In the East, like
Speaker 2: Dallas is. Looking at the fact that Brooklyn is, you know,
Speaker 2: they have fifty nine losses, they probably want to at
Speaker 2: least get in the mix where like Milwaukee is, Chicago is.
Speaker 1: But the MAVs are like they got fifty they got
Speaker 1: twenty five wins. They're tied with the Pels. That's twelve thirteen.
Speaker 1: Like the Kings and Jazz are like firmly at the bottom.
Speaker 2: True. Yeah, but they're right, they're right next to Memphis.
Speaker 2: They want to at least be worse than them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, that's what they, like you.
Speaker 2: Said, they got their big Lakers victory. What do they
Speaker 2: need to just get one over the Clippers for flying
Speaker 2: Cooper got it locked up. The rookie of the year's fine,
Speaker 2: he's the favorite at Calshi.
Speaker 1: I can't believe go to Panda.
Speaker 3: I can't believe the Wizards managed to outlse the Pacers, Like, yeah, they're.
Speaker 2: Not messing around.
Speaker 3: I did well. I just like when the Pacers had
Speaker 3: that number one spot locked up that I was like, big,
Speaker 3: they got this.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't think anyone's going to be able to surpass them.
Speaker 2: Shouldn't have let Zoo play those two games?
Speaker 1: Yeah, to break his rib. So then the Clippers, hopefully
Speaker 1: play professionally against the MAVs, get a win the Thunder game.
Speaker 1: Both of the teams will be on a back to back,
Speaker 1: which adds a level of chaos, I would say to
Speaker 1: the y and maybe it helps the resting Okay, see
Speaker 1: resting agenda that we're trying to push.
Speaker 3: Okay, I didn't realize that they were on the second
Speaker 3: night of.
Speaker 1: The back to back too, so double check what I mean.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe you do rest some guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, well, they play the Lakers tomorrow and then
Speaker 1: on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: This to me is about the Portland game, Like, you
Speaker 2: rest guys because you have the biggest game of the
Speaker 2: season coming up against Portland. Yeah, I think you have
Speaker 2: to take that into account. I'm not saying you just
Speaker 2: totally hunt the game, but he is not playing guys.
Speaker 3: It still all depends on what happens the first of
Speaker 3: the mass.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you gotta they better beat the mass assuming
Speaker 2: let's say they beat the Maps. Now you've got decisions
Speaker 2: to make. Is okay? See playing? Are they playing the
Speaker 2: entire game with their guys? What did Portland do against
Speaker 2: you know, the Spurs and Denver tonight? Do we have Do.
Speaker 1: We know if the Thunder injury report came out for
Speaker 1: the Lakers game, because with how many with the two
Speaker 1: key guys out for the Lakers, maybe the Thunder rest guys.
Speaker 3: Against the Lakers, right, I mean, yeah, it's.
Speaker 1: I was looking up some stats. In the last five
Speaker 1: games the Thunder or five and zero. Their net rating
Speaker 1: is plus twenty two. They're shooting forty percent from three.
Speaker 1: They have one hundred and three defensive rating over that stretch,
Speaker 1: which is insane. Let's just not get killed on the
Speaker 1: boards if everyone plays like, I don't know, let's just
Speaker 1: get some good reps. I guess it's like what I'm
Speaker 1: hoping for all.
Speaker 3: That to lose to the Clippers in a conference final.
Speaker 1: In the conference. Okay, so Lakers, the Lakers injury report
Speaker 1: is out. I mean there's only two guys out for
Speaker 1: the Lakers tomorrow or for the excuse me, for the
Speaker 1: Thunder tomorrow. It's Jaden Williams obviously, and then Thomas Sorper.
Speaker 1: Everyone else is healthy. I think they might rest guys
Speaker 1: versus Clippers based on this one piece of information that
Speaker 1: just take.
Speaker 2: There's a pretty good chance, maybe not the entire game,
Speaker 2: but some of the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, all right, well I'm feeling good about I'm
Speaker 1: feeling great about that. I actually I will be at
Speaker 1: Disneyland during the Clippers Blazers game, which bold not my
Speaker 1: choice interesting strategy.
Speaker 2: If they lose, you're gonna be on mister Toad's wild
Speaker 2: ride in the hell portion of it.
Speaker 1: I will turn it into the unhappiest place on Earth.
Speaker 1: I will air that bit chat.
Speaker 3: So let's say, okay, see does rest guys and no
Speaker 3: matter what the Clippers do, end up going three and
Speaker 3: one over the final four games, is that enough to
Speaker 3: stay in seven eight?
Speaker 1: I think it is.
Speaker 2: If they go three and one or win three or
Speaker 2: four because.
Speaker 1: They're beating they're beating the Blazers in that scenario.
Speaker 3: So the tiebreakers are well, I mean, if they don't
Speaker 3: beat the Blazers, oh right, so they go three and one,
Speaker 3: but the one loss ends up being to the Blazers
Speaker 3: because okay, see is resting people.
Speaker 2: Okay, what's the Blazers record if they go one and
Speaker 2: one the next two So they get one of the
Speaker 2: games against San Antonio or San Antonio and Denver, both
Speaker 2: games on the road. Let's just say they get Let's
Speaker 2: give them one.
Speaker 1: They're thirty eight right now, So they go forty one
Speaker 1: and thirty nine.
Speaker 2: Because they can't they can't lose to them and end
Speaker 2: up with the same record as.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, of course, of course.
Speaker 2: Because Portland as the conference tiebreaker.
Speaker 1: I thought it went to division. That wasn't even a joke.
Speaker 2: But we're not in the same division.
Speaker 1: Oh then it goes to conference. Yeah hmmm, I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're twenty three and twenty five.
Speaker 3: Yet another move by Adam Siliver and his corporate crony
Speaker 3: is to undervalue divisional play.
Speaker 1: Dude, don't even get me started. If you want to
Speaker 1: hear our on divisional play, subscribe to the non existent Patreon.
Speaker 1: All right, who's our player of the back to back?
Speaker 1: We also just in terms of people who kind of
Speaker 1: maybe listen to the show. For this, we're gonna need
Speaker 1: Kawhi and Darius Scarland to combine. If everyone plays for
Speaker 1: the Thunder, Kawhi and Darius Garland got to combine for
Speaker 1: like fifty five. We need the small ball lineup to
Speaker 1: be good. I'm interested to see how a small ball
Speaker 1: lineup looks against the Thunder, because we're gonna see it
Speaker 1: against the We saw it against the Kings. We're gonna
Speaker 1: see it against the Maps, who were also very bad.
Speaker 1: Like seeing it against a more legitimate team will be interested.
Speaker 3: I'm going John Collins as the most likely player to
Speaker 3: play the back to back.
Speaker 1: And he's gonna hap. I mean, he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: be really important.
Speaker 2: My guess is Garland still doesn't play both regardless.
Speaker 1: And I'm I think I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if they be honestly, they have toload up and
Speaker 2: get ready for Portland.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And if to beat the Maps, yeah, And if Kawhi
Speaker 3: can miss only one more game, I would go ahead
Speaker 3: and pencil at one in against the Thunder I like
Speaker 3: the Collins pick is a really good pick.
Speaker 1: Adam.
Speaker 2: It's like if Thunder aren't playing there, guys, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of chess going on, and you can get that
Speaker 2: game and sweep the back to back at home. You
Speaker 2: make life a lot easier. Let's say Portland loses both
Speaker 2: these games on the road.
Speaker 3: We can waltz into the scenario I predicted where one
Speaker 3: of our final losses comes against the Warriors because we're
Speaker 3: locked in. We're locked in at eight.
Speaker 2: I don't know what Golden State is going to have
Speaker 2: to play for. They're tenth, like nothing like, I don't
Speaker 2: see them playing hard that final game. There are four
Speaker 2: games out of nine like, they're not Yeah, they're tenth.
Speaker 2: I'll go with the magic Benedict Mather and this newfound
Speaker 2: assists good decisions.
Speaker 1: Why we're gonna magic magic, then short magic. Short magic
Speaker 1: is a great There was a picture who came up
Speaker 1: in the Mariners farm system because the Mariners had Randy
Speaker 1: Johnson whose nickname was the Big Unit. And then there
Speaker 1: was a picture who came up like, you know, a
Speaker 1: while later, but his nickname was the Little Unit.
Speaker 2: Is he looking around like, what the hell, guys, what
Speaker 2: the hell?
Speaker 1: Is this man? It was terrible, all right, So we
Speaker 1: got Collins math damn he hit he hit a butterfly
Speaker 1: that exploded. Yeah, he in a hummingbird. Everyone was way
Speaker 1: more pissed off. I'm gonna go. I mean, John Collins
Speaker 1: is the best pick, also the easiest.
Speaker 3: So I went, no, I win no points for that.
Speaker 1: I'm going Kobe Kobe Sanders is. It's going to play
Speaker 1: both games for sure. Get those good reps in shoot
Speaker 1: forty percent from three, don't have bad turnovers. That that's
Speaker 1: who I'm seeing.
Speaker 2: That's a good call.
Speaker 3: Who do you think he's been a bigger difference maker
Speaker 3: on the season between Sanders and Miller.
Speaker 1: I think Jordan Miller.
Speaker 2: I don't know, because he wasn't tough call.
Speaker 1: Yeah he was, I know, But then I remember how
Speaker 1: the basketball was early.
Speaker 2: Not his fault.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. I think it might be Jordan Miller.
Speaker 2: Kobe is shooting like fifty one percent from three the
Speaker 2: last seventeen games or something.
Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, and Jordan Miller.
Speaker 2: Jordan did to hit some though. Did he hit three yesterday?
Speaker 1: Yeah? He went through.
Speaker 2: That was good to see.
Speaker 1: He will only take three a game.
Speaker 2: The terrifs man spot the terrorst man.
Speaker 1: I guess who's better on defense? That might be my
Speaker 1: what sways me because they do such different things offensively.
Speaker 1: Coke is a floor spacer, which is huge for this team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Kobe slightly.
Speaker 1: I might flip flop. My name is John Kerry because
Speaker 1: I do flip flop. Finally, that's a community reference, not
Speaker 1: me being anti John care. There's a bit in community
Speaker 1: where uh Troy is Troy's high school has like vaguely
Speaker 1: right wing football chain. All right, any final thoughts before
Speaker 1: we send these Clippers fans out to be stressed until
Speaker 1: Friday about the Blazers game.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm, Beat the Blazers, save the season.
Speaker 2: Save the cheerleader heroes, and yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: What I said. All Right, We're doing a full episode
Speaker 1: on Thursday because people need to be We're gonna be
Speaker 1: stressed about the Blazers game. Probably a happy hour on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and then an end of the regular season pod on Monday.
Speaker 1: I genuinely cannot believe that is here in a week.
Speaker 1: That's insane. Oh, also send those essays in. We got
Speaker 1: another essay over the weekend. Who I will be. We
Speaker 1: will be sending a piece of the Rising tides collection
Speaker 1: to send them to Shavings upodcast at gmail dot com
Speaker 1: at least five hundred words. This one was twelve hundred words.
Speaker 1: This person put in a lot of effort. No, AI,
Speaker 1: we'll send you some stuff. We have T shirts Norm
Speaker 1: Powell t shirts, I think a hat and some other things.
Speaker 1: Will Where can people review this pod if they want
Speaker 1: to let their feelings be known about our references or
Speaker 1: what we think about the Clippers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can review this pod over on Spotify or
Speaker 3: Apple podcasts. You can of course listen to wherever you
Speaker 3: get your podcasts, but you can let us know what
Speaker 3: you think on every single episode over at YouTube dot com.
Speaker 3: That's at Clippers podcast. So yeah, let us know your thoughts.
Speaker 3: But however you listen or however you watch, you know
Speaker 3: we appreciate it.
Speaker 1: We very much do, an Adam. We need it. We
Speaker 1: need it, maybe more than not as much as Thursday.
Speaker 1: But one positive thing for these Clippers.
Speaker 2: Fans, uh Clippers are moving the rock nicely yesterday regardless
Speaker 2: of the opponent. They were sharing the sugar out there
Speaker 2: as no equal would say, thirty assists. Let's see if
Speaker 2: they can keep that going after finally getting a damn
Speaker 2: practice and with Darius Garland for once on Saturday.
Speaker 1: There we go share the sugar good rule always no
Speaker 1: matter what kind of sugar. Thank you for hanging out
Speaker 1: with us. We will be back on Thursday. Here's here's
Speaker 1: to that professional game against the MAVs and as always,
Speaker 1: let's go Clips.