Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, Welcome to season three,
episode fifty three of Clips in Dip. I am Chuck Walkler,
joined by Adam Oslin William Updyke. We don't know where
he is. We hope he's doing okay. He will be
back with us for the full tripod the next time.
We are coming at you live on YouTube or on audio.
If you'd like to watch us, you can find us
at YouTube dot com slash at Clippers podcast if you
want to listen to us. We're everywhere they have podcasts,
so that is very fun. I am not wearing a
Clippers hat today. I am wearing a University of Montana
Grizzlies hat because the men's basketball team just won the
Big Sky Conference and they're going to the dance, and
the women's basketball team got beat on a last second
shot despite being a sixth seed. So I want to
show love to my alma for doing great in the
Big Sky Conference tournament. Adam, how are you? Did Biola
win their conference championship for basketball.
Speaker 2: In the naia or whatever it is. I don't think so,
but congratulations to your grizz Congratulations to the Memphis Grizzlies
for making my plan and putting it into action being
the number two seed in the Western Conference. Stay there, boys,
that's exactly where I was.
Speaker 1: We are gonna talk the Clippers splitting their back to
back the wrong way, as I would like to call it,
and then the Clippers play the Hawks tomorrow and the
Hornets on Sunday. At least one of these games should
be very winnable. Adam, would you agree or disagree that
the Clippers split the back to back the wrong way?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I thought they would go to and
Oh and I definitely didn't think if they lost a
game it would be the one with Kawhi against the Pelicans.
But you know, I did think that Pelicans game made
sense to play Kawhi against them because I thought they
were the more dangerous team. Of course, a lot of
people were saying the opposite, Why are we playing them
against Miami? Zion? Is that good that if you're in
a close game like that, you're at his mercy. Sometimes
if Zion is playing, you're in a close game and
they're having a hot shooting night like that, they're hottest
of the season, you are at their mercy. It never
should have come to that. Being down by twenty one,
then down by seventeen, and the fourth after they had
cut into the lead. It just was really inconsistent from
the Clippers from both sides of the basketball. They couldn't
put together solid quarters, solid possessions out there. I was
disappointing the playoverale.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was not ideal. The bench was brutal. From three,
they went three of fifteen. Nico went two of eight,
which it's not on him to make a bunch of threes,
but if you get eight, you hope more than two go.
And we almost had the twenty point comeback right like
at one point it was almost there and then it
just dissipated away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they took a lead. I think it was tied
to eight seven in the third, and then you had
three straight three porters made by the Pelicans after that,
two from Trey Murphy and one from CJ. McCollum. And
I think the Clippers were down eight heading into the fourth,
and then to start the fourth quarter things weren't looking
good either. And I really didn't like the fact that
to start the fourth quarter, I want to say it
was done a mirror what else was out there? Kawhi
Aviza zubots the fifth guy. But we talked about post game.
The first three shots were taken by Kawhi or Vitza
zubas Uh and they got down by fifteen, call of
time out. They come back out of meer coffee. It's
a three pointer. That was a big shot. But I
didn't understand the lack of aggressiveness from Kawhi, who was
having a good shooting game. But to start the fourth
quarter where you would think they'd be running the offense
through him and he'd be leading them, that didn't happen.
So I hope we see more consistency throughout four quarters
from Kawhi moving forward.
Speaker 1: That's a good call on the Kawhi consistency. I also
hope we see more consistency, which I think we saw
in the Heat game of going to Zoo, right. Brian
Semans said it. In the third quarter of the Pells game.
The Clippers are playing through a Vitza zubots and it's
yielding good results like we saw that.
Speaker 2: Ryan said it.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, yeah, right, But then they get
a great win versus the Heat, because why not like that?
Like I loved how Zoo playing against Autobio.
Speaker 2: Like the Heat aren't that good.
Speaker 1: We needed it, though the Clippers right now, I.
Speaker 2: Think it was a good win. I'm just saying, sure
they are worse than the Pelicans with Zion and CJ
playing the heat are worse.
Speaker 1: That is fair. This back to back I put this
in the notes, but it's kind of like a snapshot
of the season, a little bit where the Clippers can't
get it done against a conference opponent, against the team
that the wins quote unquote matter a little bit more.
And then on the second night of a back to
back against a rested Eastern Conference team, we see this
like Bogie had his I mean, by far best game
as a Clipper, which hopefully that that keeps going. But
like this back to back to me was kind of
a bit of a snapshot of the Clipper season. I guess,
not bad or good either way, but this is kind
of what we've been dealing with. They almost lost to
the King, like it took like, yeah, and.
Speaker 2: The Kings were playing good, but yeah, that was a
bad game that they pulled out thanks to Kawhi heroics.
But they're five and seven since the All Star break now,
and I think a lot of this is I don't
know if it's a snapshot of the season is a
snapshot of how you look without Norman Powell.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, I like that.
Speaker 2: How many more games do they win post All Star
Break if they have norm like, honestly, probably four more games.
I think they win one of the Lakers game. I
think they win the Bucks game that they were up
thirteen in. I think they win the Phoenix game. I
think they win the Peals game.
Speaker 1: I think that. Yeah, I mean, I could three. I'm
on board for for sure. I don't know. Four just
feels like two. I don't know. But the point is
the exact same is this is what the team. This
is a snapshot of the team without their leading score.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know it's strange for outsiders to be like,
what what's the big deal? normOn pal six man tide,
no leading scorer this season, an efficient leading scorer for
this team, one of the most efficient players in the
league this time on high volume. So it's kind of
a problem when you don't have him. Kawhi has still
been up and down. James Harden has gone through shooting struggles,
although he has been pretty good overall. Since the two
games against the Lakers, He's had an upswing a visa Zubots.
They're inconsistent with how they use him when they should
give them the ball. More's an easier.
Speaker 1: Way to win.
Speaker 2: Play through zoo. No rampal cures a lot of what
ails them, really does. I think they'd easily have a
winning record out of the All Star Break if they
had norm but they don't. So figure it out and
they're not going to have in the next two games
likely either. I don't think he's going to be back
for the Charlotte game. They might give us an update.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because he's supposed to be reevaluated basically in the
next couple of days is when the reovlent. I'm assuming
when they get back from this this trip. But yeah,
I mean he won't And that's a reevaluation. That's not
a he will be practicing.
Speaker 2: It's unlikely. It's a reevaluation. He's clear for takeoff, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you've if you've been a fan of the Clippers,
do not put your hopes up on the reevaluation leading
to him being completely off thee.
Speaker 2: I hope he's back for the Cavs game. That is
my guess. When is that that's that would be optimal.
I would that's next Tuesday. Yeah, Okay, it's gonna be
real tough to beat a team that's lost ten games
this season without nor I.
Speaker 1: Would agree with that. There are some good takeaways from
the back to back. Obviously Kahi with great offensively versus
the pals. Did bog then find his shot because him
shooting his usual averages makes a big difference for how
this Clippers team can perform out there. That was a
great something to build off of game for Bogden. We've
yet to see three games in a row of like
good Bogden' play in terms of you know what I mean, Like,
there hasn't been three games in a row a bit.
I hope that was the start because he looked incredibly confident.
James Harden posted a hilarious tweet of them as Sidney
Dean and I'm blanking on the other character name for
white men can't jump. But this is a And obviously
he's not going to put up the efficiency that he
did the other night, but if you get close to
his normal usual efficiency, that changes a lot for the Clippers,
especially when it comes to play in basketball.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of over analysis going on
with with Bogie like you're asking for three games in
a row. We need three games in a row. It's
like we can't get three games in a row from Kawaii.
Speaker 1: Yeah, point.
Speaker 2: Most of the time, Like it's normal to have up
and down.
Speaker 1: Play and what he's at thirty seven shooting from three
right as a clipper.
Speaker 2: He's a little bit under that. I think he's about
league average now. Okay, last night, but it's like he
just had twenty three against Detroit. I don't know why
people are like, oh, Bogi finally showed up. It's like
he just add twenty three against them. He's had eight
nine games of being in double figures already. Like, uh,
I think he's been decent, especially when you consider the
on ball juice that he's been showing and the pick
and roll that he's been using.
Speaker 1: Putting on the floor has been nice.
Speaker 2: I think he's been He's been pretty solid. He's had
about five really impactful games.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's magnified too, just because people are
out right, so he's thrust into a role that he
wouldn't usually have full rotation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hopefully he's big against his former team in Atlanta.
But last night is why I was you can't give
up on Bogie. They don't have options to and why
would you like, Well, yeah, everything's on small sample size
with his shooting numbers so far really this season, especially
with Atlanta, and he's getting boards, he's getting assists.
Speaker 1: He's setting things up. That's because that's the biggest miss
with Ben Simmons, right, is not having someone there to
be the other person who can set something up. So
him coming in and doing that is very valuable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like he's not just a spot up shooter
and if he's not hitting shots then he's unplayable or
something like that. He is offering other stuff out there.
So even without last night's game, I think he's been solid,
but obviously he's not meeting his potential yet. If he
has a string of fifteen point game with some efficiency
out there.
Speaker 1: We are cooking with gas.
Speaker 2: If that is happening, well, it's like his gravity. Look
at the first three he takes and makes last night
early in the first quarter. They're all over him. Yeah,
well they're treating him like he's Bogey Bondana, He's boged
down Bodonovich. He's Bogey. I'm not overly concerned, but we'll
see how much of what happened last night can be
packaged into you know, just a smaller performance but similar
levels of efficiency out there where it doesn't have to
be thirty points but fifteen and shoot around forty percent
from three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, him off the bench with that percentage from three
and being able to put it on the floor is
very much what the Clippers needed and what they traded
for another guy who's been pretty good with the connector
stuff lately, Nicopatum. Nicopatum is put in some classic just
good solid Nico performances, you know what I mean, Like
they're obviously they're not going to jump off the stat page,
but he he's the adult on the floor a lot
of the times, right, he knows what to do. He's
been showing and I think it makes sense given his age.
Kind of the ramp up as the season's gone on
into feeling more like the last iteration of Nico on
this Clippers team, which has been really cool to see
and coming to time where halfway through March they've played
a shit ton of games and there's only a lot
more coming. So any relief we can get with that
is huge.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Nico's playing almost eleven more minutes per game in March. Damn,
this looks intentional. I don't even think it's just about
the injuries. Yeah, I think they want to get Nico
going in a rhythm before the playoffs because he can
be a secret weapon for them. Like I've been saying,
I think he can as he has been as of late.
I've been saying all season, I think in a seven
game series, there's a real good chance Nico starts a
power forward and they put Kawhi at the three, depending
on the mashup. I've said it all season, and he's,
guess what, he's been starting at power forward a lot lately.
He's averaging a block per game during this time too, whether.
Speaker 1: That rule. Do you think, because this has been some
discourse too, when Norm comes back, do what do you
think the starting lineup looks like for let's call it
the play in right, because that's kind of I mean,
that's where we're at right now. Do you think the
starting lineup goes Harden, Norm, Kawhi, Nico Zoo or do
you think they go back to the I don't know
if I can even say usual, because it's not like
we've had a terrible amount of consistency with it, the
one that a lot of people myself included, prefer of
Norm Harden, Kawhi, Derek Jones Junior then Zu.
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think it's gonna be a matchup dependent for
coach lou Like. I don't think it's going to be
a set roster. If they're playing Minnesota and Julius Randall
is out there, Rudy Gobert in the play in, I
could see I could see Patoomb starting a power forward.
I could see the lineup that you just said. If
they're facing a team that's a little bit smaller, switchier
on the perimeter, I could see DJ or Chris Dunn
out there instead. But yeah, I think it's it's totally
gonna be about the opposition and who they're playing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you're obviously you're not putting and I'm happy
that this talk has kind of stopped. You're not putting
Norm on the bench in the playoffs. That's not happening.
And I don't fully believe that ty Lu would put
out a three guard lineup, adding Chris Done and then
having Kawhi play the four and Zoo play the five.
I don't think that would happen.
Speaker 2: What's the lineup then?
Speaker 1: What you said, the lineup would be hardened Norm, Chris Dunn, Kawhi.
Speaker 2: Zoo if they played Memphis in a first round series,
I could see it, Okay against Yeah, I think he'd
I think he'd sit Chris Dunne. I think he started
the first two games against Memphis. He definitely started that
first one when they got that big win. But I
think that obviously there was no Kawhi in that game.
I think it was him and DJ.
Speaker 1: But there's so many different who was out, so we
have to keep track of with these lineups.
Speaker 2: Yeah, uh no, I could see it. I heard U.
I think it was before the Pelicans game. Carlo gave
out the different iterations and how many of it have
had this season, and I heard it was like thirty
nine or something. We had thirty nine different starting lineups.
I mean, could be worse, guys. There are a couple
other teams that have been through injuries way worse of
the Clippers this season.
Speaker 1: Actually that's crazy. I mean, yeah, look at the Pels,
who we just played, so saying and I yeah, I
think I just I like how the team looks with
Derek Jones junior out there instead of Chris down't fully
healthy obviously fully healthy type thing. But the way that
Tyler has had to coach and deal with rotations, he's
probably more comfortable making, like you said, decisions based on
who we're playing as an opponent because we haven't had
a very extended run of like, here's everyone's healthy, let's
switch people out when everyone's healthy and see how it's going,
you know what I mean. Like he's kind of been
having to do the throw something at the wall, hope
it sticks for unsurprisingly the majority of the season with
the leading scorer being out.
Speaker 2: I think he considers it just like an early adjustment,
like it's not it's so uh it's something uh so
innate to Clippers basketball at this point. Yes, that expect
the unexpected, get comfortable being uncomfortable. I don't think it
would throw guys off or you know, nice It's been
in flux anyways, so what does it matter now? And
I think coach luprize himself about being that great adjuster
out there and playing who he needs depend and it's
matchup dependent all the time. So I think if you're
playing Memphis, Chris donas starting because John Moran. If you're
playing Denver, you're probably going a little bit bigger. You
might go, but toom because you could switch him on
to Nikola Jokic at times.
Speaker 1: Have you the safety Yeah.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it's totally just depending on who
they're playing.
Speaker 1: Terrence Man is like I've told you all to be ready,
like stay ready, stay ready. Any other takeaways from the
back to back Were you encouraged after the backpack? Are
you still neutral? Kind of just we got a lot
We're obviously in the thick of a lot of games
right now for the Clippers.
Speaker 2: So there, I believe eleven and five now with the
rest disadvantage of this season, which is like the second
or third best record with the rest disadvantage. They've been
really good with rallying after bad losses. Yeahould say they've
been pretty good in that area. And this was another
one of them against Miami where they had to have it.
And it just seems like Harden's always able to dig
a little bit more into that gas tank that seems
to be like everlasting gobstopper or something of energy. He's
always got a little bit more.
Speaker 1: He's got flubber.
Speaker 2: It seems like with Harden when he knows he's going
to be the focal point more because Kawhi is going
to be out in one of these games, just like
the game against Detroit where he drops fifty on the
second I have a back to back where he's playing
over about forty minutes. It seems that that energizes him.
He knows he's the main guy, he's the show. It
all runs through him. And I'm not saying that as criticism, No,
I think it's just natural because that's what he's most
comfortable with. We talked about all the moving parts with
the Clippers all the time, but James Harden had a
good decade of his career where he was the guy
all the time. Everything went through him, like the all time,
you know, used his guy to really start off this
modern shift to having some of those guys out there
that just are your system, just like the Clippers have
with Harden. So I remember what he said at media
day something about he's excited because I'm on the ball
in my hands all the time. Like he said that
like kind of like kind of the ball in my hand,
And that's who he is as a player, that's what
he's most comfortable that's what he finds his rhythm, and
so I'm not surprised when they bounce back this way
with those type of lineups anymore because I think to
some degree it brings out the best in Harden. But
ultimately to peak as a team, you have to merge
the best of Harden with the best of Kawhi Leonard
And how do you make all that work? So there's
still a lot to work through right now and figure
out when you're probably only getting So there's three more
back to backs, so you're getting thirteen games at best
with Kawhi Leonard if he doesn't play in both of
the back to backs the rest of the season. How
can you mesh those two as well as you can
with the time remaining here? That's I think critical right now.
Speaker 1: I like what you said because kind of about showing
up to games after they've lost a bad game, They've
showed up for the most part every game as they
should have. Right last year there were games where a
lot of games where we were like, what the why
are we down twelve again to this lottery team? Why
are we down so early to this team that again
on paper, we should be better then the Kings game was
a difficult game with a playoff atmosphere that they managed
to win, and they never really rolled over. They almost
you know, they came back and the first the first
twenty point comeback against the Pals, they were leading for
a brief period of time and obviously it all fell apart.
But that mentality of showing up and still believing that
they're in every game for the most part, has just
been really on a better display this season. And I
think a lot of that goes back to James Harden,
like you said, like he's like, okay, my night, Like
time to get zoo twenty Like, let's see what we
can do with that. Like, so the resilience, maybe it's
not resilience because you're still losing the first game, but
that the bounce back ability is big and will help
this team in a playoff series.
Speaker 2: So yeah, and Kahi.
Speaker 1: Looks great offensively versus the Pals, So that's that's a
fun thing too.
Speaker 2: I would say, tell me if you agree with this,
but this has been the best year since the twenty
one to twenty two season where they didn't have Kawhi,
where they only had PG for thirty one games. When
it comes to the Clippers showing up and having effort.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 2: Not every single game, but it's never that for even
the team that goes on to win the championship that year.
You can look at some games from Boston last year.
I don't know, the Clippers blew them out in Boston.
There are games where you don't have it, But for
the most part, effort has not been an issue with
this Clippers team, and their defensive rating is indicative of that.
A lot of that is effort.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would one hundred percent agree with that. And
it's also like the lows aren't as low as they
used to be. Right, Like the lows where we're just like,
oh so no one has it or gives a shit
tonight is kind of where we're at. Those don't happen.
I think a big reason that doesn't happen is because
Chris Dunn is one of the ultimate lead by example
guys when it comes to defense. Yeah, I think that's huge.
I think hardened obviously we talked about his leadership in
the offseason, taking the young guys de Rico Hines and
making everyone feel together and part of a team, and
then also going out there on the second NDE of
a back to plaque playing thirty eight minutes with a
probably the same percentage usage rate for him like and
Zoo's consists like they have a good yeah, like coalescence
of guys who lead by example for the most part,
who have been available in Zoo and done specific and
Harden specifically.
Speaker 2: And maybe it's a bunch of those guys. With James,
it's I get to go back to playing my brand
of basketball on those nights where they're undermanned and they
just have to try to outwork you. With Zoo, it's
audition by subtraction, with Norman's edition by subtraction, guys that
are getting more substantial roles, that want to show what
they can do out there. There's just a level of
motivation that wasn't always there, maybe when they had the
most talented teams at times fully healthy, where they would
have those stinkers and those dud Knights where they just
didn't seem to show up, and coach Louse sometimes would
sub them out later get a bench unit, just because
he wanted to see some guys bring some energy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, those are some dark times. I don't think
there's been a single hockey line change this year. Has
Kawi done a five sub situation at any point this year?
Because that happened a couple of times last year.
Speaker 2: I don't remember. Yeah, maybe not.
Speaker 1: God's I'll tell you what. That's the mark of a
bad season. Look out trying like if you could find
out many times a coach subbed out five guys at once,
you're either having a really bad season or a really
good season. There's no in between there, I don't think.
Coming up we are going to be talking the Hawks game,
a reunion and then the little bit of the Hornets
game on Sunday. If you're listening to us on audio,
thank you so much. We really do appreciate it. If
you'd like to watch us on YouTube and see our faces,
you can find was at YouTube dot com. Slash at
Clippers podcast. Don't ask me where I got this hat.
I will not tell you. You cannot buy it, but
you can look at it at YouTube dot collepish at
Clippers podcast. We were talking the upcoming games against the
Hawks and Hornets coming up in three two.
Speaker 2: What welcome back in clips and dip I'm at a Muslim.
We got Chuck Mockler here. It's episode fifty three of
season two. No will updyke, but all this will be
together again very still here that sounded warbid.
Speaker 1: That was I was like, are we one of us
going to war?
Speaker 2: Clippers going to war against the Hawks to borrow baby?
Huge go LOGI versus the Hawks? Terrace man versus Clippers.
You know. One of the things I would say about
and it relates to the first game against the Hawks
this season. About last night's game though, for the Clippers
in that win against Miami, some of that we talk
about effort, we talk about bouncing back. Some of that
is just hot shooting. The same way we explain away
some losses for the Clippers because of hot shooting, you
have to explain away some wins. I think the same
way sometimes.
Speaker 1: To be fair, hey, i'pe agree on hundred percent.
Speaker 2: I mean they shot their highest fuel goal percentage of
the season just to tick under sixty percent? Were they
just to tick under Yeah? I think they were forty
eight percent from three good shooting night. Here's a lot
for you.
Speaker 1: It helped the turnovers. How may was that the second
quarter the third quarter where we I think the Clippers
missed four shots but they had six or seven turnovers
in the single quarter. I think it was the second
quarter against the Heat where it was like they should
have been up by like twenty six, but they turned
them all over seven times in one frame.
Speaker 2: Well, and I take it back to that first game
against the Hawks, and this was Kawhi's first game back,
and they shot fifty five percent from the field and
blew them out one thirty one to one. Five into
it Dome. You know, it just looked amazing and everybody's
freeing out and Kawhi is back and he looks great,
and he was moving really well in his nineteen minutes.
But sometimes just a great shooting game. You know, masks
a lot of problems like me, but you need them
and they happen against you. So odds where the Clippers
were due.
Speaker 1: The odds, happened in their favor recently to close the season.
The odds theoretically should be in their favor to have
more hot shooting nights than their opponent based on how
the rest of the season has gone. Someone who's not
going to be hot shooting because that's not what they're
here to do. Ben Simmons is upgraded to questionable for
this game, So that's good.
Speaker 2: I mean he wasn't even with the team, right, Las
said that he flew to Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so got to imagine he's playing. Yeah, I'm like,
if you have a knee injury and you're not with
the team and then they're flying you out to the game,
I would Hey, I would be pissed if I were
back Simmons and I wasn't playing. If you're gonna make
me come to the city and not play.
Speaker 2: It's not like Drew you Banks was so terrible yesterday
or anything. I thought he was actually sold in that game,
was like, oh god, we need you bet. Well.
Speaker 1: What's funny too, is they play the Hornets at home,
so they would be flying Ben Simmons to just hang
out with the team and then come back on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Yeah we can play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we can kind of assume he's playing. Since the
All Star Break, the Hawks are their fourth and pace.
The Clippers are twenty eighth. Not a huge surprise there.
They're fifth in points per game at one hundred and
twenty one, Clips are one hundred and eleven, top ten
to three point percentage, however, twenty fifth in defensive rating.
For the Hawks, they're at one hundred and eighteen point four.
Clippers are nineteenth at one hundred and sixteen point seven.
But Adam Haggle, No, Haggle, I think the Clippers defensive
rating is a lot less indicative of their regular usual
defense than the Hawks defensive rating is. The Clippers are
obviously a better defensive team, the nineteenth in the league.
How we feel about playing against the team that's putting
up a lot of points and getting a lot of possessions,
because that does can sometimes be this Clippers team's kryptonite.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. They've had games where they've been able
to hang with teams and outplay them and beat them
at their own game and play at a fast tempo
in a fast pace, like that first game against Atlanta,
like that game they beat Memphis twice. They're a fast paced.
Speaker 1: Team, Raptors are crazy fast. And then they've had.
Speaker 2: Other games where they've really struggled. Now, wonder how much
is that the Clippers just had their legs that night.
You know, they're an older team, and how much is
it really an achilles heel for them the majority of
the time, and those games were just outliers where they
were able to run a little bit. But I do
think to me, it's a game you want to try
to slow down, and you have a guy to do it,
and it beats the zubots. You can slow down the
game that way. Ricky g on X, always tough coach,
always talks about putting the brakes on fast teams and
what he would do and how they used to do
it back in the day. You know, you get it
to your center, you slow things down a little bit,
you play a more physical, slow plotting game, and it
wears on teams. The Clippers have the ability to do that,
and I do think Ben showing up though, tells me
that saw as he's playing, and maybe maybe he doesn't play.
He's just there for vibes, and it was that important
to get him there for that game, even though they're
coming back on Sunday. Anyway, it's just for the vibes.
He's that going to a locker of guy. I'm assuming
he's playing, and he is somebody that can get out
obviously in transition and that's where he's at his best.
So I think they want to be able to play
multiple ways, whether they're going through reasa's zoobots and slowing
it down or when they're going small with Ben at
the point center and being able to hang and run
with the Atlanta Hawks in that blow game. But yeah,
I do like the versatility of this team. I was
thinking about it earlier today just on paper after the
trade deadline, and now you see it with Bogie being
able to run, pick and roll so much. They do
have a lot of different ways they can play in
theory if they're fully healthy, like having Ben back, So
I'm interested.
Speaker 1: Yeah, We've seen a couple Bogie and Ben pick and
rolls that have worked out very well for the Clippers
because you know, someone leaves Derk Jones Jenior so we
can cut or someone's coming off a shooter. Like the
Bogie Ben pick and roll is a fun thing. Slowing
the paste down. This is a bit of a tangent.
Did you see what happened in that Illinois high school
basketball state tournament game where a team so there's no
shot clock in like two thirds of the US for
high school basketball, which is crazy. This team didn't do
anything with the ball for like seven minutes to open
the game. Like I was watching footage of it, dude,
like they're just standing there. They're not They're not doing
anything like to just slow. It was a nightmare. There
was a reporter there who was like, things are getting
tense because it was like four to six at halftime.
Because the team it was a team trying to They
pulled off the upset, but by like literally by not
doing anything during the game.
Speaker 2: Whatever it takes, right.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I would, dude, I could not play for
a team like that. I would I would try to
lay up once or something. Yeah. So since the All
Star Break, the Hawks starters have not been good. Since
the All Star break, They're plus one in ninety two
minutes all the lot. Yeah that's interesting. Yeah, so that
gives me some help, especially we're I'm assuming we're talking
kind of rotating starting lineup. Chris Dunn is going to
make life hell for Trey Young. Is my prediction of
what the game plan.
Speaker 2: Is future Clipper Trey Huh?
Speaker 1: Well, not if John morancom I think it's real.
Speaker 2: I've been talking about for a while. I think, yeah,
I think it's a real possibility.
Speaker 1: There's been enough rumblings for sure. Their best lineup since
the All Star Break has been Karisla, George's and Yang,
Trey Young, Okongwu and Daniels. They're plus fourteen and fifty
minutes against small sample size. But that's just how the
teams have been playing since the All Star break. But
I think Chris Dunn is maybe like the most important
guy here defensively for the Clippers. If he doesn't get
the early foul calls, if he does his usual thing,
Trey Young will be frustrated. And then after that, good
luck Atlanta.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've won five of six Atlanta and four in
a row, but two of them are against the Hornets
and seventy six ers. But they beat the Pacers in
back to back games. That's not easy. Also, a team
that plays that's team that kind of plays a pace
to the Clippers, and they're not. They're like eighth or something,
but the Clippers could not hang with them.
Speaker 1: In their pace.
Speaker 2: Clearly. Yes, that's the other side of it. They've had
some good games against those fast paced teams. They've had
some bad games and those were against the Pacers, even
though they were up by what twenty two in the
first one. Yeah, the Hawks have been playing. They're coming
in hot. I mean they're thirty two and thirty four,
but four game winning streak. They've won five of six
four or five and the game they lost was to Milwaukee.
It was a close game Atlanta, So that's interesting to me.
Their defense has been that bad and they've been winning
as of late. What is their offensive ratings the last
twelve games?
Speaker 1: Here?
Speaker 2: Where are they at here?
Speaker 1: I'm looking it up. Seven points per game? They're at fifth,
and they're at one hundred and twenty one points per game.
I didn't, I don't. I didn't include the rating for
some reason. I was busy at work.
Speaker 2: I got them seventh in offensive rating the last twelve games,
which I think is how many they place.
Speaker 1: As All Star break. That checks out.
Speaker 2: So they've been they've been really humming on that end.
Speaker 1: But again, not the other side of the ball very much.
Speaker 2: Not.
Speaker 1: This is a team that is similar to the Raptors,
where it's like, we're gonna run and try and score
as many points and do our best ish on defense.
What are you worried about from the Clippers side playing
a team that scores a bunch of points? Obviously there's
a cold shooting night for the Clippers and the Hawks,
and get out and run a little bit. At home, especially,
things become a little jammed up. But I don't know,
I'm not like incredibly confident about this game, but it's
a game that gives the Clippers the opportunity to kind
of work on some other stuff, or you do the
usual stuff is drill down more against a softer defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's interesting in that first game where they blew
out Atlanta, Yeah, no one scored more than twenty points.
Now that twenty was from normOn Powell, but they have
eight guys in double figures of that game. Now, ken
Ford Junior is no longer with the Clippers. He had
fifteen off the pitch there. Terrence Man is on the
Atlanta Hawks, and that was a really good game from
him where he went five to five and at twelve points.
But they kind of did it.
Speaker 1: Things change.
Speaker 2: Maybe they were really sharing the rock. They had thirty
six assists that might have been a season high in
that win over.
Speaker 1: Atlanta, So that's gotta be close.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were really good sharing the rock, passing the
basketball out there, and as you've talked about, with Atlanta's
defense not being very good, please watch the tape from
that game, Clippers and share the basketball and make life
easy on one another and share the sugars. To know
what Eagle will say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope they're watching the tape. I assume they
are all right. So then they got the Hawks and
then they have to play, get to play, have to
play the Hornets. Who I'm going to run down some
stats I was looking up about the Hornets since the
All Star break. They are three and ten. They are
dead last, and field goal percentage dead last, and true
shooting percentage dead last, and net rating dead last, and
offensive rating and second to dead last and assist a
turnover ratio. Now, the question is do these stats encourage
you or discourage you for this match up? We shot
them out of the gym last time. How are we
feeling about this Hornets matchup?
Speaker 2: Well, we get to see future Clipper LaMelo Ball.
Speaker 1: And almost future Clipper Miles Bridges.
Speaker 2: You boy, Yeah, that first game the Clippers eleven or
twenty eight from the outside almost shot fifty five percent
from the field. Charlotte's offense is pretty much broken. But
they didn't have LaMelo Ball in that first meeting against
the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Oh good call. On another This is another remedy that
Chris dunnsolves or not solves.
Speaker 2: But yeah, they'll need more of that. These are both
games where it feels more about the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Oh, I like the way you said that.
Speaker 2: If they can play to their potential, I don't care.
If these teams are at their a game, the Clippers
should beat them, you know, if they do that. But
there's so many variables right now with this team, another
one being Ben Simmons coming back. It's hard to know
what you're gonna get at night tonight, which goes back
to what you said about the back to back and
you know, one game they play like that, but it's
also been a lot of hot shooting going against them
and cold shooting from them until last night. They have
a breakout against Miami. But you have to win that
game against Charlotte. Oh yeah, you want to talk about
a new low point because.
Speaker 1: Dude, yeah, that the post game, if the Clippers layers
on Sunday, the post game is going to be colorful.
Speaker 2: The further you get into the season, the more every
game is magnified. So even a game against Charlotte, which
if it was back in December, Web, I'd say, who
cares that Charlotte, Nobody's gonna remember this. Everybody is going
to remember this because there will be what fifteen games
left before they tip off against them, huge importance to
the Clippers. Come out and play the right way on Sunday.
And that's simple, Like, what does that mean? Clippers basketball
is throwing up and playing great defense. This isn't that
hard to look for an identity this year with this
team and since the All Star Break, well, they are
fourth overall in the season. They were second just like
a week ago. What's going on there? Well, last twelve
games post All Star Break, they're nineteenth defensively, not good enough.
Speaker 1: Getting those legs back. They gotta get the legs back.
Turns like when you get an old car, you gotta
maybe give it a good little gas sometimes when you
started up. Yeah, that's where the Clippers are at. Okay,
player of the weekend, who are you going with? Will
is not here? Let's say, yeah, yeah, who do we
think Will would choose? I think he would maybe go
Bogey because then he's gone with Bogey recently. But if
you were gonna go with Boge, you can obviously take it.
Speaker 2: He took Bogey, then you took Bogey. Then I just
is it back to Will? No, maybe you.
Speaker 1: Should take Bogey again because he just had his best game.
Speaker 2: He was my player to watch. Also on top of
the clips and dips call yesterday, I was like, I'm
nailing this when I know it now. I also picked
Bogie when he went one for twelve three at Detroit.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what that shows mental fortitude on Bogie's part.
He won the.
Speaker 2: Mental game and mine by picking up.
Speaker 1: All right, who you going with for Hawks and Hornets?
Not Kawhi, Leonard, Norm Powell or Well or him.
Speaker 2: Because you brought him up so many times You've talked
me into it. I gotta go Chris Dunn because he's
gonna have to handle two ball dominant guys in Trey
and LaMelo. Lamello has been healthy as of late, right
I think.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna be honest. I don't get a lot
of I don't get a lot of Hornets news.
Speaker 2: He's got some real injury issues.
Speaker 1: Sounds like a feature clipper.
Speaker 2: He's fighting over that with Trey Young.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 2: Okay, they're healthy.
Speaker 1: There, we got a type. They certainly seem to heavy.
Speaker 2: Baby, Look.
Speaker 1: All right, so you're going Chris don Damn. My heart
wants to say Ben Simmons, but I just they're gonna
ease him back. I don't think.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1: I'm going Derek Jones Jr. I'm going We're playing two
teams that are pretty quick. They play a lot of
they play effectively fast, and not saying that we need
to try and keep up with them, but in the
moments that the Clippers can take advantage of transition opportunities,
which is really important against the younger, faster team. Derek
Jones Junior should be that guy. Yeah, I'm going Derek
Jones Jr.
Speaker 2: All Right, that's a good call.
Speaker 1: I feel pretty good about it.
Speaker 2: DJ has been really good as of late. He's been
good all season. What am I talking about?
Speaker 1: It's just well, no, I know what you mean. Recently,
it's it's popped.
Speaker 2: A little bit. Yeah, really some really impactful games, like
him playing late in the game against Sacramento. He was big,
he had the he added a big three.
Speaker 1: And he's been I want to double check before I
say this, he's been efficient. He's been the last since
he came back nixt game three for five, King seven
of nine, peals, four for seven, last the other night
against the Heat, three for three. Like he's an incredibly
efficient score right now off the bench, who can also
guard one through four.
Speaker 2: A lot of obs in there.
Speaker 1: Hey you got hey, you gotta finish him.
Speaker 2: We need him all heah yeah, nasty, asked Dug yesterday
back in Miami.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he got up.
Speaker 2: He was shying off a little bit.
Speaker 1: And so who it will's gonna go with Bogie? Then
I guess by default.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one of us always has to have Bogey. That's
the new rule.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Man, we have a lot of qualifiers on this
player of the player of the game. Pick All right,
That about wraps it up for this edition of Clips
and Dip. We're gonna do a post game hang tomorrow night.
Maybe we'll be on Clippers Talk. Who knows, maybe we'll
be doing a little Clips and Dip one full episode
on Monday. And if you'd like to find us, you
can find us anywhere you listen to podcasts. We love reviews.
If you give us a review on iTunes, we'll read
it on the air. That's always a good time, good
or bad, depending on whatever colorful language you use. And
if you'd like to watch us, you can find us
at YouTube dot com Sash at Clippers Podcast Adam. We've
been doing it for the most part tonight, but one
final positive thing to send these Clippers fans into their
weekend with Woo.
Speaker 2: So the Clippers just survived a game. We mentioned they're
hot shooting against Miami. Miami also shot it well. They
were at thirty eight percent for free They hit fourteen
three pointers in the game. But the Clipper is one
thing they haven't been doing as well as of late,
aside from knocking down threes themselves, the rebounding numbers have
been down, and that's a part of defense. And yesterday
they out rebound in Miami forty five to twenty nine.
Speaker 1: They were on the boards.
Speaker 2: Some of that is because you know, they didn't leave
a lot of defensive rebounds out there for Miami because
they shot the pull so well. But some of that
was effort. And my god, holding Bam on a bio
to two of seven with six points and seven boards
was insane, especially if you look at how good he
had just been playing, Like I was wondering is he
sick afterwards? Like what I know? I know Beata Zoobos
is good, but Bam, come on, man beat the challenge
a little bit, like they dominated him. Even U Banks
was he was good too? Well, that was even you,
I mean, no exactly a top five river protector like Zoo.
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, he's kissing the top five. He's got to
be closed.
Speaker 2: Bam is he's right there, He's right there. Obama was too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, more you give them more minutes. Yeah, well then
maybe we can talk.
Speaker 2: Bam just had twenty three and fourteen, okay, twenty two
and six, but twenty nine and thirteen, thirty four and twelve,
nineteen and fifteen, thirty and seventh, like he was kicking
everybody's ass and then he saw big Zoo was like,
I'm out, can't do it. So the rebounding battle, hopefully
that's something that also continues for the Clippers with them
crashing the boards because for a while, I don't know
if this is still true, but they were top two
in defensive rebounding percentage on the season. Yeah, and that
was really good to see from them. They're still third,
but it's it's really dropped off as of late, and
you've got to close out possessions and be better there
and we'll see if that turns around.
Speaker 1: Now, there we go, we got to crash the boards.
Thank you all for hanging out. We'll be back before
you know it. And as always, let's go clip