Speaker 1: What is going on? Clippers fans, fans of your fifth
seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Welcome to season three,
episode sixty two of Clips and Dip. I am Chuck
Mockler with Adam Osend and William Updyke. If you're new
to the show, welcome. We talk about the Clippers pretty
much exclusively. Some times we talk about the movie sixty
five and how that's good, and sometimes we talk about
other things. But welcome if you're listening to on audio
and you'd like to see our faces so you can
see who's saying these mean things about your team if
you're a Nuggets fan, or these nice things about your
team if you're a Clippers fan. Can find us at
YouTube dot com slash at Clippers Podcast. We're gonna talk
about what the heck happened to Golden State. We're gonna
give you a large preview of the Clippers versus Nuggets series.
But before we get into all of that, fella, how
are we feeling after a roller coaster of a weekend
but thankfully ended with the Clippers as the five seed. Adam,
We'll start with you, because you haven't really said anything
about the Clipper season lately. You've been kind of dormant
with your content.
Speaker 2: Underground, like a Ninja turnal. I thought that game yesterday
put a real exclamation point on what was a very
successful and one of the more memorable Clipper seasons for
all the right reasons. I think everybody's going to look
back on this season fondly, just like the twenty eighteen
twenty nineteen season. It's one of those years where and
just to have that memory of how the last game
was played with stakes, with it being that exceptional of
a game credit to Golden State two, that was just
that's an ald timer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I can't think of a more exciting
final regular season game. Will How are you doing as
we wake up officially the fifth seed?
Speaker 3: I'm doing great. And you know, I think that it's
tough to judge what success is in the NBA, and
I think a lot of people, media included, like there's
really only one sort of definition or into that. But
I think, you know, regardless of what happens, like this
regular season was an absolute success. We smashed every wind
projection Vegas. We somehow managed to fight our way into
the top five, even though seating doesn't matter. But it's
just I don't know, man, it's been a long time.
I'm glad that you brought up that eighteen nineteen season
because this has got to be like one of the
most top to bottom like likable rosters that I've I've
gotten to enjoy as a Clippers fan. Like the the
vibes are incredible, and you know, we had some peaks
and valleys. Of course in two and three. I thought
that year where Kawhi ended up going down with twenty
one or twenty one, twenty two, I don't know, years
kind of blend together, but like that one, the first
it was really cool the first year with Nick Patum,
that one was really locked in and I really liked
what was going on there. But this was just this
just felt really special, just felt just felt really different,
and this was kind of the perfect way. I just
I can't believe this team went out on the wind
streak that they did. And even as you know the
ups and downs that we've had following them, you know
what this team looked like coming out of the All
Star Break versus how they ended this regular season is
just just really incredible. So great stuff, just all around
great stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, hell yeah, I like this is Joseph Fry Awards
sent me the stat this morning, he said, for the broadcast.
So this was a directive from Josephry Award to get
this stat to the peoples. Funnily enough, it is not
about Russ, he said after blowing the Sun's game on
March fourth, which is Will what you were just talking
about coming out of the All Star break not looking good.
The Clips go eighteen and three first and offensive rating
fourth and defensive rating first. In net. This end to
the season is the best momentum. It's the best vibes, Adam,
you mentioned eighteen nineteen. We talked about this a little
bit on Clippers talk, but this is the eighteen nineteen
feeling with a in no disrespect to the guys who
are on the eighteen nineteen team, a lot better roster
than that eighteen nineteen team with two guys playing. I mean,
we talk about We're gonna talk about the series in
the next segment, but we talked about, you know, like
which team has the best player on the court. You know,
who's the best player between two teams, that's who's gonna win.
It feels like a toss up right now between yokichin Kawai.
We'll get into that later, but I'm loving the eighteen
nineteen vibe comp But the ceiling is higher than that team,
which makes everyone that much more excited for this this postseason.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can take this much further. That team got
all the praise in the world, rightfully so for taking
the best team ever to six games in the first
round series. Oh yeah, they.
Speaker 3: Overpeaking them both at home too, like on on Golden
State home court, which I think is the other wildest
thing about it. They could not manage to get a
win at Staples, but they won in like the craziest environment.
Speaker 2: The biggest comeback in the history of the playoffs, down
thirty one in Game two. That's the lasting memory above
all with that squad, Pat bev and Montrez Harald screaming
as they were walking off the court, Like that team
was awesome. This team we'll see ultimately how it ends,
but this regular season was was special.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Before we get into kind of favorite moments and
regular season awards real quick, I had this question, who
was your player of the game from the Warriors game?
Because there's a lot of ways you could look at it.
There was obviously three guys who did ninety the offense
and stuff like that, But there was some spirited back
and forth because a lot of guys did exactly what
they were supposed to do really well. It's hard to
not think James Harden for his overtime performance. But yeah,
I don't want to get the pink or accusations, but for.
Speaker 3: Me, it was James Harden, Like it's just clear, it's
just clear, you know how essential he is. And you know,
we've talked about this on here, but it's like forever
gonna be the sliding doors moment for me, where if
we have given up that same haul for James Harden
instead of Paul George, I think that things would have
looked a lot different.
Speaker 1: And don't torture yourself, man, we're.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, and and and I mean it's just you know,
he is uh he is the system of the full
croum that kind of makes everything work about it. That's
not nothing against Kawhi. That's you know, I'm not I'm
not knocking Kawhi as being like the best player on
the team, but he is huge to like how everything
sort of orbits and you know, looking at Zoo's season,
it's it's damn near impossible for a season like that
to happen without James Harden there as well. So you know,
if you have Zoo is a key contributor in a
playoff game, like how long ago, it's not even that
long ago, we were like, when is Zoo gonna even
be able to close games? Like and not that we
doubted his ability, but like that, that was where he
was in the rotation. That was how he was viewed by,
you know, both the coaching staff and his peers. And
I don't think that that happens without Harden. So I
guess we are talking about one game. But yeah, it's
hard for me to not think about the context of
all that because Zoo was one of the most important
players in that game. So I do think it's wrong.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was like a joy spiral as the opposite
of a doom spiral. That was cool to see. Uh yeah,
I'm taking hard too out him. You're taking hard.
Speaker 2: He scored twelve or thirteen points and overtime.
Speaker 1: Field goal in overtime. Who is the loser of the
game for the probably Bogey. Probably that's a hater. I'm
not a Bogie hater, but okay, well.
Speaker 3: I mean a mirror coffee was he was, Yeah, it's
probably Bogey or Simmons or coffee.
Speaker 1: Shout out Chris dun though, who hit all four of
his shots in a game where Draymond Green also hit threes,
which thank god we had our own version of that
counter there. But Kristn was phenomenal in that game and
gave me more confidence about what he's gonna do in
the playoffs outside of just shooting. Okay, favorite moment from
the regular season, Adam, you go first, It could be anything.
Could have been a hot Dog game.
Speaker 2: I mean, outside of them winning that game that just happened.
Speaker 1: It could be anything that's part of the regular season.
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously the easy answer is the game that
just happened. That's that's the best moment. But all right,
I'll try to dig d for for here. I don't
know the Cleveland game.
Speaker 1: To me, that's what I say.
Speaker 2: The Kawhi fadeaway spitting fade away on Evan Mobley might
have been my favorite moment of the season right there.
And Bogey going eight for eight in that game.
Speaker 1: I lost because I thought he was gonna go oh
for eight. I said, there's no way he makes all right, Well,
do you need more time to think of one before
you two years since Adam The Cavs one the Cabs
one was a good game, The Cavs one.
Speaker 3: I mean we went to one that one as fans,
so it was like extra, It was like extra kind
of special, but it was just you know, they they
had turned a corner and were clearly looking better. There
were still questions about Kawhi. There were still questions about
how real it was. I kind of was having some
flashbacks to like the twenty one what was it the
twenty one and six stretch where they looked really really
good last year for that for that period of time
and then kind of fell off and a little like
linked into linked into the playoffs obviously. So yeah, it's
got to be that.
Speaker 1: One for me. I think I'm going completely fair. My
family was here for that game and they were like, Wow,
the Clippers are an offensive juggernaut, and at the time
I was like, I don't know, but you just saw
the best game of the regular season to that point.
I think I'm going with Kawhi's return to the team
basically from being off, because there was a lot of
weird energy, not weird, we all had no idea what
it was going to look like. It was the long
run up. It was we'd heard him talking about you
might want to get out there, all that good stuff
he played, and how excited everyone was because I think
the first or second thing he did was get a
deflection or something, a good defensive play, and it felt
just like, oh shit, okay, like maybe we did do
this right. Maybe we played everything right like we were
supposed to. That was probably mine other than the first
KI back to back, No, that wasn't my favorite moment
of the season. It was good and cool, but I wasn't.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, I'll give an honorable mention the opening weekend
when in Denver, where normal I think dropped twenty two
in the fourth quarter and Mike Malone afterwards city kicked
our ass.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good one. There's a lot of good moments.
See the triple doubles. Absolutely insane that to happen at home.
Speaker 3: And I know the low point too, the worst thing,
the worst point in the season, the.
Speaker 1: First game, No.
Speaker 2: Any Phoenix game pick.
Speaker 3: It was a lot for me. It was still the
loss of the Trailblazers.
Speaker 2: Now like thirty six games though, that one really.
Speaker 1: You hate Portland. I think that's something we learned. They stay.
They just don't think Judy Green played that game.
Speaker 3: They had no business losing that game at home.
Speaker 1: That I mean, you're not wrong about that. We're gonna
do a whole episode in the off season of low points,
so we'll say, well, our low points for that regular
season awards, will who is your most valuable player for
the Clippers this season? James Arner, fair, Adam, these are
some of these are pretty honorable mention.
Speaker 3: No, Norm Powell because he really before especially before Kawhi
was back in the lineup, he really carried a lot
for this team like that. You know, we don't have
this success. We don't get we don't sniff fifty wins
if if you know, Kawhi is still out to start
the season and Norm isn't lighting, Yeah, isn't like, isn't
having a career, isn't having an absolute career year offensively?
So huge shout out, huge shoutouts to.
Speaker 1: Normal this These awards are starting to feel like the
Player of the Game awards. Adam, who is your MVP
of the season? And maybe honorable mention, let's throw it in.
Speaker 2: It's James Harden. But it's it's close between him and
Viza Zubas because of how good Zoo's been on the
defensive end. I give the edge to James because I
think it's harder to be competent on offense. That's easier
for things to just totally fall apart.
Speaker 3: There's not a lot of guys who have done what
James Harden has done in his career.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like his system holding things together. Even when people say, well,
what do you mean they're twenty second in offense. Well,
if you looked at on off numbers when James was
actually on the floor, they were basically like a middle
of the pack offense at worst when he was on
the floor. So he did his part. He was the
main reason. While it's close, norm as an argument to
O beats the Zubots, But those guys are both much
more dependent on James than James is of them and
his defense. At times this season there were multiple games
guys in the fourth corner of the second half of
that game last night, he locked up Jimmy Butler on
a possession like he has had some really good defensive moments.
I put it like this, if you're the third best
defense on the season, like they were. And James Harden's
such a bad defender.
Speaker 1: How does that? Yeah, Like, how are we able to
have such a kid?
Speaker 2: It's almost like it's easier to cover up for those things,
just like with Luka, Doncis and Kyrie going into the
playoffs last year, like the last month and a half,
Dallas had the best defense in the league. It's like
everybody's saying, well, their food on defense. Well, you can
still be a good enough defense even with guys that
individually aren't great offensively though. There's just more scheme, there's
more moving parts, and James was the glue to hold
together an offense to be just good enough to be
four games above five hundred before Kawhi played a game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the other part with Harden, to that.
Speaker 3: More complicated offense went out the window towards the end
of towards the end of last night's.
Speaker 1: Game, we didn't need it. The other thing with Harden too,
is Harden came in before the season started because Kawhi
was going to be out. Harden was default the MVP
just from the off court stuff. Well on court, but
like he was the young guys at Rico Hines, the
ASU workout like Harden came in and set not to
use a very la to He set an intention for
this season very early with his leadership and it and
it carried over and Zubot's honorable mention from my part
two just an incredible elite from him. But as to you,
guys both pointed out like a lot of that's because
of Harden and everyone else other than really Kawhi in
terms of the starters is dependents as dependent Harden or
a point guards as anyone's ever been. Most improved player,
Adam will go to you because this one, I think
has a couple interesting options. Also put your thoughts at
Clippers Potter at Clippers podcast on YouTube.
Speaker 2: I I get irked when I think about a Vista
Zubots being called most improved player because I think he
could have been doing this for years.
Speaker 3: I don't think he I'll think he could do this
without Harden or a Harden ass point guard if I'm
being honest.
Speaker 2: The scoring part, well, what he's able to do in
the post with both hands, the hook shots like a
Visa Zubos can get into his bag. I do think
he can iso and he has shown that off plenty
this year. This is not just a rim runner that
is running high, pick and roll and catching lobs. He
had the most hook shots in the forty years in
an NBA season. Uh, he is extremely skilled. He didn't
develop it all last summer. All of a sudden, he's
been like this. He has said as much. He said
he has more in his bag that he's had for
a long time. And he's not even showing off yet.
While I think, yes, he's dependent on getting the basketball
because he can't bring it up the floor.
Speaker 1: They don't let him bring it up the floor.
Speaker 2: I think to this point he well afterward Apple Mason
plumb let less to do this stuff. Uh, I think
a beasta zoobots. If he got the same amount of
touches last year or in past years, he could be
right where he is right now. I don't think this
is some late bloomer that all of a sudden figured
it out. I think this is a guy who had
a skill set and the only way to get better
in certain ways like passing out of double teams is
if you actually get the reps, if you actually have
the ball in your hands, to develop that. He's gotten
that and he has shown growth in that area. Exponentially,
not because I think like he had an offseason to
do so it's just you have to get in game
reps and he finally got it. But if he got
those in game rephs last year when he was twenty
six and twenty seven, I think he could have been
doing the exact same stuff. But I get it. A
lot of people are going to look at him as
most improved player, but he's been a top five rim
protector in the league since like twenty nineteen. Like I
remember looking at those numbers then defensive field goal percentage
within six feet of the rim, he was right there
with Throe Ygobert. I just I think it's more to
do with opportunity with him, I'm gonna go with I
don't know. I'll say norm because the first half of
the season, I think he did show a lot of more,
a lot more on ball juice than I think people
realized he had. Not that he was running pick and
roll or anything like that, but he could create a
little bit more for himself than I think people realized,
including myself, Like he could it wasn't just all catch
and shoot stuff. It wasn't just all quick D H
O stuff. He could create a little bit more than
people gave him credit for, and defensively he was better.
He hasn't been as good since Fast All Star brod
of the Year. He was better on that and defensively then,
and all the talking points were going into the season.
He's got to get back to playing like he was
in Toronto, and I think for the most part he did.
Since he came back from the multiple injuries post All
Star Break, he hasn't been very good defensively. He needs
to get back to where he was. But I'll go norm,
I guess.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well you're going norm to Yeah.
Speaker 3: To me, there's one answer and one answer only. Kawhi
Leonard came back from injury.
Speaker 1: Interesting, h tell me what?
Speaker 3: Tell me how he looked at the beginning of the season.
Tell me the end of this season.
Speaker 1: Do you say that that.
Speaker 3: Was the would you say that's the guy that we're
looking at right now? Look, I joke, but seriously, I
mean this was kind of unprecedented that, like, with how
long the situation had gone on. I mean, I think
it was fair to have some concerns, and I think
the way that they handled that. I give a lot
of kudos to his team and the medical staff, because
like the way that they brought him back seems to
have so far have been the best way they've done it.
And that's even taking into account last year where he
came out from injury played six to five games. Looked
incredible then, but just the way that he just if
you hear the conversation about Kawhi right now, I mean
it was, you know, six months ago, people were like,
maybe this guy should retire in not this fear, but
the larger, the larger national media. And now you know,
after after a big game like this, he's getting comped
again to the player that he wasn't twenty nineteen, the
player that he was with the Spurs. Like it's it's
unreal the level that he's still at. And even me
a huge Kawi optimist, you know that, No, at the
beginning of this season, I was not ready to say
that this is still a top five, top three guy
in like in this league. I was not ready to
say that. And now I can pretty comfortably say that you.
Speaker 1: Have eaten those words you did not say exactly well,
I had eaten the previous and I kind of threw
it out. I like the Kawhi Leonard pick my heart,
says Zoo, because it's I love seeing it. I love
seeing how the respect he's getting.
Speaker 3: Answer, you're gonna play Adam's monologue when doesn't win, When
Zoo doesn't win any major NBA award, they'll be like, well,
listen to this guy. He covers the team for five
hours a day, and he's saying he's not most improved.
Why would we do?
Speaker 2: I think it's I think it's disrespectful. I think it's
disrespectful to think this guy all of a sudden turned
into a completely different player this year. He has been
good for a long time. We've seen all the flashes,
the thirty thirty on his side, I've just dud and like.
Speaker 3: I see centers knockdown threes and in empty chords. That
doesn't mean, like, would they not be improved as shooters
if they have more touches in game, like, it's still
an improvement.
Speaker 2: I get. It's the most obvious answer. I just think
it was always there.
Speaker 1: I got what I got. Two options that are not
obvious that I was too afraid to really say Bogie
because the beginning of his season was not good and
he had his worship like it was really not I
like that a lot. I like that one a lot. Also,
thank you Terrence Man by the way, wonderful, wonderful to
have him on the team. Shame that, you know he's
longer with the team, but it did work out. I
think for both sides. Really, I wasna say Bogie or
Chris Dunn, because Chris Dunn was on a really bad
team last year and was contributing for the most part.
But now he helped be a pretty big part of
one of the best defenses in the league and is
taking twice as many threes as he's ever taken per
game three. It's not that many, but he's he hit
him at like a thirty four percent clip or something
like that. Yes, it was skewed by the last ten
games a little bit, but I appreciate the improvement that
he's had this year, also with being a safety valve
for James Harden, because when he was first kind of
trying to be that other ball handler, we were all
a little worried as to why Ben Simmons was now
the second best ballhandler on the team already. I think
Chris Dun's got better with some of those responsibilities. I've
appreciated his improvement on this team.
Speaker 3: I like the bogie pick a lot. I think that's
a great one.
Speaker 1: It made it easy because he had such a shit.
Speaker 3: Christan and is a situation where like that's isn't that
kind of the same skill set that he's had though, Yeah,
he's got I mean, and he will get a chance
to do it in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Because it's like the Amir thing too, right, We've seen
a mirror be good in flashes, but then, like when
Amir gets extended time, it starts to taper off a
little bit, that kind of thing. All right, we got
two more defensive player of the Year for the Clippers.
Is it offensive to give it to Avitza zoubats Adam
your thoughts?
Speaker 2: No, that's that's accurate. Like, if he's up for defensive
player of the year in the entire league, he should
probably win Defensive player of the Year on the Clippers alone.
Speaker 1: Hey, you would think some people might say, Chris, don't.
Some people are mad we traded kpj.
Speaker 2: Oh God, I heard that.
Speaker 1: I got into an argument with I had to stop.
I was like, why are you worried about this?
Speaker 2: I was listening to that earlier today at the gym. Yeah,
the episode he did last night.
Speaker 1: It's like, why are you still wish we had KPJ? Though? Man, why.
Speaker 2: Their nuts? I've seen some of that around too.
Speaker 1: Damn hell of a season. We won fifty games, but
oo do I wish KPJ was still go outside? All right?
So Zoo? Will you picking Zoo too? Yeah, it's hard
to not pick.
Speaker 3: Chris Down is great, is a great honorable mention. But
Zoo is Banker like it's.
Speaker 1: He's the guy. He's the guy six Man of the
Year for the Clippers. I guess both a bit of
a weird one. You can choose. Yeah, Bugy's good.
Speaker 2: It's KPg. They shouldn't have got rid of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't really answer this one.
Speaker 2: Bogie has been shooting fucking fifty percent for three Yeah,
the last twenty four games been phenomenal.
Speaker 1: It's probably Bogey. I don't know who else it would be.
Speaker 2: It's bogged in them.
Speaker 1: In terms of importance. I think Batom is close to
that because this roster without Batoomb in a playoff, since.
Speaker 2: He's also been here.
Speaker 3: We got some looks at that last night.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could see Batoom he's.
Speaker 1: Been here longer. Yeah, but I mean Bogie's been huge.
Speaker 2: For this The Batoo's been shooting fucking fifty five percent
for three to two.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, the other thing about this year, I think.
Speaker 1: Uh, I think one guy shooting one hundred percent, but
it's only because he made one. Uh what the hell
was I just gonna say, I still made it. The
other thing with Bogie two that's incredibly valuable that Tyler
talked about and being surprised by was his ability to
do stuff other than score. He can run the pick
and roll, you can kind of put the ball on
the floor. He can do that stuff, which again kind
of helps that release valve situation for James Harden. So yeah,
I think it's it's probably Bogy.
Speaker 2: But but Toomb's an infinitely better defender.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're an infinitely better defender too. But he
wasn't brought here.
Speaker 2: To this whole like, why can't Bogey guard Jimmy Butler?
Why can't Bogy guard Lebron? Like this whole conversation of
he's getting picked on, He's like, yeah, he can't guard
those guys.
Speaker 1: I thought he was the Lebron stopper. I thought we
traded for the one guy who was gonna stop Lebron
and Gy.
Speaker 2: Honest, I just don't. I don't understand, like the conversation,
the over analysis with Bogey has been going on for
far too long, and I don't like it.
Speaker 1: I don't know what.
Speaker 2: Well, Yes, I brought this up originally with Chuck when
he was going after his three point shooting and I
was like.
Speaker 1: I just said it was down for the time being,
which it was.
Speaker 2: You were going hard at Bogey?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: I was we pick him for like a back to back.
You're like, are you sure you want to pick Bogy
to be good two games for a row games?
Speaker 1: It's a lot of games.
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, four games he's friendly receipt fire happened.
Speaker 1: Now he's good at shooting, he's still bad at defense.
That's how it goes.
Speaker 2: He's bad against guys like Jimmy Butler and Lebron, Like,
who is he good against? How many games? Wait, how
many games we've been like, oh man, Bogey got cooked tonight.
They were picking on him. It's been like two games
the Lakers game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's not exactly. Yeah, I'm not saying he's
not like a stalwart. He's not why we have the
fourth best he's.
Speaker 2: Not, but the whole like, oh, this is a real
glaring issue. It's like, I got news for you. Yeah,
if teams have their best player like Jimmy Butler, Lebron
on Bogey, it's gonna be a problem.
Speaker 1: Well, it's like theris. It's like the christun shooting thing, right,
Like no player is perfect. So people are gonna say, like, oh,
I hope Chris Dunk can hit his shots, and you're like, yeah,
I do too, I hope Bogie can play some.
Speaker 2: But it's not. Yeah, I think you're asking again how
many games we come out of him? And like, Bogie
got coked on defense? Where are all those examples? The
examples are two guys that, of course he's gonna get
coached by. So I don't know, I'm not overly worried,
but I don't like the soft switching.
Speaker 1: Sure it's not Yeah, it's not helping a defender like Bogie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, what is the point? Uh yeah?
Speaker 1: All right? Anything else about this regular season coach of
the Year for the Clippers, I'm just kidding. Anything else.
Speaker 3: Van Gunny deserves a pretty honorable well, it's.
Speaker 1: Not undefeated coach Brian Shots, coach of the year.
Speaker 3: Uh, I mean honorable mention as well, Like it's obviously
you can't. I mean, obviously we should get some new.
Speaker 1: On Monday in the day after clinching the five seed.
You know what, what if what if we took a
page out of the Nuggets book. We're about to play them,
They're undefeated and it's coaching fire.
Speaker 3: It's yeah, it's obviously tied, But I mean, doesn't it
seem like the coaching staff was especially strong this year.
Not that it's been like bullshit other years, but it was.
It came together this year. Honestly.
Speaker 2: One of the best reasons though, or one of the
best things about our best parts about the Clippers going
on this winning streak is the b Shaw stuff died down. Yeah,
that was getting pretty.
Speaker 1: That was the craziest That and the KPJ stuff were
the two craziest things that A not insignificant amount of
Clippers Twitter people were entertaining.
Speaker 2: And like h Gouig makes them worse.
Speaker 1: Yes, also that, yeah, Kawhi makes them worse. Crowd All right,
that about wraps it up for our regular season thoughts.
Let us know your picks. If you invented some awards,
let us know at Clippers pot or at Clippers Podcast
on YouTube. Coming up, we're doing a Clippers Verse Nuggets
series preview Game one twelve thirty pm this Saturday. If
you're listening to us on audio, there's gonna be some
audio breaks, So there's some ads coming up in three
to what.
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back into clips and did it's over?
We've come to the end of the regular season. We
just gave you the highlights and a couple of low
lights from that season. But now looking ahead to this
first round matchup against the Nuggets, I think, you know,
this is probably one of the more favorable of the
matchups for what we could have got for what we
were looking at in the standings. That doesn't, by any
means make it an easy series. But Adam, what are you?
What are you looking forward to? Here? As they in
this game one?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 3: What? What is going to be setting the tone for
the rest of this.
Speaker 2: Year in Denver is definitely the Larry David Gift where
he's like, you know, yeah it is. They are flawed.
They also have the best player in the league. Their
flawed roster, yeah, also happens to have a guy who
has won three regular season MVPs. It really could before,
but I think SGA is gonna win just because team
record is so much better. Hey, he's won of the
finals MVP in less than two years. He's arguably he
said he's playing the best basketball.
Speaker 1: Of his career.
Speaker 2: He said that, Well, games be where he puts up
a sixty point triple double. But yeah, that game kind
of exemplifies what he's been dealing with and what can
happen with the Denver Nuggets. They haven't been beating very
good teams as of late. They won that game against
Houston yesterday when we.
Speaker 1: Thought what the hell was that?
Speaker 2: I thought he Houston was going to be for real.
I thought they were gonna play hard in that game. Yeah,
they said they were playing their guys and it really
wasn't that close. I I need to know how good
Jamal Murray is with his hamstring, because he was playing
much better.
Speaker 1: That is what I had to haggle. No haggle on here.
The Clippers are healthier than the Nuggets coming into this series.
The Batom question mark is what gets me.
Speaker 2: Need that Batoom update law.
Speaker 1: Because that's that's huge for the Clips.
Speaker 2: But I think I would still go no haggle because
Aaron Gordon has been banged up this year. Jamal has
been banged up this year. Those are two of their
top four guys that have really been hurt and Jamal.
There was a lot of talk at the beginning of
the season, like is he lost two steps? Is he
no longer the same guy at all?
Speaker 1: Two steps for a nightmare?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Uh, he looked pretty slow, but then he started
to cook over the last few months. But now he's
got a handy issue. I don't know, if he doesn't
have a ton of bursts, a ton of pop Chris Dunn,
that'll make life easier for him guarding him. I just
this is a team that we talked about it a
little bit last night, But is their offense good enough
to make up for, you know, a pretty poor defensive
team that we saw this year, like because the Clippers
offense with Kawhi is very good.
Speaker 1: So that's what's crazy too, is they haven't seen Kawhi
all year two and two against the Nuggets in the
regular season, they never saw Kawai. He could have played
one of them, it was a back to back or
something when he was back, but he just he didn't
play that one it.
Speaker 2: Was the fires in southern California that he had played.
Speaker 1: He went back home right, Good for him, But yeah,
they haven't they haven't seen Yeah.
Speaker 3: Also, I think like from a health perspect to the
locker room over there in Denver, maybe it's stabilized, but
it seems like it was in a lot of disorder
all season long. I mean that certainly led to Malone's firing,
and like teams just on, the team was just unable
to get on the same page really on either end
of the floor, despite you know, despite the coaching staff
trying to get stuff together. So I do think that's
like a factor in health too. I mean Clippers are
coming in with a lot of momentum right now. They're
definitely rolling. Things seem good, and yes, you absolutely have
to worry about the batum thing. I mean that completely
tanks this team's death. They're in a really good spot
right now. I mean Denver is was like kind of
on a little bit of a landslide before getting a
couple of wins. I mean I think they've lost what
like five straight, so yeah, kind of different teams. So
I would know haggle that I would say the Clippers
are the are.
Speaker 1: The healthier team with one giant question mark that we'll
hopefully get some more news on in the next couple
of days. Yeah, the Clipper or the Nuggets. Excuse me,
there's some small sample sized theater here for those of
you interested in such things three and oh since the
coaching change, and in those three games top five and
points per game sixth the net rating. So if you
love a small theater, this is the place for you.
Which again I have no idea what to make of that, right, Like.
Speaker 3: This is like that third theater that's just like it's
just like a TV with like.
Speaker 1: The and I they're lucky that screen is still there
after I saw that movie. Let's just say that. But
how about like, because the small sample size is weird, right, like, Adam,
what do we make of this new not new look
because it's the same guys, but they're they're rotate minutes
like it That is a bit of a scary question
mark to looming. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not going to change schemes. A lot of
it is.
Speaker 1: Just go go away forget.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if you look at on off numbers with Jokic
on the court, off the court and their offensive rating,
they literally go with him off the court from a
one toh four offensive rating to like a one twenty two.
Speaker 2: When Jokic is on the floor, they go from worse
offensive rating than the thirtieth team in the league to
be the best offensive team when he's on the court.
So so much of it is just dependent on his
Jokic playing and how many minutes and he saves them.
And you know, I think that's part of the reason
Mike Malone got fired. What are you doing to help
the non Jokic minutes? Is this really just Jokic running
this team? Uh at for better and for worse or
for fair or nod that. I think that's part of
the reasoning behind what happens. David Adam is gonna still
carry on with a lot of the same stuff that
we're doing, but rotations and lineups could be different. Who
he plays and for how many minutes? Now, because all
the talk was Russell Westbrook playing too much was a
big point of contention in the locker room. According to
that article from The Athletic. I think it was Sam
A mccaby.
Speaker 1: Rush.
Speaker 2: So does David Adaman find his guys that he likes
that he relies upon Jalen Pickett supposedly will play more now.
I don't know. Peyton Watson does he play more now?
But Russ actually had a really good game yesterday and
there went over Houston, So there are more unknowns. I
would say if I had to guess if the firing
will help Denver or not, I think it will slightly
just to light a fire underneath guys, and that logic
of the reason to do it that late in the season,
to try to squeeze whatever juice they have left out
of this team in this era by just saying, look,
have a sense of urgency out there because you didn't.
You didn't have that, we're playing with maximum effort and
now they might, and that that could do a lot
because the guys, the guys know now it falls on them,
like you got rid of the head coach, you got
rid of the GM. If you fail, it is going
to look like this is on the players completely.
Speaker 1: That's a good call. I like that perspective of it.
Speaker 3: And we talk about like gamesmanship or like hiding stuff
or showing stuff off of the playoffs, Is there anything
more dangerous than like a team that you really know
almost nothing about, like they you know, they've seen, they've
seen the lineups and stuff in practice, but like we've
seen so little of this on the court. You know,
is that is that an advantage in a way that
you know, maybe it wouldn't have been if if you
know it's BLOWNA is still.
Speaker 1: Ye and Yokic is gonna play. I mean, he pretty
much averages forty minutes a game in the playoffs, so
he's going to play forty which alleviates a lot of
that Jokic on off numbers time. Adam, you were tweeting
this stat out. I've seen it in a bunch. Zubots
versus Jokic is going to be fun. I don't know
fun is the right word to watch for the neutral fan.
It will be fun to watch. It will be incredibly
stressful for for everybody else involved with this game. Zubots
is the most common primary defender on Jokic over the
last five years, including playoffs, sixty nine plays forty seven
points point six y eight points per possession, so he's
covered him the most in isolation, and he's had the
best points per possession on Jokic now he.
Speaker 2: Is into this season. That does not include the four
games this year.
Speaker 1: He is still Nikola Jokic, He's gonna have at least
one triple double in this playoff series. He probably will,
But Zoo has also had his best defensive year. He's
had good defensive years before a this is the best
defensive basketball of eats. Zubots been playing thankfully heading into
an opponent who he's guarded quite a bit.
Speaker 2: I honestly, I kind of agree with Luca's hand about this.
I don't know if Zubots is that different defensively. I
think there's better guys around him with Chris Dunn being
there and DJ. I think his rim protection has been
just about like it has been this year for a while.
Speaker 1: All right, Not trying to disrespect too, but it feels
good going into this matchup. Is the other is the
main point of this.
Speaker 2: I I just don't know. It's like Zoo is peaking
on defense now and this is the right time to
have him against Jokic. I think it's gonna be pretty
much the same how it has looked against Jokic with Zoo. Uh.
I don't think those numbers are going to hold because
Jokic is that good. The isolation points for possession stuff,
I think it's really going to be a game plan decision.
Are they just gonna play him straight up with the
beatsa zubots and not double at all and say you
got him one on one and we're good. And because
that's the old not let him be able to do both,
not let him be able to cook you offensively and
also get everybody else involved and having those meaty triple doubles.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we can't, sag off. It's the same battle we
had with Luca right every single player this series. Let
him get the triple double, let him score sixty five.
What's it going to be.
Speaker 2: But at least with Jokic in theory, you may have
the best guy in the league to guard him one
on one. You could say it's Gobert. He's been there
at times, but he also got cooked in that one
game last year in that series. But they did end
up winning the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: That felt like the end of like that was brutal.
Speaker 3: That was.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Traditionally though, the Timberwolves have gotten the best of Denver
because they've been able to slow down Jokic and Gobert
is a part of that. But one on one ISO defender,
you might have the best guy for that unlike with Luca,
It's like, I don't know who the best guy is
for that because he's getting so many screens, Like it's hard.
Speaker 1: Kawhi Yah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they set so many screens for him, and you
match up Hunts so well. If it's in the post
against Jokis in a one on one situation, I'll take
my chances with the Visa Zubots. He's still gonna lose
a ton of those battles. But you know, I think
the best the best way to slow down Jokic is
to make him work on the other end, obviously, and.
Speaker 1: The other part of the side of that too, Like
Will you and I were kind of talking about this.
We have a point of attack guy and done. We
have Kawhi at the four, and then you have Zoo
at the five. So you have three guys right there
at every part of the court who are pretty elite
at defending. And so if we are just doing one
on one with Zoomer Shokus, we still have those two
guys out there making life hell for whatever actions they're
trying to do.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, absolutely, And I think that versatility is you
know what has helped hide some of the you know,
the defensive inadequacies of having multiple guards out there being
a little bit smaller positionally, with the exception of Beata
Zoo huts. So I you know, maybe that's something that
changes in the playoffs. I just don't know that Denver
has the personnel to really like to really hurt that
or alter that or mismatch Hunt to a degree where
it would be, you know, like significantly worse overall than
it was during the regular season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then the other side of the ball with Zoo,
is Zoo's going to get doubled. I was trying to
find stats on how often the Nuggets send double teams.
No one keeps those stats.
Speaker 3: Which seems like a great thing for the Clippers exactly.
Speaker 1: So, like, I guess this particular defense.
Speaker 3: Like if you have to throw a double at Zoo,
I'm sorry, I just think this is going to be
a really long series for Denver.
Speaker 1: Yeah, at his passing has been phenomenal. I'm on board
with I'm not on board with them doublings, but if
they're going to it's like, hey, okay, against this particular defense,
I feel I don't a playoff confident. I guess that's
how I feel about it.
Speaker 2: It's like if if they dared to double with Aaron Gordon,
who should be on Kawhi Leonard a ton z Who's
gonna find him? Yeah, I would think there's still gonna
be times where Jokis is gonna take up that challenge
of playing him one on one.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they have.
Speaker 2: They have had battles like years, Like three years ago
is when I think if each Zubots had his thirty
four point highest scoring game in a loss. Jokic had forty,
but it was a really tight contest and Zoom was
showing off crazy crap in that game, like of how
good he could be, and it was like, Wow, I
didn't know he had it in him.
Speaker 1: This was three years ago. That was a crazy game.
Speaker 2: He's always got en up for Jokic. He also like
he's been featured at times because I think even back
then they were like make him work. We have to
make Jokic work on the defensive end, and Zubos was
doing so then, so I think it has to be
the same strategy. The best way to slow down Jokic
in his offense is to make him work on defense,
and they should try to isolate Zubos against him as
much as they can in the post.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and run the pick and roll. Make him move
around in defense too, like, make them make decisions. That's
even that's more fatigue stuff you gotta worry about. Because
who's also kind of to the next point, Like it's
Brawn guarding Harden. Christian Brown like think so longer guy
for sure like has the the reach to do it.
But I feel a lot better about Harden and Zoo
in a pick and roll than I do about Christian
Brown and Nikola Jokic defending that pick and roll. Yeah,
long term over the series, that's.
Speaker 2: A good point, Like people speculated the reason Harden has
a pretty good win percentage head to head against Jokic,
and it's a team game and stuff, but he does
put him in a lot of actions he does. He
does run that pick and roll to perfection. Is there
something to that where there's a cumulative effect as the
game goes along? Yokic is just you can tire him out.
Speaker 3: I mean I think that's true of anybody though, like
especially with even someone without the other way too, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Jokic in particular is not known for his defense. Yes,
him having to work on the defensive end is like
he can he could be on skates at times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good call. And then Done versus Murray.
I'm excited for this matchup. A lot hinges on this matchup.
The refs, unfortunately, play kind of a large part in
how this is going to go. For Chris Done. Sometimes
it gets a little handsy and the fowls are like,
can't be doing that this early in the game. But
I like, we don't know how. I mean, Murray looked
good the other night. Chris Duhn is, you know, ascended
to a level of perimeter defense that, due to minutes restrictions,
will keep him off the NBA teams. But like, this
is gonna be a really pivotal part of the game,
and I think I like, call me a homer. I
like Chris Dune's chances at making things difficult.
Speaker 2: I do like the guys they have to throw at
Jamal Murray. Between him and DJ, I think they match
up pretty decently against this team as well as you
can for going up against a team with the best
player in the NBA, you may have the best guy
to guard him and Jamal Murray. I it feels like
Chris Doun's the perfect guy for him.
Speaker 1: And on the other side of the ball. Last ten games,
Chris Duns shooting fIF three, so they're gonna leave him open.
That is going to happen. Can he hit thirty five
percent of his threes or whatever he's saying. He made
good decisions out of the short role. Yesterday he had
a couple feeds to Zoo that was nice, like a lot. Also,
aside from the we need James Hard and Kawhi Leonard,
it beats you wants to score and play like they
have been. Dunn's decision making, which has been good for
the most part all season, is going to have to
continue to be good.
Speaker 2: Chris Dunn and his three point shooting is something that
is so pivotal. It makes me feel like if he's
hitting threes at a decent enough rate, this Clippers team
goes super nova, like they are so difficult to beat
dead because they've been getting by plenty of times this
season with him not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a lot of that.
Speaker 2: Funnily enough, were they they could still find a way
to win if he's hitting the way he has been.
And it's been like this for like a month and
a half where he's been better from the outside and
that was a playoff game yesterday Intensive Purposes. That was Yeah,
those they've been in the pressure cooker for a while
and he has performed really well so and I remember
when he was going through the deep funk with his shooting,
he said, well, I'm glad to get it out of
my system now and maybe he can kind of be
like it's a new season type.
Speaker 1: Of thing, you know, where Will How are you feeling
because there's a narrative springing up too that you know,
Aaron Gordon has the size to stay with Kawhi and
he's you know, he's he's obviously who they're going to
put on Kawhi. I cannot see anybody else on Kawhi. Leonard,
how do you feel about Kuhi? Rescord?
Speaker 3: That's a tough batch up. That's an incredibly physical I mean,
if people are are of the opinion that you know,
Kawuhi isn't the true power forward and should be at
the three, I think that's like, that's probably your your
rallying call is is a matchup like that? But I
feel confident about it. I think that Kauai, especially the
way that he's moving right now, is going to be
a lot better it's going to be a lot better
prepared to sort of take advantage of that situation when
he can create space in terms of like posting up
and kind of getting to his you know, normal sort
of mid range game. I think I don't know some
of that stuff. I think he has the physicality, and
I actually think being like slightly smaller it can be
an advantage for him. Just the way that he puts
his body into guys. You know, it gets you off balance,
it kind of gets you, it gets you moving. And
a lot of those shots for Kawhi, you know, I mean,
unfortunately didn't end up pinning the game winner last night,
but they're so automatic that like I wonder, does it
even matter whose hand or how tall the hand is
in your face at a sort of like at a
certain point, like that stuff is just it's like so
drilled into you. It's such a part of your identity.
I mean, the bigger thing isn't Yeah, it isn't the
shots me. It's like creating the space. And in my head,
I think that I think that he's going to be
able to create that space in a one on one scenario,
not that it'll be easy, and like he you know,
like I said, I do expect it to be a
really physical matchup for him, uh on the on the
offensive side of the floor. But I I like it.
I mean, I you know, I like it.
Speaker 1: He's I like what you said about you're you're more
worried about creating the space than if the SHOT's going
to go in. I think that's a great point. And
that you also said like one on one because they'll
send doubles at Kawhi. We've seen that a little more.
Sees it as the winning streak. Kept going, Yeah, Adam,
how do you feel about the Gordon Leonard uh?
Speaker 2: I long said, I think he's the best defender in
the league.
Speaker 1: And why I actually Wiggins was a good Kawhi guy.
Speaker 2: Grant, Yeah, Wigan is good Jeremy Grant. But over the
last few year I pull a receipt on myself from
twenty twenty three earlier saying like this would be such
a scary matchup because he's so good on Kawhi, Aaron Gordon,
and he is. But I also always say, like what
Will was saying, Kawhi looks through defenders like it's just
about with Kawhi, it's getting to his spot. Can you
stop him from getting to his spot, because once he
gets there, he's automatic. Once he gets to his sweet
spots on the floor, you get a hand in his face.
It doesn't really affect him much. But Aaron Gordon is
one of those guys that's quick enough while being that
big to stop Kawhi from bullying him, that he can
stop him at times from getting to his spot. I
know a lot of people have said this season, Aaron
Gordon's defense hasn't been that good. I've seen that a
lot of that. I didn't feel like that in the
games against Denver when he played, but he also I
remember he came back from a calf injury and his
first game back it into a dome. I remember against
the Clippers. We were like Clippers luck Eric Gordon gets
healthy against us, and he didn't look great in that game,
but he was coming off an injury. I still feel
like he's going to be very good on that end.
But Kawhi is good enough to handle anybody when he's
in his own it doesn't really affect him. But in
a series on the margins, like if the difference is
you know, Kawhi is no longer shooting fifty one percent
from the field and now he's at forty seven percent,
which is still really good, but that's a four percent
difference that could swing a series like that. Could We'll see.
I think I'm interested to see how much the Clippers
are matchup hunting out there, and because there are a
lot of options, Like I don't think Christian Brown is
a good option for a guy like Kawhi because he
can't bully him. Obviously, Jamal Murray's going to be out
there too. He doesn't want to guard Kawhi, So could
he can he get.
Speaker 3: These switches, you know, or Junior? So that's I mean,
that's another thing that as to comment. I mean, we've
just listed three guys that are like, okay, yeah, none
of these guys want anything to do with Kauhi, like.
Speaker 2: Like Defens, and those are guys that are playing thirty
plus minutes happen.
Speaker 1: And Gordon will also try and wear him out on
the offensive end, you know what I mean, Like Gordon
will try and put his body into him when he
gets the ball, stuff like that. When Gordon is on
the offensive end, that's obviously not going to happen very
much because that's not who they necessarily want to have
the ball in their hands on offense, but that'll be
something to check out too. And Jokic leads the league
in screen assists, so there's gonna be a lot of
bumping around for the Clippers.
Speaker 2: He finds Gordon as a rim runner in the dunkers
spot with eyes on the back of his head that
connections god tier uh. Gordon has shot forty four from
three though this season. Is that going to translate? He's
had a career year from three. He's only played about
fifty games because he's been hurt, but he has been
lights out from three. That's what I worry about most
because if Kawhi is guarding him on the other end,
which you would think, they'd put Kawhi on him a lot,
unless late in games. They could have a bunch of
Maul Murray at times. But if Kawhi could actually sag
off of him and give him some space, that'd be
huge for the Clippers. But I don't know if you
can do that right now with Aaron Gordon. He's been
too go automatic from three?
Speaker 1: Is that what they have we done that in the
past with ag.
Speaker 2: I think they have played off of they have given
him some of those shots yeah, everyone, he's turned in.
I mean, he's a different guy than he was in Orlando, obviously,
but this is his year from three. Out of all
the decently shooting years, he's had good years, but this
is forty four percent from three, Like shit.
Speaker 1: I mean, after are we speaking of three points? Are
we worried the Clippers are gonna cool off? They're shooting
forty two as a team over the last ten games
while taking the second fewest in the league during that
stretch per game over the last ten games.
Speaker 2: I mean, you can go even further, Like I've been
watching this for a while, twenty one games. Since they're
eight and three, they're at forty three percent from three games.
That's best in the league. What I worry about most
is during that time, teams were only shooting thirty four
percent against them from three. Both those things happening at
the same time is worrisome to me.
Speaker 1: And Chris Dunn has helped that too a little bit
with his just incredible.
Speaker 2: Chris Dunn has helped Nico has helped, Bogie, has helped
Kawhi has been shooting like forty four percent over that
time from three.
Speaker 1: Then we keep talking about Nico and I keep just
needing craving an update because bench versus bench fully healthy
bench first bench will correct me if I'm wrong. The
Clippers have a much better bench, right like just.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say so.
Speaker 1: Feel exaccurate, But no, Nick patom I would say the
Clippers still have a better bench, but it's not as
pretty about you still got you got to rely even
more on Kawhi, Harden and Zuta to do whatever they're
gonna do without Nick Patuma there.
Speaker 2: I think the main problem is it's not so much
like the raw numbers. Obviously with Nico, it's not like
he's getting fifteen points off the bench or anything like that,
but he makes so many different lineups work for you.
He's the lynchpin to making all these bench lineup work.
And that's what worries me, because they had been running
that Kawhi, Nico, Ben Simmons DJ Bogie lineup and having
success with that, and that was starting second quarters and
fourth quarters over the last couple of weeks and it
had been good for them, and then last night they
just of course, James Harden never left the game in
the second half. He played the rest of the game
into overtimes, so he was kind of the replacement with
the rest of those guys for Nico Batoom. But that's
not going to be sustainable, you know, the entire playoffs
or even throughout an entire series. Like Harden can't play
every second half. I don't think every game of the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We don't think. We don't know, but we don't think
that there.
Speaker 2: Will be some wore he plays the entire second half,
but I don't think he can play the entire second
half every game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're looking at a bench unit of Westbrook Pickett,
Peyton Watson, DeAndre First, Derek Jones, Junior Bogie Batoum, and
Ben Simmons who has not played incredibly inspiring basketball to
close the season, which I'm hoping that changes too because
there's no Nico.
Speaker 3: Wait are you are you just writing Offseagi?
Speaker 1: Oh, I guess I must be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think enough he'll he'll play a
lot more backup center than DeAndre I mean Andre's.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, that must.
Speaker 2: Julian Strath have been playing because coming into the season,
a lot of the top was he's a big X
factor for them, But I don't think. I don't know
if that's one of the criticisms of Mike Malone not
playing him more.
Speaker 1: He here's his last handful of games ten minutes, zero minutes, eleven,
eleven to one, and then he must have been hurt
because he had five or six games and no minutes
at all.
Speaker 2: He's got it on the outs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And Peyton Watson has been has been decent for
the Nuggets too. You've been Yeah, he's solid, He's I mean,
he's a He's averaged in like nine or ten against
the Clippers and the you know again small sample size
that they've played.
Speaker 2: Has not been hurt to one of the other guys
that guards Kawhi and James Harden at times?
Speaker 1: Yeah, has not? She been hurt too, because he's effectively
stopped playing since April second.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 1: See, this is why it's so weird because they have
a new coach, like you know what I mean, there's
some interesting question marks and this he had an ankle spring.
I don't know.
Speaker 2: Unpredictability is not something you love going into a playoffs series.
Speaker 1: Exactly like we played the MAVs fifty years in a row.
We said, hey, welcome to the playoff preview. Listen to
our one from two years ago or one from last year.
Here's what we gotta do. The Nuggets are a bit
of a wild card, which does give me some pause
for this series because they're a wild card with a
guy who can put up fifty five fifteen to twelve.
Speaker 2: Right, there is a very well known the most what
they have is very well known.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they have another wildcard in Russell Westbrook, who
will be playing for either team sometimes during the same game.
And the home and the home court advantage is huge
for Denver. You gotta ball, man.
Speaker 2: If the Rockets one that gave yesterday, the Clippers would
have had home court.
Speaker 1: I know it's crazy and how much I don't know.
People were bummed out with Norm yesterday and his recent performances, But.
Speaker 2: I like the fourth quarter. Though he had a couple
of shots.
Speaker 1: He had clutch shots late in the second and third quarter.
Speaker 2: Two. I was looking this up earlier the last two
years and fourth quarters and this is high volume as
much as you can for a fourth quarter. He is
shooting almost fifty percent from three the last two seasons
and fourth quarters.
Speaker 1: Can't say is not clutch.
Speaker 2: That's crazy.
Speaker 1: Can't say it's not clutch. Oh, this game one is
going to be terrifying. It happens on Saturday at twelve
thirty two. Thirds of this podcast will be in the
Bay Area celebrating a friend's birthday. So there's probably gonna
be uh, there's gonna be maybe a pregame hang, and
there's gonna be for sure a hang on Sunday to
talk Game two. Now, the most important segment of the
season so far. Who is our player of the game
for Game one? And for those of you new to
this podcasts, there might be some new listeners. Hello, we
hope we're representing Clippers fandom. Well, we are not allowed
to pick Kawhi, Leonard avitza Zebat, storm Power, James Harden
because those are too obvious and it's too easy. So
that's what we do. Adam, you go first.
Speaker 2: I'm calling it. I'm going Nikova soon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the energy we need.
Speaker 2: I'm saying, he's playing.
Speaker 1: He has to play. He really, Nuggets fans, if you're listening,
he is so important to how this Clippers team plays basketball.
He really is.
Speaker 2: Like, if they didn't have him for this series, I
don't think it would be quite a challenge. Yeah, I agree,
they Nico, he's their second best option against Joki.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, we haven't even talked about Drew you benks yet.
Speaker 2: Who.
Speaker 1: I was not the only person to think that he
was Australian. Just there's I was proof of that. I
thought he was from Australia. Couldn't tell you why never
even played there? Uh, Will, who.
Speaker 3: Is your player of the game, Bogey Redemption arc.
Speaker 1: Ar get right into the basket? Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, I think our success in this series doesn't hinge
on on Bogey obviously, but him having a good him,
him having an efficient game. Uh, first game out I
think would be would be really nice.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: His stealing one from Denver game one would be, Uh,
would be pretty feel pretty darn good.
Speaker 1: Just gotta split, that's all. Like, just split these first
two games. We're feeling pretty good after that. I'm gonna go.
We haven't even talked about this guy that much. Derek
Jones Jr.
Speaker 3: We haven't talked about him enough.
Speaker 1: The athleticism is there. He's another defender who is very
comfortable guarding number one options. He can guard multiple positions.
I'm feeling Derek Jones Junior. Adam.
Speaker 2: That reminded me that first game against Denver that we
spoke of earlier with that norm crazy fourth quarter. He
was on Jokic some. I believe in the fourth quarter
that Jokic play at the end where he double plushed
that three pointer. I think DJ put him in that spot.
He will see minutes on Jokics here and there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he will be It's also like there's gonna
be some starting lineup mix ups I think for the
Clippers in this series, based historically on what we've seen
with Tylu and how playoff series go, I would be
surprised if we see the same starting lineup for the
whole thing.
Speaker 2: Interesting, I've been calling my shot all year. I think
Nico's gonna end up in the starting lineup against certain
teams in a playoff series. One of those teams, I said,
was Denver. What that could mean? Things are going bad? Oh?
Speaker 1: That means we're down? Oh too in some of these scenarios, absolutely.
Speaker 2: But I'd much other have that than in a mustless situation.
Is PJ in the starting lineup?
Speaker 1: Hey, you put up more shot than Paul George did
in that second half. Okay, out of that, get the
bad memories out. Let us know what you think is
gonna happen over at Clippers pod On Twitter or at
Clippers podcast at YouTube dot com. Will where can fans
of the Nuggets who are just joining us for this
playoff series leave some friendly reviews for this podcast?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, you can keep it friendly. You can review
this podcast over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You can
of course listen to it wherever you get your podcasts,
but you also want to interact with us, you can
do that over on YouTube dot com. That's at Clippers Podcasts.
It's every single episode you subscribe, hit the little bell.
You can know when we put on new videos. We'll
definitely be live with the playoffs coming up, so stay
tuned for that. But however you listen or watch, you know,
we appreciate you.
Speaker 1: You absolutely do. Adam the first playoff edition of this
Please give these Clippers fans one positive thing as they
get into this week ahead.
Speaker 3: Of game one.
Speaker 2: Unlike the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers have already won a
playoff game. Basically, Okay, Yeah, that was a I think
we'll over use the word epic. That was epic. There's
like four or five Hall of Famers in that game,
which you call and State and the Clippers. That was incredible.
And the week off for Nico Batoom to get healthy
and get right is much needed. Did well all, I
know some people were crazy enough to want to be
in the play and so they could get Houston in
the first round. And I'm not even sure if that
would be a better matchup than Denver, But did we
all collectively, you know, have a cyb of relief just
knowing we'd have some time off. You've said, some time
to depress, get to relax, calm before the storm.
Speaker 3: Yeah, even if you like the Rockets better as a matchup,
you have to factor in the rest. You have to
factor in the rest thing. You have to win a
playing game. You have a day off, and then the
series starts against a much younger, very physical team. Like
it's not a great recipe.
Speaker 1: Kawhi was going to go into the game against the
Rockets with like one hundred minutes played over three days
or sing played forty seven minutes yesterday. I saw someone
critiquing that Kawhi looked a little slow at the end
of the game, and I was like, look at the
column to the right of their names in the box score,
and forty seven minutes will do that. That was a wonderful,
potitive thing. Adam, Thank you for that. The Clippers are we.
Speaker 3: Gotta get on that zoo conditioning.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they need Tresley Company a conditioning coach. All right.
That about wraps it up. We might be with you
live later on in the week. Here's to a great
game one. Here's to the Clippers in six. Yeah. I
hope everyone has a great weekend. As always, let's go Clips.