2024 PLAYOFFS Round 1 LAC VS MAVS

[esqtvd]

Riddle me this, Batman.

Beard has been ass for the past month and Russ has been great. Mann has been ass but Coffey has been even more ass. Powell has been great. Zu not so much. Plumlee better than he's been all year. Theis some great plus/minus too.

Coach is like wtf. I thought I had a rotation but nothing is working as planned. I gotta roll some serious dice here and y'all just gotta trust me on this...

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[clipperlover]

Riddle me this, Batman.

Beard has been ass for the past month and Russ has been great. Mann has been ass but Coffey has been even more ass. Powell has been great. Zu not so much. Plumlee better than he's been all year. Theis some great plus/minus too.

Coach is like wtf. I thought I had a rotation but nothing is working as planned. I gotta roll some serious dice here and y'all just gotta trust me on this...

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Sorry. I just think this team was playing with house money since the All-Star break and took their foot off the throttle. They didn't want to be the #1 (probably because the expectations). They had a really good cushion to maintain the 4 seed the rest of the way. So, when Russ went down they did just enough to maintain their positioning only dipping to 5th for I think 1 day.

While all of these other teams were fighting and grinding for positioning until the last day. We were just cruising along. Maybe I am wrong, but I expect to see this team play the playoffs at the level we saw in the last Minny road game.

[og15]

Riddle me this, Batman.

Beard has been ass for the past month and Russ has been great. Mann has been ass but Coffey has been even more ass. Powell has been great. Zu not so much. Plumlee better than he's been all year. Theis some great plus/minus too.

Coach is like wtf. I thought I had a rotation but nothing is working as planned. I gotta roll some serious dice here and y'all just gotta trust me on this...

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You always need buy in. Playoffs are also about matchups. You play your best guys, but everyone else needs to be ready to have things fluctuate. What you don't need in the playoffs is some guy pouting or whining about this or that. Stay locked in, stay ready and get things done.

[NickP]

We’re winning G1. Book it.

[Clemenza]

We’re winning G1. Book it.

I agree, Lets Go!

[Wammy Giveaway]

Pelicans are the 8th seed. All because they drew the Kings. Including today's qualifier, they are now 6-0.

Clipper's 2nd round opponent is really a pick-your-poison series. Either...

A) They face an opponent they just can't defeat because they don't take lottery teams seriously, or
B) They meet their maker in a WWE-styled High Stakes Match where the victor of the series is declared the winner of the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander trade, and the loser is forced to blow it up and rebuild.

Round 1 Game 1 Thread goes up tomorrow.

[KL2]

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[esqtvd]

Clips have the worst Points Per Possession defense of any playoff team, and 4th-worst in the whole league.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/transition?TypeGrouping=defensive&dir=A&sort=PPP

EFG% too. Dang. I knew it was bad, but not this bad. Better get asses in gear.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Clips have the worst Points Per Possession defense of any playoff team, and 4th-worst in the whole league.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/transition?TypeGrouping=defensive&dir=A&sort=PPP

EFG% too. Dang. I knew it was bad, but not this bad. Better get asses in gear.

it won't help if Kawhi is out either.

I wonder what game plan Lue has for the Mavs targeting Harden and also Zubac.

I think they are going to have to emphasize staying on your man and not switching as much as possible.

Also, I think Lue may have to live with Doncic shooting step backs against Zubac. I know he seemed to make almost every one of them against Zubac in the 21 playoffs, but they have to hope he can't sustain that this season- perhaps Zubac also has to do a better job contesting those shots too.

[esqtvd]

Clips have the worst Points Per Possession defense of any playoff team, and 4th-worst in the whole league.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/transition?TypeGrouping=defensive&dir=A&sort=PPP

EFG% too. Dang. I knew it was bad, but not this bad. Better get asses in gear.

it won't help if Kawhi is out either.

I wonder what game plan Lue has for the Mavs targeting Harden and also Zubac.

I think they are going to have to emphasize staying on your man and not switching as much as possible.

Also, I think Lue may have to live with Doncic shooting set backs against Zubac. I know he seemed to make almost every one of them against Zubac in the 21 playoffs, but they have to hope he can't sustain that this season- perhaps Zubac also has to do a better job contesting those shots too.

Well, of course the problem is that if Zu [or anyone] goes out too far, Doncic just goes around him.

And how far is far enough? We all remember this one:

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From 2021. This hurts.

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?lang=en

[KL2]

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There going to milk this to the last possible minute. They’ll continue to say he’s questionable even though he’s not out on the court warming up.

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Nothing new. He still hasn’t gone through a full practice. He’s making incremental progress. Clippers are hoping they can hold down the fort until he’s ready. No news on availability for game 2 but listening to Woj I’d say it’s game 3.

[PeteyPablo]

Paul George must come out aggressive and locked in.

No soft ass mentality or lack of focus.

If you are not giving full effort in a play off game then why play in the NBA?


James Harden will be also need to be aggressive.

Zubac needs to come out aggressive and locked in.

Entire team need to be locked in.

[Clemenza]

Paul George must come out aggressive and locked in.

No soft ass mentality or lack of focus.

If you are not giving full effort in a play off game then why play in the NBA?


James Harden will be also need to be aggressive.

Zubac needs to come out aggressive and locked in.

Entire team need to be locked in.

So PG doesn't play with any effort during the playoffs? Come on now. I guess it's going to start up again where PG has to take extra heat & criticism for Kawhi sitting out yet again.

[PeteyPablo]

Paul George must come out aggressive and locked in.

No soft ass mentality or lack of focus.

If you are not giving full effort in a play off game then why play in the NBA?


James Harden will be also need to be aggressive.

Zubac needs to come out aggressive and locked in.

Entire team need to be locked in.

So PG doesn't play with any effort during the playoffs? Come on now. I guess it's going to start up again where PG has to take extra heat & criticism for Kawhi sitting out yet again.

I will correct my comment - PG has carried this team in prior years. I meant to say that he is going to be key in the post season assuming Kawhi will be out.

[og15]

Time for Harden to wake up. This is exactly when you need some efficient 35+ point games from him.

[NickP]

Paul George must come out aggressive and locked in.

No soft ass mentality or lack of focus.

If you are not giving full effort in a play off game then why play in the NBA?


James Harden will be also need to be aggressive.

Zubac needs to come out aggressive and locked in.

Entire team need to be locked in.

So PG doesn't play with any effort during the playoffs? Come on now. I guess it's going to start up again where PG has to take extra heat & criticism for Kawhi sitting out yet again.

PG’s issue is not effort. It’s all in his head.

[KL2]

So they knew he’d be out and still chose to list him as questionable.

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Leonard is out. I’m shocked. Absolutely shocked. Said no one.

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Ah yes. The day to day part of the equation now. Where have we heard this before?

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He’s out game 2 and they know it.

[og15]

Clips have the worst Points Per Possession defense of any playoff team, and 4th-worst in the whole league.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/transition?TypeGrouping=defensive&dir=A&sort=PPP

EFG% too. Dang. I knew it was bad, but not this bad. Better get asses in gear.

it won't help if Kawhi is out either.

I wonder what game plan Lue has for the Mavs targeting Harden and also Zubac.

I think they are going to have to emphasize staying on your man and not switching as much as possible.

Also, I think Lue may have to live with Doncic shooting step backs against Zubac. I know he seemed to make almost every one of them against Zubac in the 21 playoffs, but they have to hope he can't sustain that this season- perhaps Zubac also has to do a better job contesting those shots too.

Staying on your man of course requires a scheme though. Screens aren't going to let you simply stay on your man and defend well.

You can drop the big and have the perimeter defender stay on their man, but I mean, that's going to be a dangerous plan against offensive players like Luka and Kyrie who can pull up very effectively.

The main goal on defense is that you want to prevent yourselves from getting into rotation. Once you get into rotation, great players and teams are just going to carve you up and the amount of energy you will be spending trying to keep up on defense becomes too much.

Switches of course keep you out of rotation but then present a different problem in creating multiple mismatches that again great offensive players will carve up. This is why fans get confused at plays where teams just switch so easily and don't even try to fight, it's because they know what can happen if you defend the pick and roll in other ways and then get put in rotation.

Like I mentioned earlier, Clippers right now should be working hard on implementing pre-switching. Yes you won't always successfully read it, and there are counters, but that's going to be an important part of staying out of rotation while not giving the Mavs matchups they can destroy.

Next the Clippers will have to think of blitzing any sideline pick and rolls which gives less favorable angles, and you're not as scared of the Mavs non Kyrie players attacking that brief 4v3 and consistently making great reads.

Lastly, the Clippers should look into doing the "early switch" (not sure what the technical term is). You read the pick and roll and the defender they are targetting actually switches out early, basically embracing the switch, but then tags the offensive player and recovers back to his man while the initial defender gets back to the ball handler therefore negating the advantage.

[NickP]

So they knew he’d be out and still chose to lust him as questionable.

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Leonard is out. I’m shocked. Absolutely shocked. Said no one.

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Ah yes. The day to day part of the equation now. Where have we heard this before?

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He’s out game 2 and they know it.

With Kawhi it’s more month by month.

[KL2]

Most competent teams would be prepared for either situation. But Clippers think they’re smarter than everyone else by holding out until the last minute.

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