RD 1 GAME #3: LAC [1-1] @ MAVS [1-1]—FRI 4/26 5 PM, ESPN

[KL2]

Lue must think he has 10 games to observe before making changes lol.

[Scoundreldays]

If Kawhi's going to play like this the rest of the series then just sit him out of the playoffs. Let Pandemic P walk. Tired of this era

[KL2]

Don’t see how Lue has this team ready for the Sunday game.

Where’s that off season thread at?

[jengmann3]

The frustrating thing is the last two games Dallas didn't play that well. It felt like the team just needed to go on a run. harden and zu played well. Norm as well. But I do think ty lue has to figure out what to do with kawhi. If ur gonna play him don't do weird minutes and not feature him. Dallas is beatable if ur telling James and PG to carry. But it was like no one knew their role. Shouldn't be a gray area headed into a playoff game

[LamarWho]

I didn't watch the game but looking at the box score, Luka was ice cold, which doesn't happen very often when they play us. Kyrie wasn't lighting it up either, so this was a very winnable game even if both of our max players had a C game. Too bad neither of them could achieve that.

[NickP]

Time to blow this whole experiment up. Fire the GM, coach.

About &$&@ing time!

[og15]

We are running offensive sets for Russell Westbrook for corner 3s. Ty Lue has to be the dumbest coach I have ever seen.

No, no, the opposing team is clogging lanes and leaving Westbrook open which means the ball will get to him, but it doesn't mean he has to shoot it, but it's Westbrook, so....

You know this playing Westbrook, but players have to make the smart decisions, but there's a reason he's open, his man can help and the good shooters men can stay glued more easily when he's on the floor.

What’s Powell complaining about there? Clearly a push off and running into him.

PG destroyed by Gafford.

Clippers mental breakdown. Mann chirping at what?

Kidd made adjustments after game 1. What did Lue do? Nothing.

They got PG running off more flex action later, created some good looks that guys dropped passes on or missed easy ones. They went to switching the pick and roll and allowing Zu to guard the perimeter to take away all the easy lobs, and he actually did well, but zombie Kawhi, crappy confused PG and high energy, low IQ, and can't buy a basket Westbrook wasn't going to cut.

You get average performance from any of those guys and it's neck and neck to end the game, from two and the Clippers have a good chance of winning.

Reality though is that nothing can be expected of Kawhi health wise at this point. PG looks discombobulated out there, and Westbrook and playoff efficiency or high IQ play has never gone together.

[LamarWho]

At this point I would rather see PJ Tucker on the court

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[KL2]

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[Scoundreldays]

That extension looking really good right now

[Clemenza]

The frustrating thing is the last two games Dallas didn't play that well. It felt like the team just needed to go on a run. harden and zu played well. Norm as well. But I do think ty lue has to figure out what to do with kawhi. If ur gonna play him don't do weird minutes and not feature him. Dallas is beatable if ur telling James and PG to carry. But it was like no one knew their role. Shouldn't be a gray area headed into a playoff game

That's the thing, Dallas looks like sh*t as well, but their defense has been stellar these last two games. Gotta sit Kawhi back down, he's injured. Put the game back in PG, Harden, and Zu's hands. If PG doesn't get it together let him walk. Give Bones a shot, as I can't watch Russ take another corner three. Not sure what Mann and Coffey are out there doing. We need scoring badly right now, even over defense.

Can't believe we signed up for the Kawhi Project for three more years. I thought Tuesday was his "rust game" but man he could very well be done for the season. The new arena needs to see something new and different, even if they don't compete for a ring next season. 213 has done nothing for the Clippers brand and the urgent need to have them on the roster to sell tickets if baffling when they don't even move the needle like that anymore. Then again this just might be the "changing of the guard" postseason that was bound to happen.

[Roscoe Sheed]

I feel bad for Kawhi as he really wants to help, but his body is betraying him. I think they seriously need to consider resting him again until his knee is right- they looked more free flowing in game 1 and they kind of figured out how to be effective without him.

PG is a rhythm player and those bogus cheap fouls took him out of the game. He is capable of playing much better.

I thought the refs heavily favored Dallas tonight- the PG fouls, bogus fouls on Powell too.

[Roscoe Sheed]

We can complain about officiating in a close game. Not when we’re getting blown out.

part of the reason they were getting blown out was because of the refs though- bogus calls on PG totally took him out of rhythm and just when they were making a run they called some bogus fouls on Powell- it makes no sense- they let them play physical and then suddenly they call an imaginary illegal screen and a flop when he was driving down the court.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Westbrook acting like this is not cool. First Mann. Now him.

I kind of liked it actually- Westbrook is nobody's punk and at least he was giving max effort

[MartinToVaught]

Westbrook acting like this is not cool. First Mann. Now him.

I kind of liked it actually- Westbrook is nobody's punk and at least he was giving max effort

Yeah, at least Russ was upset, unlike our so-called "stars" who don't seem to care about winning or losing.

[MartinToVaught]

213 has done nothing for the Clippers brand and the urgent need to have them on the roster to sell tickets if baffling when they don't even move the needle like that anymore.

The whole "we need 213 to sell tickets" argument has always felt like a blind assumption motivated by the sunk-cost fallacy to me. We were 17th in attendance last year. 10th this year, but I think that can be attributed to the Harden trade, not 213 - and good luck repeating that with how boring and uninspiring this team's still turned out to be.

If Kawhi and PG could still sell tickets, they'd be doing it. Nobody's buying tickets anymore to see Kawhi on the bench in street clothes and PG in foul trouble with 10 turnovers.

[Roscoe Sheed]

let's stick up for our players rather than totally ripping them- Kawhi wants to play better and perhaps he will if the knee cooperates. We know he is a great player and looked like the best player in the NBA for a time even this season. It's not his fault that he get injured. I also feel like Lue probably should have played him more- if Embiid can play major minutes, so can Kawhi- should have played at least 30-35 tonight- particularly more in the 2nd quarter when PG was in foul trouble.

Also, PG is getting royally screwed. As he stated- they are letting everybody play physical but him. Guys are out of control, flopping and they call fouls on him. Totally ridiculous. However, he does have to try to get reacclimated better when he is on the court.

I actually like those 2 players and just feel bad that things haven't worked out from them yet- at least not fully- in a Clipper uniform.

[nickhx2]

I feel bad for Kawhi as he really wants to help, but his body is betraying him. I think they seriously need to consider resting him again until his knee is right- they looked more free flowing in game 1 and they kind of figured out how to be effective without him.

PG is a rhythm player and those bogus cheap fouls took him out of the game. He is capable of playing much better.

I thought the refs heavily favored Dallas tonight- the PG fouls, bogus fouls on Powell too.

yeah, agree with all this

kawhi wants to play, wants to help, but he hasn't found that comfort zone of his own body yet and it's not great. feels like early on this season where he maybe kinda possibly was washed, and then all of a sudden he was ok.

at this point, it looks like the team is committed to getting him the requisite on-court time to get him back to normal, and if their logic is "we can't win the whole thing if he's not back to normal" then yeah i see why.

and yeah, i mean while obviously dallas outplayed the clips tonight, pg got gamed-out of the game with the fouls. kinda funny cause this version of him was the exact thing that we avoided in game 1/2, despite some wondering if he even contributed at all. well, if tonight told us anything, it's that you would take g1/g2 PG 10 times out of 10 over what we saw of him in game 3 lol.

[esqtvd]

At this point I would rather see PJ Tucker on the court

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@OG:

I toldja I liked my plan better. Stick with the rotation that won you Game 1, ramp up Kawhi from 12 minutes or so, and save him for 4th quarters.

And at least I said it in advance instead of after the fact, lol. But I don't blame the coach.

Look, if Kawhi says he can play, he plays. What Embiid did the other night, dropping 50 fresh off a knee injury while hiding an attack of some disease that makes half your face go numb—that was the stuff of legends. You don't deny Kawhi the chance to do the same.

If he'd have dropped 50 tonight or even 30, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[esqtvd]

I feel bad for Kawhi as he really wants to help, but his body is betraying him. I think they seriously need to consider resting him again until his knee is right- they looked more free flowing in game 1 and they kind of figured out how to be effective without him.

PG is a rhythm player and those bogus cheap fouls took him out of the game. He is capable of playing much better.

I thought the refs heavily favored Dallas tonight- the PG fouls, bogus fouls on Powell too.

yeah, agree with all this

kawhi wants to play, wants to help, but he hasn't found that comfort zone of his own body yet and it's not great. feels like early on this season where he maybe kinda possibly was washed, and then all of a sudden he was ok.

at this point, it looks like the team is committed to getting him the requisite on-court time to get him back to normal, and if their logic is "we can't win the whole thing if he's not back to normal" then yeah i see why.

and yeah, i mean while obviously dallas outplayed the clips tonight, pg got gamed-out of the game with the fouls. kinda funny cause this version of him was the exact thing that we avoided in game 1/2, despite some wondering if he even contributed at all. well, if tonight told us anything, it's that you would take g1/g2 PG 10 times out of 10 over what we saw of him in game 3 lol.

I'm usually a Pollyanna around here when things go sour but frankly I personally am not feeling as generous tonight. Great to see people standing up for their team. Props.

I'm just gonna put a sock in it. We're only down 2-1. We ain't dead yet. If we do get knocked out early here, we have all summer to whine about it.