RD 1 GAME #4: LAC [1-2] @ MAVS [2-1]—SUN 4/26 12:30 PM, ABC

[clipperlover]

I said yesterday, today would tell us about this team. Sure blowing the 31 pt lead is bad, but they could have folded and didn't. Now, Dallas goes back to L.A. tied, they don't have the raucous fans to pump up the role players and those young role players must now think about this loss until Wednesday night.

Hopefully, we can get some positive news on Kawhi's knee between now and Wednesday.

[MartinToVaught]

At this point, does it even matter if they manage to hold on and win today? We're not getting another 31-point cushion for our meltdowns this series, so it's hard to picture us actually winning the series now.

I will take winning over losing. Blowing this game would have been catastrophic, Harden deserves some credit for taking control down the stretch.

The specific way we ended up winning is really the only way we could have salvaged that blown lead.

If the clock had just run out before we could finish choking, it would have been a loss everywhere but on the scoreboard.

If we had blown the game open again in the 4th, it would have just been one of those "burn the tapes" games for the Mavs. They'd chalk it up to a flukey 31-point deficit and not let it affect them.

Letting Harden and PG of all players rain clutch shots down on them at home when they thought they had a historic comeback on lock, on the other hand? There aren't many more painful ways to lose a playoff game than that. Still not writing Dallas off by any means, but these kinds of gutpunch losses are so hard for teams to recover from.

[Roscoe Sheed]

I'm so relieved they won that game.

The modern NBA is so stressful. Seems like no lead is safe any more- the Clippers have had their share of enormous comebacks too.

They could have made their lives a lot easier though if they were more careful with the ball. The refs calling every possible offensive foul also didn't help- what is up with their misreading of the Powell screens? In this game and the last one he isn't moving yet they are still calling it on him. Baffling.

[MartinToVaught]

They could have made their lives a lot easier though if they were more careful with the ball. The refs calling every possible offensive foul also didn't help- what is up with their misreading of the Powell screens? In this game and the last one he isn't moving yet they are still calling it on him. Baffling.

I haven't complained about it much since our own play has been worse a lot of the time, but the officiating this series has been 2002 WCF-level bad. The refs should just wear Mavs jerseys and stop pretending like they're neutral.

[clipperlover]

At this point, does it even matter if they manage to hold on and win today? We're not getting another 31-point cushion for our meltdowns this series, so it's hard to picture us actually winning the series now.

I will take winning over losing. Blowing this game would have been catastrophic, Harden deserves some credit for taking control down the stretch.

The specific way we ended up winning is really the only way we could have salvaged that blown lead.

If the clock had just run out before we could finish choking, it would have been a loss everywhere but on the scoreboard.

If we had blown the game open again in the 4th, it would have just been one of those "burn the tapes" games for the Mavs. They'd chalk it up to a flukey 31-point deficit and not let it affect them.

Letting Harden and PG of all players rain clutch shots down on them at home when they thought they had a historic comeback on lock, on the other hand? There aren't many more painful ways to lose a playoff game than that. Still not writing Dallas off by any means, but these kinds of gutpunch losses are so hard for teams to recover from.

Let's not undervalue the importance and clutchness of PG's 3. Dallas had just taken the lead with Kyrie's ridiculous shot. For PG to come out of the timeout after Kyrie's shot, with the crowd rocking, with the play getting blown up and improvising that 3 point shot, was just a dagger to the heart of the Mavs. They never got the Clips lead back to 2 again.

[NickP]

I said this before game 3 to sit Kawhi if he doesn’t participate in contact drills. Yeah I know we won this game and got home court back but damn those two losses still sting. I hope we build on this chemistry because Dallas will throw the kitchen sink at us.

[Bobbymcgee]

Are we allowed to admit now that playing Leonard in games 2 and 3 was a mistake?

Since the Clippers already re-signed Leonard to a three-year deal, I have a hard time seeing them not re-signing George and Harden, who are at least playing in the playoffs right now.

[playaloc916]

Crucial win. I think Kawhi will sit for the rest of the series, seeing as how he didn't play during the 2 wins. Game 5 will be crazy, let's see how Lue adjusts.

[og15]

That was just some clutch shot after clutch shot.

Obviously Kawhi was not helping in half form, Clippers back in the "advantaged" possession, let's see how it goes next game.

i think this was a really clear display of the team being able to integrate and execute a really clear gameplan with guys locked into their roles, rather than having things jumbled on the fly with their top guy being a burden - just like the first game. and the results are kinda similar, right? role players are just doing their thing at a high level, and the big two are doing their things at a high level. and nobody's really worrying about getting kawhi touches or making him comfortable, nor are they expecting him to carry the team when he actually cannot.

Yea, it's just too hard in the playoffs to insert a first option into the roster and run the sets you run for a guy like that without him actually being able to make things happen.

It becomes disruptive instead of helpful.

They just have to go with what they have now.

On a side note Westbrook has had impact in other ways, but he's just way too inefficient of a scorer to have the maximum impact possible in his role. Tough to leave him on to close games for example.

Are we allowed to admit now that playing Leonard in games 2 and 3 was a mistake?

Since the Clippers already re-signed Leonard to a three-year deal, I have a hard time seeing them not re-signing George and Harden, who are at least playing in the playoffs right now.

I'm pretty sure we admitted that in the middle of both games already

[Roscoe Sheed]

Crucial win. I think Kawhi will sit for the rest of the series, seeing as how he didn't play during the 2 wins. Game 5 will be crazy, let's see how Lue adjusts.

I think the Clippers likely would have won game 2 if Kawhi didn't play.

Who knows if they would have had the motivation to get a split in Dallas after that, but it would be nice to be up 3-1 instead of tied

[madmaxmedia]

duplicate post

[madmaxmedia]

That was just some clutch shot after clutch shot.

Obviously Kawhi was not helping in half form, Clippers back in the "advantaged" possession, let's see how it goes next game.

i think this was a really clear display of the team being able to integrate and execute a really clear gameplan with guys locked into their roles, rather than having things jumbled on the fly with their top guy being a burden - just like the first game. and the results are kinda similar, right? role players are just doing their thing at a high level, and the big two are doing their things at a high level. and nobody's really worrying about getting kawhi touches or making him comfortable, nor are they expecting him to carry the team when he actually cannot.

Yea, it's just too hard in the playoffs to insert a first option into the roster and run the sets you run for a guy like that without him actually being able to make things happen.

It becomes disruptive instead of helpful.

They just have to go with what they have now.

Hypothetically it seems like a good thing, get your best player back on the court and give it a go. But when I think about it from actually being on the court in such a situation, I think it slows down your decision-making because you obviously want to give him the best chance to help the team, but you're not sure when to pull back a little and let him operate and when to be aggressive to try to help make up for his health.

If he was a guy who mainly ran off screens and shot 3's, okay either he gets open or not. But that's not the case, Kawhi has really got an all-around game on both sides of the floor.

[madmaxmedia]

Crucial win. I think Kawhi will sit for the rest of the series, seeing as how he didn't play during the 2 wins. Game 5 will be crazy, let's see how Lue adjusts.

Considering he didn't recover well after Game 2, it seems by far the best choice is to rest him for at least the rest of the series to give him the best shot at coming back fully healthy. If he plays Game 5 he could have a bad game, get hurt again, or in the worst case scenario- both.

[jengmann3]

Yeah, definitely sit Kawhi for game 5, probably the rest of the series. It's tough. Joel Embiid does not look healthy half the time but he is still productive. I think Kawhi did a lot of good things in Game 2.

But like others are saying what can Lue do for Game 5. I actually would think of starting Russ, and getting some backup point minutes out of Bones. Of course it depends how the game is going but I just imagine Dallas will be more locked in defensively and won't have the same slow start. We need to generate offense, if they do a better job on James and PG.

[Dynamix]

[KingCrimzzon]

Yeah, definitely sit Kawhi for game 5, probably the rest of the series. It's tough. Joel Embiid does not look healthy half the time but he is still productive. I think Kawhi did a lot of good things in Game 2.

But like others are saying what can Lue do for Game 5. I actually would think of starting Russ, and getting some backup point minutes out of Bones. Of course it depends how the game is going but I just imagine Dallas will be more locked in defensively and won't have the same slow start. We need to generate offense, if they do a better job on James and PG.

Definitely sit Kawhi. Run more offense through Zu. Get him in the game offensively and defensively. I really think all this team knows is shooting 3s, Definitely need those to loosen things up and try to get to the basket to put some of the MAVS in foul trouble. It's alot to ask, let's see how it goes..

[esqtvd]

this was pretty much my plan for Game 2 instead of starting him and playing him 35 minutes

Read on Twitter

in case of late-game emergency, break glass if he can give you 12-20 minutes

if not, keep resting him and fingers crossed for Game 6 on Friday

[KL2]

Lawrence Frank was pretty adamant Leonard will not return until he can do all his usual movements. Shouldn’t that have been the case before returning when he did? The thought process by all was that he’d progress as he played more but that wasn’t the case. While they wouldn’t rule him out of this series I think it’s obvious he will not play again in this one.

Assuming we advance I don’t see how he’d be a go for an OKC matchup either.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Lawrence Frank was pretty adamant Leonard will not return until he can do all his usual movements. Shouldn’t that have been the case before returning when he did? The thought process by all was that he’d progress as he played more but that wasn’t the case. While they wouldn’t rule him out of this series I think it’s obvious he will not play again in this one.

Assuming we advance I don’t see how he’d be a go for an OKC matchup either.

It must be dependent on how he recovers and how he moves. If he gradually starts looking much better, I’m sure he could be helpful. Just have to keep monitoring the situation

[wakelaunch1]

It should be known as the Float Game forever.