Game 38: Los Angeles Clippers (21-16) @ Phoenix Suns (9-30) - 6:00 PM PT

[ducler]

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[Ranma]

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[TheNewEra]

Have to get these Ws and keep on pushing. Have to be dominant this month

[TheNewEra]

Get this to 30 and bring in Motley

[TheNewEra]

Good half

[TheNewEra]

Let’s get some Motley minutes

[TheNewEra]

Smh free Motley

[TheNewEra]

How many times does Holmes have to kick Harrell’s ass for Doc to adjust

[TheNewEra]

Booooo

[TheNewEra]

That was golden level Doc

-huge run with no timeout
-terrible rotations
-no adjustments from previous games mismatches (Holmes)
-Bradley obsession

[esqtvd]

yay we won

hope y'all enjoyed the game
I did



FTR, Bradley played only 20 minutes
Gortat [plus+17] played more minutes than Harrell
and Holmes finished minus-3

[esqtvd]

nice

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[mkwest]

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Individual Highlights

Marcin Gortat

Spoiler:

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Danilo Gallinari

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Patrick Beverley

Spoiler:

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[Galloisdaman]

Well I'm a glass half full guy so I will look at limiting the Suns to 111 points as a step in the right direction.

I still think defense and rebounding are the two places this team could really improve their game. If they could improve the defense they would have a chance in games when their shots are not dropping. Rebounding the ball consistently will help the defense.

[og15]

yay we won

hope y'all enjoyed the game
I did



FTR, Bradley played only 20 minutes
Gortat [plus+17] played more minutes than Harrell
and Holmes finished minus-3

I prefer big blowouts against teams like this as opposed to getting scared like that.

Gortat was just on something special, some sort of fountain of youth situation last night. Running up and down like a gazelle, contained Ayton very well, it was nice.

[esqtvd]

yay we won

hope y'all enjoyed the game
I did



FTR, Bradley played only 20 minutes
Gortat [plus+17] played more minutes than Harrell
and Holmes finished minus-3

I prefer big blowouts against teams like this as opposed to getting scared like that.

Gortat was just on something special, some sort of fountain of youth situation last night. Running up and down like a gazelle, contained Ayton very well, it was nice.

I'll postulate that Motley was up for meaningful minutes except Gortat turned in a 'where's this guy been hiding" performance

but the real story may be, Is Bev Back?


https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-report-20190104-story.html

“It’s just been fun, man. It’s changed my attitude, man, to focus on the bigger picture of winning basketball games and changed my attitude, changed my game. Having more fun out there.”

Clippers coaches believe his turnaround is that simple: He’s feeling better, more confident, with every day that he puts between himself and his recovery from last season’s knee surgery.

“I didn’t know it was going to take that long for me to be back to myself,” Beverley said. “I’ve been feeling balanced here lately. Feeling stronger. Just continue to get stronger. Just want to try to make it to the playoffs so whatever we need to do, whatever I need to do to prepare for basketball games to get ready is what I have to do.”

Beverley’s shooting adds another offensive option to the Clippers’ second unit alongside guard Lou Williams and center Montrezl Harrell...



Beverley isn’t the only Clippers guard who has found his shot in recent games.

Starter Avery Bradley, who also missed a significant amount of games last season because of injury, is shooting 47.2% from the field and 41.2% on three-pointers in his last six games.

For Beverley, the last three weeks have been a welcome change.

He won't be happy until he achieves what he considers the true indicator that he is fully “back” — a dunk.

[og15]

Good point, it has been lost in all that has been going on, but Beverley shot 35/31 over his first 20 games, and over his last 18 he's shot 43/43.

Bradley's is still up and down, if we add the Phoenix game, those percentages go down. If we give him the last 18 games like Beverley, it's at least decent at 43/35, but last 10 games is 42/30 and last 5 games is 42/27

[esqtvd]

Good point, it has been lost in all that has been going on, but Beverley shot 35/31 over his first 20 games, and over his last 18 he's shot 43/43.

Bradley's is still up and down, if we add the Phoenix game, those percentages go down. If we give him the last 18 games like Beverley, it's at least decent at 43/35, but last 10 games is 42/30 and last 5 games is 42/27

And in December [since the numbers are easy to grab off ESPN] in 18 games he was 42/34, which will do for the guy who's taking on the toughest defensive assignment--sometimes even a SF so Tobias doesn't have to. I won't call Avery a plus yet but neither is he the worst player in the league like his numbers were for the 1st month.

Coming back from a season-ending injury is clearly not easy. It wasn't Avery, it was Pat Bev who had the worst plus/minus and the worst numbers when combined with our other guards the first 6 weeks or so, but look at him now. [Same article.]

Since a Dec. 15 loss in Oklahoma City, during which he made both three-pointers he attempted, Beverley has transformed into a pain for opposing defenses. He shot 47.7% from the field, 51.9% (14 of 27) on three-pointers and registered a team-high plus-8.8 rating during his nine previous games entering Friday. And against the Suns, he had 16 points on six-for-nine shooting.

It was a good call to invest the PT in him, rather than panic and throw it at the G-Leaguers.


[Ty, BTW, is earning minutes, and he's getting them. But Sindarius should probably be cut or G-Leagued and Rome worked in. Soon, I would think.]

[esqtvd]

And just in time, since...


https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-report-20190105-story.html

He could have fooled many earlier this season, averaging 10.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists with a plus-4.0 rating through 21 games. He drew kudos from All-Stars such as Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard, collecting more praise than bottles of Gatorade.

Recently, though, Gilgeous-Alexander hasn’t been able to escape another rookie rite: fatigue.

“He’s playing hard, he’s working on his game, he’s doing all the right things, but he has struggled,” coach Doc Rivers said. “He needs help. He doesn’t know his way out of the woods yet. That’s what we’re here for.”


Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging nearly four fewer minutes in his last 12 games and he has a minus-6.8 rating in that span while grabbing nearly half as many rebounds. Foul trouble has been a nagging issue. His accuracy on mid-range pull-up jump shots has improved while his accuracy has declined on catch-and-shoot attempts, both inside and behind the three-point arc.


“I’ve obviously had a little bit of success, but I’ve also had moments like this in my career,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I know how to get through them and I know I will.”


When it comes to the so-called “rookie wall,” Phoenix coach Igor Kokoskov is something of an authority, as his Suns team starts three rookies.

...

How does he know when a rookie has reached the “wall”?

“When guys don’t show up,” he said. “They have a couple good games and then you feel like you check the minutes and you’re not sure a guy played.”


The Clippers believe strongly in Gilgeous-Alexander but haven’t treated him with kid gloves, as they’ve waited for his adjustments to click. Rivers wants the guard to drive “downhill” toward the rim more often and play better defense. At 6-foot-6, Gilgeous-Alexander’s length once allowed him to stay in front of opposing guards on defense, but now they’re getting around him both on the ball and in weakside situations.

“It’s tough in his position,” center Montrezl Harrell said. “We’re asking a rookie to come out here and be the starting point guard for us, but it’s a man’s game, you just got to shape up and learn it really quickly. It’s not like we’re asking him to do anything crazy.

“We’re not just telling him to go out there and hold his guy to not scoring the ball completely, but I mean we’ve got to give a little resistance on the defensive end.”