Game 29: Los Angeles Clippers @ Utah Jazz : Dec 15 7:00 PM PCT

Post #21 » by **og15** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:03 am

I didn't come into this game expecting the Clippers to end the Jazz win streak in Utah, so losing is not really going to mean anything, it's expected, and winning would be the surprise. Really just more concerned about seeing some of the guys continue to piece things together.

Post #22 » by **og15** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:04 am

Those bigs that add that floater off the pick and roll really get another dimension to their pick and roll game. Not as easy as it looks though, that's for sure.

esqtvd · Post #23 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:10 am

og15 wrote:I didn't come into this game expecting the Clippers to end the Jazz win streak in Utah, so losing is not really going to mean anything, it's expected, and winning would be the surprise. Really just more concerned about seeing some of the guys continue to piece things together.

Mann and Kennard [minus-20] vs Mitchell and Conley is just asking too much. It's a class thing. We've only 2 starters and missing the top 3 at that. They have all 5 fully healthy and well-oiled.

Nobody's playing particularly badly. Mook woke up again on the offensive end and Bledsoe's having his best game as a Clipper. Still scrappin' and back within single digits in the 4th.

Post #24 » by **og15** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:14 am

Mitchell last 7 games is averaging 29 ppg on 54/45 shooting, so it is not the best time to catch him as a defender.

nickhx2 · Post #25 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:16 am

og15 wrote:Those bigs that add that floater off the pick and roll really get another dimension to their pick and roll game. Not as easy as it looks though, that's for sure.

it's quite remarkable how reliable hartenstein is with his floater. an offseason devoted to working on his game could turn him into the best player off our bench.

Post #26 » by **og15** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:20 am

nickhx2 wrote:
og15 wrote:Those bigs that add that floater off the pick and roll really get another dimension to their pick and roll game. Not as easy as it looks though, that's for sure.

it's quite remarkable how reliable hartenstein is with his floater. an offseason devoted to working on his game could turn him into the best player off our bench.

Kaminsky is another big who has a very good one, and yea, he just has to learn how to keep himself on the court without fouling too much.

MartinToVaught · Post #27 » by **MartinToVaught** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:25 am

The Jazz look like the same old regular-season-only team to me. Not very impressed.

nickhx2 · Post #28 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:28 am

pull up mid range by johnson looks very solid

TheNewEra · Post #29 » by **TheNewEra** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:32 am

Tough game with foul calls and then cold shooting just overwhelmed the team. Even when the team got going with the bench we couldn’t get any stops so it was trading baskets when down big. Team fought but second half of the 4th they knew they didn’t have it.

Give Reggie some rest games he’s clearly hurt

nickhx2 · Post #30 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:34 am

yeah, tough game, really didn't expect to win this one. let's just try to get the team healthy. kind of rough when you're already hoping for the all star break to give you a respite.

esqtvd · Post #31 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:54 am

TheNewEra wrote:Tough game with foul calls and then cold shooting just overwhelmed the team. Even when the team got going with the bench we couldn’t get any stops so it was trading baskets when down big. Team fought but second half of the 4th they knew they didn’t have it.

Give Reggie some rest games he’s clearly hurt

Reggie's our hero this year. Best +/- among the starters tonight. We lose by 40 wire-to-wire without him.

LamarWho · Post #32 » by **LamarWho** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:55 am

Expected loss. Encouraging to see MMSr and Hart continued to played well. Bledsoe had an amazingly good shooting game but in all likelihood, we won't see another game from him like this the rest of the season.

T-Mann was a no show. Again it doesn't look like he knows what he's supposed to do, in a half court offense.

Roscoe Sheed · Post #33 » by **Roscoe Sheed** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:57 am

When are PG and Batum supposed to return.

Is Ibaka injured again or is he just out of the rotation for now.

In terms of the game, Utah is a very good team. They are so unselfish and a dangerous shooting team. Nobody has to like matching up with them in the playoffs.

I just noticed this tonight (maybe they do it all the time and I never noticed it)- the Jazz seem to set a lot of moving screens. It is difficult to guard Mitchell, Conley, and Clarkston when their bigs are constantly moving on every screen

esqtvd · Post #34 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 7:52 am

LamarWho wrote:Expected loss. Encouraging to see MMSr and Hart continued to played well. Bledsoe had an amazingly good shooting game but in all likelihood, we won't see another game from him like this the rest of the season.

T-Mann was a no show. Again it doesn't look like he knows what he's supposed to do, in a half court offense.

Nailed it LW. T-Mann is our Agent of Chaos. A lot like Trezz, I think--structure is his enemy. They're jazz players, best when improvising. Give them a part to play [a job] and they really don't have the chops [skills] for it.

By the numbers, Mann was easily the worst guy on the court

29 minutes
3 points on 1-4 shooting [1 FG 1-2 FT]
5 reb
2 assists 2 TOs
MINUS-28 [team worst]

I'm not down on him but people ought to modify their expectations

esp after all the disrespect thrown on Jamal, Lou and others :wink:

esqtvd · Post #35 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:07 am

Roscoe Sheed wrote:When are PG and Batum supposed to return.

Is Ibaka injured again or is he just out of the rotation for now.

Ibaka is in COVID protocol--or not. Clips are trying to trade him--or not. Zubac is our starter--or not. Hartenstein is ready to take his place--or not. Zubac is on the trading block--I think DEFINITELY. But only if he has POSITIVE trade value. Ibaka too. I don't think we're actively trying to DUMP any of them.

Ty is also not feeling Ibaka--and vice-versa!--in the current plan to steal as many wins as we can down and dirty without restructuring the offense around any one person's talents. Zubac and Hartenstein are 90% interchangeable. Ibaka is not. If he's not 100% at least 80% of the time, for us he's a one-way ticket going nowhere.

Ty tried him at PF with both Zu and Hart but that didn't work either.

Serge was brought in to play alongside Kawhi. At the moment, in the second year of that contract, he's a gimpy 9 million dollar albatross. The Clippers are currently trying to find someone who wants to exchange albatrosses.

Captain Ballmer · Post #36 » by **Captain Ballmer** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 3:39 pm

I'm suprised that Bledsoe looking good at the bench. It wouldn't suprise me if he pulled same thing he did in Pelicans. Ty Lue is in his ears apperently. Good.

Morris looking good.

I'm contend with where the team at right now. If we get PG&Batum sooner and stay healthy relatively better for the rest of the year, I like our chances to stay in top 6 at WC Standings. This team should hold the castle even though the schedule getting tougher.

KL2 · Post #37 » by **KL2** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:07 pm

Felt Jackson and Boston killed our momentum. They weren’t the only reason we lost but that string of turnovers and dumb shots killed everything we had working. Utah took control and never looked back.

Morris looks good. Healthy. Fingers crossed he can stay that way.

We brought knives to a gun fight. It’s still frustrating to lose though. Not sure what Lue wanted to accomplish here? Jackson looked gassed. The team looked lethargic at times. These are the games where it pisses me off that Lue won’t give the young guys some more burn. That energy from Johnson and Scrubb was refreshing. Mistakes and all. Boston looked better in that stint too.

Don’t get me started on Mann again. No consistency at all. He’ll never take the next step that way.

nickhx2 · Post #38 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:37 pm

Captain Ballmer wrote:I'm suprised that Bledsoe looking good at the bench. It wouldn't suprise me if he pulled same thing he did in Pelicans. Ty Lue is in his ears apperently. Good.

Morris looking good.

I'm contend with where the team at right now. If we get PG&Batum sooner and stay healthy relatively better for the rest of the year, I like our chances to stay in top 6 at WC Standings. This team should hold the castle even though the schedule getting tougher.

yeah, bledsoe looked solid and his confidence was clearly there. you can never really tell if he's happy or not (like kawhi) so i've had my concerns all year that he's perhaps displeased with his role, and an unhappy bledsoe gets you last year's version, which would be very bad for us.

but based on his play as of late, he looks like a solid contributor and i think he can help us a fair bit. would i still rather have rubio over him? sure, but they're not making that trade and bledsoe's doing fine as is, so we should take what we can get out of him.

i agree with the rest. morris is good, and while we could be in better pole position it's also hard to complain given how ravaged the team is by its injuries.

i am concerned about mann because i really think he is hurt by his lack of a defined role, but i think we have to concede that he just doesn't really know what to do as a featured starter. and that's ok, he's young, and he'll head back to the bench eventually. i do also wonder if losing kenny atkinson and whatever developmental processes he may have had going on with mann took him off track.

given how hartenstein is looking, as well as morris being an actual reliable player again (feels like for the first time in years?), if we get batum and paul george back and we'll be just fine.

Clemenza · Post #39 » by **Clemenza** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 5:56 pm

On the hot topic of Mann, the thing is he actually has a couple of go to moves that he could fall back on if he would put his mind to it. Nine times out of ten he's stronger than the defender that's guarding him and when he drives to the basket and does that stop on a dime-bump the defender off with his shoulder-then shoot the one legged 8-10 footer its a really good move for him imo. I don't know why he doesn't expand on this move like how other players exploit and cheese their best offensive moves. I think his three ball will always be 25-35% status.

Mook, Bledsoe, and Hart are looking good. Kennard had the hot start but fizzled out in the end. I was hoping he'd go for 30 in this one. Winslow is a head scratcher. Good to see him make a couple of jumpers here and there but I still don't know what to make of him. Boston might need another G League run and low key I think Keon might be ready for the main club. He can cause a lot of havoc out there. I was just hoping we'd get at least one game out of the Sons and Jazz and we got that. Not concerned at both teams would go down to defeat if we had PG and Kawhi.. maybe just PG. Only team that actually worries me in the west is Golden State.

nickhx2 · Post #40 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Dec 16, 2021 10:39 pm

winslow i think is now just productive enough offensively to stay on the court longer. his defense makes a difference. i definitely thought he was more impactful yesterday than mann. i kinda wouldn't be surprised to see him eat into more off mann's minutes.

boston has looked really marginal since the boston game. like, his shot isn't even close, so much so that i keep thinking he's gonna shoot multiple wedgies a game. in a way it's kind of a good thing to bring him down to earth a bit and let him see really early on, when your shot goes bad, it can go really bad so always keep working on other ways to impact the game. i do think another g league stint is totally fine for him, but only if paul george and batum are back on the court.