Game 27 : Los Angeles Clippers (18-8) @ Chicago Bulls (10-14) - 8:00 PM

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Something to watch for:

Tyronn Lue hopes Patrick Beverley can fix Clippers’ pick-and-roll woes

https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/story/2021-02-12/clippers-look-to-improve-pick-and-roll-defense

The Clippers hadn’t just struggled: By points allowed per possession, and the frequency with which opponents scored while running the staple of the modern NBA playbook, the Clippers rated as low as the league’s second-worst defense before Wednesday’s 119-112 win in Minnesota.

Lue has called the pick and roll “the hardest play in the game,” because stopping it requires all five defenders working in concert, rotating as if connected by one string. Yet the “drop” coverage run by the Clippers, and the way they’d stuck with it, had too often given opponents’ easy opportunities in exploiting it, said Mo Dakhil, a former NBA video coordinator with the Clippers and San Antonio Spurs.

...

“I don’t think they’re getting enough help from the guards fighting through the picks or recovering in time to release the big so they can go back to their man,” said Dakhil, who analyzes the NBA for Bleacher Report. “And I think the bigs are just way too far back, so it’s letting [guards] tee off, either from long range or just go right into a mid-range pullup. That’s something that analytics will say you’re OK giving up. But they’re also letting these guys get to the rim.”

For Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving, that buffer created an opportunity to walk into uncontested open midrange jumpers. For Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, it meant enough space to rev up his speed on drives. For Boston’s Kemba Walker, it was enough space to fire a game-winning 12-foot jumper.

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Welp, Kawhi going back to the locker room.... F.

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Now Ibaka rolls his ankle, WTF is going on here

[TheNewEra]

Everyone getting hurt

[esqtvd]

ICYMI: Clippers 14-16 w/o Beverley over last 3 seasons

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ADD: Kawhi back out there

[TheNewEra]

Keeping an eye on Sato

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On the bright side, Terance is a Mann again

[esqtvd]

Kawhi-Lou-Senior-Zu-Mann again

[TheNewEra]

Kawhi on fire

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Kawhi flexing on these guys

[TheNewEra]

They are doing a good job finding spaces to split the defense

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We need to start tracking how many fouls on 3 point shots Kennard averages a game, smh

[TheNewEra]

Kennard has to these

[TheNewEra]

White was wild for shooting that

[og15]

Lot of layups not falling

[esqtvd]

well Ty said he was gonna experiment with combinations in these 2 games

looks like G League, just like the 2nd quarter vs MINN

[TheNewEra]

Reggie threw that up like and BANG

[TheNewEra]

Kawhi refusing to lose

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Coby White is looking like a young Derrick Rose the way he's getting to the rim at will