GAME 42: Clippers (26-15) @ Mavs (20-18)—NOTE TIME: Wednesday 6:30PM PDT

[Clemenza]

Ty Lue like screw it im not playing any of you three (Lou/Luke/Reggie)

Hopefully, finally, dreadfully The FO sees the necessity of a playmaker right? Right?

I'm sick of this easy layuops- open threes other teams playmakers generates for their Klebers, Richardson, Hardaway's while our wing rotations have to beat their man all game to create some isos or open threes that opponents generally let you take

I’m just hoping Kennard doesn’t go back to bad habits when he does play because he’s scared of getting benched. This has been poor development by Lue and the front office if we are being honest. Lou should of been gone as soon as Luke came on board but yet again in clippers fashion we bring in another young player that fits poorly with the 6th man.

Last game he played he moved around like he wanted to play and be impactful.

Yeah its been some bad development all around. Look at Kabengele, he finally gets in the game for garbage time and he instantly has to prove that he can make threes.. why? Should've molded him into a defender/rebounder and maybe add threes to his game later on down the line. But nope he's got to be Blake Griffin Lite right out the gate. Now his confidence is shot, out of the rotation, and his option isn't going to be picked up. Crazy

[RingColluder]

Gallo was trash.. even trash in the "gritty" series against Golden State. And he's washed up in Atlanta. Cut the crap. I used to follow Trez on Twitter until he jumped ship. May his grandma RIP but he was gettin into sh*t with Instagram hoes and crying all season long with those 'woe is me' tweets.. the same **** he's doing now with the Lakers. Trez was Klutch and leaking locker room info to the media. And I liked dude too even though Doc should've had him on the bench against Jokic. I'm pro Clippers not pro to any player like you guys are. Call it fair and square. Love SGA and it sucked that we traded dude. But ya'll can't keep sucking him off when our star player, the one who gets all the passes, is the one who shipped him out of town. Come on now

I don't care how woe is me Trez is, he made this team better and that's all that matters, chemistry be damned. And I'm pro Clippers too, but I'm not going to be pro PG just for the sake of being "Pro Clippers" when he's ruining the team. I'll live with Reggie, Lou, etc bc their roles and cap aren't as much.

And yes, Kawhi at this moment in time is paid to play basketball not GM. He made a bad mistake trading for PG, but there's nothing we can do about it now other than loco at how he plays the game of basketball which he is doing at the best of his abilities given the teammates around him.

If this is the case then why the "I wish we still had SGA and Gallo" posts nonstop? I ripped PG in the bubble, the shot against the backboard, his confessions and constant yapping to the media, his cold streaks, etc. But I'm not going to say he sucked tonight just to keep a narrative going. I'm trying to call a fair one and keep it straight down the middle as far as the team goes. I'll rip Kawhi if something needs to be said even though that seems to be a no no for most of you. I love that he's here and I'm hoping we get at least a Finals appearance but its whatever with me. If he were to bounce then so be it. I'm still a fan of the team no matter what. Plus ya'll don't really want to get deep and realize that Michael Porter Jr should've been on this team and OKC would've had to pick between SGA or MPJ or take both and we keep our picks. And we still have our first rounder in this upcoming draft. Ya'll should leave that PG/SGA trade alone and move forward

I get that, but PG did not play good today again. He can't have these awful passing TO's that lead to easy baskets and these 20 second isos where he ends up throwing a brick .. and again lead to easy baskets as a max player. That's why I'm most pissed off with him and Kennard. They are hogging up cap space that could have been used elsewhere, particularly PG.

I'll rip Kawhi when he plays selfishly or lazy on defense, but that's just not the type of player he is. PG is a stat padder and Kawhi is the antithesis of that. He just wants to win. PG wants to win HIS way, as evidenced by how his play style changes whenever it's a national game or a "big game" or in the playoffs.

[RingColluder]

And none of that was for the Clippers. Ya'll gonna give him a pass and he might f*ck around and bolt after this year is up while giving us nothing.. then what? F*ck the passes given. Deliver some sh*t for the B squad in LA!! I'm not coming until another star is coming with me so get it done, no leadership, load management all last season, no big games where he carries the team. Love that Kawhi is on the team but come on now. How long is the admiration going to last for the sh*t that he did with San Antonio and Toronto? Go ahead and rip PG when he's trash like the first Dallas game, I'll rip him too. But if you ripping him for this game and everybody else gets a pass then ya'll on some other weirdo agenda sh*t. But carry on

Nice try at dialogue but don't even, bro.

Fact is, Kawhi is a strange cat and can't be plugged into any equation. He's not a LeBron, an aircraft carrier where you just put some fighters and bombers on his deck and cruise into battle.

With Kawhi, you throw him in with a bunch of other guys and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. An aging Duncan and Parker or Lowry and a bunch of kids. Kawhi will be the first to tell you he doesn't know how he does what he does. Go out there and hump. I got no advice for you and no secrets and no rah-rah. Play hard and play smart. Pick your spots because NOBODY can play 100% 100% of the time. That's it and that's all.

Ironically Kawhi was in the perfect role and squad with the Raptors. This was just a horrible fit and anytime you add two superstars of the same position it just doesn't work it seems.

[Clemenza]

I don't care how woe is me Trez is, he made this team better and that's all that matters, chemistry be damned. And I'm pro Clippers too, but I'm not going to be pro PG just for the sake of being "Pro Clippers" when he's ruining the team. I'll live with Reggie, Lou, etc bc their roles and cap aren't as much.

And yes, Kawhi at this moment in time is paid to play basketball not GM. He made a bad mistake trading for PG, but there's nothing we can do about it now other than loco at how he plays the game of basketball which he is doing at the best of his abilities given the teammates around him.

If this is the case then why the "I wish we still had SGA and Gallo" posts nonstop? I ripped PG in the bubble, the shot against the backboard, his confessions and constant yapping to the media, his cold streaks, etc. But I'm not going to say he sucked tonight just to keep a narrative going. I'm trying to call a fair one and keep it straight down the middle as far as the team goes. I'll rip Kawhi if something needs to be said even though that seems to be a no no for most of you. I love that he's here and I'm hoping we get at least a Finals appearance but its whatever with me. If he were to bounce then so be it. I'm still a fan of the team no matter what. Plus ya'll don't really want to get deep and realize that Michael Porter Jr should've been on this team and OKC would've had to pick between SGA or MPJ or take both and we keep our picks. And we still have our first rounder in this upcoming draft. Ya'll should leave that PG/SGA trade alone and move forward

I get that, but PG did not play good today again. He can't have these awful passing TO's that lead to easy baskets and these 20 second isos where he ends up throwing a brick .. and again lead to easy baskets as a max player. That's why I'm most pissed off with him and Kennard. They are hogging up cap space that could have been used elsewhere, particularly PG.

I'll rip Kawhi when he plays selfishly or lazy on defense, but that's just not the type of player he is. PG is a stat padder and Kawhi is the antithesis of that. He just wants to win. PG wants to win HIS way, as evidenced by how his play style changes whenever it's a national game or a "big game" or in the playoffs.

A couple of turnovers but PG had a nice game tonight. He sucked against the Pels and the first game against the Mavs but he played well tonight.. honest opinion. No homer, no agenda. He's also having a pretty good season and yes his post season play is a different topic. The real issue with this team is that there's not youth infused with the vets. Bad drafts, no development, Kabengele and Kennard not working out, still dependent on Lou Will and Reggie in the backcourt. Not one pg or big man being groomed, etc. That's the real freaking issue but ya'll stay on that bullsh*t copy and paste posts after every loss. But we see things differently. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Have at it

[RingColluder]

If this is the case then why the "I wish we still had SGA and Gallo" posts nonstop? I ripped PG in the bubble, the shot against the backboard, his confessions and constant yapping to the media, his cold streaks, etc. But I'm not going to say he sucked tonight just to keep a narrative going. I'm trying to call a fair one and keep it straight down the middle as far as the team goes. I'll rip Kawhi if something needs to be said even though that seems to be a no no for most of you. I love that he's here and I'm hoping we get at least a Finals appearance but its whatever with me. If he were to bounce then so be it. I'm still a fan of the team no matter what. Plus ya'll don't really want to get deep and realize that Michael Porter Jr should've been on this team and OKC would've had to pick between SGA or MPJ or take both and we keep our picks. And we still have our first rounder in this upcoming draft. Ya'll should leave that PG/SGA trade alone and move forward

I get that, but PG did not play good today again. He can't have these awful passing TO's that lead to easy baskets and these 20 second isos where he ends up throwing a brick .. and again lead to easy baskets as a max player. That's why I'm most pissed off with him and Kennard. They are hogging up cap space that could have been used elsewhere, particularly PG.

I'll rip Kawhi when he plays selfishly or lazy on defense, but that's just not the type of player he is. PG is a stat padder and Kawhi is the antithesis of that. He just wants to win. PG wants to win HIS way, as evidenced by how his play style changes whenever it's a national game or a "big game" or in the playoffs.

A couple of turnovers but PG had a nice game tonight. He sucked against the Pels and the first game against the Mavs but he played well tonight.. honest opinion. No homer, no agenda. He's also having a pretty good season and yes his post season play is a different topic. The real issue with this team is that there's not youth infused with the vets. Bad drafts, no development, Kabengele and Kennard not working out, still dependent on Lou Will and Reggie in the backcourt. Not one pg or big man being groomed, etc. That's the real freaking issue but ya'll stay on that bullsh*t copy and paste posts after every loss. But we see things differently. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Have at it

And a couple of bad shots that led to easy baskets as well where everyone in the crowd and at home knew PG was shooting it no matter what. I've soured a lot on PG given his attitude and play since last year, he's just not worth it. He was having a pretty good season since the last 10-15 games or so, and now it looks like the PG I knew is back again. Most of it is his mindset and ball dominance which is fixable which is the most frustrating part.


And yeah our depth is atrocious as well. We need a PG and a big, so there's lots of blame to go around. I thought the issue before was me bashing Zu all the time? But I liked him the last 2 games and I gave him props. No homer, no agenda.


A lot of issues I think get solved had we just had a competent PG and George doesn't need to have the ball so much. But we don't which is exposing him. Not sure what else to do. It's very frustrating especially bc this would have been a fantastic win coming off last game against the Mavs. Now it feels like just more of the same with us not being able to make the right adjustments against good teams.

[Clemenza]

I get that, but PG did not play good today again. He can't have these awful passing TO's that lead to easy baskets and these 20 second isos where he ends up throwing a brick .. and again lead to easy baskets as a max player. That's why I'm most pissed off with him and Kennard. They are hogging up cap space that could have been used elsewhere, particularly PG.

I'll rip Kawhi when he plays selfishly or lazy on defense, but that's just not the type of player he is. PG is a stat padder and Kawhi is the antithesis of that. He just wants to win. PG wants to win HIS way, as evidenced by how his play style changes whenever it's a national game or a "big game" or in the playoffs.

A couple of turnovers but PG had a nice game tonight. He sucked against the Pels and the first game against the Mavs but he played well tonight.. honest opinion. No homer, no agenda. He's also having a pretty good season and yes his post season play is a different topic. The real issue with this team is that there's not youth infused with the vets. Bad drafts, no development, Kabengele and Kennard not working out, still dependent on Lou Will and Reggie in the backcourt. Not one pg or big man being groomed, etc. That's the real freaking issue but ya'll stay on that bullsh*t copy and paste posts after every loss. But we see things differently. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Have at it

And a couple of bad shots that led to easy baskets as well where everyone in the crowd and at home knew PG was shooting it no matter what. I've soured a lot on PG given his attitude and play since last year, he's just not worth it. He was having a pretty good season since the last 10-15 games or so, and now it looks like the PG I knew is back again. Most of it is his mindset and ball dominance which is fixable which is the most frustrating part.


And yeah our depth is atrocious as well. We need a PG and a big, so there's lots of blame to go around. I thought the issue before was me bashing Zu all the time? But I liked him the last 2 games and I gave him props. No homer, no agenda.


A lot of issues I think get solved had we just had a competent PG and George doesn't need to have the ball so much. But we don't which is exposing him. Not sure what else to do. It's very frustrating especially bc this would have been a fantastic win coming off last game against the Mavs. Now it feels like just more of the same with us not being able to make the right adjustments against good teams.

Fair enough.. With Kawhi, I just want to see one of those "blackout games" man. That 35-40 point, 10 boards, 4 steals- put the team on your back games. I really haven't seen one of those from him. Like one of those games that gives you hope like, "Ok if push comes to shove this dude is going to do some damage if he gets backed into a corner. We're going to be ok." I haven't seen that from him yet in the year and a half he's been with us. Steph, Durant, Bron, Lillard, Bradley Beal, Luka, Giannis, Embiid, Jokic, etc. all these dudes have a game like that at least once out of every three to four games or so. I get ripping PG when he's trash but the chosen one ain't really that convincing either to keep it a buck. Give us what we've been waiting for. Show these dudes who's the boss at least once in a while!

[esqtvd]

And none of that was for the Clippers. Ya'll gonna give him a pass and he might f*ck around and bolt after this year is up while giving us nothing.. then what? F*ck the passes given. Deliver some sh*t for the B squad in LA!! I'm not coming until another star is coming with me so get it done, no leadership, load management all last season, no big games where he carries the team. Love that Kawhi is on the team but come on now. How long is the admiration going to last for the sh*t that he did with San Antonio and Toronto? Go ahead and rip PG when he's trash like the first Dallas game, I'll rip him too. But if you ripping him for this game and everybody else gets a pass then ya'll on some other weirdo agenda sh*t. But carry on

Nice try at dialogue but don't even, bro.

Fact is, Kawhi is a strange cat and can't be plugged into any equation. He's not a LeBron, an aircraft carrier where you just put some fighters and bombers on his deck and cruise into battle.

With Kawhi, you throw him in with a bunch of other guys and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. An aging Duncan and Parker or Lowry and a bunch of kids. Kawhi will be the first to tell you he doesn't know how he does what he does. Go out there and hump. I got no advice for you and no secrets and no rah-rah. Play hard and play smart. Pick your spots because NOBODY can play 100% 100% of the time. That's it and that's all.

I feel that but there's too many agendas on here and too many passes given. I'm more of a "trust the process" guy but we pulled the Lakers/Brooklyn move and went all in with star power and now we're trying to figure it out. Everybody is on eggshells with Kawhi but non of his accomplishments is Clipper related. And that aging Parker/Duncan and Lowery was everything for him. They played the leadership foundational roles and Kawhi got to be himself and shine. We need a leader so Kawhi, PG, and company can do their thing

Our won/loss record with and without Beverley is bizarre, but there it is.

[RingColluder]

I'd like to ask everyone looking at these 2 games if you'd feel confident playing the Mavericks in a 7 game series? Because I certainly don't.

[Roscoe Sheed]

I'd like to ask everyone looking at these 2 games if you'd feel confident playing the Mavericks in a 7 game series? Because I certainly don't.

Remember- both Bev and Ibaka were out. Bev in particular can make an impact in a Mavs match up.

If Dallas plays like they did last night, nobody has to be happy to be matched up with them. However, as good as Doncic is- he usually doesn't shoot like that on a consistent basis. Richardson also had a very good game as did Hardaway. Meanwhile, the Clippers were off from the perimeter except for PG. I don't expect Morris to go 1-9 from 3 again.

At full strength, I still like the Clippers chances. However, Dallas does seem extra motivated against the Clippers due to last year's playoffs- so it would be vital that the Clippers match their intensity- that's where Bev is very important. Bev can also be pesky around Doncic for a few possessions here and there. If they are matched up, I'd hope Lou Williams hardly plays or is traded by then, because he was completely awful last night.

At this point, I just want the Clippers to make the playoffs. The way things are going, they would be unlikely to match up in the playoffs anyway because both will have subpar records. Perhaps they'll have to match up in the tournament play in though- unfortunate but possibly true considering how poorly the Clippers have been playing in recent weeks

[TheNewEra]

I'd like to ask everyone looking at these 2 games if you'd feel confident playing the Mavericks in a 7 game series? Because I certainly don't.

Remember- both Bev and Ibaka were out. Bev in particular can make an impact in a Mavs match up.

If Dallas plays like they did last night, nobody has to be happy to be matched up with them. However, as good as Doncic is- he usually doesn't shoot like that on a consistent basis. Richardson also had a very good game as did Hardaway. Meanwhile, the Clippers were off from the perimeter except for PG. I don't expect Morris to go 1-9 from 3 again.

At full strength, I still like the Clippers chances. However, Dallas does seem extra motivated against the Clippers due to last year's playoffs- so it would be vital that the Clippers match their intensity- that's where Bev is very important. Bev can also be pesky around Doncic for a few possessions here and there. If they are matched up, I'd hope Lou Williams hardly plays or is traded by then, because he was completely awful last night.

At this point, I just want the Clippers to make the playoffs. The way things are going, they would be unlikely to match up in the playoffs anyway because both will have subpar records. Perhaps they'll have to match up in the tournament play in though- unfortunate but possibly true considering how poorly the Clippers have been playing in recent weeks

On the flip side the Mavs have to feel very confident winning with only getting 11 points from KP

[madmaxmedia]

At the end of the day, our team is essentially stuck in the same place as last year. We have talent but we are again not greater than the sum of the parts, which is often what separates the real title contenders from other stacked but ultimately lesser teams.

We made a coaching change, seemed to realize the problem with star treatment last season, and swapped out a fair number of parts to try to build a more cohesive team. I think we had the right intent behind all of it, but we're still not clicking.

Kawhi and Paul George and 2 great 2-way players and IMO are trying their best to win, but on the floor they don't naturally make each other's job easier. I don't think it's due to selfishness or lack of effort, they just aren't a natural tandem combo. Neither is really a great team initiator, and they're not an inside/outside or big/small type pair where they can feed off each other. They trade possessions more than anything and it's not going to work in the playoffs, again. If either of them decides to try to carry the team in a big game, they're just as likely to go 6-20 and stall the offense than to go lights out and score 36 on the same 20 shots. Kawhi is typically more consistent night-to-night but their season averages are pretty close.

The counter example that comes to my mind is Lebron and AD. Simply by being on the floor together they draw attention and make things easier for each other, and that becomes a great base to build on. I thought Kawhi and PG would create enough gravity and attention by opposing defenses that would open up the floor for each other and everyone else, but that's not what I see.

I'm ignoring defense here which is just as important of course, and we seem to be underachieving there as well.

I mentioned this earlier, but the worst part of the Paul George trade is that it left us no wiggle room to make significant adjustments. So now it's just like the Lob City days where we were pinning each offseason's hopes on MLE signings, marginal trades, etc. The talent level on this team is better, but up to this point the Lob City team actually delivered better bang for the buck (coming within a game of WCF.)

[esqtvd]

At the end of the day, our team is essentially stuck in the same place as last year. We have talent but we are again not greater than the sum of the parts, which is often what separates the real title contenders from other stacked but ultimately lesser teams.

We made a coaching change, seemed to realize the problem with star treatment last season, and swapped out a fair number of parts to try to build a more cohesive team. I think we had the right intent behind all of it, but we're still not clicking.

Kawhi and Paul George and 2 great 2-way players and IMO are trying their best to win, but on the floor they don't naturally make each other's job easier. I don't think it's due to selfishness or lack of effort, they just aren't a natural tandem combo. Neither is really a great team initiator, and they're not an inside/outside or big/small type pair where they can feed off each other. They trade possessions more than anything and it's not going to work in the playoffs, again.

VERY good point. Same as Lob City--in fact, in the half-court Kawhi and Blake play down by the left block and CP and PG like to hang out above the elbow on the right. They alternate possessions rather than feed each other.

Time to break out the triangle...?

[BenchOnaQUEST]

Btw, let's not allow anything distract us from the fact that those grey uniforms are so UGLY!!!!

[Clemenza]

Btw, let's not allow anything distract us from the fact that those grey uniforms are so UGLY!!!!

They were bad but made ten times worse going up against that Mavs green. That was actually another factor in the game as both teams had trouble making out who's who on the court.

-If its an extra uni involved, what does it take to get a old school "Clippers in cursive" jersey? Every team incorporates a little old school somewhere in their present day jerseys and wording. I don't know why we can't do the same