ROUND 1, GAME 3: Clippers @ Mavs Friday 6:30PM PDT on ESPN

[esqtvd]

Of the 31 previous teams that dropped the first two games of a best-of-seven playoff series at home, only four rallied to win the series...

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“I don’t really know, I’ve never been on a team in a playoff game in an environment like this, so I can’t really tell that you answer,” said Mann, who gave the Clippers eight points and five rebounds in 15 high-energy, second-half minutes in Tuesday’s loss.

“What I do know is that we are just going to try to be locked in and ready to try to get a win.”

Expect Lue might lock in a fresh starting five to address the Clippers’ slow starts in both games, when his starters have been outscored by 27 points – a trend that has served the Mavericks well, considering they’re now 29-0 this season when leading after the first quarter.

“We talked about it,” Lue said. “We’ve seen it and now … about the starting lineup (Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, Patrick Beverley and Marcus Morris), we’re like, ‘Yeah, something needs to be done.’

“You’ll see tomorrow.”

EXCELLENT article by Mirjam Swanson--she's syndicated in all the local papers except for The Times. LOTS more here:

https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2021/05/27/clippers-face-a-test-of-character-in-game-3-against-mavericks

Expect the Clippers – who could be without veteran center Serge Ibaka, who is questionable with back spasms – also to scale back some of the intricacies of their defensive coverages, plans that led to obvious miscommunication throughout both losses, mishaps that did more to open up the floor for the Mavericks than to stifle their attack.

“Biggest thing for me is just everybody getting on the same page defensively and understanding what we are trying to do,” Lue said. “Us as coaches, or the players, we have to simplify and make it easier so we all understand what we have to do.

[Max Headrom]

Insert Reggie back in with the starters. Bev didn't deserve to come back and start. The starters had a nice rhythm with Reggie and then Rondo needs to get all of Bev minutes

[esqtvd]

Insert Reggie back in with the starters. Bev didn't deserve to come back and start. The starters had a nice rhythm with Reggie and then Rondo needs to get all of Bev minutes

Had the same thought. Bev has simply not made it back [yet] and statistically Reggie [plus/minus, NetRating, whatever] showed no falloff from Bev at his peak earlier this year.

Bev did deserve to come back and start. Never lose your job because of injury is the rule. Ty has been playing it straight by the rules of honor. But unless we tear off 3 in a row, every game from here on is a Game 7. And that includes Mann getting Bev's minutes too since Ty hates Bev and Rondo on the court together.

Bev is the odd man out. And as for the rest of the starting lineup, there's still my least favorite Clipper...

[Clemenza]

Insert Reggie back in with the starters. Bev didn't deserve to come back and start. The starters had a nice rhythm with Reggie and then Rondo needs to get all of Bev minutes

Had the same thought. Bev has simply not made it back [yet] and statistically Reggie [plus/minus, NetRating, whatever] showed no falloff from Bev at his peak earlier this year.

Bev did deserve to come back and start. Never lose your job because of injury is the rule. Ty has been playing it straight by the rules of honor. But unless we tear off 3 in a row, every game from here on is a Game 7. And that includes Mann getting Bev's minutes too since Ty hates Bev and Rondo on the court together.

Bev is the odd man out. And as for the rest of the starting lineup, there's still my least favorite Clipper...

That rule is for standouts and star players. That's not a rule that goes across the board for every single player in the league. Especially not for Pat Bev who's a role player on the tail end of his career and always struggles with injuries. It went against the flow of the team for him to come back and instantly be thrown back in as a starter while Mann had to sit.

[esqtvd]

Insert Reggie back in with the starters. Bev didn't deserve to come back and start. The starters had a nice rhythm with Reggie and then Rondo needs to get all of Bev minutes

Had the same thought. Bev has simply not made it back [yet] and statistically Reggie [plus/minus, NetRating, whatever] showed no falloff from Bev at his peak earlier this year.

Bev did deserve to come back and start. Never lose your job because of injury is the rule. Ty has been playing it straight by the rules of honor. But unless we tear off 3 in a row, every game from here on is a Game 7. And that includes Mann getting Bev's minutes too since Ty hates Bev and Rondo on the court together.

Bev is the odd man out. And as for the rest of the starting lineup, there's still my least favorite Clipper...

That rule is for standouts and star players. That's not a rule that goes across the board for every single player in the league. Especially not for Pat Bev who's a role player on the tail end of his career and always struggles with injuries. It went against the flow of the team for him to come back and instantly be thrown back in as a starter while Mann had to sit.

Pat was the starter and ran up a great winning %. And plus/minus. He is supposedly the heart and soul of this team--a team that has little of either.

Pulling the plug on Bev should be done with great reluctance. Then there's that other starter making $15M and not doing jackspit---but can you ice both of them??? Then there's Zu, who was demoted for Ibaka, who can barely suit up.

That's 3 of our 5 starters. Anybody who puts any of this on the coach should be playing the stock market or Vegas with their analytical brilliance.


It's up to the players now. Big up or go home.

[Captain Ballmer]

Pat was the starter and ran up a great winning %. And plus/minus. He is supposedly the heart and soul of this team--a team that has little of either.

Do you still think Pat is the heart and soul of this team? I think he isn't because that requires consistency to go up and down with the team, be with them in the floor and share, to have empathy and eventually influence their emotions. Ironically, Pat wasn't even on the floor most of the season to begin with inorder to complete that. OTOH, the strange thing about being the heart and soul of the team is that this role can never go blank. As soon as it's in blank next man up, the closest player have strongest will, with the team for longer period fills in and become the new guy.

I think Terrance Mann is filling that role since the first Pat Bev injury in like a month into the season. Ever since then, his bond with the rest of the team get stronger and team chemistry started to respond accordingly. The bond gets stronger with every game past. There's a reason our team looks more alive when T.Mann is on the field, and that's far beyond T. Mann's ability to go to the basket. Therefore, as long as T. Mann is on the team ... as he bonds, Pat Bev has no chance of reclaiming this role and will not be able to take it later.

We should keep Terrance on the field as much as possible, the player who gets the 3rd most minutes every night. For the rest of this series special, Pat Bev should only play when Luka is seated and his only mission is to follow Jalen Brunson for 8-10 minutes.

[esqtvd]

Pat was the starter and ran up a great winning %. And plus/minus. He is supposedly the heart and soul of this team--a team that has little of either.

Do you still think Pat is the heart and soul of this team?

No, but he was. That is the point. Who is? Who is the leader of this team now?


Even if your answer is Terance Mann [and that's as good an answer as any], even if he is our spark plug, he can hardly be expected to step off the bench as the 10th man and lead this team to the title, let's be real.

Somebody else has to step up. Um...now?

[NickP]

I want to feel good about this game but it's just not there. Dallas came in and literally spanked us at home, taunted our fans and rubbed it in. I don't know if this team has that leader it needs on the road to have that same attitude as Dallas did when they played at LA.
But I hope for the best.

[donemilio21]

We have gone into live or die with 3 point territory. Almost half of our shot are beyond the three point line and that is good when we make 41% of them like in the regular season, but in the first two games we are only shooting 32%.

We missed 3 open shots in the 4th quarter of game two. It would have been a different scenario if we made two of them.

[LamarWho]

At best a gentlemen's sweep at this point.

[NickP]

At best a gentlemen's sweep at this point.

Ugh!

[Clemenza]

Had the same thought. Bev has simply not made it back [yet] and statistically Reggie [plus/minus, NetRating, whatever] showed no falloff from Bev at his peak earlier this year.

Bev did deserve to come back and start. Never lose your job because of injury is the rule. Ty has been playing it straight by the rules of honor. But unless we tear off 3 in a row, every game from here on is a Game 7. And that includes Mann getting Bev's minutes too since Ty hates Bev and Rondo on the court together.

Bev is the odd man out. And as for the rest of the starting lineup, there's still my least favorite Clipper...

That rule is for standouts and star players. That's not a rule that goes across the board for every single player in the league. Especially not for Pat Bev who's a role player on the tail end of his career and always struggles with injuries. It went against the flow of the team for him to come back and instantly be thrown back in as a starter while Mann had to sit.

Pat was the starter and ran up a great winning %. And plus/minus. He is supposedly the heart and soul of this team--a team that has little of either.

Pulling the plug on Bev should be done with great reluctance. Then there's that other starter making $15M and not doing jackspit---but can you ice both of them??? Then there's Zu, who was demoted for Ibaka, who can barely suit up.

That's 3 of our 5 starters. Anybody who puts any of this on the coach should be playing the stock market or Vegas with their analytical brilliance.


It's up to the players now. Big up or go home.

Him being the heart & soul of the team, that ship sailed off a long time ago. He's been downhill since the bubble last season. And him as a starter was more of a stop gap fill in. Its not like he's even a B level pg like a Mike Conley or Dejonte Murray who would no doubt be your starting point guard. Him as a starting pg was an experiment and because we unfortunately didn't sign a pg in the off season like we should have. And yeah we're getting nothing out of the $110 million we gave to Morris and Kennard. The front office isn't on the same page as the coaching staff and so what were seeing taking place is pretty much accurate. Still a chance to get back into it tonight so we'll see what happens.

[og15]

Regular season: 47/47
Game 1/2: 29/18

If that changes, that's a big boost.

Can't overlook the impact of complimentary players and role players, but the Clippers are down 0-2 in large part because Dallas' players not named Luka and Porzingis are 21/37 3PT (56.8%) and the Clippers players not named Kawhi and George are 16/45 (35.6%). That's a 15 pt difference over the two games, 7.5 pts/game lost one role player three point shooting in games lost by 10 and 6, soo.....

In terms of simplifying the defense, well, let's hope it helps, the amount of communication / defensive read mistakes last game was just too many. Of course maybe those last two games of the season were good opportunities to play starters in the first half with all the games missed to injury to allow guys to work on some things. Don't care about win/lose primarily as much as playing to get real game practice time.

[Wammy Giveaway]

At this point, the Clippers are playing for a prevent sweep, a term to describe a team who wins the third game after losing the first two to prevent the 3-0 deficit and automatic loss. But there's now another reason:

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Teams come back from 2-0 most of the time, and in those situations, they end up hurting the opponent psychologically. Clippers are hoping that by winning Game 3 to prevent the automatic loss, the Mavs will be so shook over missing their chance to end any hope for the Clippers that they'll find themselves tied, the series lead shifted back to the Clippers, or reverse swept. Clippers know about missing their chance to go up 3-0 all too well, getting eliminated by Grizzlies (2013) and Blazers (2016) as a result - they could pull off a psychological sweep of their own.

But the message of winning may not get as simpler as this: they gotta win one for Jerry West.

[LamarWho]

Yes, a sweep or a gentlemen's sweep would top last years meltdown and also the one against Houston.

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[ducler]

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[Scoundreldays]

No Serge tonight, do we play small or give Boogie a shot?

[Quake Griffin]

No Serge is a problem.

Nonetheless, I've watched this franchise come down from 27 points to the Grizzlies. Our juju isn't so bad that the sports gods will prevent a come back.

GO OUT AND FIND A WAY TO **** WIN!
IDC IDC IDC IDC. I said all the bad things. I hate how we pursued Kawhi. I hate how the roster is built. IDC IDC IDC.

Win the game!

[Quake Griffin]

Pat was the starter and ran up a great winning %. And plus/minus. He is supposedly the heart and soul of this team--a team that has little of either.

Do you still think Pat is the heart and soul of this team? I think he isn't because that requires consistency to go up and down with the team, be with them in the floor and share, to have empathy and eventually influence their emotions. Ironically, Pat wasn't even on the floor most of the season to begin with inorder to complete that. OTOH, the strange thing about being the heart and soul of the team is that this role can never go blank. As soon as it's in blank next man up, the closest player have strongest will, with the team for longer period fills in and become the new guy.

I think Terrance Mann is filling that role since the first Pat Bev injury in like a month into the season. Ever since then, his bond with the rest of the team get stronger and team chemistry started to respond accordingly. The bond gets stronger with every game past. There's a reason our team looks more alive when T.Mann is on the field, and that's far beyond T. Mann's ability to go to the basket. Therefore, as long as T. Mann is on the team ... as he bonds, Pat Bev has no chance of reclaiming this role and will not be able to take it later.

We should keep Terrance on the field as much as possible, the player who gets the 3rd most minutes every night. For the rest of this series special, Pat Bev should only play when Luka is seated and his only mission is to follow Jalen Brunson for 8-10 minutes.

Pat never should have been the heart and soul of this team and that is part of what made this roster construction poor. Now that we all see he's not that good anymore, his antics don't mean as much and we are hoping "Playoff Rondo" fills the void????????

I said this about Pat from day one - no 20/20 hindsight. I've never seen a team built like this where the spirit animal/ leader is some little point guard who isn't close to being the best player on the team.

Maybe Avery Johnson was like that in 99? But it seems pretty clear Tim Duncan was just an overall phenomenal player.


IDC...Go Clippers. I don't care if the score is 6 to 5. WIN THE GAME!

[MartinToVaught]

Nonetheless, I've watched this franchise come down from 27 points to the Grizzlies. Our juju isn't so bad that the sports gods will prevent a come back.

Hard to believe that was the first playoff game of the modern Clipper era. If you asked me after that game, I'd probably tell you this franchise was going to be built for the playoffs from now on. Instead it's been a decade of redefining the word choke.