Clippers will win the series vs Suns..

[Upperclass]

Lue seems to like to do this thing where like LeBron.. he plays odd lineups and runs vanilla plays early in a series to see what the opposition has to throw at him(and also steal rest). I think the game on Tuesday he was giving rest to Batum and Morris and trying to eek out a win.

Moving forward he'll likely need to alternate playing Bev and Rondo off of the bench and go with a primary lineup of Reggie, Mann, PG, Batum/Morris and stick with Zu(though I think they should try Cousins with the starters and also PG at 4 with Rondo starting. Rondo, Reggie, Mann, PG, Zu/Cousins. Let Rondo orchestrate and spread out the Suns.

Playing Beverly in particular hasn't been a great idea vs this team as he's too erratic. Hopefully Yogi Ferrell gets a chance to play early in game 3 as he's the one small guard they have who has a shooters acumen. Lots of lesser known players have stepped up this off-season and Lue isn't afraid to tinker so we'll see.

They arent going to stop Ayton so the best thing to do would be to pull him out of the paint on O and let him score 2's on D and keep the ball out of Booker's hands as much as possible.

[NippySudz]

I applaud your optimism. I just hope we see no more boogie. Boogie shouldn't be in the playoff rotation. At all. Boogie is not fast, he's not big. Leave it alone.

He will get PnR to death and get switched on to faster guards which he cannot guard.

[mttwlsn16]

If we don't take both games in LA then we're done. We can do it, but Phoenix is a lot tougher matchup than Den or Utah imo. The Suns do everything well and we have nobody to match up with Ayton. He's a hell of a lot more versatile than Boban/KP/Gobert.

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[KL78192020]

The only thing is George looked gassed at the end of the last game, probably why he missed those free throws, and without Kawhi he might not have enough to get it done.

[og15]

Lue is not deliberately trying to mess around, he's legitimately looking for lineups that work, and he's also been trying to get guys some rest. George is been doing the solo star gig for 4 games now and that's in the midst of playing every other day for 13 games.

So it's a tough situation, things aren't in the Clippers favor in this one, but if they take game 3 and 4, well, let's go!

[MartinToVaught]

I wish I could agree with the optimism, but failing to steal either of the past two games feels insurmountable without Kawhi and Ibaka and with the rest of the team running on fumes. It's impossible to underestimate how badly Lue screwed up with those Rondo/Cousins lineups.

Best-case scenario is that we win tonight (which will probably take an insanely hot shooting night from our entire team, Rondo and Cousins getting benched, and CP3 looking rusty), Kawhi comes back for Game 4, and it's an entirely different series from there. The odds of all that happening are slim to none. And even if it does, there's still a very good chance that those bricked free throws come back to bite us in the ass anyway.

At this point, I just want to avoid getting swept. That would be an awful way to end our best season ever. Winning the series would obviously be amazing but it's not a realistic expectation right now.

[clipperlover]

The only thing is George looked gassed at the end of the last game, probably why he missed those free throws, and without Kawhi he might not have enough to get it done.

Mann committing the 3 shooting fouls early in the 4th forced Lue to go back to PG sooner than he wanted. I expect Mann to be much better going forward. I remember how he responded in the Dallas series to not taking the shot under the hoop and how he responded in the Utah series when he passed up an open 3 because he missed his prior shot. In each case, his teammates pushed were there to keep help him put it behind him.

[clipperlover]

I wish I could agree with the optimism, but failing to steal either of the past two games feels insurmountable without Kawhi and Ibaka and with the rest of the team running on fumes. It's impossible to underestimate how badly Lue screwed up with those Rondo/Cousins lineups.

Best-case scenario is that we win tonight (which will probably take an insanely hot shooting night from our entire team, Rondo and Cousins getting benched, and CP3 looking rusty), Kawhi comes back for Game 4, and it's an entirely different series from there. The odds of all that happening are slim to none. And even if it does, there's still a very good chance that those bricked free throws come back to bite us in the ass anyway.

At this point, I just want to avoid getting swept. That would be an awful way to end our best season ever. Winning the series would obviously be amazing but it's not a realistic expectation right now.

There are NO guarantees in the playoffs. Phoenix is riding high now, but any one of their core players could get injured in the next game and totally deflate their confidence. Injuries are a part of the game and you are either strong enough as a team to overcome them or you succumb to them. I think we have played fairly well despite Kawhi's injury. Sure CP3 was out, but the Suns played knowing he was coming back. All we can do is keep fighting.

[Clemenza]

Clipps in 6 and its starts tonight!!

[Upperclass]

I wish I could agree with the optimism, but failing to steal either of the past two games feels insurmountable without Kawhi and Ibaka and with the rest of the team running on fumes. It's impossible to underestimate how badly Lue screwed up with those Rondo/Cousins lineups.

Best-case scenario is that we win tonight (which will probably take an insanely hot shooting night from our entire team, Rondo and Cousins getting benched, and CP3 looking rusty), Kawhi comes back for Game 4, and it's an entirely different series from there. The odds of all that happening are slim to none. And even if it does, there's still a very good chance that those bricked free throws come back to bite us in the ass anyway.

At this point, I just want to avoid getting swept. That would be an awful way to end our best season ever. Winning the series would obviously be amazing but it's not a realistic expectation right now.

Chris Paul is alot closer to Doc Rivers than people will want to admit.. So we'll seee

[Wammy Giveaway]

At this point, I just want to avoid getting swept. That would be an awful way to end our best season ever. Winning the series would obviously be amazing but it's not a realistic expectation right now.

The only thing that matters is if Clippers lose Game 3, it's all over. No team has ever come back from down 3-0 in a playoff series. It doesn't mean they'll get swept, however. They can get a free game in Game 4, maybe steal a road game in Game 5. Only three times in NBA history have teams come back to draw a Game 7 after being down 3-0.

This is just my guess, but I think about 50% of the time when a team is down 3-0, the losing team will get Game 4, the premise being that the winning team wants to advance in front of the home crowd. This becomes truer for conference finals and NBA Finals, you want to celebrate the victory at home.

I know how you feel, Martin. The Clippers getting swept will be a bad look. But I'm not here to ask you about that. If they lose in Game 3, do you think they make massive changes to their roster? Lue may get the Doc treatment (in reference to where Doc Rivers carried the Clippers out of the Sterling scandal in 1st round vs. Warriors), but it may get short lived or otherwise delegated. Maybe the Clippers finally accept that parity is a pipe dream and decide to acquire a third superstar to have themselves a True Big 3. Maybe they change the coach because they don't need miracles anymore. Can't see them going into a rebuilding/tanking season anymore, not with a first ever self-created back-to-back 2-0 comeback to make their first ever conference finals. For example, they need massive help with their closing game, and a Sudden Death shooter. For superstars, get Damian Lillard. For coach, I'll let you have that one.

[madmaxmedia]

There's no way they're moving on from Lue no matter what happens the rest of the series.

[Forte IV]

Coming into the matchup, I thought PHX was weaker than Utah. I thought this could be a quick 4-5 me series if we were being honest. But that was with Kawhi. I'm optimistic, but it's going to be alot harder with Kawhi out. If it's just a "minor" knee sprain thats 2 weeks minimum and its been what? A week?

[Forte IV]

I applaud your optimism. I just hope we see no more boogie. Boogie shouldn't be in the playoff rotation. At all. Boogie is not fast, he's not big. Leave it alone.

He will get PnR to death and get switched on to faster guards which he cannot guard.

The Boogie stuff just looked like Lue was buying time for PG. It was Rondo dribble for 10-15 seconds, then post up Boogie for the last bit of time. Every time down the floor. I'm hoping he moves away from it and gets T Mann and Batum back to their normal minutes.

[nickhx2]

good article on lue from espn. confirms some things we knew (in his confidence and ability to adjust). talks about some other things, too.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31696863/2021-nba-playoffs-2-0-once-again-la-clippers-secret-weapon-ty-lue

[esqtvd]

I applaud your optimism. I just hope we see no more boogie. Boogie shouldn't be in the playoff rotation. At all. Boogie is not fast, he's not big. Leave it alone.

He will get PnR to death and get switched on to faster guards which he cannot guard.

The Boogie stuff just looked like Lue was buying time for PG. It was Rondo dribble for 10-15 seconds, then post up Boogie for the last bit of time. Every time down the floor. I'm hoping he moves away from it and gets T Mann and Batum back to their normal minutes.

I've always thought that would be a good idea with a garbage bench--milk the clock while you're out there bleeding points. Slow the flow.

[Upperclass]

Suns are toast FYI. They will have a tough decision to make in the off-season when their highpoint of the series was with Cameron Payne and not Chris Paul

[SunsRback4Good]

Suns are toast FYI. They will have a tough decision to make in the off-season when their highpoint of the series was with Cameron Payne and not Chris Paul

Haha buddy, good one. We'll see if you will be singing the same tune after game 4. You guys played great while Suns underestimated your team along with Book & CP3 shooting 25% fg. That wont happen next game. Enjoy the win for next 48 hours but be prepared for next game.

[MartinToVaught]

You guys played great while Suns underestimated your team

The Suns barely won the first two games by the skin of their teeth. If they were still underestimating the Clippers even after needing an absolute miracle to win Game 2, then Monty should be fired immediately, because that's not just coaching malpractice, it's delusion.

[ClipsSince95]

Suns are toast FYI. They will have a tough decision to make in the off-season when their highpoint of the series was with Cameron Payne and not Chris Paul

Haha buddy, good one. We'll see if you will be singing the same tune after game 4. You guys played great while Suns underestimated your team along with Book & CP3 shooting 25% fg. That wont happen next game. Enjoy the win for next 48 hours but be prepared for next game.

Long time lurker, first time poster. I come from the remnants of the old Scout board, which I miss dearly.

This is a thinking man’s forum for real Clippers fans, not a low brow, knuckle dragging trash talk ring. Might I remind you that like the Clippers, the Suns are a pathetic franchise that have never won a chip. I recommend you delete your account after CP3 continues to amaze you with his WCF FG%, and we erase you from the playoffs.

Later bro!