Game #62: KINGS @ Clippers Friday 2/24 7:30 PM

[esqtvd]

Agree Russ was a positive last night.

PG is so hard to root for sometimes. Find myself screaming at the tv when he has those stupid mental turnovers. But have to give him credit for his scoring & all around game. Wish he could figure it out.

Don’t you guys wonder what exactly Kawhi is thinking when PG has those lapses? Straight up poker face but cost us the game and a great performance wasted

Bingo. It's always Ty Lue, T-Mann and Marcus Morris over and over but it's really all up to one man.

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[nickhx2]

i always wonder what kawhi thinks about his teammates when they let him down over and over and over again like they have been. i kinda just assume he is just indexing them as weak and puny humans and moves on.

compare that to a guy like cp3, though, who is almost certainly contemplating if there are laws that allow for legal murder on national tv. his style certainly gets old and grates away on his teammates, but man you sure wish kawhi had some of that so he could put paul george in his place.

[Scoundreldays]

i always wonder what kawhi thinks about his teammates when they let him down over and over and over again like they have been. i kinda just assume he is just indexing them as weak and puny humans and moves on.

compare that to a guy like cp3, though, who is almost certainly contemplating if there are laws that allow for legal murder on national tv. his style certainly gets old and grates away on his teammates, but man you sure wish kawhi had some of that so he could put paul george in his place.

I wish Kawhi would get mad at PG when he tries to take the final possession like Kyrie did with Tatum a few years back.

I know I have been very critical the last few hours on PG but when plays in his zone he is great. Problem is he always tries to do extra.

[nickhx2]

me too but then probably kawhi is smart enough to know he's the one who asked to play with paul george, forcing the clips to make the trade to begin with.

seems like he fully knows you get what you pay for

[esqtvd]

me too but then probably kawhi is smart enough to know he's the one who asked to play with paul george, forcing the clips to make the trade to begin with.

seems like he fully knows you get what you pay for

Spot on--Was thinking the same thing. All Kawhi Leonard ever wanted was to be Scottie Pippen, a Hall of Famer. Better than Scottie Pippen. Or even a Shaq to somebody else's Kobe.

But they keep asking Kawhi to be Michael Jordan. Or Kobe. But that's not Kawhi. He does not have that competitive fire in the belly to go out and dominate not only every game, but every practice and even his own teammates as well. And win every golf outing and card game in the clubhouse. That's why he asked for another "superstar," and unfortunately, Paul George was the best we could come up with.

Paul George is not a Jordan or Kobe. In fact, Kawhi's asking more out of PG than HE's capable of.

ENTER: John Wall
EXIT: John Wall

ENTER: Russell Westbrook.

[NickP]

me too but then probably kawhi is smart enough to know he's the one who asked to play with paul george, forcing the clips to make the trade to begin with.

seems like he fully knows you get what you pay for

Spot on--Was thinking the same thing. All Kawhi Leonard ever wanted was to be Scottie Pippen, a Hall of Famer. Better than Scottie Pippen. Or even a Shaq to somebody else's Kobe.

But they keep asking Kawhi to be Michael Jordan. Or Kobe. But that's not Kawhi. He does not have that competitive fire in the belly to go out and dominate not only every game, but every practice and even his own teammates as well. And win every golf outing and card game in the clubhouse. That's why he asked for another "superstar," and unfortunately, Paul George was the best we could come up with.

Paul George is not a Jordan or Kobe. In fact, Kawhi's asking more out of PG than HE's capable of.

ENTER: John Wall
EXIT: John Wall

ENTER: Russell Westbrook.

Really? Kawhi wanted to be Pippen? Where do you get this? Kawhi wanted a second star scorer on the team because every team he competed against was stacked. You definitely know how to weave yarns.

[ERClips]

Just to further appreciate what Kawhi did last night & his game in general. His shots are almost all mid range fade away jumpers against tough defense with a hand in his face off a 360 spin! Seriously hard work for 2 points. Yeah his shot is flat sometimes but damn he’s good

[esqtvd]

me too but then probably kawhi is smart enough to know he's the one who asked to play with paul george, forcing the clips to make the trade to begin with.

seems like he fully knows you get what you pay for

Spot on--Was thinking the same thing. All Kawhi Leonard ever wanted was to be Scottie Pippen, a Hall of Famer. Better than Scottie Pippen. Or even a Shaq to somebody else's Kobe.

But they keep asking Kawhi to be Michael Jordan. Or Kobe. But that's not Kawhi. He does not have that competitive fire in the belly to go out and dominate not only every game, but every practice and even his own teammates as well. And win every golf outing and card game in the clubhouse. That's why he asked for another "superstar," and unfortunately, Paul George was the best we could come up with.

Paul George is not a Jordan or Kobe. In fact, Kawhi's asking more out of PG than HE's capable of.

ENTER: John Wall
EXIT: John Wall

ENTER: Russell Westbrook.

Really? Kawhi wanted to be Pippen? Where do you get this? Kawhi wanted a second star scorer on the team because every team he competed against was stacked. You definitely know how to weave yarns.

well he got PG lol

and you haters hate him too so what do you want from me

[zuju]

Lakers fan coming in peace.

Good to see Westbrook happy again and delivered in debut game against a good team. He was professional all the time with us. The misfit did not affect his professionalism a bit.

Thank you for what he had done with us and wish him all the best with the Clippers.

[esqtvd]

Lakers fan coming in peace.

Good to see Westbrook happy again and delivered in debut game against a good team. He was professional all the time with us. The misfit did not affect his professionalism a bit.

Thank you for what he had done with us and wish him all the best with the Clippers.

Lakers is a dirty word here but this was real class, bro.

[MartinToVaught]

This is mind-boggling:

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Even a mediocre coach would have superglued Morris to the bench by now. Seriously, what does he do out there besides getting cardio and fouls?

Lue is just as inept as I feared he would be when we hired him.

[TrueLAfan]

It’s about more than just rebounding—but, yeah. At a certain point, Marcus’s rebounding weakness is costing us across the board. I really think one of the reasons we picked Westbrook was that he rebounds so well. Put it this way; we’re a good to very good rebounding team that gets pulled down to average by Mook. That’s a problem.

I’m torn about PG. He looks worse than he is. He’s a 24-6-5 guy that plays good to very good defense. His TS% is close to 60%; he’s very very efficient. He turns the ball over too much and makes some boneheaded turnovers, but I have to wonder if Bulls and Celtics fans are screaming about Zach LaVine’s and Jayson Tatum’s lousy passing as much as Clipper fans bitch about PG—they’ve got pretty much identical A/TO ratios. We’re 27-18 when he plays and 6-11 when he’s out. I want him to play better, sure—but, mainly, I want him to play more. He’s missed 17 games. If he had missed 9 fewer games, and we had gone 6-3 instead of 3-6, we’d be third in the conference and breathing down the Grizz necks.

But that hasn’t happened. We’re never all on the court at the same time. We lack cohesiveness and will. I kinda agree with esqtvd that we’re auditioning players for the playoffs—but Sacramento is basically even with us in the standings. That was a game to make a statement and we didn’t do it.

[NickP]

Spot on--Was thinking the same thing. All Kawhi Leonard ever wanted was to be Scottie Pippen, a Hall of Famer. Better than Scottie Pippen. Or even a Shaq to somebody else's Kobe.

But they keep asking Kawhi to be Michael Jordan. Or Kobe. But that's not Kawhi. He does not have that competitive fire in the belly to go out and dominate not only every game, but every practice and even his own teammates as well. And win every golf outing and card game in the clubhouse. That's why he asked for another "superstar," and unfortunately, Paul George was the best we could come up with.

Paul George is not a Jordan or Kobe. In fact, Kawhi's asking more out of PG than HE's capable of.

ENTER: John Wall
EXIT: John Wall

ENTER: Russell Westbrook.

Really? Kawhi wanted to be Pippen? Where do you get this? Kawhi wanted a second star scorer on the team because every team he competed against was stacked. You definitely know how to weave yarns.

well he got PG lol

and you haters hate him too so what do you want from me

Want from you? Stop creating stories out of thin air, like Kawhi wants to be nothing more than Pippen.
I'd take your hating on Mann over the fake narratives you constantly create.

[LamarWho]

If you been a Clippers fan long enough, you'll know who the og rebounding machine is. MMSr has officially taken that torch.

[TrueLAfan]

Starting to move into personal attacks here--ease up on that, everyone.

[esqtvd]

When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.

[esqtvd]

It’s about more than just rebounding—but, yeah. At a certain point, Marcus’s rebounding weakness is costing us across the board. I really think one of the reasons we picked Westbrook was that he rebounds so well. Put it this way; we’re a good to very good rebounding team that gets pulled down to average by Mook. That’s a problem.

Law Murray just did a GREAT series on the Clippers by the numbers. Contrary to the prevailing narrative:

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I like Law, who covers the Clippers for The Athletic. He too gets annoyed by a certain breed of Clipper "fan"

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[TrueLAfan]

I’m a big Law Murray fan as well, but his numbers need context here. We are, indeed, 7th in the league in DReb%--but, right now, that area is more crowded than the standings in the West. Less than 1.1 percent separates 8th and 16th in the league there. If we went up by 1.1%, we’d go from 7th to 4th—a small, but nice move. But if we dropped 1.1%? We’d be 17th in the league. And we’re already 19th in the league in offensive rebounding. Fact is, we’re almost dead center overall on the boards—and the problem is clearly on the offensive boards. And, yes, there’s a player we can identify. We have one player that has played more than 300 minutes who has an OReb% higher than 5%--it’s Zu, which makes sense since he’s near the basket on offense. But Covington, Batum, TMann, and Kawhi are all bunched up around 4.0 to 4.8—which is sort of okay for a frontcourt player, and very good for a backcourt guy.

Mook is at 1.8%. Among players that have played 500 minutes this year, he’s 282nd out of 331. That’s not for frontcourt players—that’s all players. It hurts us. We *should* be a top 10 rebounding team, maybe even top 7 or 8—not in the 13-16 range like we are. If Mook hit the offensive boards like TMann or Batum, we'd be up there.

[esqtvd]

I’m a big Law Murray fan as well, but his numbers need context here. We are, indeed, 7th in the league in DReb%--but, right now, that area is more crowded than the standings in the West. Less than 1.1 percent separates 8th and 16th in the league there. If we went up by 1.1%, we’d go from 7th to 4th—a small, but nice move. But if we dropped 1.1%? We’d be 17th in the league. And we’re already 19th in the league in offensive rebounding. Fact is, we’re almost dead center overall on the boards—and the problem is clearly on the offensive boards. And, yes, there’s a player we can identify. We have one player that has played more than 300 minutes who has an OReb% higher than 5%--it’s Zu, which makes sense since he’s near the basket on offense. But Covington, Batum, TMann, and Kawhi are all bunched up around 4.0 to 4.8—which is sort of okay for a frontcourt player, and very good for a backcourt guy.

Mook is at 1.8%. Among players that have played 500 minutes this year, he’s 282nd out of 331. That’s not for frontcourt players—that’s all players. It hurts us. We *should* be a top 10 rebounding team, maybe even top 7 or 8—not in the 13-16 range like we are. If Mook hit the offensive boards like TMann or Batum, we'd be up there.

IOW, we're still an average rebounding team. Marcus is NOT "killing us." And BTW, Westbrook's Rebounds per 100 Possessions is better than Kawhi's and PG's and everyone except Zu. Help is coming.

Look, I've been dogging MM for years but at the moment, according to Law Murray, it's our 3-ball defense that's killing us.

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So I'm still waiting for an explanation why T-Mann has the worst recent +/- on the team except for the G-Leaguers. What changed in the last 15 or 21 games that our 3-pt defense went to hell?


LAST 15 GAMES:
1 Kawhi +8.2
2 Marcus Morris +6.4
3 Plumlee +6.3
4 Kennard +4.5
5 Reggie Jackson +4.3
6 PG +4.0
7 Zu +3.3
8 Covington +3.0
8 Westbrook +3.0
10 Batum +2.1
11 Powell +1.6
12 Bones +0.5
13 Terance Mann +0.0