Game #75: PELICANS @ Clippers Saturday 3/25 7:30PM

[esqtvd]

ENJOY.

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[Dynamix]

[NickP]

It's a 7:30 game. Give me hope.

[Scoundreldays]

Let's keep that 4th seed! Suns also playing the 76ers.

[PeteyPablo]

Clinching the 4th seed would be quite an accomplishment given the multiple 5 game losing streaks and kawhi missing many games.

[The High Cyde]

All our bitching about Morris is for naught, Lue is gonna Lue and stick with him due to “consistency” as if starting lineups are absolute lol

“It’s fit,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints. “I don’t care about [his] stats. It’s what fits us, what fits our team. I like the fit.”

From a fit standpoint, the starting quartet of Leonard, George, Zubac, and Morris has been pretty solid. Individually speaking, Marcus’ play and numbers — especially this season — stand out as subpar from the rest. But as a collective, this unit is arguably the most consistent starting lineup the Clippers have had available for years, and that means something. Even in lineups where Terance Mann started at point guard, it was still those four other guys he was with.

This season, the starting lineup featuring those four has a record of 20-9. In four incredibly injury-prone seasons together, the Clippers have a 43-18 record when Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Marcus Morris start together. Over an 82-game season, that’s on pace for a 58-24 record.

“I do like the group that we’ve had the only consistency we’ve had this year is — and the last couple years — has been Marcus, Kawhi, PG and Zu,” Tyronn Lue said specifically referencing the starting lineup. “And so that’s the only consistency, we got right now and so we gotta continue to keep working with that.”

Marcus Morris’ fit with the starting unit, or in the starting lineup in general, has just as much to do with the spacing he provides alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as it does with what he wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring from the bench.

Morris is not an, ‘energy,’ guy by any means, which is exactly what a second unit lineup needs. Terance Mann brings that energy. Nicolas Batum bring that energy. In a way, it feels almost safe to say that if Morris didn’t start for the Clippers alongside George and Leonard, then he probably would have a hard time finding minutes.

Marcus is also very highly respected as a voice on the floor and in the locker room. He’s been that, ‘dog,’ capable of lighting a fire under his guys and getting under opposing teams’ skins.

Obviously, Paul George’s injury changes things, but the Clippers’ starting lineup since the All-Star break featuring the core four with Russell Westbrook has had the best defensive rating (93.8) and the third highest net rating (+14.6) in the league.

And that’s with Morris averaging just 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds on 41.5 percent shooting from the field and 27.6 percent from three.

“Fans only see stats, and people only see stats, and honestly, I’m okay with that,” Marcus Morris told ClutchPoints in a recent interview. “But if you look at the percentages and I know it’s high when I’m on the court, that we rebound. It’s just a veteran playing the game.

“We got a rebounding point guard, both of our forwards — our small forward and two guard — they both rebound. We got one of the best rebounding bigs in the league. So like, how many rebounds can I have with all that on the court? I do the other stuff. I block out, help our team.”

Even Robert Covington came to Morris’ defense after the recent string of rough shooting nights.

“People gotta understand that players are gonna go through slumps and the way to get through it is by playing through it. Marcus has been in the league 12 years and people gotta understand that everything is not ideal for him—”

That’s when Norman Powell, whose locker sits right beside Robert Covington’s, interjected to say he wasn’t having any of the ‘slump’ talk.

“Ain’t no damn slump man,” Powell said. “He just missed a couple shots.”

“That’s a slump my boy,” Covington responded. “The only way you get out of it is keep shooting.”

“Nah, ain’t no slump man. It’s only a slump if you call it one. Ain’t no slump. He just missed a couple shots.”

Since he mentioned them, are the percentages actually better with Marcus Morris on the floor than off? Why don’t we take a look at some of them, all of which is according to Cleaning The Glass.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-trying-to-make-sense-of-marcus-morris-robert-covington-and-tyronn-lue

It is what it is at this point, I’m close to over it. Great article though, you can make arguments on both sides.

[Wammy Giveaway]

A couple days ago, I did some research on previous NBA champions. We know that 1995 belonged to the Houston Rockets, winning as a 6th seed. Their record: 47-35.

How Rockets got to 35 losses was due to the trade for superstar Clyde Drexler and going 18-18 after the All-Star break. Their .500 record had three sets of back-to-back losses and two blocks of 3-game losing streaks or greater. They wouldn't hit 35 until the end of their season with three losses in a row.

Now look at the Clippers, who are sitting with 35 losses as well. Rockets got there at the very last game of the season, while Clippers got it on March 21 vs. Thunder. There are eight games left. All it takes is one loss. One loss, and they have automatically lost.

No team in NBA history has ever won a championship with more than 35 losses in the regular season since the creation of the NBA in 1947 (as BAA).

Their schedule is not a cakewalk. Any of the teams in their path, including tonight vs. Pelicans, is gonna be an arduous challenge. We've seen Clippers threaten opponents for a quarter, two, or three but never finish them off, making their performance feel more like an exhibition instead of dominance. Thunder, Jazz and Kings are in the playoffs because Clippers failed to take lottery teams seriously. Now a single loss in the regular season is all that stands in the way to ensure their instant defeat in the playoffs.

Clippers have to go perfect. Really go perfect. Like Corpse Bride-syndrome perfect. Everything must go "According To Plan."

Oh yeah, I'm playing that song here:

Watch on YouTube

[esqtvd]

All our bitching about Morris is for naught, Lue is gonna Lue and stick with him due to “consistency” as if starting lineups are absolute lol

“It’s fit,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints. “I don’t care about [his] stats. It’s what fits us, what fits our team. I like the fit.”

This season, the starting lineup featuring those four has a record of 20-9. In four incredibly injury-prone seasons together, the Clippers have a 43-18 record when Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Marcus Morris start together. Over an 82-game season, that’s on pace for a 58-24 record.

Marcus Morris’ fit with the starting unit, or in the starting lineup in general, has just as much to do with the spacing he provides alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as it does with what he wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring from the bench.

Morris is not an, ‘energy,’ guy by any means, which is exactly what a second unit lineup needs. Terance Mann brings that energy. Nicolas Batum bring that energy. In a way, it feels almost safe to say that if Morris didn’t start for the Clippers alongside George and Leonard, then he probably would have a hard time finding minutes.

Obviously, Paul George’s injury changes things, but the Clippers’ starting lineup since the All-Star break featuring the core four with Russell Westbrook has had the best defensive rating (93.8) and the third highest net rating (+14.6) in the league.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-trying-to-make-sense-of-marcus-morris-robert-covington-and-tyronn-lue

It is what it is at this point, I’m close to over it. Great article though, you can make arguments on both sides.

The responses on Tomer's Twitter TL are hilarious.

[esqtvd]

as predicted

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[MartinToVaught]

Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

[NickP]

Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

But Morris' plus/minus are through the roof. He's "not hurting" the team. Lol.
As long as Morris scores a solid 4, grabs 2 boards, he's done his job.

[nickhx2]

All our bitching about Morris is for naught, Lue is gonna Lue and stick with him due to “consistency” as if starting lineups are absolute lol

“It’s fit,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints. “I don’t care about [his] stats. It’s what fits us, what fits our team. I like the fit.”

From a fit standpoint, the starting quartet of Leonard, George, Zubac, and Morris has been pretty solid. Individually speaking, Marcus’ play and numbers — especially this season — stand out as subpar from the rest. But as a collective, this unit is arguably the most consistent starting lineup the Clippers have had available for years, and that means something. Even in lineups where Terance Mann started at point guard, it was still those four other guys he was with.

This season, the starting lineup featuring those four has a record of 20-9. In four incredibly injury-prone seasons together, the Clippers have a 43-18 record when Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac, and Marcus Morris start together. Over an 82-game season, that’s on pace for a 58-24 record.

“I do like the group that we’ve had the only consistency we’ve had this year is — and the last couple years — has been Marcus, Kawhi, PG and Zu,” Tyronn Lue said specifically referencing the starting lineup. “And so that’s the only consistency, we got right now and so we gotta continue to keep working with that.”

Marcus Morris’ fit with the starting unit, or in the starting lineup in general, has just as much to do with the spacing he provides alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as it does with what he wouldn’t necessarily be able to bring from the bench.

Morris is not an, ‘energy,’ guy by any means, which is exactly what a second unit lineup needs. Terance Mann brings that energy. Nicolas Batum bring that energy. In a way, it feels almost safe to say that if Morris didn’t start for the Clippers alongside George and Leonard, then he probably would have a hard time finding minutes.

Marcus is also very highly respected as a voice on the floor and in the locker room. He’s been that, ‘dog,’ capable of lighting a fire under his guys and getting under opposing teams’ skins.

Obviously, Paul George’s injury changes things, but the Clippers’ starting lineup since the All-Star break featuring the core four with Russell Westbrook has had the best defensive rating (93.8) and the third highest net rating (+14.6) in the league.

And that’s with Morris averaging just 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds on 41.5 percent shooting from the field and 27.6 percent from three.

“Fans only see stats, and people only see stats, and honestly, I’m okay with that,” Marcus Morris told ClutchPoints in a recent interview. “But if you look at the percentages and I know it’s high when I’m on the court, that we rebound. It’s just a veteran playing the game.

“We got a rebounding point guard, both of our forwards — our small forward and two guard — they both rebound. We got one of the best rebounding bigs in the league. So like, how many rebounds can I have with all that on the court? I do the other stuff. I block out, help our team.”

Even Robert Covington came to Morris’ defense after the recent string of rough shooting nights.

“People gotta understand that players are gonna go through slumps and the way to get through it is by playing through it. Marcus has been in the league 12 years and people gotta understand that everything is not ideal for him—”

That’s when Norman Powell, whose locker sits right beside Robert Covington’s, interjected to say he wasn’t having any of the ‘slump’ talk.

“Ain’t no damn slump man,” Powell said. “He just missed a couple shots.”

“That’s a slump my boy,” Covington responded. “The only way you get out of it is keep shooting.”

“Nah, ain’t no slump man. It’s only a slump if you call it one. Ain’t no slump. He just missed a couple shots.”

Since he mentioned them, are the percentages actually better with Marcus Morris on the floor than off? Why don’t we take a look at some of them, all of which is according to Cleaning The Glass.

Source: https://clutchpoints.com/clippers-news-trying-to-make-sense-of-marcus-morris-robert-covington-and-tyronn-lue

It is what it is at this point, I’m close to over it. Great article though, you can make arguments on both sides.

pretty much why i've been over it for a while now. he's not going to change his mind so i'm just waiting for the inevitable playoff collapse as morris plays 35 minutes in an elimination game while going 1/6 from the field with 1 rebound, the plus minus warriors screech about morris "enabling" the whole team all season, mann gets 14 minutes, and lue ties it all up with "wElL i gUeSs i SHoulD hAve plAYeD hIM mORe" <|8^D before getting canned the next day

welcome to the clippers, ime udoka!

[esqtvd]

mercy

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[MartinToVaught]

Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

But Morris' plus/minus are through the roof. He's "not hurting" the team. Lol.
As long as Morris scores a solid 4, grabs 2 boards, he's done his job.

43-18 when Kawhi, PG, Zubac and Morris start together! Clearly that record is all because Morris is starting, no other reasons!

[esqtvd]

in other news...

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[KL2]

Have we beat this team recently? Seems forever.

Need every win we can get.

[KL2]

Awful start. Sheesh.

[NickP]

Dream start. Let's keep this up Clippers.

[LamarWho]

MMSr starts, fine whatever. But having him guard Ingram? GTFO Ty Lue.

[NickP]

Now that Lue has admitted to not making his decisions based on any statistics, just favoritism, can we all agree to stop using Morris' plus/minus as an excuse to justify his playing time?

But Morris' plus/minus are through the roof. He's "not hurting" the team. Lol.
As long as Morris scores a solid 4, grabs 2 boards, he's done his job.

43-18 when Kawhi, PG, Zubac and Morris start together! Clearly that record is all because Morris is starting, no other reasons!

Exactly. He's the glue that's holding all of this together. We go as goes Morris.