GAME #39: LAC (25-13) @ WOLVES (27-11) SUN 1/14—4 PM

[wakelaunch1]

Well, we gave 'em a scare.

Another Invisible Mann performance. Was he even there?

How can you blame Mann? Like seriously? He was 1-2 with a couple rebounds, no turnovers in 19 mins.

PG was the reason we lost. Pandemic P was 5-19. Thats like 25 percent shooting in a big game.

You cant blame a role player

It's not a question of blame. That's infantile. Nobody was dogging it. But even stars don't have it every night. It's not too much to ask Mann to step up at least ONCE in awhile. 2 points, 3 rebs, 0 assists. That's as close to invisible as you can get.

We clearly dont see the game the same at all. Our Stars shot the ball 52 times for 34 percent shooting. Thats who's going to make or break whether we win most nights. Powell was awesome and ended up getting way more minutes than Mann.

[ERClips]

It’s alright we woulda beat them if we had Zu and better games from PG & Harden. Still almost stole it.
Dude showing up on this board only when we lose in the guise of a Clippers fan is so tired and predictable

[esqtvd]

How can you blame Mann? Like seriously? He was 1-2 with a couple rebounds, no turnovers in 19 mins.

PG was the reason we lost. Pandemic P was 5-19. Thats like 25 percent shooting in a big game.

You cant blame a role player

It's not a question of blame. That's infantile. Nobody was dogging it. But even stars don't have it every night. It's not too much to ask Mann to step up at least ONCE in awhile. 2 points, 3 rebs, 0 assists. That's as close to invisible as you can get.

We clearly dont see the game the same at all. Our Stars shot the ball 52 times for 34 percent stely, for half the price.hooting. Thats who's going to make or break whether we win most nights. Powell was awesome and ended up getting way more minutes than Mann.

Mann is what he is. And isn't what he isn't. As you say, he's a role player--a placeholder starter, our 8th or 9th man. He gets no blame and seldom any credit either. He eats minutes and doesn't move the meter much either way.


Which is fine but Coffey's getting a lot of his minutes lately, for less than half the price.

last 15 games:
Mann 23.7 mpg [+1.0, 32.7% 3-pt]
Coffey 22.7 mpg [minus-0.4, 36.8% 3-pt]

If the Clippers make that move for a stretch 4, Mann is now expendable. Coffey and Hyland can cover those minutes. What we could use is a guy who can step up and win you a game now and then, and that's not Mann.

[esqtvd]

It’s alright we woulda beat them if we had Zu and better games from PG & Harden. Still almost stole it.
Dude showing up on this board only when we lose in the guise of a Clippers fan is so tired and predictable

Winning is the ultimate repellent.

[wakelaunch1]

It's not a question of blame. That's infantile. Nobody was dogging it. But even stars don't have it every night. It's not too much to ask Mann to step up at least ONCE in awhile. 2 points, 3 rebs, 0 assists. That's as close to invisible as you can get.

We clearly dont see the game the same at all. Our Stars shot the ball 52 times for 34 percent stely, for half the price.hooting. Thats who's going to make or break whether we win most nights. Powell was awesome and ended up getting way more minutes than Mann.

Mann is what he is. And isn't what he isn't. As you say, he's a role player--a placeholder starter, our 8th or 9th man. He gets no blame and seldom any credit either. He eats minutes and doesn't move the meter much either way.


Which is fine but Coffey's getting a lot of his minutes lately, for less than half the price.

last 15 games:
Mann 23.7 mpg [+1.0, 32.7% 3-pt]
Coffey 22.7 mpg [minus-0.4, 36.8% 3-pt]

If the Clippers make that move for a stretch 4, Mann is now expendable. Coffey and Hyland can cover those minutes. What we could use is a guy who can step up and win you a game now and then, and that's not Mann.

This team has all the players it needs. If PG sucks, and shoots 20 shots, its almost impossible to win against a really good team. Harden wasnt great shooting either. If both of those guys arent good against the good teams, we arent going to win.

[guest81]

Wolves looked like clearly the better team to me. Up by 16 in the 4th and took some insane shot making by the Clips to get back into it. Don't see that being sustainable in a playoff series

[esqtvd]

We clearly dont see the game the same at all. Our Stars shot the ball 52 times for 34 percent stely, for half the price.hooting. Thats who's going to make or break whether we win most nights. Powell was awesome and ended up getting way more minutes than Mann.

Mann is what he is. And isn't what he isn't. As you say, he's a role player--a placeholder starter, our 8th or 9th man. He gets no blame and seldom any credit either. He eats minutes and doesn't move the meter much either way.


Which is fine but Coffey's getting a lot of his minutes lately, for less than half the price.

last 15 games:
Mann 23.7 mpg [+1.0, 32.7% 3-pt]
Coffey 22.7 mpg [minus-0.4, 36.8% 3-pt]

If the Clippers make that move for a stretch 4, Mann is now expendable. Coffey and Hyland can cover those minutes. What we could use is a guy who can step up and win you a game now and then, and that's not Mann.

This team has all the players it needs. If PG sucks, and shoots 20 shots, its almost impossible to win against a really good team. Harden wasnt great shooting either. If both of those guys arent good against the good teams, we arent going to win.

They shoot more because nobody else is stepping up. This is a familiar tune--blame the guys who take the responsibility for winning and losing, and give a pass to the guys who shrink away from it. Russ stood up tonight and almost helped us pull it off. That's what Russ is made of.

Read on Twitter

I'm not down on Mann and I'm not a Mann stan either. He's our 7th, 8th or 9th man, and with Coffey rising up, Mann is expendable. That's the good news, although now that Mann finally is getting major-league minutes alongside 3 HOFers, 2 points and a minus-6 in a four-point loss is not increasing his trade value.

I'd rather Mann be sharing the blame for this loss than doing nothing to stop it and keeping his skirts clean.

[wakelaunch1]

Mann is what he is. And isn't what he isn't. As you say, he's a role player--a placeholder starter, our 8th or 9th man. He gets no blame and seldom any credit either. He eats minutes and doesn't move the meter much either way.


Which is fine but Coffey's getting a lot of his minutes lately, for less than half the price.

last 15 games:
Mann 23.7 mpg [+1.0, 32.7% 3-pt]
Coffey 22.7 mpg [minus-0.4, 36.8% 3-pt]

If the Clippers make that move for a stretch 4, Mann is now expendable. Coffey and Hyland can cover those minutes. What we could use is a guy who can step up and win you a game now and then, and that's not Mann.

This team has all the players it needs. If PG sucks, and shoots 20 shots, its almost impossible to win against a really good team. Harden wasnt great shooting either. If both of those guys arent good against the good teams, we arent going to win.

They shoot more because nobody else is stepping up. This is a familiar tune--blame the guys who take the responsibility for winning and losing, and give a pass to the guys who shrink away from it. Russ stood up tonight and almost helped us pull it off. That's what Russ is made of.

Read on Twitter

I'm not down on Mann and I'm not a Mann stan either. He's our 7th, 8th or 9th man, and with Coffey rising up, Mann is expendable. That's the good news, although now that Mann finally is getting major-league minutes alongside 3 HOFers, 2 points and a minus-6 in a four-point loss is not increasing his trade value.

I'd rather Mann be sharing the blame for this loss than doing nothing to stop it and keeping his skirts clean.

PG shoots early in the clock and without an assist. He tried to create his own shots instead of in the flow of the offense. This team doesnt need that. Its why I am not a big PG fan.

This loss was on PG/Harden, everyone else was good enough to win.

[PeteyPablo]

PG 5-19
Harden 4-14 with 4 turnovers

Westbrook almost had a triple double
12 pts 13 assists 8 Rebs

This was a sluggish and ugly game. Ty lie said during the post game interview that the team got good looks and didn’t make shots and that they also passed up good looks as well.

He said this was a good game to learn from moving forward.

[esqtvd]

Wolves looked like clearly the better team to me. Up by 16 in the 4th and took some insane shot making by the Clips to get back into it. Don't see that being sustainable in a playoff series

Hey, we started the 6'8" Daniel Theis against 7'2" Rudy Gobert. Already behind the 8-ball. Bigtime.

We didn't even show up with our backups squared away. If this had been the well-oiled machine we expect to take to the playoffs, Plumlee would have started in place of Zu, and Theis would have kept his normal slot with the 2nd unit.

Theis has only been here for 27 games, and coming back from injury, Plumlee is practically a new acquisition too. This was only his 31st regular season game as a Clipper and only his 8th game this year. He was playing G-league on rehab a couple days ago.


And I gotta say, Zu has gone up another level this year on both sides of the ball. He's got career highs across the board in the PER categories, and is top 3 in rim protection.

Read on Twitter

This is not the Zubac of old. He's very arguably a top 10 center now. You can't just toss out a 6'8" guy you got off the buyout scrap pile and be the same team.

[esqtvd]

I'm not down on Mann and I'm not a Mann stan either. He's our 7th, 8th or 9th man, and with Coffey rising up, Mann is expendable. That's the good news, although now that Mann finally is getting major-league minutes alongside 3 HOFers, 2 points and a minus-6 in a four-point loss is not increasing his trade value.

I'd rather Mann be sharing the blame for this loss than doing nothing to stop it and keeping his skirts clean.

PG shoots early in the clock and without an assist. He tried to create his own shots instead of in the flow of the offense. This team doesnt need that. Its why I am not a big PG fan.

This loss was on PG/Harden, everyone else was good enough to win.

Blame is a bore. I don't blame people who step up and fail; if I must, I blame the people who didn't step up at all. If you want to learn anything in your life from sports, that's it.

I'd rather Mann be sharing the blame for this loss than doing nothing to stop it and keeping his skirts clean.

[og15]

Are we still worried about Mann's FGA? Are we going to discuss this every game over and over? I feel like we've done this dance before, more than once, we all get it now, Mann's not going to pick up scoring slack, I don't think anyone should be expecting him to.

In the end, who cares how many FGA the guy takes, the team has more than enough scorers. If the stars are taking and missing a lot of shots, my first, second, third or fourth worry isn't, "hope Mann gets more attempts".

Minnesota is on top of the West for a reason, live to fight again.

[ERClips]

PG 5-19
Harden 4-14 with 4 turnovers

Westbrook almost had a triple double
12 pts 13 assists 8 Rebs

This was a sluggish and ugly game. Ty lie said during the post game interview that the team got good looks and didn’t make shots and that they also passed up good looks as well.

He said this was a good game to learn from moving forward.

Oh yeah I forgot this part too about passing up good looks. It seemed like we let even the thought of the Wolves interior defense scare us into passing out to the perimeter for an outside shot. Instead of just testing them and taking it to them. Sure there would’ve been some blocks but probably also some defensive fouls and made baskets too. Since the outside shots weren’t falling I’d have rather tested that interior defense

[Jay555]

Wolves looked like clearly the better team to me. Up by 16 in the 4th and took some insane shot making by the Clips to get back into it. Don't see that being sustainable in a playoff series

Wolves were up by 16 because Thies was our starting 5. The game was lost in first quarter.

[esqtvd]

Are we still worried about Mann's FGA? Are we going to discuss this every game over and over? I feel like we've done this dance before, more than once, we all get it now, Mann's not going to pick up scoring slack, I don't think anyone should be expecting him to.

In the end, who cares how many FGA the guy takes, the team has more than enough scorers. If the stars are taking and missing a lot of shots, my first, second, third or fourth worry isn't, "hope Mann gets more attempts".

Minnesota is on top of the West for a reason, live to fight again.

Actually, OG, we haven't discussed Mann on this board as the new starter at all.

[I HAVE been discussing it with Clippers radio host @followAdamA on Twitter, though. I am actually between Adam and Nek @msubobcat39. Statistically, I think Nek is getting the better of the argument statistically. ]


Mann stans have been begging for more mpg for years and now he's starting beside 3 HOFers. Zubac has responded far surpassing his career numbers while Mann's are bringing up the rear.

So I'm just not going to hear that PG is to blame for every loss when he had a bad shooting game--minus-6 in 42 minutes while Mann was minus-6 in only 19 minutes with 2 lousy points? PG gets much credit for where we are; Mann, little to none.


Look, I think Mann is still the best choice for placeholder starter. But [see above] he is also our best trade bait without compromising our rotation. Coffey and Bones can take his minutes, especially since we would really only trade Mann for a better placeholder PF/C stretch 4.

This is NOT an ideal starting 5 and Mann is the weak link. That shouldn't be controversial, OG.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Wolves looked like clearly the better team to me. Up by 16 in the 4th and took some insane shot making by the Clips to get back into it. Don't see that being sustainable in a playoff series

Hey, we started the 6'8" Daniel Theis against 7'2" Rudy Gobert. Already behind the 8-ball. Bigtime.

We didn't even show up with our backups squared away. If this had been the well-oiled machine we expect to take to the playoffs, Plumlee would have started in place of Zu, and Theis would have kept his normal slot with the 2nd unit.

Theis has only been here for 27 games, and coming back from injury, Plumlee is practically a new acquisition too. This was only his 31st regular season game as a Clipper and only his 8th game this year. He was playing G-league on rehab a couple days ago.


And I gotta say, Zu has gone up another level this year on both sides of the ball. He's got career highs across the board in the PER categories, and is top 3 in rim protection.

Read on Twitter

This is not the Zubac of old. He's very arguably a top 10 center now. You can't just toss out a 6'8" guy you got off the buyout scrap pile and be the same team.

I am eager to see Plumlee play with Harden as I think he would be a great lob pass recepient.

This was definitely a disappointing game- particularly by PG and Harden. They did miss some open shots, but Gobert did seem to bother them. It also didn't help that the refs favored the Wolves throughout the game.

[esqtvd]

Wolves looked like clearly the better team to me. Up by 16 in the 4th and took some insane shot making by the Clips to get back into it. Don't see that being sustainable in a playoff series

Hey, we started the 6'8" Daniel Theis against 7'2" Rudy Gobert. Already behind the 8-ball. Bigtime.

We didn't even show up with our backups squared away. If this had been the well-oiled machine we expect to take to the playoffs, Plumlee would have started in place of Zu, and Theis would have kept his normal slot with the 2nd unit.

Theis has only been here for 27 games, and coming back from injury, Plumlee is practically a new acquisition too. This was only his 31st regular season game as a Clipper and only his 8th game this year. He was playing G-league on rehab a couple days ago.


And I gotta say, Zu has gone up another level this year on both sides of the ball. He's got career highs across the board in the PER categories, and is top 3 in rim protection.

Read on Twitter

This is not the Zubac of old. He's very arguably a top 10 center now. You can't just toss out a 6'8" guy you got off the buyout scrap pile and be the same team.

I am eager to see Plumlee play with Harden as I think he would be a great lob pass recepient.

This was definitely a disappointing game- particularly by PG and Harden. They did miss some open shots, but Gobert did seem to bother them. It also didn't help that the refs favored the Wolves throughout the game.

Exactly. Let's put today's discussion this way--would you rather have been missing Zu or Mann?

[Captain Ballmer]

Certain players on our team got cocky recently. I don't like that mockery towards Gobert. Don't need that.

[og15]

Are we still worried about Mann's FGA? Are we going to discuss this every game over and over? I feel like we've done this dance before, more than once, we all get it now, Mann's not going to pick up scoring slack, I don't think anyone should be expecting him to.

In the end, who cares how many FGA the guy takes, the team has more than enough scorers. If the stars are taking and missing a lot of shots, my first, second, third or fourth worry isn't, "hope Mann gets more attempts".

Minnesota is on top of the West for a reason, live to fight again.

Actually, OG, we haven't discussed Mann on this board as the new starter at all.

[I HAVE been discussing it with Clippers radio host @followAdamA on Twitter, though. I am actually between Adam and Nek @msubobcat39. Statistically, I think Nek is getting the better of the argument statistically. ]


Mann stans have been begging for more mpg for years and now he's starting beside 3 HOFers. Zubac has responded far surpassing his career numbers while Mann's are bringing up the rear.

So I'm just not going to hear that PG is to blame for every loss when he had a bad shooting game--minus-6 in 42 minutes while Mann was minus-6 in only 19 minutes with 2 lousy points? PG gets much credit for where we are; Mann, little to none.


Look, I think Mann is still the best choice for placeholder starter. But [see above] he is also our best trade bait without compromising our rotation. Coffey and Bones can take his minutes, especially since we would really only trade Mann for a better placeholder PF/C stretch 4.

This is NOT an ideal starting 5 and Mann is the weak link. That shouldn't be controversial, OG.

Mann played 19 minutes, he played 5:42 in the second half, zero minutes in the 4th quarter, he was 7th in minutes played for the game.

If we're looking around the roster trying to find "blame" for a 4 loint loss and find the Mann type player, we're just being petty. If we're looking for every opportunity to "show the stans", whoever these role player stans are, we're wasting everyone's time, who cares, it's just petty. I'm pretty sure we all understand what glue guy role players are, right?

I don't believe every game needs a party to "blame". Players miss shots sometimes, it happens. If we're going to fault someone for a 4 point loss, it's not the role player who played 5 minutes in the 2nd half we use to argue against a complaint about the star who played 42 minutes and shot 5/19 FG, it's just not logical at all. Not to mention another star shot 4/14 FG.

We had two stars combinen for 9/33 FG, 6/22 3PT, that's why the game was lost, not because Mann didn't attempt more shots lol

[TrueLAfan]

Hey, we started the 6'8" Daniel Theis against 7'2" Rudy Gobert. Already behind the 8-ball. Bigtime.

We didn't even show up with our backups squared away. If this had been the well-oiled machine we expect to take to the playoffs, Plumlee would have started in place of Zu, and Theis would have kept his normal slot with the 2nd unit.

Theis has only been here for 27 games, and coming back from injury, Plumlee is practically a new acquisition too. This was only his 31st regular season game as a Clipper and only his 8th game this year. He was playing G-league on rehab a couple days ago.

And I gotta say, Zu has gone up another level this year on both sides of the ball. He's got career highs across the board in the PER categories, and is top 3 in rim protection.

Read on Twitter

This is not the Zubac of old. He's very arguably a top 10 center now. You can't just toss out a 6'8" guy you got off the buyout scrap pile and be the same team.

Yup. We missed Zu big time. He may or not be our defensive anchor, but without him, we’re undersized against big teams—and Minny is big.

PG shoots early in the clock and without an assist. He tried to create his own shots instead of in the flow of the offense. This team doesnt need that. Its why I am not a big PG fan.

This loss was on PG/Harden, everyone else was good enough to win.

You’re not a PG fan? Do tell.

Anyway. PG had a lousy first half. He’s also coming off a big run—played in 13 out of the last 14 games, averaged 25-5-3 on 51/48(!)/91 shooting splits. There were wins against the Knicks, Pels, Pacers, Heat, and Suns (twice) in that streak. Going to go with “lousy half” for both him and Harden. Since we went 10-3 in those 13 games that PG went off in, I think the team does need what he does. Big time.