RD 1 GAME 5: LAC (2-2) @ DEN (2-2)—TUE 4/29 7 PM, TNT

[Jay555]

We need to change the starting lineup.

It has not been working. We are too small. We have been trialling in almost every single game in the first quarter. This indicates a flaw in the starting line up.

Either Dunn or Powell can go to the bench. Start DJJ or Batum. Powell not starting also brings a spark off the bench.

[Jay555]

Unacceptable. WTF is this behavior?

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He's mentally checked out.

[Clemenza]

Unacceptable. WTF is this behavior?

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We're running "The System" offense so if he's not playing well then the whole team tends to follow suit. Now this "System" has to have two good postseason games in a row. Wish we had that younger faster backup point guard to push the pace and get a few easy buckets from time to time. I know some will say play Simmons more but he's just not a threat offensively at all. Unpopular opinion, but I honestly think we could get more out of Kobe than Ben Simmons at this point. Bogdan is running some point, but he's getting exposed on defense and is fouling like crazy.

[MartinToVaught]

Unacceptable. WTF is this behavior?

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Harden is a loser. Always has been, always will be. Cannot wait for the day he's off this team.

[KL2]

Harden and Lue are tweedle dee and tweedle dum.

Harden with the biggest con job. Gave him props for leading and carrying the team during the regular season. Now he’s checked out mentally because ….. reasons.

Lue rowing the same boat riding his supposed master of adjustments BS. We’ll be all right is tiresome.

[Scoundreldays]

Damn I got fooled again by this team based off a game or two. I guess tomorrow will show if this team is forever mentally soft or they step up.

[jengmann3]

It is a tough matchup when Jamal Murray is playing so well. I honestly felt he was the difference in the bubble series. Russ was a real difference maker in 2 of their wins so far. That was really the first game where they looked like the better team. I do still think there were a bit too many gimmicks on defense. Joker killed in game 4 for sure, but I just think the switches and mismatches throws everyone off. Now ur watching ur teammate on an island and in ur head thinking about helping or stunting all over the court instead of just playing regular defense. The team is kinda built for everyone to be able to guard their position. Honestly, if the clips win game 6, I could probably take any result for game 7. Losing 3 in a row after being up 2-1 is too much of a meltdown to feel content with.

[CodeBreaker]

Unacceptable. WTF is this behavior?

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Harden is a loser. Always has been, always will be. Cannot wait for the day he's off this team.

[KL2]

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Leonard the only one with a brain and Zu is drinking the Lue Gatorade too.

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[MartinToVaught]

BTW, it's not just Harden who deserves smoke. Kawhi has played like a legit superstar for one game all series and he's been borderline invisible otherwise. Again, like I said after his awful performance in Game 1, he is no longer worth the BS he puts his teams through. After all the years of coddling, load management, telling ourselves "just wait until Kawhi's healthy," it's finally happened and he's been nothing to write home about in 4 out of the 5 games. Unless he pulls a miraculous 2019 Raptors-style run out of his ass starting tomorrow, I am so ready to move on from him as well.

[esqtvd]

The problem has always been leadership. OWN IT. Lob City didn't have it, 213 didn't have it. This crew hasn't shown it. [We shall see, now that they're facing elimination.]

Blaming the coach misses the point. No team won because of their coach. Not Auerbach, not Kerr, not Phil Jax. Not Popovich. It was Bill Russell, Steph, Jordan and Kobe. Duncan. All coach can do is put his team in position to win and Ty has put them in position to win EVERY GAME of this series. The rest comes from within. Call it heart, call it guts, call it will to win, but it's real.

[Ballings7]

Unacceptable. WTF is this behavior?

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I mean this is why I never really have been a Harden supporter long-term.. for whatever reason, more often than not in the POs, he disappears or is just diminished over a series; respectably less than his regular season play.

I always go back to these examples...

2012 OKC vs Heat finals, didn't have a good series.

2015 vs. Warriors wcf, didn't have a good series.

2017 vs. Spurs wcsf, didn't have a good series.

At best, very hit and miss in the playoffs, and more misses when its a bigger game. He no doubt has had some big games whether its R1 or not, so not incapable.

I have enjoyed his play and approach since coming to LAC (and was impessive in Brooklyn), and still have faith in him in this series.

[Ballings7]

We need to change the starting lineup.

It has not been working. We are too small. We have been trialling in almost every single game in the first quarter. This indicates a flaw in the starting line up.

Either Dunn or Powell can go to the bench. Start DJJ or Batum. Powell not starting also brings a spark off the bench.

Agree with this. Should of been done in Game 4.

Dunn/Powell are bigger guards, but when you're already playing small at PF, it makes it that much more sensitive against a big Denver team. One of the main reasons why I wanted this team to get a hybrid big like Jalen Smith or anyone 6'8"-6'10" who can shoot a bit and cut. Batum's there, but he's one guy.

Simmons is a consolation, but isn't a scoring threat at all, usually, so its just not the same.


Have Powell finish the game if he's hot.

[PeteyPablo]

I watched every minute of game 5. Nuggets are more active and more aggressive. I am not a Nugget hater - they have earned the last two wins.

Clippers are in trouble but I am a firm believer that anything is possible. Is being down 2-3 worst than 0-2 like they were vs Mavs a few years ago?

They need to put maximum effort from tip off and leave it all on the court.

[neshy]

I don't know that is was really a sense of urgency (although that was part of it)- just a lack of timely shooting and the Nuggets being red hot- including Westbrook (stomach turning). Also, every time a possible steal was about to happen, Denver somehow regained possession and then got a dunk or 3.

They better come ready to play on Thursday or they will get embarrassed. The Nuggets are champions and smell blood.

i agree, urgency may have played a role, but that's not an overriding factor as to why we lost. i'd say there was a lack of shooting overall (at least from the right players).

i do think the nuggets got red hot, and i think everyone on the planet who knows basketball knew jamal murray was going for 40 tonight before the game even started. but i think the thing you're saying about possible steals turning into missed chances is more than that (at least to me).

because i feel you're really talking about not just steals alone, but also those 50/50 boards we lost. and to the bigger point, the inability to gain any traction or generate runs when they were right within our grasp. and to me the biggest on-court culprit was bogi by miles and miles - which lue should have seen and known, but didn't, and we got punished for it. i mean, all the games up to this point have been very close and bogi has been an absolute wretch in every game thus far in limited minutes. but tonight he gets the most minutes all series AND is in a featured role? it should be no surprise to anyone at all that we got smacked.

like, what's this dude doing out there? is he trying to foul out for this game and the next one all at the same time? maybe he'll try to rack up 12 fouls next game so he can be DQ'd for next season's opener? and what's ty lue doing letting him play this much while giants who are 50 pounds heavier than him take him to task every chance they get to iso him? someone needs to ask lue what the hell he's thinking.

Man you're aiming at the wrong guy here. In the last 2 loses Bogi scored more points than the entire bench together while shooting 50% from 3. He scored the same amount of points as Harden while playing 36 minutes less. He scored 50% more points than Dunn while playing less. He scored only 8 points less than Norm while playing 25 minutes less. Only Zu and Kawai scored more than Bogi. Before this game he was part of the best Clippers defensive lineup. What do you want from a guy that just joined the team and has the shortest leash among all players (Simmons excluded). 5 fouls last night were part of the plan to play hard as the refs were supposed to swallow some whistles but they didn't. Gordon grabs his jersey (clean foul) and he pushed him off and scored a 3 and they called offensive foul on him deleting the 3. What can you do about it. He's been +18 in the last 2 loses. Harden -20, Kawai -9, Zu-14, Norm -20, Dunn -18, DJJ -8 Batum -13.
If you look at Nuggets and their 2 losses MPJ scored total of 22 points being -29 in those 2 losses. Max player. In game 4 after being down by 22, in the last minute Bogi literally grabbed a rebound over Jokic and scored giving us the first lead in that game. Huge play. It wasn't his fault that Kawai and Harden lost us that game. Before the series started I said that if Bogi's playing around 15mins he'd give you very little and if he plays 22-25 mins he'd give you a lot

[nickhx2]

i definitely do not believe i am aiming at the wrong guy. and i believe you are truly cherry picking his best spots while ignoring the obvious issues he has been having.

i wish i had the energy to respond in depth at this moment and unfortunately i don't. i appreciate that you took the time to challenge even if we disagree. sorry, brother.

[Roscoe Sheed]

I don't know that is was really a sense of urgency (although that was part of it)- just a lack of timely shooting and the Nuggets being red hot- including Westbrook (stomach turning). Also, every time a possible steal was about to happen, Denver somehow regained possession and then got a dunk or 3.

They better come ready to play on Thursday or they will get embarrassed. The Nuggets are champions and smell blood.

i agree, urgency may have played a role, but that's not an overriding factor as to why we lost. i'd say there was a lack of shooting overall (at least from the right players).

i do think the nuggets got red hot, and i think everyone on the planet who knows basketball knew jamal murray was going for 40 tonight before the game even started. but i think the thing you're saying about possible steals turning into missed chances is more than that (at least to me).

because i feel you're really talking about not just steals alone, but also those 50/50 boards we lost. and to the bigger point, the inability to gain any traction or generate runs when they were right within our grasp. and to me the biggest on-court culprit was bogi by miles and miles - which lue should have seen and known, but didn't, and we got punished for it. i mean, all the games up to this point have been very close and bogi has been an absolute wretch in every game thus far in limited minutes. but tonight he gets the most minutes all series AND is in a featured role? it should be no surprise to anyone at all that we got smacked.

like, what's this dude doing out there? is he trying to foul out for this game and the next one all at the same time? maybe he'll try to rack up 12 fouls next game so he can be DQ'd for next season's opener? and what's ty lue doing letting him play this much while giants who are 50 pounds heavier than him take him to task every chance they get to iso him? someone needs to ask lue what the hell he's thinking.

Man you're aiming at the wrong guy here. In the last 2 loses Bogi scored more points than the entire bench together while shooting 50% from 3. He scored the same amount of points as Harden while playing 36 minutes less. He scored 50% more points than Dunn while playing less. He scored only 8 points less than Norm while playing 25 minutes less. Only Zu and Kawai scored more than Bogi. Before this game he was part of the best Clippers defensive lineup. What do you want from a guy that just joined the team and has the shortest leash among all players (Simmons excluded). 5 fouls last night were part of the plan to play hard as the refs were supposed to swallow some whistles but they didn't. Gordon grabs his jersey (clean foul) and he pushed him off and scored a 3 and they called offensive foul on him deleting the 3. What can you do about it. He's been +18 in the last 2 loses. Harden -20, Kawai -9, Zu-14, Norm -20, Dunn -18, DJJ -8 Batum -13.
If you look at Nuggets and their 2 losses MPJ scored total of 22 points being -29 in those 2 losses. Max player. In game 4 after being down by 22, in the last minute Bogi literally grabbed a rebound over Jokic and scored giving us the first lead in that game. Huge play. It wasn't his fault that Kawai and Harden lost us that game. Before the series started I said that if Bogi's playing around 15mins he'd give you very little and if he plays 22-25 mins he'd give you a lot

I agree in many ways- it isn't Bogdan's fault- more so it is Lue's fault for featuring him in line ups and schemes that make him guard guys that are horrible mismatches for him- most notably Gordon. He must be giving up at least 4 inches and 50 pounds to him. Not that Bogdan is some great defender, but he is not meant to be guarding power forwards. Also, what is up with making Harden guard Jokic in some of the defensive schemes? I seriously don't understand what their strategy is in some scenarios.

[neshy]

i definitely do not believe i am aiming at the wrong guy. and i believe you are truly cherry picking his best spots while ignoring the obvious issues he has been having.

i wish i had the energy to respond in depth at this moment and unfortunately i don't. i appreciate that you took the time to challenge even if we disagree. sorry, brother.

Sorry brother I am not cherry picking his best spots. I just posted the obvious numbers available everywhere. And I posted a lot of them. I am not even saying he's been good in the series but nobody was except Zu and Kawai. And among all other losers on this team, for the last 2 loses you definitely picked the wrong guy to aim at.

[neshy]

i agree, urgency may have played a role, but that's not an overriding factor as to why we lost. i'd say there was a lack of shooting overall (at least from the right players).

i do think the nuggets got red hot, and i think everyone on the planet who knows basketball knew jamal murray was going for 40 tonight before the game even started. but i think the thing you're saying about possible steals turning into missed chances is more than that (at least to me).

because i feel you're really talking about not just steals alone, but also those 50/50 boards we lost. and to the bigger point, the inability to gain any traction or generate runs when they were right within our grasp. and to me the biggest on-court culprit was bogi by miles and miles - which lue should have seen and known, but didn't, and we got punished for it. i mean, all the games up to this point have been very close and bogi has been an absolute wretch in every game thus far in limited minutes. but tonight he gets the most minutes all series AND is in a featured role? it should be no surprise to anyone at all that we got smacked.

like, what's this dude doing out there? is he trying to foul out for this game and the next one all at the same time? maybe he'll try to rack up 12 fouls next game so he can be DQ'd for next season's opener? and what's ty lue doing letting him play this much while giants who are 50 pounds heavier than him take him to task every chance they get to iso him? someone needs to ask lue what the hell he's thinking.

Man you're aiming at the wrong guy here. In the last 2 loses Bogi scored more points than the entire bench together while shooting 50% from 3. He scored the same amount of points as Harden while playing 36 minutes less. He scored 50% more points than Dunn while playing less. He scored only 8 points less than Norm while playing 25 minutes less. Only Zu and Kawai scored more than Bogi. Before this game he was part of the best Clippers defensive lineup. What do you want from a guy that just joined the team and has the shortest leash among all players (Simmons excluded). 5 fouls last night were part of the plan to play hard as the refs were supposed to swallow some whistles but they didn't. Gordon grabs his jersey (clean foul) and he pushed him off and scored a 3 and they called offensive foul on him deleting the 3. What can you do about it. He's been +18 in the last 2 loses. Harden -20, Kawai -9, Zu-14, Norm -20, Dunn -18, DJJ -8 Batum -13.
If you look at Nuggets and their 2 losses MPJ scored total of 22 points being -29 in those 2 losses. Max player. In game 4 after being down by 22, in the last minute Bogi literally grabbed a rebound over Jokic and scored giving us the first lead in that game. Huge play. It wasn't his fault that Kawai and Harden lost us that game. Before the series started I said that if Bogi's playing around 15mins he'd give you very little and if he plays 22-25 mins he'd give you a lot

I agree in many ways- it isn't Bogdan's fault- more so it is Lue's fault for featuring him in line ups and schemes that make him guard guys that are horrible mismatches for him- most notably Gordon. He must be giving up at least 4 inches and 50 pounds to him. Not that Bogdan is some great defender, but he is not meant to be guarding power forwards. Also, what is up with making Harden guard Jokic in some of the defensive schemes? I seriously don't understand what their strategy is in some scenarios.

I fully agree with you here. Bogi is not a great defender but if he's playing with proper linups he's not going to be a negative defender. He's been part of the Clippers best defensive lineup when playing alongside Kawai. It's ridiculous to have him guard Gordon and that's all on Lue. I said before the series started that I was doubting Lue with respect to lineups and managing Bogi. Brian was much better managing his minutes on the floor. Also playing him and Harden together is a suicide of its own kind. Personally I expected more from Bogi especially in the first 3 games but then I also said that if he's playing around 15min/per we're not getting much from him. The last 2 games the minutes were increasing so as the return.

[clipperlover]

Man you're aiming at the wrong guy here. In the last 2 loses Bogi scored more points than the entire bench together while shooting 50% from 3. He scored the same amount of points as Harden while playing 36 minutes less. He scored 50% more points than Dunn while playing less. He scored only 8 points less than Norm while playing 25 minutes less. Only Zu and Kawai scored more than Bogi. Before this game he was part of the best Clippers defensive lineup. What do you want from a guy that just joined the team and has the shortest leash among all players (Simmons excluded). 5 fouls last night were part of the plan to play hard as the refs were supposed to swallow some whistles but they didn't. Gordon grabs his jersey (clean foul) and he pushed him off and scored a 3 and they called offensive foul on him deleting the 3. What can you do about it. He's been +18 in the last 2 loses. Harden -20, Kawai -9, Zu-14, Norm -20, Dunn -18, DJJ -8 Batum -13.
If you look at Nuggets and their 2 losses MPJ scored total of 22 points being -29 in those 2 losses. Max player. In game 4 after being down by 22, in the last minute Bogi literally grabbed a rebound over Jokic and scored giving us the first lead in that game. Huge play. It wasn't his fault that Kawai and Harden lost us that game. Before the series started I said that if Bogi's playing around 15mins he'd give you very little and if he plays 22-25 mins he'd give you a lot

I agree in many ways- it isn't Bogdan's fault- more so it is Lue's fault for featuring him in line ups and schemes that make him guard guys that are horrible mismatches for him- most notably Gordon. He must be giving up at least 4 inches and 50 pounds to him. Not that Bogdan is some great defender, but he is not meant to be guarding power forwards. Also, what is up with making Harden guard Jokic in some of the defensive schemes? I seriously don't understand what their strategy is in some scenarios.

I fully agree with you here. Bogi is not a great defender but if he's playing with proper linups he's not going to be a negative defender. He's been part of the Clippers best defensive lineup when playing alongside Kawai. It's ridiculous to have him guard Gordon and that's all on Lue. I said before the series started that I was doubting Lue with respect to lineups and managing Bogi. Brian was much better managing his minutes on the floor. Also playing him and Harden together is a suicide of its own kind. Personally I expected more from Bogi especially in the first 3 games but then I also said that if he's playing around 15min/per we're not getting much from him. The last 2 games the minutes were increasing so as the return.

Bogi playing with Kawhi, Batum, Zu and DJJ is one of our best line-ups to watch. Good spacing, Good ball movement, aggressive, and fast.