Game 4: Clippers (3-0) visit Blazers (3-1) on 10/26 @ 7:00PM

[nickhx2]

yeah i highly doubt gallo will be a 20 ppg guy. not cause he's not capable it's just this team doesn't really seem like it's going to be centered all around two players they way it once was. and there's nothing wrong with that, he just needs to be what he is and we'll be fine.

[Galloisdaman]

yeah i highly doubt gallo will be a 20 ppg guy. not cause he's not capable it's just this team doesn't really seem like it's going to be centered all around two players they way it once was. and there's nothing wrong with that, he just needs to be what he is and we'll be fine.

I do think he will end up some where in the 17-19ppg range. He will shoot much better than he has been in the first 4 games. I'm telling you guys this is how October Gallo always plays. I do not know why but he always starts slow and then gets on rolls as the season goes on.

[nickhx2]

yeah i believe you. i'm not at all concerned with his shooting % or his scoring.

[clip set]

Regarding the low assists overall, it bothered me how isolation/clear out heavy we went in the 4th quarter. That obviously doesn't account for all of it though. We tended towards that style the past few years as well, but had some options for kick outs from CP3 or Reddick moving off screens later in possessions at least. I didn't really know what to expect this year, but I guess we all get to watch the development unfold.

[Forte IV]

Yeah agree with that heavy ISO in the 4th. That won't cut it against other teams in the league. Especially the Warriors and Draymond. Idk if we even had a single assists in the 4th. If we did it had to be 2 max. With that being said we definitely need to work on our ball movement in the 4th.

[Galloisdaman]

Yeah agree with that heavy ISO in the 4th. That won't cut it against other teams in the league. Especially the Warriors and Draymond. Idk if we even had a single assists in the 4th. If we did it had to be 2 max. With that being said we definitely need to work on our ball movement in the 4th.

Its good that the team has guys that can get their own shot but for them to be the best they can be they will have to move the ball more like they did in some previous games as well. I know if Milo was playing the guards assist totals would go up for sure.

[og15]

Well if Gallo shoots better with him same FGA, he should score a bit more.

The thing we need to continue working on is ball and player movement and not being a team like the Raptors who were a very good and efficient offense, but on the back of a lot of individual effort and isolation.

We are only doing 20.3 apg so far, which is close to the bottom of the league. We have a lot of guys who can create indivually and do it effectively and we can attack mismatches and switches very effectively, and get to the line. It can be a blessing and curse, the whole starting lineup but DJ can push and attack, but then they don't necessarily need the other guys, they can just iso against a good match up or quick pick and roll and look to score.

We can definitely have a good offense that way, but it won't necessarily be a Spurs or Warriors like ball movement offense which I think is more what many of us would like to accomplish. So while I won't hate on the effectiveness (113.7 Ortg and 4th) we also have to look forward and try to build good habits.

Our 4th quarter worked out well, but it was a very iso ball 4th quarter with guys just standing around and watching. I think they will watch film and make adjustments. GS is going to be a good challenge next week.

[mkwest]

hat tip to Lawler's Law of Clips Nation

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[thanumba2clippersfan]

I didn't watch the game last night, I did wake up to seeing Blake hit the game winner. I checked the boxscore and saw that we won by 1 point. Based on what actually happened I probably would have been stressed out by watching the game. I'm not complaining that we're 4-0 though.

[Ranma]

[Neddy]

what a finish.

4-0. I think we have a chance to go 5-0 before we fight the warriors. but before we do that, we can't overlook the Pistons. good teams win games more than they lose, but a great team wins every game they are supposed to. I smell some greatness in our make up. lets see if the smell test passes the eye test.

[JGOJustin]

what a finish.

4-0. I think we have a chance to go 5-0 before we fight the warriors. but before we do that, we can't overlook the Pistons. good teams win games more than they lose, but a great team wins every game they are supposed to. I smell some greatness in our make up. lets see if the smell test passes the eye test.

Well said.

You don't gain playoff positioning against the warriors, you gain it by taking care of homecourt, and beating the teams you're supposed to beat / can beat as much as possible.

It's why I said the Lakers, suns, Utah games were all must wins. Like..you HAVE TO win those games for positioning purposes. Detroit falls under that umbrella. Must win.

Last season was a prime example of this. We end up with the 4th seed, 4 wins behind Houston for the 3 seed and had that horrible loss to Sac, that loss to Bkn, that loss to Detroit, that loss to philly when we were up 20, that loss to minnesota and dallas when we had the lead late, that's the 3 seed right there without even trying.

Those games will happen, because its a long season but you want to minimize those bad losses as much as possible lol

[esqtvd]

CP3 quit, not on us but on himself
when it comes down to it
he's gonna pass off to Harden


It's Blake's team now

dunno if he can do it in the playoffs
and he doesn't either

but this is a start

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BABY!!

Blake has already done it in the playoffs. Last time he was fully healthy in the playoffs, he was putting up Oscar/Barkley statlines. Remember that triple-double he put up against the Spurs in Game 7?

Blake has been our best player in many playoff series over the years. Somehow, people have taken the fact that he was injured in the last two postseasons and spun it to mean that "he can't get it done when it matters most."

I was speaking of leadership, and of course being Da Man in the 4thQ. I have not thought of Blake that way in the CP3 era. Last night's 16 points in the 4th quarter--THAT'S Da Man.

[Neddy]

This team does need to get Milo back. BG and Gallo are good passing forwards but you can't have guards having many games with 0 assists.

yup.

[JGOJustin]

Also, Blake's 4th quarter was extremely encouraging

One of my biggest fears with Blake being paired with CP, JJ, Jamal, over these past years was that his confidence and skill in regards to being a go to guy in the 4th had atrophied to the point of no return because of how reliant the team was on CP and co.

Have always said that there's a 'clutch' player in Blake, but he was correctly robbed of reps in those scenarios. Even if we would have lost last night it was nice to see him get real in game reps of having to be a go to guy. The more reps he gets in these situations, the more confident he'll be. Nice to see that this area of BG hasn't atrophied completely.

[og15]

what a finish.

4-0. I think we have a chance to go 5-0 before we fight the warriors. but before we do that, we can't overlook the Pistons. good teams win games more than they lose, but a great team wins every game they are supposed to. I smell some greatness in our make up. lets see if the smell test passes the eye test.

Well said.

You don't gain playoff positioning against the warriors, you gain it by taking care of homecourt, and beating the teams you're supposed to beat / can beat as much as possible.

It's why I said the Lakers, suns, Utah games were all must wins. Like..you HAVE TO win those games for positioning purposes. Detroit falls under that umbrella. Must win.

Last season was a prime example of this. We end up with the 4th seed, 4 wins behind Houston for the 3 seed and had that horrible loss to Sac, that loss to Bkn, that loss to Detroit, that loss to philly when we were up 20, that loss to minnesota and dallas when we had the lead late, that's the 3 seed right there without even trying.

Those games will happen, because its a long season but you want to minimize those bad losses as much as possible lol

Certainly easier said than done for sure. Many those loses will also happen at the end of a road trip, in those 5 games in 7 nights kind of situations, etc.

Warriors just beat everyone, so they've done it, but the only other team that has really consistently done this has been the Spurs because consistency is the name of their game. Can't really think of any other team that hasn't lost focus and lost more of those games against weaker teams than they maybe should. That should certainly be a goal for this team. I know it will become harder later, but at least do it early, every win counts.

[og15]

Also, Blake's 4th quarter was extremely encouraging

One of my biggest fears with Blake being paired with CP, JJ, Jamal, over these past years was that his confidence and skill in regards to being a go to guy in the 4th had atrophied to the point of no return because of how reliant the team was on CP and co.

Have always said that there's a 'clutch' player in Blake, but he was correctly robbed of reps in those scenarios. Even if we would have lost last night it was nice to see him get real in game reps of having to be a go to guy. The more reps he gets in these situations, the more confident he'll be. Nice to see that this area of BG hasn't atrophied completely.

One clear difference now though is the level of his outside jumpshot. One of the things that always limited Blake in that role was his lack of total confidence in his shooting. Fatigue sometimes was an issue too, not discounting that, but before, many times down the stretch he became a more hesitant shooter and always wanted to get close to the basket. Defenders would know this and would play him for the drive. This would cause him to hesitate and be indecisive, then he would pass back to Paul or Jamal, or try to force the issue towards the basket.

Blake's full 3PT shot development has actually come just in time. While he would still be a beast, his ability to be a threat from and confident shooting from anywhere just expands what he is capable of doing.

I agree, now that there's no safety net, Blake has no choice. From the years, you can see that he's not necessarily a "dominant" personality in the sense that he would step on others toes or want to put the team on his back if he didn't need to. The other guys wanted him to, but I know from experience that even in a situation like that, players can defer just because they feel someone else is more capable, even if the someone else doesn't want them to.

This is also why it's good that Jamal also was moved, even though Blake thought Jamal would return, Jamal would have been a safety net for him. Considering how Blake would defer to Jamal when he was on with the second unit lineups, Jamal's presence wouldn't allow him to fully see it as primarily his duty to do the work down the stretch.

[Ranma]

Also, Blake's 4th quarter was extremely encouraging

One of my biggest fears with Blake being paired with CP, JJ, Jamal, over these past years was that his confidence and skill in regards to being a go to guy in the 4th had atrophied to the point of no return because of how reliant the team was on CP and co.

Have always said that there's a 'clutch' player in Blake, but he was correctly robbed of reps in those scenarios. Even if we would have lost last night it was nice to see him get real in game reps of having to be a go to guy. The more reps he gets in these situations, the more confident he'll be. Nice to see that this area of BG hasn't atrophied completely.

You know what? That is an excellent point, which prompted a recall of another similar circumstance in Clippers history. I know Chris Paul wanted to get more out of Blake Griffin by getting him to be more aggressive and be a go-to player. I believe Paul himself acknowledged that for the Clippers to get anywhere, Griffin would have to be the #1 option, not CP3. However, given that neither were really fully on the same page together, Griffin likely didn't feel comfortable in those opportunities.

I remember Griffin over-dribbling and trapping himself into traffic multiple times where we couldn't rely on him to handle the ball unless it was on a fastbreak. I remember him taking outside shots but falling short too many times to become a reliable option. Obviously, Paul's presence in both of those situations provided the better alternative, but you also get the sense that Blake felt pressured into living up to the presence of Chris as well as feeling overwhelmed by his shadow.

This reminds me of when Sam Cassell was supposedly mentoring Shaun Livingston. Livingston was our clear-cut point guard of the future while Cassell was supposed to be the vet who helped him along in the transition from rookie PG to franchise playmaker. However, Cassell was unwilling to step out of the limelight and rationalized that Shaun had to beat him out of the position in a trial by fire. While there is some merit to that approach, I found it to be more detrimental than developmental.

It may sound hypocritical for me to say this, but I think Paul handled the situation better than Cassell even if both were similarly hard-lined in a sense. The difference is that Griffin was already more experienced and should have had the intestinal fortitude to reach Paul's level. Kind of like Scottie Pippen being elevated by Michael Jordan during their time together in Chicago. Livingston, on the other hand, was still a raw player fresh out of high school competing with a wily vet who wanted to milk as much out of the situation to be the man.

[Ranma]

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[JGOJustin]

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