2nd Half Schedule: The worst is over

[esqtvd]

26-12 as the halfway point approaches, a 56-win clip. Really amazing when you look back on it. Great job by players and coaches to survive one of the most brutal schedules, PG missing the first 11 games, Kawhi managing load and a chronic injury, plus Shamet, Bev and J-Myke missing significant chunks. 15 different starting lineups.

Time to heal up, rest up, practice up, and enjoy. A lot of even better play and plenty of Ws coming our way in what could be the greatest season in Clipper history.

They have the easiest remaining schedule of any Western Conference team.

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https://sports.yahoo.com/three-things-know-26-12-140435396.html

[esqtvd]

LOL that didn't take long

Read on Twitter

unknown if he still practiced
at this point, IMO skipping what should be an easy W vs GSW is preferable to missing 2 days of practice

Code: Select all

TOMER: The Clippers practiced for two consecutive days on Wednesday and Thursday following two days off on Monday and Tuesday. No note was made of any injury to George, who played 26 minutes and scored 32 points in Sunday afternoon’s matchup against the New York Knicks.

[esqtvd]

https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2020/01/09/doc-rivers-clippers-are-getting-in-the-zone-on-defense/?utm_content=tw-PasStarNews&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow

PLAYA VISTA — Congratulations to anyone who predicted the Clippers would dedicate a lot of their practice time this week to defense.

Everyone who watched the Clippers relinquish 272 points in this past weekend’s split at Staples Center – spot on.


Presented with the rare in-season opportunity to practice on back-to-back days – yes, Kawhi Leonard participated in both sessions – the Clippers spent the bulk of that time working to shore up “slippage” on the defensive end, Coach Doc Rivers said.

They know there’s work to do before they can be characterized as having a great defense, which Leonard said he’d define as a unit with the following attributes: “Basketball IQ. Playing hard. Knowing your rotations. Just everybody pretty much being on a string and knowing what they’re doing going into every game.”



“You have two days, you can’t fix it all,” Rivers said of his injury-bitten team’s defense. “It’s almost like these two days we’ve re-introduced things that we did in camp, because now we have the whole arsenal to try to do it.”

It was at training camp that Rivers let it be known that this was the season that he would, at last, seriously implement zone defense. “This year, it was just so obvious, with the size and the length. … We did it on the first day of camp and we reached out to different guys to see some thoughts.”

“I love zone. I played zone in high school, played it in college, overseas,” Beverley said. “I really loved zone.”

“Some of them think it’s still high school zone,” Rivers corrected. “It’s more of a flex zone. It’s a zone, but you’re switching. And then certain times it morphs into a man. We’re doing that to try to create confusion, obviously.


“You gotta make sure you get to everyone,” Rivers added. “It’s rare that there’s a guy who can be (left) unguarded. In college, you can have three guys stuffing in the paint because you know, ‘These three guys aren’t gonna make a shot,’ and you can load up. You can’t load up like that in an NBA zone.”

“It just messes up rhythm,” Beverley said. “You don’t find yourself working on your zone offense that much because you don’t practice a lot. Throwing a zone in there, it kind of throws everything off a little bit.”

Now, for the Clippers to get in sync on the same string themselves.

[MartinRiggs]

Shame,I was hopping PG would heal 100% during this break.

[Dynamix]

Must've been a hell of a practice if PG's hamstring couldn't handle it. He seemed fine against the Knicks. Maybe they just want him as fresh as possible for Denver? Still, a week off between games is too long, especially for a player trying to leave a shooting slump behind.

edit> And just to be on the record: I still don't have complete faith in our medical staff. What upgrades did we make on that front? I remember we brought in some conditioning guy from Philly. Anything else?

JMG returning way too soon from that bruised behind did not inspire confidence. Or Bev being sent back in and blocking shots with a sprained wrist.

[NippySudz]

LOL that didn't take long

Read on Twitter

unknown if he still practiced
at this point, IMO skipping what should be an easy W vs GSW is preferable to missing 2 days of practice

Code: Select all

TOMER: The Clippers practiced for two consecutive days on Wednesday and Thursday following two days off on Monday and Tuesday. No note was made of any injury to George, who played 26 minutes and scored 32 points in Sunday afternoon’s matchup against the New York Knicks.

Damn it. Just when you thought they were healthy again. PG might have to sit a week with the hammy and let it heal

Damn just looked up a strain 3 weeks recovery time.

Luckily our b2b is against Hawks and the cavs

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[NippySudz]

Must've been a hell of a practice if PG's hamstring couldn't handle it. He seemed fine against the Knicks. Maybe they just want him as fresh as possible for Denver? Still, a week off between games is too long, especially for a player trying to leave a shooting slump behind.

edit> And just to be on the record: I still don't have complete faith in our medical staff. What upgrades did we make on that front? I remember we brought in some conditioning guy from Philly. Anything else?

JMG returning way too soon from that bruised behind did not inspire confidence. Or Bev being sent back in and blocking shots with a sprained wrist.

It's a strain..strain is a microscopic tear In the muscle. It's not a tight hamstring like one he had before. Probably should have never returned against the Knicks and doc should have spaced out the practices. I really don't understand what he was thinking to make practice back to back instead of Tuesday and Thursday.

Can't really know if practice is the cause for injury as we don't know if he injured it the first day or the second day or even in practice to begin with.

I really hope Paul George's hamstring doesn't turn into a Chris Paul situation.

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[MartinRiggs]

Damn,that must be new injury it seems,he looked fine vs the Knicks.
Hamstring Strain Recovery Times
Grade 1 - 1 to 3 weeks

Grade 2 - 4 to 8 weeks

[NippySudz]

If he injured it after the Knicks game and they caught it early and is a grade 1, it's great news as far as scheduling goes. That means he'll be only miss two weeks of considerable playing time.

This is where load management sucks. I understand it but it blows. Luckily we have to deal with Atlanta and cle. We should win those without kawhi.

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[NippySudz]

If we go far in the playoffs, it'll truly be a remarkable feat in a season where two stars plays are probably playing 60 games and even fewer of that together.

I think we can get it done, just need to be healthy at the end

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[Wammy Giveaway]

Just because the Clippers escaped a grueling schedule with lots of backs to backs (because they're still "the losers," according to schedulers) doesn't mean they're off the hook. No, it's only going to get worse.

This is the period where the playoff teams start amping up their practices and their schemes finally come to fruition. Those teams who may have been bad on offense, they have a better idea of how your defense works and will counter accordingly. Those teams who were bad on defense, their rotations and coverages become tighter. No more easy baskets, no more free blocks, steals or open shots. The Clippers must be ready.

As it still stands, because they value health over home court, especially with how prone they are to injury (not just this season, but season's before under Lob City and the entirety of Sterling years), I expect the Clippers to be a lower seeded team. I'm predicting they'll at least be a 4th seed (so Hallway Series can occur in 2nd round, of all places).

[esqtvd]

Just because the Clippers escaped a grueling schedule with lots of backs to backs (because they're still "the losers," according to schedulers) doesn't mean they're off the hook. No, it's only going to get worse.

This is the period where the playoff teams start amping up their practices and their schemes finally come to fruition. Those teams who may have been bad on offense, they have a better idea of how your defense works and will counter accordingly. Those teams who were bad on defense, their rotations and coverages become tighter. No more easy baskets, no more free blocks, steals or open shots. The Clippers must be ready.

As it still stands, because they value health over home court, especially with how prone they are to injury (not just this season, but season's before under Lob City and the entirety of Sterling years), I expect the Clippers to be a lower seeded team. I'm predicting they'll at least be a 4th seed (so Hallway Series can occur in 2nd round, of all places).

I don't agree with your pessimistic prediction about our seeding, but the rest is true, which is why I haven't got worried about the Lakers' great record, which has come at the cost of playing their only 2 good players tons of minutes, busting ass just to beat crap teams.

I learned my lesson when the 2012-13 Clippers tore off that 17-game win streak in December, then played .500 ball the rest of the way and then dumped in the playoffs. Fools' gold. They had a savvy veteran bench that feasted on young teams, but by the halfway mark those teams started catching up. I think if Bron and Brow stay healthy, they can stay out in front, but they're going to have to continue to hump like rabbits and I dunno if that's a smart big-picture strategy.

Me, I'm happy to finish with the 2-seed, and I think we will. We're at a 56-win pace and we haven't shown the league anything but playground ball yet. The offensive and defensive schemes are barely in and are far from being executed as well as they will be by April.

We're also gonna try to make a roster move, I'm sure. We might be able to get a nice rotation piece for Shamet and Harkless, with Jerome, Fi, and probably Mann and/or the 2020 pick for sweeteners.

[NippySudz]

Just because the Clippers escaped a grueling schedule with lots of backs to backs (because they're still "the losers," according to schedulers) doesn't mean they're off the hook. No, it's only going to get worse.

This is the period where the playoff teams start amping up their practices and their schemes finally come to fruition. Those teams who may have been bad on offense, they have a better idea of how your defense works and will counter accordingly. Those teams who were bad on defense, their rotations and coverages become tighter. No more easy baskets, no more free blocks, steals or open shots. The Clippers must be ready.

As it still stands, because they value health over home court, especially with how prone they are to injury (not just this season, but season's before under Lob City and the entirety of Sterling years), I expect the Clippers to be a lower seeded team. I'm predicting they'll at least be a 4th seed (so Hallway Series can occur in 2nd round, of all places).

I don't agree with your pessimistic prediction about our seeding, but the rest is true, which is why I haven't got worried about the Lakers' great record, which has come at the cost of playing their only 2 good players tons of minutes, busting ass just to beat crap teams.

I learned my lesson when the 2012-13 Clippers tore off that 17-game win streak in December, then played .500 ball the rest of the way and then dumped in the playoffs. Fools' gold. They had a savvy veteran bench that feasted on young teams, but by the halfway mark those teams started catching up. I think if Bron and Brow stay healthy, they can stay out in front, but they're going to have to continue to hump like rabbits and I dunno if that's a smart big-picture strategy.

Me, I'm happy to finish with the 2-seed, and I think we will. We're at a 56-win pace and we haven't shown the league anything but playground ball yet. The offensive and defensive schemes are barely in and are far from being executed as well as they will be by April.

We're also gonna try to make a roster move, I'm sure. We might be able to get a nice rotation piece for Shamet and Harkless, with Jerome, Fi, and probably Mann and/or the 2020 pick for sweeteners.

I want to see how tonights game goes and How we match up with denver because We're doing this without PG, which this team is kinda use to. His absence + his lack of offensive production has almost made him not here in games sometimes. But still, If we're able to shut down denver, I can see a sustained run of games up of winning and not dropping games. Even though this team is missing gallo and Shai, The clipppers without Kawhi/PG is still a lot better than atlanta hawks and the cle cavaliers. Lou and harrell can score on those guys any time.

But I think we'll finish a top 2 or 3 see. I share your optimism on that. We have the softest schedule and right now, its the dog days of the season, but its also time where teams start fine tuning their play. If we're worse in January than we were in December, then we have a problem.

But I just don't see our defense slipping down to 26th like that again over a 5 game stretch. I believe this team knows they need to bring it now. It's not really about losing so much as it is with the effort with me. I want to see the effort. If they lose, it better be because of a nail biter or missing open shots. But they better play defense, be solid on rotations and so forth. That's how I believe they are going to secure the seed. Through effort.

[TrueLAfan]

Not too worried about PG’s hamstring, or his health in general (and I don’t think he’s prone to injury). I do think that he may have a twinge/strain and I do think this is a type of load management—but load management for PG is very, very different than load management for, say, Kawhi. PG was inactive for the first 10 games this season (and was activated by didn’t play in game 11). Still, stay with 10. He’s played in 26 out of 29 games where he’s been able to play; that’s 73-74 games per season pace. And that’s a big cutback for him. I notedin another thread way back when we got PG; he’s an absolute iron man. He’s been healthy for seven years since his rookie year. In those years, he played over 96% of games and averaged nearly 36 mpg. That’s 79 games and over 2900 minutes per season. For PG, a “load management” season would be one where he played around 70-72 games and played 33 mpg. That’s part of his value for me.

And it’s going to be a big thing as the season goes on. Up to now, because he was there for the preseason and the first 10/11 games, Kawhi had been on the court more than PG. That is changing; since game 12, PG has logged 25% more court time than Kawhi. This is a shift. We want them both on court, of course. Bur right now, we’re more used to not having PG than Kawhi. That, like I said, will change. And I think that’s been one of our weaknesses up to now. The players are more familiar with Kawhi and what he can do and the ways he elevates the team. PG can do 90% plus of that, but not necessarily in the same way, and we’re in the process of figuring it out when PG is the alpha guy on the court.

The OP is a good one. We do have it much easier now. That’s why I said I’m looking/hoping for 35 wins by the end of January. That’s an 11-3 month; that’s 65 win ball. 10-4 wouldn’t be a disaster, but we’ll still need a couple of 75-80% win months to get us up to or over 60 wins. And I think 60 wins—maybe even 58 or 59--gets the 2 seed.

[NippySudz]

Cleveland took care of the nuggets for us and we're the second seed. Let's hope the clippers can whip that candy ass tomorrow!

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[MartinRiggs]

Nice!

Denver lost and they are on back to back vs Clippers. Didn't know that.

But thoose Lakers are just winning easily,so second seed seems realistic.

[NippySudz]

Nice!

Denver lost and they are on back to back vs Clippers. Didn't know that.

But thoose Lakers are just winning easily,so second seed seems realistic.

I agree. No one is catching the Lakers and bucks for first place so going for second seems just as good. I really hope we have the momentum. We'll find out tonight

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[MartinRiggs]

Leading from first to last minute and up to +32 vs solid OKC team without AD and LeBron. Damn.

[NippySudz]

Leading from first to last minute and up to +32 vs solid OKC team without AD and LeBron. Damn.

They're pretty good lol

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[MartinRiggs]

Another early start but this time in NO,local time will be 14:30 so the players should be more alert than last 2 home early games.