Game 5 Western semis - 3:30pm ESPN

[NippySudz]

That series will forever haunt us, but this is a different team. This team has much better tools defensively, so that is an advantage, but of course one always wants an up 3-1 series to end in game 5. On to the next one.

Come on.

It's not just the L.
It's the way we lost too.

It felt all too reminiscent. It would be better to get beat wire to wire, hit the showers, come back and try to be better Sunday.

This stings. I truly wonder if we will have the right mental on Sunday.

If they aren't right mentally on Sunday, they don't deserve to be a contender, simple. Luckily this team has no flashbacks of what happened to the other team, I'll wait and see what happens on Sunday. Given up 38 points in the 4th was tragic though.

I agree. I bet the clippers are chomping at the bit to right this wrong. Sunday is an early game. Lets get it done then. If we lose, we deserve not to make it to the WCF.

[Wammy Giveaway]

It just occurred to me: when the Clippers lost the series back in 2015, they lost Game 5 because they were on the road, and they knew the Rocket's goose was cooked. They wanted their first trip to the conference finals be extra special, so they gave away the 5th game in order to win the 6th at home with their fans. The collapse happened in Game 6, and it was 1) on a 19-point lead, 2) on a crazy Griffin floater, and 3) triggering Lawler's Law for the automatic win.

Here are two key differences from that horrid 3-1 collapse:

1. Clippers are in the bubble; therefore, neutral court. No home court advantage whatsoever.
2. Clippers only lost Game 5, not Game 6. The next game is not do or die, unlike with 2015's 2nd round disaster.

Clippers still have two games left to seal the deal. No need to panic just yet.

[TheNewEra]

That series will forever haunt us, but this is a different team. This team has much better tools defensively, so that is an advantage, but of course one always wants an up 3-1 series to end in game 5. On to the next one.

Come on.

It's not just the L.
It's the way we lost too.

It felt all too reminiscent. It would be better to get beat wire to wire, hit the showers, come back and try to be better Sunday.

This stings. I truly wonder if we will have the right mental on Sunday.

If they aren't right mentally on Sunday, they don't deserve to be a contender, simple. Luckily this team has no flashbacks of what happened to the other team, I'll wait and see what happens on Sunday. Given up 38 points in the 4th was tragic though.

Leadership still the same and the fear like it was this game is Doc and his rotations will cost us. Harrell needs to be out of the rotation I don’t care what’s going on with Noah he can’t be worse

[NippySudz]

I have to agree with you. the team played well. The team did well. the effort was there. The rotations and substutions were bad. He gets carried away with trezz. If this isn't corrected, there's no way we can win the conference finals or finals. He needs to get off trezz This is an easy win if zubac played more.

I'm still confident we can win this series. I'm just afraid of the implications for the next series and beyond.

Best friends when we lose and at each other's throats when we win.

Denver won because they shot 44% from 3 and even better than that down the stretch. It had nothing to do with who was playing center or who the coach is. The Nugs played amazing and earned the win.

We literally went from 13 point lead to down off the center switch. We were up 4 when Kawhi came back into the game and down 6 by the time Zu came back in

Don't you know? esqtvd puts no onus on doc. Even if you're not calling for his head. If you just pass him some of the blame, you're being unreasonable or delusional.


I don't think I'm overreacting when I say the substitutions cost us the game. I didn't say it cost us the series or that we don't have a shot to compete for a title. I do believe we do. I'm going to believe that until its no longer a reality. But It's fair to blame coaches. It's fair as fans to demand more from coaches and players.

[TheNewEra]

I'm not even paying attention to the posters that revel in losses so they can feel "right" moving on to Sunday

We got the best player in the NBA. We have a chance to finish this out sunday. Doc can't make the same mistake twice. Should we win and close out this series, Doc cannot afford to do this against Lebron james. Lebron james is a cerebral assassin. He will hunt the switches out and exploit it all game. The loss is on doc, but I just hope we get it done on sunday. I really thought the energy of our team was great all night and that subs took us out of the game.

I wasn't worried when they cut into the lead. I figured doc would sub zu back in with leonard. He did not do that for a couple of possession than finally conceded to do so.

Zu was bad this game though. That's why I said we got nothing from him, Green or Trezz. If Zu has a normal game, we close this out tonight. But again, we've seen this team come back mad and focused after losses and I expect nothing different Sunday.

Bad game indeed but he showed effort at least. We were up 13 when he left the game and down 6 when he came back. Even in a bad game he had zero to do with this loss

[NippySudz]

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[esqtvd]

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nah, doc. It's on you bro. LOL.

If we win today, our next game would be against Bron and AD.

We should be some what beyond something like losing our discipline. It can happen. But we're better than the Nuggets and they shouldn't be putting us in a position to lose our discipline.

Yah, we were all business at first which I liked. No scatterass overpassing and the like. But the Nugs were also in the "What the Hell" mode playing with the house's money and every longshot came in. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose and they didn't.

But yes, we did lose our discipline but part of that is that this is still a new team. Marcus Sr has been a Clipper for only 29 games, and Pat and Shamet missed a lot of time.

We are still constantly improvising. Our core has played fewer than 20 games together, and we don't have any familiarity to fall back on. It's still a process.

[LamarWho]

We need to accept the fact that we no longer are the deepest team in the league. Lou/Trezz are not the same players in the bubble, they won't give you 36pts a game. We have an average bench at best at this point.

[MartinToVaught]

Not trading Lou and Trez at the deadline has come back to bite us in the ass. Especially Trez, who's a regular-season player, not a playoff player.

[NippySudz]

We need to accept the fact that we no longer are the deepest team in the league. Lou/Trezz are not the same players in the bubble, they won't give you 36pts a game. We have an average bench at best at this point.

Even if they did, it's the playoffs. The offense has to run through the best players, Kawhi and PG. Even if they didn't fall off, I don't expect them to give us the same level of production inside the playoffs with teams studying us.

I still believe in this team. Seems like some people think history will repeat itself. Maybe. I hope not. I just don't think kawhi will let that happen as well. Both pg and kawhi should play 45 mins if they have to even up 20+ next game, I don't care We cannot allow them back in the game at all.

[MartinToVaught]

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The one common denominator: Doc Rivers. I'm sure his shill esqtvd will have some excuses to spin this, though.

[NippySudz]

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again, if you're just ignoring this, you're just willfully being ignorant. You don't want to see that Trezz can't play long mins in deep playoff runs. He can't. He's not draymond green, a top quality defender and he's not a guy who can shoot the ball or rebound at a good clip. He's an energy guy. Which still has a place but you have to know when to use him and when to yank him.

[esqtvd]

We got the best player in the NBA. We have a chance to finish this out sunday. Doc can't make the same mistake twice. Should we win and close out this series, Doc cannot afford to do this against Lebron james. Lebron james is a cerebral assassin. He will hunt the switches out and exploit it all game. The loss is on doc, but I just hope we get it done on sunday. I really thought the energy of our team was great all night and that subs took us out of the game.

I wasn't worried when they cut into the lead. I figured doc would sub zu back in with leonard. He did not do that for a couple of possession than finally conceded to do so.

Zu was bad this game though. That's why I said we got nothing from him, Green or Trezz. If Zu has a normal game, we close this out tonight. But again, we've seen this team come back mad and focused after losses and I expect nothing different Sunday.

Bad game indeed but he showed effort at least. We were up 13 when he left the game and down 6 when he came back. Even in a bad game he had zero to do with this loss

Zu's been fine, and finished plus+5. Why is somebody always to blame? He played 32 minutes, which is about his limit. 5 points, 9 rebs. That's about all you can reasonably ask. He got stuffed a couple times and had a few trickle out, and so was only 2-8 from the field. He probably needs to go stronger to the hole, and maybe more vicious going for rebounds, so hopefully he'll play a little angrier on Sunday.

[NippySudz]

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[NippySudz]

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they got the right mindset.

[esqtvd]

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again, if you're just ignoring this, you're just willfully being ignorant. You don't want to see that Trezz can't play long mins in deep playoff runs. He can't. He's not draymond green, a top quality defender and he's not a guy who can shoot the ball or rebound at a good clip. He's an energy guy. Which still has a place but you have to know when to use him and when to yank him.

Trezz only played 16 minutes tonight after averaging 28 in the regular season. Zu played 32 after averaging only 18. Russo doesn't even have a gig working for free at Clippers Nation anymore. I like the stats he unearths but his opinions are meh.

We did not lose this game at the 5.

[NippySudz]

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again, if you're just ignoring this, you're just willfully being ignorant. You don't want to see that Trezz can't play long mins in deep playoff runs. He can't. He's not draymond green, a top quality defender and he's not a guy who can shoot the ball or rebound at a good clip. He's an energy guy. Which still has a place but you have to know when to use him and when to yank him.

Trezz only played 16 minutes tonight after averaging 28 in the regular season. Zu played 32 after averaging only 18. Russo doesn't even have a gig working for free at Clippers Nation anymore. I like the stats he unearths but his opinions are meh.

We did not lose this game at the 5.

You always say this now to disparage his work with no basis in reasoning for doing so.

[TheNewEra]

Zu was bad this game though. That's why I said we got nothing from him, Green or Trezz. If Zu has a normal game, we close this out tonight. But again, we've seen this team come back mad and focused after losses and I expect nothing different Sunday.

Bad game indeed but he showed effort at least. We were up 13 when he left the game and down 6 when he came back. Even in a bad game he had zero to do with this loss

Zu's been fine, and finished plus+5. Why is somebody always to blame? He played 32 minutes, which is about his limit. 5 points, 9 rebs. That's about all you can reasonably ask. He got stuffed a couple times and had a few trickle out, and so was only 2-8 from the field. He probably needs to go stronger to the hole, and maybe more vicious going for rebounds, so hopefully he'll play a little angrier on Sunday.

Blow a 13 point lead in a close out there needs to be some accountability. Zu was off but when his feet were on that court he was working doing the little things on and off the ball to help. We have to find a way around the Harrell minutes I don’t care if it makes him walk away we need to make it to the conference finals at least

[donemilio21]

Sucks. **** happens. Put it in the past and move on to Sunday. Still up 3-2.

we said that after the meltdown against Houston few year ago. We all did.

That series will forever haunt us, but this is a different team. This team has much better tools defensively, so that is an advantage, but of course one always wants an up 3-1 series to end in game 5. On to the next one.

I know you are right, nonetheless I do not trust Doc.

[esqtvd]

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they got the right mindset.

With every loss Kawhi has reminded us--and the team--that this is a process, a growing process. He doesn't point fingers.