ROUND 1, GAME 1: Mavericks @ Clippers Saturday 1:30PM PDT

[og15]

Leonard and George both shined and faltered during the game. I’m sure Lue will tweak a few things to get them some easier looks. They played well enough, IMO, to still win the game. We talk about them needing to up their game but they need the supporting cast to do the same. Those two created a lot of opportunities for others to get open looks and they bricked or passed them up.

Nothing gets me more heated though about this loss than Lue’s unwillingness to adjust during the game and for not playing Mann.

In general, the team scored more than enough points to win, and this is because of the very low turnovers. I know people will look at just 103 ppg and say, how is that enough? The reason is that this was a slower paced game, both teams did a lot of half court sets in this one. Dallas took fouls on a lot of their turnovers, and a Clippers didn't turn it over enough to give Dallas man transition opportunities.

The large problem which while I don't expect Dallas to shoot as well, I still don't see the a Clippers game plan (yet) to defend them adequately, which means like last season, Clippers will have to win with offense for most of their wins.

Forget Luka, he's a star, he'll get his. Hardaway and Finney Smith were 11/14 from 3PT, 64%. If they only made a very good 43% among them, that's 6/14, that's A LOT of points lost despite still very good shooting. Their ability to knock down their open three's at not just average 5/14, not just very good 6/14, but at an amazing level gave their team about +15 pts. If Jackson + Morris 0/9 hit even a below average 3/9, that's +9 pts, they hit an average for them 4/9 and that's +12 pts. So we can see where the points can and should come from. If those two hit even a good 6/14 for example in another game, and Porzingis plays better, we won't expect him to play +15 points better on offense, so it's still a win defensively.

So one on hand, improved defense can come from something that isn't particularly in the Clippers control, shooting variation. Being more cognizant of Luka's look away pass will maybe make a couple more contested, though the Mavs still did well on the contested.

Offensively for the Clippers, if this is the example of a "bad" game from George, that is actually a good thing, because this is the type of bad game a team can overcome. Not going to hang my hat on that, but outside shooting should improve. We simply will have to see next game.

[Captain Ballmer]

Leonard and George both shined and faltered during the game. I’m sure Lue will tweak a few things to get them some easier looks. They played well enough, IMO, to still win the game. We talk about them needing to up their game but they need the supporting cast to do the same. Those two created a lot of opportunities for others to get open looks and they bricked or passed them up.

Nothing gets me more heated though about this loss than Lue’s unwillingness to adjust during the game and for not playing Mann.

He actually Adjusted in the game. Many different coverages were failed by Luka. I really don't have any clue what Lue and team will come up with for tuesday and wouldn't want to be in their place.

Please check the tweet below for detailed breakdown.

Read on Twitter

[og15]

Leonard and George both shined and faltered during the game. I’m sure Lue will tweak a few things to get them some easier looks. They played well enough, IMO, to still win the game. We talk about them needing to up their game but they need the supporting cast to do the same. Those two created a lot of opportunities for others to get open looks and they bricked or passed them up.

Nothing gets me more heated though about this loss than Lue’s unwillingness to adjust during the game and for not playing Mann.

He actually Adjusted in the game. Many different coverages were failed by Luka. I really don't have any clue what Lue and team will come up with for tuesday and wouldn't want to be in their place.

Please check the tweet below for detailed breakdown.

Read on Twitter

Neither switching or doubling worked in the game. Now it's up the coaches to look at data, and in a sense, basically "guess" / play the odds really as to which strategy to start off with and hope will give a different result due to shoot variation plus closing out half a step sooner on a couple more shots, etc. Do you let Luka get those isolation off the dribble three's and assume he does not shoot 46%, or do you load up, send a second defender and hope the Mavs don't tear up the 4v3.

Teams used to have this problem with the Lob City Clippers, and CP3 is much smaller than Luka and can't see the same angles or make all the same plays. When things were clicking, the doubling of CP3 on pick and rolls left Blake in the middle attacking a 4v3 with the option of attack, if help comes from a wing, pass to corner or wing (Redick or Barnes), if the big, lob to DJ, if no help or late help, Blake goes to the basket. Now of course Barnes was not a knockdown shooter, so he was the play off him / leave open if necessarily be and let him beat you guy.

Smith and Hardaway are both 39% on 5+ attempts, they aren't necessarily guys to play off of. Josh Richardson would be the guy, he can attack close outs, but I'd rather have him taking the shots, but he doesn't start. Kleiber is a guy, but Mavs can just stick him on the baseline in the dunker spot. Soo.....

[RingColluder]

Why does it matter what the game "nearly was" when what it nearly was didn't happen? Might as well say the Clippers "nearly won" if Kawhi didn't have a bad 4th and start "blaming" him too. There a reason it's a 48 minute game.

Yea, sometimes one star has to carry certain stretches because another star or their teammates in general aren't doing as well, nothing new.

You have little to no objectivity in regards to Paul George, your narratives on his play are generally pretty useless, sorry.

Blake trade = just below star level player, two rotation players and a lottery pick. That's a package a team can use to retool. Looks like lots of value the, including the value of cap space. What's the problem exactly?

Untradeable means the a player can't be moved for value or needs assets attached to them to be moved. That's only the reality in a fantasy world when it comes to Paul George, not in the actual real life 30 team NBA.

If your idea of untradeable means that George can't be traded for a superstar / better player, well, yeah, how many stars are traded for other stars? Kawhi the Spurs DeRozan, Poeltl and a top 20 protected pick.

If we get to that point, there will be lots of teams lining up to give up some young players or a tier 2-3 star plus assets for Paul George if he was on the block. Not because he's the best, but because he's better than what many, many teams have in that same position.

If you're really trying to equivocate Kawhi's 4th quarter with Paul George's 1st quarter (and not even factoring in Paul George's multiple boneheaded low IQ shot selection in the 4th AND defensive issues which has barely been discussed in the thread) that's absolute malarkey. Paul George clearly played significantly worse than Kawhi if we're looking at the total output of their performance, and frankly the fact that virtually everyone in the media and online other than a few people on this board can see it is EXTREMELY bizarre. Unless you want to come across extremely biased, I wouldn't go down this path whatsoever if I were you.

You're right it IS nothing new for Kawhi Leonard just like in the Mavs and Nuggets series last year to have to CARRY THE TEAM ON HIS BACK bc Paul George was shooting awfully or got into early foul trouble.

That's an absolutely awful deal when we had goals of winning a CHAMPIONSHIP to trade for that little value. If we're not getting a legitimate All star player back (not just below star player) AND solid draft pieces it's a mess. Who is "just below star player"? Tobias Harris?? Really???

Trading Paul George = throwing in the flag on any hopes of a championship. The far more likely scenario if we lose round 1 (or even round 2) is that Kawhi does not re-sign and we are STUCK with Paul George bc management needs to sell tickets for the new stadium and does not want to be rebuilding. Is this clear to you?

It's amazing the flip from "Paul George is such a great player the criticism for him is unwarranted" to "Well we can easily trade him if he performs poorly this offseason". Ballmer and Co especially if Kawhi leaves NEED TO SELL TICKETS. Not to mention if he continues to perform this way, no sane team will take a guy who has flopped in the last 5 or 6 playoffs in a row for anything of value. No young guys, no first round picks. Absolutely not. This delusion that still stems from the idea that "Paul George is a very good player" and that if we end up trading him "He'll have plenty of people who want him" is just so off base I don't know how else to explain it.

At this stage of his career, Paul George is way closer to "washed up Carmelo Anthony" who absolutely no team wanted despite his great supposed accolades and stats (Horrible playoff player) than a Chris Paul who contending teams constantly want to be the final piece to their puzzle OR a great model for a rebuilding team (OKC).

1)

If you're really trying to equivocate Kawhi's 4th quarter with Paul George's 1st quarter

I'm telling you that your logic is inconsistent and faulty and I'm giving an example of using the same flawed logic back at you. Whatever words and narrative you want to add there to make whatever point you want to make is your own decision.

2) Okay, so we've moved the goalposts, it was that he was untradeable with no specific context, then it was that he couldn't get good assets, now it's that he can't bring back an immediate star that you deem worthy enough for a championship. Well...lol.

3) Last year George had 27 points in game 1, he then scored 14 pts or less in the next three games. He had 15 pts or less in 4/6 games, so no, George having a poor first half and picking it up in the second half is NOTHING like last season vs Dallas because last season vs Dallas his whole games were like the first half.

Again, this happens ALL the time, teams have multiple stars and one picks up the slack when another is having a hard time, even crappy playoff George last season did it in the 2nd half of game 3 vs Denver after both had good first halves and Kawhi was off in the 2nd half.

4) I am about consistency with takes, but I've seen enough of this type of posting to not expect any consistency. If it flipped and George had a nice first half and carried the team, Kawhi struggled, but came out in the 2nd half, the inconsistent type of person would flip it and say "George didn't show up in crunch time, he only performed when there was no pressure in the first half" or some narrative like that. So if the take changes depending on the player, then it's useless.

5) Carmelo was traded at 33 years old, 3 years older than George to OKC after averaging 22/6/3 on below average scoring efficiency while playing poor defense. Yeah that's the value of Paul George around the league . Like I said, your takes on George are generally pretty useless.

6)

It's amazing the flip from "Paul George is such a great player the criticism for him is unwarranted" to "Well we can easily trade him if he performs poorly this offseaso

Strawman, this isn't what was being said, the issue was the constant criticism about any and everything, not criticizing him in general, and people are only talking about how he can be traded because YOU are crying that he's untradeable, lol.

If the management was just interested in selling tickets, they wouldn't have trade Blake Griffin when they did. It's all conjecture at this point. I'd hypothesize that the could look to keep him more as a star to draw another or in order to not be so bad to give up good picks to OKC than for selling tickets if this scenario was to happen. Who knows though, acting like I know exactly what they would do is dumb.

My takes on PG are pretty useless? If you want to play THAT game I find most of your takes on everything to be absurdly biased and coming from someone who is a Clippers fan and just totally ignored logic and reason to be "right".

As usual you continue to just take things to the literal extreme and constantly ignore what's right in front of your face in regards to the players and ACTIONS and decisions they make.

2) You need to comprehend words better if that's how you're attempting to spin what I say. We will get absolutely nothing in return of value for PG if we trade him, all it would do is have us throw in the flag and put us on some horrible "Rebuild" process despite being totally capped out and getting at most maybe 1 or so draft picks. The fact that you are going from "a championship team" to a total rebuild at the drop of a hat shows you're lacking and failure to have true foundations of opinion to stand on and just go with the wind.

3) Wrong again. The common pattern BECAUSE of Paul George's play in both series was that Kawhi was forced to expand way more energy and start playing the style of play he USUALLY starts playing in the 4th quarter in QUARTER 1 because of PG's failures. This is like Curry or LeBron who dont' turn it up till later in the games (not Curry this season) as their teams keep it close and then close it out by the end. Kawhi is not afforded that luxury because of Paul Georg'e awful games consistently.

And you are wrong AGAIN. No one has worse games than PG to start games this consistently and often in the playoffs. NO ONE. If we're talking about real 2nd stars like Dwade, Irving, Klay Thompson, KD, ... but if you're talking about second tier stars like Carmelo Anthony from OKC than yes that makes sense, but then again you're opinion on their comparison would get exposed if you admitted to that.

4) No if Kawhi played awful in the 1st half and PG saved them from being down 20, I'd praise PG. But PG rarely does that, he is constantly the one **** the bed. The fact that you ignored my point that virtually everyone else online and in the media sees how awful he played and yet it's you and maybe 1-2 other posters who are "right' about PG - You need to look in the mirror. Even a few of the constant PG defenders on this board admitted he sucked ass today. Seriously. This is just as off as your "We didn't throw the game to avoid the Lakers' take. Consistently pro Clippers dogma.

5) And yes - the take is 100% Carmelo Anthony (from the Knicks era). A fake phony "All Star" who does not benefit their team, takes up maximum cap space and can produce good regular season numbers to the detriment of their team in the playoffs or worse when there is no other player around them can't even make the playoffs.

6) Why are you so literal? If I said, "Marcus Morris is playing useless" you'd argue "well he had __ rebounds and played good defense, so NO he is not playing "useless"." IT's A FIGURE OF SPEECH. We will not get anything of VALUE for PG given his bloated contract - we would be losing value just to get RID of his bloated contract. Just like a player like Chandler Parsons or Nick Batum was considered "untradable" bc of their contracts.

And as usual, total disregarding my very accurate point on "Selling tickets" and instead going to points just saying, "No trust me I'm right, just believe me". You seem to love to be the contrarian on this board and as stated, the fact you can flip from "PG is a great player you are wrong" to "Well we'll just trade him in the off season then" shows a total lack of foundational beliefs to stand on.

[RingColluder]

A great example is that on the Mavs board some people find Luka's 4th quarter (think someone aid he was 0-9 to end the game? Not 100% on that) to have been horrible and bashed him relentlessly, when in MY VIEW Luka like Kawhi DRAGGED THE TEAM to even get to that point with his phenomenal play. It's utterly preposterous some are just box score watchers and don't see the TYPE of plays players like Kawhi and Luka are forced to make when their teams can't deliver.


And umm in both situations, did people not realize both teams were doubling Kawhi and Luka at times so they couldn't do anything?? Zero of that with Porzingis and PG. An yet they still get blame for not "stepping up" in the 4th

Bottom line is we ended the 1st w a 12 point deficit that would have been 22 (and game over) had Kawhi not stepped up. Same as the Mavs fans complaining about Luka's poor finish despite if he's not carrying the team on his back for 3 quarters, absolutely no one else was doing anything for the Mavs besides Brunson (as usual with what I see with the Mavs). It should be "thank you Kawhi and Luka" for their respective teams and I struggle to see the logic in otherwise. Just like with the critical Mavs fans of Luka.

Also says a lot that the normally rarely critical Ty Lue was ONLY critical of PG's boneheaded contested 3 with 2 minutes to go early in the shot clock that continues to show his inability to make the right play when needed most, "I think PG took a quick 3 in transition that was kind of contested, but outside of that, I thought we got some good shots,” Lue said of the ruinous offense down the stretch.

[Max Headrom]

If you're really trying to equivocate Kawhi's 4th quarter with Paul George's 1st quarter (and not even factoring in Paul George's multiple boneheaded low IQ shot selection in the 4th AND defensive issues which has barely been discussed in the thread) that's absolute malarkey. Paul George clearly played significantly worse than Kawhi if we're looking at the total output of their performance, and frankly the fact that virtually everyone in the media and online other than a few people on this board can see it is EXTREMELY bizarre. Unless you want to come across extremely biased, I wouldn't go down this path whatsoever if I were you.

You're right it IS nothing new for Kawhi Leonard just like in the Mavs and Nuggets series last year to have to CARRY THE TEAM ON HIS BACK bc Paul George was shooting awfully or got into early foul trouble.

That's an absolutely awful deal when we had goals of winning a CHAMPIONSHIP to trade for that little value. If we're not getting a legitimate All star player back (not just below star player) AND solid draft pieces it's a mess. Who is "just below star player"? Tobias Harris?? Really???

Trading Paul George = throwing in the flag on any hopes of a championship. The far more likely scenario if we lose round 1 (or even round 2) is that Kawhi does not re-sign and we are STUCK with Paul George bc management needs to sell tickets for the new stadium and does not want to be rebuilding. Is this clear to you?

It's amazing the flip from "Paul George is such a great player the criticism for him is unwarranted" to "Well we can easily trade him if he performs poorly this offseason". Ballmer and Co especially if Kawhi leaves NEED TO SELL TICKETS. Not to mention if he continues to perform this way, no sane team will take a guy who has flopped in the last 5 or 6 playoffs in a row for anything of value. No young guys, no first round picks. Absolutely not. This delusion that still stems from the idea that "Paul George is a very good player" and that if we end up trading him "He'll have plenty of people who want him" is just so off base I don't know how else to explain it.

At this stage of his career, Paul George is way closer to "washed up Carmelo Anthony" who absolutely no team wanted despite his great supposed accolades and stats (Horrible playoff player) than a Chris Paul who contending teams constantly want to be the final piece to their puzzle OR a great model for a rebuilding team (OKC).

1)

If you're really trying to equivocate Kawhi's 4th quarter with Paul George's 1st quarter

I'm telling you that your logic is inconsistent and faulty and I'm giving an example of using the same flawed logic back at you. Whatever words and narrative you want to add there to make whatever point you want to make is your own decision.

2) Okay, so we've moved the goalposts, it was that he was untradeable with no specific context, then it was that he couldn't get good assets, now it's that he can't bring back an immediate star that you deem worthy enough for a championship. Well...lol.

3) Last year George had 27 points in game 1, he then scored 14 pts or less in the next three games. He had 15 pts or less in 4/6 games, so no, George having a poor first half and picking it up in the second half is NOTHING like last season vs Dallas because last season vs Dallas his whole games were like the first half.

Again, this happens ALL the time, teams have multiple stars and one picks up the slack when another is having a hard time, even crappy playoff George last season did it in the 2nd half of game 3 vs Denver after both had good first halves and Kawhi was off in the 2nd half.

4) I am about consistency with takes, but I've seen enough of this type of posting to not expect any consistency. If it flipped and George had a nice first half and carried the team, Kawhi struggled, but came out in the 2nd half, the inconsistent type of person would flip it and say "George didn't show up in crunch time, he only performed when there was no pressure in the first half" or some narrative like that. So if the take changes depending on the player, then it's useless.

5) Carmelo was traded at 33 years old, 3 years older than George to OKC after averaging 22/6/3 on below average scoring efficiency while playing poor defense. Yeah that's the value of Paul George around the league . Like I said, your takes on George are generally pretty useless.

6)

It's amazing the flip from "Paul George is such a great player the criticism for him is unwarranted" to "Well we can easily trade him if he performs poorly this offseaso

Strawman, this isn't what was being said, the issue was the constant criticism about any and everything, not criticizing him in general, and people are only talking about how he can be traded because YOU are crying that he's untradeable, lol.

If the management was just interested in selling tickets, they wouldn't have trade Blake Griffin when they did. It's all conjecture at this point. I'd hypothesize that the could look to keep him more as a star to draw another or in order to not be so bad to give up good picks to OKC than for selling tickets if this scenario was to happen. Who knows though, acting like I know exactly what they would do is dumb.

My takes on PG are pretty useless? If you want to play THAT game I find most of your takes on everything to be absurdly biased and coming from someone who is a Clippers fan and just totally ignored logic and reason to be "right".

As usual you continue to just take things to the literal extreme and constantly ignore what's right in front of your face in regards to the players and ACTIONS and decisions they make.

2) You need to comprehend words better if that's how you're attempting to spin what I say. We will get absolutely nothing in return of value for PG if we trade him, all it would do is have us throw in the flag and put us on some horrible "Rebuild" process despite being totally capped out and getting at most maybe 1 or so draft picks. The fact that you are going from "a championship team" to a total rebuild at the drop of a hat shows you're lacking and failure to have true foundations of opinion to stand on and just go with the wind.

3) Wrong again. The common pattern BECAUSE of Paul George's play in both series was that Kawhi was forced to expand way more energy and start playing the style of play he USUALLY starts playing in the 4th quarter in QUARTER 1 because of PG's failures. This is like Curry or LeBron who dont' turn it up till later in the games (not Curry this season) as their teams keep it close and then close it out by the end. Kawhi is not afforded that luxury because of Paul Georg'e awful games consistently.

And you are wrong AGAIN. No one has worse games than PG to start games this consistently and often in the playoffs. NO ONE. If we're talking about real 2nd stars like Dwade, Irving, Klay Thompson, KD, ... but if you're talking about second tier stars like Carmelo Anthony from OKC than yes that makes sense, but then again you're opinion on their comparison would get exposed if you admitted to that.

4) No if Kawhi played awful in the 1st half and PG saved them from being down 20, I'd praise PG. But PG rarely does that, he is constantly the one **** the bed. The fact that you ignored my point that virtually everyone else online and in the media sees how awful he played and yet it's you and maybe 1-2 other posters who are "right' about PG - You need to look in the mirror. Even a few of the constant PG defenders on this board admitted he sucked ass today. Seriously. This is just as off as your "We didn't throw the game to avoid the Lakers' take. Consistently pro Clippers dogma.

5) And yes - the take is 100% Carmelo Anthony (from the Knicks era). A fake phony "All Star" who does not benefit their team, takes up maximum cap space and can produce good regular season numbers to the detriment of their team in the playoffs or worse when there is no other player around them can't even make the playoffs.

6) Why are you so literal? If I said, "Marcus Morris is playing useless" you'd argue "well he had __ rebounds and played good defense, so NO he is not playing "useless"." IT's A FIGURE OF SPEECH. We will not get anything of VALUE for PG given his bloated contract - we would be losing value just to get RID of his bloated contract. Just like a player like Chandler Parsons or Nick Batum was considered "untradable" bc of their contracts.

And as usual, total disregarding my very accurate point on "Selling tickets" and instead going to points just saying, "No trust me I'm right, just believe me". You seem to love to be the contrarian on this board and as stated, the fact you can flip from "PG is a great player you are wrong" to "Well we'll just trade him in the off season then" shows a total lack of foundational beliefs to stand on.

Now you're just posting nonsense in regards to OG. He's actually one of the best posters on this entire forum, not just the Clippers forum and is not a homer when it comes to his takes. He's unbiased with his takes but it seems you're just here to muck up the board with your constant PG bashing then complain to mods when other posters call you out on them.

Ask around, all other mods and fans of other teams respect OG and appreciate his input

[RingColluder]

1) I'm telling you that your logic is inconsistent and faulty and I'm giving an example of using the same flawed logic back at you. Whatever words and narrative you want to add there to make whatever point you want to make is your own decision.

2) Okay, so we've moved the goalposts, it was that he was untradeable with no specific context, then it was that he couldn't get good assets, now it's that he can't bring back an immediate star that you deem worthy enough for a championship. Well...lol.

3) Last year George had 27 points in game 1, he then scored 14 pts or less in the next three games. He had 15 pts or less in 4/6 games, so no, George having a poor first half and picking it up in the second half is NOTHING like last season vs Dallas because last season vs Dallas his whole games were like the first half.

Again, this happens ALL the time, teams have multiple stars and one picks up the slack when another is having a hard time, even crappy playoff George last season did it in the 2nd half of game 3 vs Denver after both had good first halves and Kawhi was off in the 2nd half.

4) I am about consistency with takes, but I've seen enough of this type of posting to not expect any consistency. If it flipped and George had a nice first half and carried the team, Kawhi struggled, but came out in the 2nd half, the inconsistent type of person would flip it and say "George didn't show up in crunch time, he only performed when there was no pressure in the first half" or some narrative like that. So if the take changes depending on the player, then it's useless.

5) Carmelo was traded at 33 years old, 3 years older than George to OKC after averaging 22/6/3 on below average scoring efficiency while playing poor defense. Yeah that's the value of Paul George around the league . Like I said, your takes on George are generally pretty useless.

6) Strawman, this isn't what was being said, the issue was the constant criticism about any and everything, not criticizing him in general, and people are only talking about how he can be traded because YOU are crying that he's untradeable, lol.

If the management was just interested in selling tickets, they wouldn't have trade Blake Griffin when they did. It's all conjecture at this point. I'd hypothesize that the could look to keep him more as a star to draw another or in order to not be so bad to give up good picks to OKC than for selling tickets if this scenario was to happen. Who knows though, acting like I know exactly what they would do is dumb.

My takes on PG are pretty useless? If you want to play THAT game I find most of your takes on everything to be absurdly biased and coming from someone who is a Clippers fan and just totally ignored logic and reason to be "right".

As usual you continue to just take things to the literal extreme and constantly ignore what's right in front of your face in regards to the players and ACTIONS and decisions they make.

2) You need to comprehend words better if that's how you're attempting to spin what I say. We will get absolutely nothing in return of value for PG if we trade him, all it would do is have us throw in the flag and put us on some horrible "Rebuild" process despite being totally capped out and getting at most maybe 1 or so draft picks. The fact that you are going from "a championship team" to a total rebuild at the drop of a hat shows you're lacking and failure to have true foundations of opinion to stand on and just go with the wind.

3) Wrong again. The common pattern BECAUSE of Paul George's play in both series was that Kawhi was forced to expand way more energy and start playing the style of play he USUALLY starts playing in the 4th quarter in QUARTER 1 because of PG's failures. This is like Curry or LeBron who dont' turn it up till later in the games (not Curry this season) as their teams keep it close and then close it out by the end. Kawhi is not afforded that luxury because of Paul Georg'e awful games consistently.

And you are wrong AGAIN. No one has worse games than PG to start games this consistently and often in the playoffs. NO ONE. If we're talking about real 2nd stars like Dwade, Irving, Klay Thompson, KD, ... but if you're talking about second tier stars like Carmelo Anthony from OKC than yes that makes sense, but then again you're opinion on their comparison would get exposed if you admitted to that.

4) No if Kawhi played awful in the 1st half and PG saved them from being down 20, I'd praise PG. But PG rarely does that, he is constantly the one **** the bed. The fact that you ignored my point that virtually everyone else online and in the media sees how awful he played and yet it's you and maybe 1-2 other posters who are "right' about PG - You need to look in the mirror. Even a few of the constant PG defenders on this board admitted he sucked ass today. Seriously. This is just as off as your "We didn't throw the game to avoid the Lakers' take. Consistently pro Clippers dogma.

5) And yes - the take is 100% Carmelo Anthony (from the Knicks era). A fake phony "All Star" who does not benefit their team, takes up maximum cap space and can produce good regular season numbers to the detriment of their team in the playoffs or worse when there is no other player around them can't even make the playoffs.

6) Why are you so literal? If I said, "Marcus Morris is playing useless" you'd argue "well he had __ rebounds and played good defense, so NO he is not playing "useless"." IT's A FIGURE OF SPEECH. We will not get anything of VALUE for PG given his bloated contract - we would be losing value just to get RID of his bloated contract. Just like a player like Chandler Parsons or Nick Batum was considered "untradable" bc of their contracts.

And as usual, total disregarding my very accurate point on "Selling tickets" and instead going to points just saying, "No trust me I'm right, just believe me". You seem to love to be the contrarian on this board and as stated, the fact you can flip from "PG is a great player you are wrong" to "Well we'll just trade him in the off season then" shows a total lack of foundational beliefs to stand on.

Now you're just posting nonsense in regards to OG. He's actually one of the best posters on this entire forum, not just the Clippers forum and is not a homer when it comes to his takes. He's unbiased with his takes but it seems you're just here to muck up the board with your constant PG bashing then complain to mods when other posters call you out on them.

Ask around, all other mods and fans of other teams respect OG and appreciate his input

Wonderful, I''m referring to the post in question specifically as well as the last week or so of their posting. They seem to take the contrarian stance and as said, look at general board, the media at large and other sites as well. This is not an usual stance I'm taking, the one who is being the homer is OG in this instance.

when people lose the argument and just resort to "Your takes are useless" when I'm been proven right time and time again, I'll call out what anyone who objectively follows the Clippers can see referring to their takes.

And quite an obnoxious and false last statement in your first paragraph, but carry on with the falsehoods. I appreciate their passion and enthusiasm, but the "overall picture" is just not there in this instance, instead blinders.

[TrueLAfan]

Since, yes, it isn't relevant and has (again) derailed discussion in a game commentary thread, we’ll have to take the generic bashing and “how much is he worth in trade?” commentary about Paul George over to his special board. It’s gotten out of hand and we’re getting complaints from posters, so this is a blanket warning. Keep to comments related to the game—or leave the board, by design or via ban. I don’t care which.

[RingColluder]

Since, yes, it isn't relevant and has (again) derailed discussion in a game commentary thread, we’ll have to take the generic bashing and “how much is he worth in trade?” commentary about Paul George over to his special board. It’s gotten out of hand and we’re getting complaints from posters, so this is a blanket warning. Keep to comments related to the game—or leave the board, by design or via ban. I don’t care which.

Edited by mod: Sorry you don't get it.

[TrueLAfan]

So, to get back to the game thread—what the Clippers need(ed) to do and didn’t have was:

--Defend better, especially players other than Doncic
--Shoot better from behind the line
--Have both stars playing relatively well at the same time
--Better play from non-star players

I think playing PatBev on Doncic was/is a mistake—don’t really care that Luka is, effectively, a PG. Play PatBev and Rondo on Brunson and/or Hardaway. Batum and either PG or Kawhi on Smith. Those three guys torched us last game, big time. We lost because of it, IMO. We also were basically playing a box zone to keep Doncic from driving, and have someone down low in case Porzingis (or Kleber, I guess) got the ball in the low post. I’d play more man. Hardaway is a good shooter, but he’s in his 30s and isn’t some sort of lightning bug out there. Brunson is small and quick—but not super quick. Smith is athletic—but so are PG/Kawhi—and Batum is a good positional defender. We need a better defensive plan; unfortunately, I don’t know if we’ll get it.

And I don’t know what we’ll decide, but I imagine that’s where the conversations are going. Og15 made a great point when he pointed out how slow the pace of game was. Dallas wasn’t exactly a high pace team in the RS—but they averaged over 87 FGA per game; they had 76 on Saturday. They didn’t outgun us, they out-efficiencied us.

[esqtvd]

Leonard and George both shined and faltered during the game. I’m sure Lue will tweak a few things to get them some easier looks. They played well enough, IMO, to still win the game. We talk about them needing to up their game but they need the supporting cast to do the same. Those two created a lot of opportunities for others to get open looks and they bricked or passed them up.

Nothing gets me more heated though about this loss than Lue’s unwillingness to adjust during the game and for not playing Mann.

Any moron off the street can yank a guy when they're struggling; it takes guts to stick with him and give him a chance to work through it. PG worked through it; Morris didn't.

I don't blame Ty with sticking with his 2nd and 3rd-best players--I give credit to PG for a good 2nd half and Morris continues to disappoint--his minus-23 was WORSE than any game Trezz had in last year's playoffs!!

Nobody "killed" us except Morris. [Could Mann have done better than Reggie's plus+6?] But I'm not into the scapegoat thing--every loss is because somebody--anybody--FAILED TO STEP UP. NBA games are WON, not lost. This isn't the NFL. A turnover or a missed defensive assignment only costs you 2 points--out of 100.

Lue got us to 100-100 with 5 minutes left despite shaky performances across the board and a total garbage performance from Morris. In winning time, Ty played KL, PG, Rondo--those three are locks--plus Batum and Morris. LeBron plays with lineups no better than that every game and so do many other NBA superstars. This game was lost ON THE FLOOR. There is no secret weapon waiting in the wings. [Sorry, T-Mann. You'll get your chance, but not in the last 5 minutes of a playoff game. Maybe someday. ]

We didn't lose because Doncic once again hit miracle shots standing on one foot--we lost because none of our guys did. And yes, that includes Kawhi. He got us back into the game when we fell behind early, but going for 45 when Doncic goes for 35 just isn't Kawhi's thing. He probably could but won't.

____________________________

113-103. With all due respect to OG, WE NEED POINTS. Without quibbling with your choice of stats, we average 114 ppg straight-up and an Offensive Rating of 117. Either would have won this game.

[Max Headrom]

So, to get back to the game thread—what the Clippers need(ed) to do and didn’t have was:

--Defend better, especially players other than Doncic
--Shoot better from behind the line
--Have both stars playing relatively well at the same time
--Better play from non-star players

I think playing PatBev on Doncic was/is a mistake—don’t really care that Luka is, effectively, a PG. Play PatBev and Rondo on Brunson and/or Hardaway. Batum and either PG or Kawhi on Smith. Those three guys torched us last game, big time. We lost because of it, IMO. We also were basically playing a box zone to keep Doncic from driving, and have someone down low in case Porzingis (or Kleber, I guess) got the ball in the low post. I’d play more man. Hardaway is a good shooter, but he’s in his 30s and isn’t some sort of lightning bug out there. Brunson is small and quick—but not super quick. Smith is athletic—but so are PG/Kawhi—and Batum is a good positional defender. We need a better defensive plan; unfortunately, I don’t know if we’ll get it.

And I don’t know what we’ll decide, but I imagine that’s where the conversations are going. Og15 made a great point when he pointed out how slow the pace of game was. Dallas wasn’t exactly a high pace team in the RS—but they averaged over 87 FGA per game; they had 76 on Saturday. They didn’t outgun us, they out-efficiencied us.

Lue hinted at Kawhi taking Luka more this game. Luka always calls for screens whenever PG or Kawhi start on him. I'm guessing they're not gonna switch everything and Kawhi and PG are gonna fight through the screens and stick to Luka so they don't get anymore Zu vs Luka switches.

Although, Luka just kept hitting difficult step back 3's which he's not efficient at, just got hot yesterday.

[playaloc916]

So, to get back to the game thread—what the Clippers need(ed) to do and didn’t have was:

--Defend better, especially players other than Doncic
--Shoot better from behind the line
--Have both stars playing relatively well at the same time
--Better play from non-star players

I think playing PatBev on Doncic was/is a mistake—don’t really care that Luka is, effectively, a PG. Play PatBev and Rondo on Brunson and/or Hardaway. Batum and either PG or Kawhi on Smith. Those three guys torched us last game, big time. We lost because of it, IMO. We also were basically playing a box zone to keep Doncic from driving, and have someone down low in case Porzingis (or Kleber, I guess) got the ball in the low post. I’d play more man. Hardaway is a good shooter, but he’s in his 30s and isn’t some sort of lightning bug out there. Brunson is small and quick—but not super quick. Smith is athletic—but so are PG/Kawhi—and Batum is a good positional defender. We need a better defensive plan; unfortunately, I don’t know if we’ll get it.

And I don’t know what we’ll decide, but I imagine that’s where the conversations are going. Og15 made a great point when he pointed out how slow the pace of game was. Dallas wasn’t exactly a high pace team in the RS—but they averaged over 87 FGA per game; they had 76 on Saturday. They didn’t outgun us, they out-efficiencied us.

Lue hinted at Kawhi taking Luka more this game. Luka always calls for screens whenever PG or Kawhi start on him. I'm guessing they're not gonna switch everything and Kawhi and PG are gonna fight through the screens and stick to Luka so they don't get anymore Zu vs Luka switches.

Although, Luka just kept hitting difficult step back 3's which he's not efficient at, just got hot yesterday.

Watching those Luka step back 3s on Zubac was like playing roulette, and betting on black because it landed on red 2 or 3 times in a row, only for it to land on red again. Really frustrating.

[TrueLAfan]

113-103. With all due respect to OG, WE NEED POINTS. Without quibbling with your choice of stats, we average 114 ppg straight-up and an Offensive Rating of 117. Either would have won this game.

Agree with pretty much everything other than this in your post--and kinda agree with this too. But I don't think it's any sort of mystery why we didn't score enough.

11-40.

That's what we shot from three on Saturday. It was one of our worst perimeter shooting performances of the season--and it's not like Dallas is some defensive juggernaut. All we had to do was be in the general vicinity of our normal shooting from deep and we win. Go 15-40, and it's still way under our season shooting percentage...but we pick up 12 more points. Everyone contributed to the lousiness but--yes, Marcus was pretty egregious (and nobody has mentioned the two missed free throws with two and a half minutes to go that would/could/should have cut it to one).

Anyway--to me, bottom line is we need to defend them better, especially on the perimeter (17-36 from behind the line; one of Dallas's best games of the year in that department) and shoot in the vicinity of what are both capable of and have shown during the year.

[og15]

Leonard and George both shined and faltered during the game. I’m sure Lue will tweak a few things to get them some easier looks. They played well enough, IMO, to still win the game. We talk about them needing to up their game but they need the supporting cast to do the same. Those two created a lot of opportunities for others to get open looks and they bricked or passed them up.

Nothing gets me more heated though about this loss than Lue’s unwillingness to adjust during the game and for not playing Mann.

Any moron off the street can yank a guy when they're struggling; it takes guts to stick with him and give him a chance to work through it. PG worked through it; Morris didn't.

I don't blame Ty with sticking with his 2nd and 3rd-best players--I give credit to PG for a good 2nd half and Morris continues to disappoint--his minus-23 was WORSE than any game Trezz had in last year's playoffs!!

Nobody "killed" us except Morris. [Could Mann have done better than Reggie's plus+6?] But I'm not into the scapegoat thing--every loss is because somebody--anybody--FAILED TO STEP UP. NBA games are WON, not lost. This isn't the NFL. A turnover or a missed defensive assignment only costs you 2 points--out of 100.

Lue got us to 100-100 with 5 minutes left despite shaky performances across the board and a total garbage performance from Morris. In winning time, Ty played KL, PG, Rondo--those three are locks--plus Batum and Morris. LeBron plays with lineups no better than that every game and so do many other NBA superstars. This game was lost ON THE FLOOR. There is no secret weapon waiting in the wings. [Sorry, T-Mann. You'll get your chance, but not in the last 5 minutes of a playoff game. Maybe someday. ]

We didn't lose because Doncic once again hit miracle shots standing on one foot--we lost because none of our guys did. And yes, that includes Kawhi. He got us back into the game when we fell behind early, but going for 45 when Doncic goes for 35 just isn't Kawhi's thing. He probably could but won't.

____________________________

113-103. With all due respect to OG, WE NEED POINTS. Without quibbling with your choice of stats, we average 114 ppg straight-up and an Offensive Rating of 117. Either would have won this game.

For sure, I think the points were there for that taking in the 0/9 3PT from Morris/Jackson, and even in the missed FT's by Morris. Those guys shoot a not great 3/9, and even if Morris makes just 1/2 FT, that's +10 pts! Now, what about 4/9 3PT and 2/2 FT, and that's +14 pts, so the pts were there to be had, they just didn't take it.

My point was that offensive efficiency wise, the Clippers didn't actually underperform their regular season (that's because of offensive rebounds and low turnovers). The pace of this game was interestingly slower, so they weren't going to get to 114 ppg just playing to their average efficiency, and the Clippers offensive rating for the game at 118.4 was actually higher than their season average of 116.7. Now, I'm personally not going to count on high ORB% and super low turnovers in another game. Shooting efficiency wise, they were poor, so that still needs to pick up. BUT, from this particular game, there was enough offense to win, even scoring just 103 pts, but not enough defense.

Dallas had a 128.4 Ortg, compared to their season average of 114.6, so the Clippers defended at a rate that means they basically had to be around 130 Ortg (or +12-13 pts/100) to win the game, which was doable in the particular game, but of course any time you defend at a rate where you have to be extra super duper efficient on offense, you are making it harder to win.

[Kelphus]

At times the emotionalism and hyperbole on this board gets to a point where some of us are discouraged from entering in at the risk of being attacked just because we do not see things the same way as someone else. Thank you for this last post and for the recent change of direction in this thread. Remember this is all fun right? We're supposed to be fans and hoping for the best right?

[Kelphus]

And, of course, the fLaker loss today helps me heal a little bit.

[NickP]

Beverly is ATM an overrated defensive player. We have to let Mann loose on Luka. Also we need to start Ibaka. If Beverly is not useful as a defender then he's plain useless. I want Rondo to see more minutes so he might as well start. We cannot have Luka give the ball and get it back posting a smaller guard. Kawhi needs to get more involved and play with more emotion. Let's what adjustments Lue has in store for game 2.

[Roscoe Sheed]

I think they looked very tight and that was the main reason why they lost- not lack of effort. They didn't shoot their 3s with confidence- particularly Morris and Jackson.

Hopefully they will loosen up in game 2 and start knocking down open looks. If they go down 0-2, the series is likely over.

[GamecockFan1024]

Kawhi and PG didn't play great, but they didn't play terrible either. Bottom line is the "others" need to step up.