So....Utah

[clipperlover]

Carlisle is a way better coach than Quinn, I see Lue out-coaching him.

We constantly hear how Utah doesn't have the star power of other teams, yet somehow finished the year as the 1st overall seed. So if the players are just so-so and the coach isn't that good, then how did Utah win more games than anybody else? And don't say health, as they had 2 of their 3 best players out with injury the last few weeks of the season, and still managed to hold on to #1.

BTW, don't be surprised if Snyder wins COY. He is easily in the the top 3 for the award this year.

Snyder may be in the top 3, but I just don't see how anyone other than Nate McMillan gets the award. He took over the Hawks at 14-20 and led them to a 27-11 record down the stretch and secured a #5 seed.

[MartinToVaught]

In a lot of ways, this team reminds me of the Hawks teams from 5-7 years ago that would win a ton of games and be the 1 seed but never do anything in the playoffs.

Mitchell and Gobert are better than anyone on that 60-win Hawks team.

[Quake Griffin]

We have way more bodies to throw at 6'1" Mitchell than we had to throw at 6'7" Luka.

Guys like Bev who were useless last series can take him for a spell.

[NickP]

We have way more bodies to throw at 6'1" Mitchell than we had to throw at 6'7" Luka.

Guys like Bev who were useless last series can take him for a spell.

Exactly. We could also put Mann on Mitchell. Mann is quick and his length could bother Mitchell. Rondo should have a very good series too.

[Vae Victus]

Holy hell, i just realized that both DMitch and Conley are 6'1".

I thought both were 6'3" thereabouts. Jeebus, that means Kawhi/PG13/Kennard need to literally shoot over these midgets. Guarding them is gonna be a pain and PatBev is gonna need to earn his paycheck for once. Also RJax need to not embarass himself either. Crap, is Kawhi and PG13 quick enough to guard DMitch. Conley is old and im ocnfident they can cover him without issue, but DMitch is gonna be a handful.

[esqtvd]

Utah's top 5-man lineups are downright scary

https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612762/lineups-advanced/?sort=NET_RATING&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&GroupQuantity=5&CF=MIN*G*25&dir=1

[clipperlover]

We have way more bodies to throw at 6'1" Mitchell than we had to throw at 6'7" Luka.

Guys like Bev who were useless last series can take him for a spell.

Exactly. We could also put Mann on Mitchell. Mann is quick and his length could bother Mitchell. Rondo should have a very good series too.

I think Mann will be spending a lot of time on Clarkson. If he can make Clarkson work harder, it helps us immensely.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Holy hell, i just realized that both DMitch and Conley are 6'1".

I thought both were 6'3" thereabouts. Jeebus, that means Kawhi/PG13/Kennard need to literally shoot over these midgets. Guarding them is gonna be a pain and PatBev is gonna need to earn his paycheck for once. Also RJax need to not embarass himself either. Crap, is Kawhi and PG13 quick enough to guard DMitch. Conley is old and im ocnfident they can cover him without issue, but DMitch is gonna be a handful.

I'm very surprised that Mitchell is only 6'1". He seems like 6'4" at least because of his wingspan

[Catchall]

Holy hell, i just realized that both DMitch and Conley are 6'1".

I thought both were 6'3" thereabouts. Jeebus, that means Kawhi/PG13/Kennard need to literally shoot over these midgets. Guarding them is gonna be a pain and PatBev is gonna need to earn his paycheck for once. Also RJax need to not embarass himself either. Crap, is Kawhi and PG13 quick enough to guard DMitch. Conley is old and im ocnfident they can cover him without issue, but DMitch is gonna be a handful.

I'm very surprised that Mitchell is only 6'1". He seems like 6'4" at least because of his wingspan

He's 6'1.5" barefoot and 6'3" in shoes. He's a little taller than Lillard.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Utah is very dangerous for sure- Mitchell can rip off points when he is hot and we all know Conley and Ingles seem to always play great against the Clippers. Hoping there is no letdown tomorrow.

[Scoundreldays]

Should be a fun series. Battle of the teams that both blew 3-1 leads to last years Nuggets.

[NickP]

We have way more bodies to throw at 6'1" Mitchell than we had to throw at 6'7" Luka.

Guys like Bev who were useless last series can take him for a spell.

Exactly. We could also put Mann on Mitchell. Mann is quick and his length could bother Mitchell. Rondo should have a very good series too.

I think Mann will be spending a lot of time on Clarkson. If he can make Clarkson work harder, it helps us immensely.

Yep. Mann has the lateral quickness and the length to bother Clarkson. If we can do a decent enough job of containing Conley and Bogdanovic then we have a great shot.

[Captain Ballmer]

I think we need more scorer PG13 than playmaker one for this series.

2018 PG13 vs Utah. There are some nice highlights of him but 3 years are long time. He simply just doesn't have the same legs under him, unfortunately this without any serious leg injury.

Watch on YouTube

[NickP]

I think we need more scorer PG13 than playmaker one for this series.

2018 PG13 vs Utah. There are some nice highlights of him but 3 years are long time. He simply just doesn't have the same legs under him, unfortunately this without any serious leg injury.

Watch on YouTube

Maybe Lue can figure out a way to get PG great looks. I think PG will be more relaxed playing against the Jazz. That could be true for the entire team.

[SK21209]

The Mavs series was about Kawhi rising to the challenge Luka presented and ultimately outplaying him over the last two games. This series is about PG13 IMO. The Jazz have been a more disciplined and better executing team all season. They are an excellent team and worthy of that 1 seed. But I think their high defensive rating is a little misleading, Gobert covers up a lot of medoicre to bad perimeter defense in the regular season when teams really aren't scheming against him. Kawhi is going to give us an efficient 30ppg, we need PG to be around 25. Those two need to overwhelm the Jazz in the half court.

[TucsonClip]

The question is have we learned how to execute defensively by keeping out PNR coverages tight and staying at home on the shooters? Utah has a ton of shooters and if we start letting Mitchell get downhill, we are going to face a lot of the same challenges we did with Dallas.

The clear difference though, is that Mitchell isnt going to be able to spray the ball around to open shooters anywhere near like Luka. They do run a lot of systematic side to side ball movement, so the point still remains. We have to be able to hold up at the point of attack or Utah is going to see a ton of open threes.

[nickhx2]

my guess would be yes.

if mitchell beats you, he beats you. but as you said, he's not going to be able to zip the ball over the entire court finding shooters who are open because our guys are overreacting (like with luka). it'll just be a lot simpler for our team to execute and stick to a defensive strategy where the guys can switch, without having to worry about luka making a perfect pass or an insane step back 3.

[KL2]

So frustrating/embarrassing to see the team/organization tank to get Utah and then not show up against them.

[og15]

In a lot of ways, this team reminds me of the Hawks teams from 5-7 years ago that would win a ton of games and be the 1 seed but never do anything in the playoffs.

Mitchell and Gobert are better than anyone on that 60-win Hawks team.

Yea, seriously, talk about underrating a team.

[og15]

So frustrating/embarrassing to see the team/organization tank to get Utah and then not show up against them.

The goal was to get Utah? I thought it was too avoid the Lakers until later (which was hard to predict), or to rest. It was also said by some that it was specifically to get Dallas, so I don't know anymore. The Clippers looked better vs Phoenix's style and players than vs Utah, but they only really had one healthy game vs Utah (IIRC), so not much sample.