Round 2, Game 1: Clippers at Jazz, June 8, 7:00 PM PCT

[Quake Griffin]

For the life of me....

Is there a championship team in the modern era (1980-present) that had their #2 player melt so much?

Part of the reason I struggle to love this team is I see so many different off ramps where you just say, "this isn't what a champion looks like". There's a bevy of them I have in my head. This is one of them. Did Pippen do THIS in any of the championship runs? Kobe do this to Shaq? We're 8 games in to this playoff run and George already has a handful of melting games. Wtf.

If this team were to ever pull this off and win a ring....it is the NBA team with the most odd indiosyncrasies ever.

[NickP]

First game in the books. We were careless with the ball. We appeared tired and were dragging our asses and we let one slip away.
The second half coaching was subpar and Lue should have made the same moves he made in the first half.
PG was a$s and Kawhi was gassed. That foul on Ingles in the first half clearly showed how tired he was.
The bright point was Luke. He looked sharp and not too bad on defense either.
Let's prepare harder for game 2 and take one from the Jazz.

[MartinToVaught]

For the life of me....

Is there a championship team in the modern era (1980-present) that had their #2 player melt so much?

Part of the reason I struggle to love this team is I see so many different off ramps where you just say, "this isn't what a champion looks like". There's a bevy of them I have in my head. This is one of them. Did Pippen do THIS in any of the championship runs? Kobe do this to Shaq? We're 8 games in to this playoff run and George already has a handful of melting games. Wtf.

If this team were to ever pull this off and win a ring....it is the NBA team with the most odd indiosyncrasies ever.

Championship team? It would take a miracle at this point to even get past the second round, let alone win a championship.

[esqtvd]

I thought PG shoulda taken the shot at the end. He made a couple 3s in the 4th and started to get into a bit of a rhythm at the end.

PG had a terrible game, but Sr. missed a bunch of good looks behind the arc. He's been inconsistent in the post season, so hopefully he'll shoot better than 1-9 tonight.

4-14 and 1-9 from 3 tonight. And 1-10 overall in Game 6 vs Dallas, then a great Game 7. My least favorite Clipper, especially b/c he's the 3rd-highest paid and about our 7th most valuable player. But in fairness, 33 minutes at plus/minus +0 tonight. Didn't help or hurt us. Sometimes you just need minutes.

But I keep asking WHERE ARE WE GONNA GET POINTS? Only 109 tonight, thanks mostly to Kennard's miracle 18 out of nowhere again. Senior should be the answer, but he ain't. At least PG managed an ugly 20 [4-17 but 9-10 from the line].

[Roscoe Sheed]

Why the **** did we not call a timeout ???? Why???

I'm not sure. It was stupid.
Maybe they tought with a timeout Quin would coach his guys to foul?

Nonetheless, I see a lot of complaining about refs blah blah blah.

We got smacked in the 2nd half.
They turned up their defense. They hit shots. Mitchell was unstoppable.

exactly, you can't blame the refs. People who do that don't understand human error is apart of the game. We lost this game in the third quarter. Not in the final minute.

true- the refs aren't solely to blame- but they were terrible in the first half. Way too many questionable fouls called on the Clippers while swallowing the whistle on the other end. It evened out somewhat in the 2nd half though- however, some of the fouls on Jackson were quite marginal

[esqtvd]

Did Lue have a timeout there and not use it?

Unbelievable.

I was thinking the same thing too. I wanted a timeout after the rebound

Allowing Utah to set up their defense probably isn't going to benefit the Clippers there. The adjustment could have been call a timeout if unable to get a good shot against the reeling defense, but timeout gives the defense time to set up and plan.

I like the philosophy of catching them back on their heels, but this is NOT a well-oiled offensive machine. In fact their defense was, and beat us to every spot since we needed 3 to win, not 2.

[donemilio21]

Our starting unit was gassed in the 2nd half. Couldn't get rebounds, couldn't make shot. We had a game 7 two days ago.

Kawhi was team worst -12. We should have started the 3rd with the five that was working in the first half, let Kawhi and other rest until the 4th.

Jazz did not play exceptioanally well defense. We just missed wide open 3s back to back to back. Kennard had the hot hand but shots still went to Morris and PG after both missed a ton. Lue did make the right adjustments in the 1st half, but went back to the old way in the beginning of the 4rd for some reason.

[donemilio21]

Why the **** did we not call a timeout ???? Why???

I liked not calling the timeout initially. After PG ran the handoff with Kawhi and nothing surfaced, that's when you call the timeout as the advantage of attacking live is gone

I agree. I would understand if we ran the ball for a quick 2 or quick 3, but yeah we went up and turned to set and wasted 10 seconds until Morris got himself stuck in the corner and got blocked. Lue should have called time right there.

[Captain Ballmer]

Pat bev has to play more next game.

This 100 percent. Him and or T mann. A little less Morris and Rondo maybe? But I just don't understand what the point is in having defensive guards if they are not going to match up with a guy like Donovan Mitchell. I'm not trying to take all the onus away from Kawhi and PG but to have them guarding 6'1 shifty guards every possession in the fourth, and getting screened and rolled just never makes sense to me. It happened last year with Jamal Murray as well. Winnable game, but also a game in which PG and Kawhi were in foul trouble and not in a great rhythm. The only scary thing is I'm just not sure there is a way we can contain Donovan Mitchell or Mike Conley. I really do feel like T Lue has to play matchups and put Mann and Beverley on their quicker guards as much as possible.

Here a breakdown video of 4.28 minutes to back you up on why Pat Bev should play in this series.

Watch on YouTube

[MartinToVaught]

People chalking the entire meltdown up to fatigue: you do realize we have a game every other day for the rest of the series, right? It's not going to get any better. If they're too tired to do any better than this, then we ought to lower our expectations and just hope to avoid getting swept.

[jengmann3]

For the life of me....

Is there a championship team in the modern era (1980-present) that had their #2 player melt so much?

Part of the reason I struggle to love this team is I see so many different off ramps where you just say, "this isn't what a champion looks like". There's a bevy of them I have in my head. This is one of them. Did Pippen do THIS in any of the championship runs? Kobe do this to Shaq? We're 8 games in to this playoff run and George already has a handful of melting games. Wtf.

If this team were to ever pull this off and win a ring....it is the NBA team with the most odd indiosyncrasies ever.

I was actually just about to post I'm not too concerned with PG's terrible games. I mean it sucks to watch as a fan for sure and its frustrating. But in Toronto, Siakam had some forgettable games in the post season and he was kawhi's second option. Even on some of those Miami heat teams (atleast Lebron's 3 and 4th yr) Bosh and D Wade had some poor moments. But they also delivered big time. Pg is fully capable of having like a 39 point game next outing.

I was going to say as well, on the last possession, I was hoping PG would take the shot. He gave it up a bit too quick. He's a bit better at creating his own shot than Kawhi, and I thought Kawhi was sort of deferring to him on that possession.

[TheNewEra]

I was thinking the same thing too. I wanted a timeout after the rebound

Allowing Utah to set up their defense probably isn't going to benefit the Clippers there. The adjustment could have been call a timeout if unable to get a good shot against the reeling defense, but timeout gives the defense time to set up and plan.

I like the philosophy of catching them back on their heels, but this is NOT a well-oiled offensive machine. In fact their defense was, and beat us to every spot since we needed 3 to win, not 2.

Exactly. Nothing about the clippers this season has shown they have the ability to just run everything on the fly

[esqtvd]

Pat bev has to play more next game.

This 100 percent. Him and or T mann. A little less Morris and Rondo maybe? But I just don't understand what the point is in having defensive guards if they are not going to match up with a guy like Donovan Mitchell. I'm not trying to take all the onus away from Kawhi and PG but to have them guarding 6'1 shifty guards every possession in the fourth, and getting screened and rolled just never makes sense to me. It happened last year with Jamal Murray as well. Winnable game, but also a game in which PG and Kawhi were in foul trouble and not in a great rhythm. The only scary thing is I'm just not sure there is a way we can contain Donovan Mitchell or Mike Conley. I really do feel like T Lue has to play matchups and put Mann and Beverley on their quicker guards as much as possible.

Here a breakdown video of 4.28 minutes to back you up on why Pat Bev should play in this series.

Watch on YouTube

Bev = 0-3, 0 points but plus+6 in only 6 minutes. 1 reb, 1 assist, 1 block. Careful with those eye tests.

Ty couldn't know until he gave everybody some burn. And experimenting with personnel and combinations/lineups, STILL put us in position to win.

Bev and Boogie back from the dead. Zubac too. Rondo 28 minutes 5 points 6 assists, only minus-3. And then there's Kennard's 18 points.

Coach dealt himself some more roster cards to play! Let the games begin!!

[Captain Ballmer]

Clippers played horribly and still had a chance at the end against a rested team at home. Nothing from this game has me worried. We'll see how the boys look game 2 where you'll definitely see a much better Kawhi and PG

Agreed but, this team put themselves very though position again. 0-2 against Dallas first and now hyped up Utah team gained full of confidence from a comeback win. This is the story of us. That's what we do right? Our best work after the fact what are the avengers with the avengers... not the pre-avengers.

[Clemenza]

For the life of me....

Is there a championship team in the modern era (1980-present) that had their #2 player melt so much?

Part of the reason I struggle to love this team is I see so many different off ramps where you just say, "this isn't what a champion looks like". There's a bevy of them I have in my head. This is one of them. Did Pippen do THIS in any of the championship runs? Kobe do this to Shaq? We're 8 games in to this playoff run and George already has a handful of melting games. Wtf.

If this team were to ever pull this off and win a ring....it is the NBA team with the most odd indiosyncrasies ever.

I was actually just about to post I'm not too concerned with PG's terrible games. I mean it sucks to watch as a fan for sure and its frustrating. But in Toronto, Siakam had some forgettable games in the post season and he was kawhi's second option. Even on some of those Miami heat teams (atleast Lebron's 3 and 4th yr) Bosh and D Wade had some poor moments. But they also delivered big time. Pg is fully capable of having like a 39 point game next outing.

I was going to say as well, on the last possession, I was hoping PG would take the shot. He gave it up a bit too quick. He's a bit better at creating his own shot than Kawhi, and I thought Kawhi was sort of deferring to him on that possession.

Facts.. No excuses but low key I'm starting to wonder if the #2 guy position is starting to die off period. What #2 is truly carrying the load the right way these days? Porzingis, Middleton, CJ McCullum, Ben Simmons, MPJ(hot&cold), AD(bad year/injuries), Gobert, Siakim, Bam Adebayo, etc. Have all looked suspect if not mediocre to bad but are still considered top players in the game. Of course we need PG to ball out for us, and his salary will always be brought up of course, but I'm not really seeing any stellar play from the #2 guy period especially in these playoffs. Not sure if Booker in Phoenix is considered the #2 guy and the Nets have 4 perennial all stars and two former MVP's so that's what makes them favorites. Golden State and Miami had the superteams.. I don't know

[Clemenza]

People chalking the entire meltdown up to fatigue: you do realize we have a game every other day for the rest of the series, right? It's not going to get any better. If they're too tired to do any better than this, then we ought to lower our expectations and just hope to avoid getting swept.

Please wait until after game 2 for all the doom and gloom. They played a tough game 7 and had to fly on their off day(Monday), no practice, suit up and play. They're in town so there's no travel. Just rest and game planning all day tomorrow. I get where you're coming from but at least wait until after game 2 for the jump off the cliff doom and gloom diatribe. We're not down 0-2 and down 19 in the first quarter of game 3(yet). Chill

[esqtvd]

Clippers played horribly and still had a chance at the end against a rested team at home. Nothing from this game has me worried. We'll see how the boys look game 2 where you'll definitely see a much better Kawhi and PG

Agreed but, this team put themselves very though position again. 0-2 against Dallas first and now hyped up Utah team gained full of confidence from a comeback win. This is the story of us. That's what we do right? Our best work after the fact what are the avengers with the avengers... not the pre-avengers.

We didn't quit. That's all I ask. The Sixers got down by 25 vs the Hawks but stormed back to only lose by 5. Then smoked 'em tonight in Game 2.

I think every Clipper can walk away from tonight anxious to get two good nights' sleep and then back in their face on Thursday.

[Vae Victus]

Ok after some more thoughts.

Zubac is playing great, he's playing with high motor, and doing everything we need out of our big man. He's outplayed Gobert by out hustling and going after every rebound. I want Zubac to play around 24 mins, so that he can go balls to the wall, also i dont want him matched up too much against Gobert. Gobert has been neutralized for the most part by swarms and Favors has been getting crazy 2nd chance on us, so i want Zubac matched up agaisnt him more. Also Favors is smaller and Zubac can post him up for lobs and deep posts. I want Boogie to try to get 12 mins, matched up purely against Gobert. He's the perfect counter as he can space and force Gobert to leave the paint and easily strong and quick enough to counter Gobert (but not Favors who's much quicker). Refs screwed both our bigs so hard tonight wth so many bull calls.

Kawhi and PG13 both need to play better and earn their damn money. The fact that we were up by 12 at the half and only lost by 3, when these two played like complete ass, is i guess, a somewhat good sign. Morris also eneds to stop sucking and make his open 3s, im sick of seeing him as the primary smallball 5 and he was worse than useless and his C mins should goto Zubac and Boogie.

Kennard is our offensive X factor. Dude's shot is so goddamn pure, we need to look to get him the ball more in shooting situations. Less iSO and more ball movement and Kennard will make it rain. I think he's finally realized he needs to stop pussy footing around and he's starting to shoot with confidence now.

PatBev was atrocious, RJax had hot shooting in the 1st half and was utterly useless in the 2nd. If Conley comes back strong, we're so beyond screwed, as none of our guards can guard a wet fart atm. PatBev, RJax, and Rondo all die on screens and dont fight through em. it's not like theyre playign heavy mins so their lack of effort is just so maddening.

Mann needs more mins, he provides energy. When our old broken ass guards dont have it, give Mann mins. Batum needs to play smarter, he's had alot of lazy passes and silly TOs, as the secondary playmaker he cant be doing that. At least with Kennard he's just gonna go jacking instead of making a weak pass.

Defense needs to focus and Lue did a great job in spreading the mins in the 1st half. I really felt Lue shoulda went to the bench earlier when Utah was making their run. The startesr just look so dead and by the time the benc hgot in there, DMitch was going SuperNova and the crowd was hyping them up. If PG13 or Kawhi dont have it, one of em needs to be pulled quick to give Kennard time to heat up, he started to make it run cuz Kawhi got into foul trouble and Kennard got the greenlight.

We really needed to have a 20 pt lead after the 1st, after that dreadful shooting start by Utah. This comeback has given them such a massive morale boost, just like the Game 3 comeback against DAL did for the Clips.

Also refs need to call a fair whistle, the home cooking for Utah was way too obvious.

[og15]

Losing this game was the expected outcome. It's the dangling of the win that makes it a tough loss. If they had just been beat wire to wire, it's less of a concern. Still fine though, they need to take game 2 and they remain in great position. Losing game 2 would be the bad outcome, but still not done until game 3 and if a win, then until game 4.

[esqtvd]

Please wait until after game 2 for all the doom and gloom. They played a tough game 7 and had to fly on their off day(Monday), no practice, suit up and play. They're in town so there's no travel. Just rest and game planning all day tomorrow. I get where you're coming from but at least wait until after game 2 for the jump off the cliff doom and gloom diatribe. We're not down 0-2 and down 19 in the first quarter of game 3(yet). Chill

Nice effort, but just don't, bro. This happens every game thread. Every game of the year, every series... The more you give, the more they suck the life out of us.

The game thread tonight was the same as every game thread in the Dallas series, win or lose. Tedious misery and garbage, even though we went down to the wire. Mercy. We've got to stop feeding this. The Dallas series was one of the greatest victories in Clipper history and they sucked every ounce of life out of it.

Let's not let them do it again? [and again and again and again...]