clipperlover wrote:Just not going to be doom and gloom after one game in a long series. Remember, Utah was sitting at home waiting after nearly a week off. I think Lue threw a bunch of things at Utah in the 1st half to cause them to spend time game planning for it in Game 2.
I see a few things we need to clean-up before Game 2:
1. Utah started to change things when they extended their D to full court pressure in the 2nd. Started to get the crowd going. Clips did not look ready for it.
2. Ty blinked in the 3rd. He had no problems relying on the bench in the 1st half. Once Utah made that run in the 3rd, Ty seemed to get away from his rotations. TMann hadn't played that few minutes since Game 1 vs Dallas.
3. Over reliance on the 3 still.
4. Failure to take advantage of the bonus situation again. We were in the bonus with 8:04 to go in the 4th. Utah was also in the bonus early in the 4th. The difference was they attacked the rim and we chucked 3 pointers. From the moment we entered the bonus until we got back to the line, Utah went on a 10-2 run with half of those points coming on FTs (we were 0-3 from 3 during that stretch). Once we did get to the line, we went nearly 4 more minutes without getting another FT attempt. We were 1-7 from three once we were in the bonus in the 4th. Morris was 1-5 (all threes) in his first 5 shots post bonus. Maybe we need him to get into foul trouble again. it worked in Game 7. Lue was forced to play others.
On to Game 2.
This. I’m pretty tired of the lousy play in the third quarter … but you know, it bled over into the fourth. We had two players that were meh in the fourth and we had options—and we kept them in there. Og15 said it—we were tied in the fourth and couldn’t get it done.
This was PGs worst game of the playoffs—he did some things right late, but we need to have a solid game from him from the first half forward, not just in the last quarter. People are talking about PG melting; man, it’s the opposite. He came into the game as a puddle, and turned ice cold killer in the fourth. But it’s too much sucking (three quarters worth) and not near enough hero ball. I liked his aggressiveness and that he got to the line (the only one who seemed to grasp the bonus situation clipperlover noted)—but we’re not going to win anything if he can’t get his shooting efficiency up to 55% plus. Last night .467. Not gonna do it, even if he is the only guy on the team that seems to want to grab rebounds.
Marcus took a big step back. I see that his +/- is okay—but that’s a bit of an illusion, IMO. What I can’t understand is why he’s not getting more boards. Our + in this series is that we need his scoring less—because Zu and Bev and Rondo can get more minutes, someone else can have a decent game and get into double figures. It would be nice for Mook to get 10-12 a game. But he needs to grab four boards and play smart D, and I’m not seeing that. And he needs to have better fourth quarters, dammit. I loved last game; I don’t expect him to do that all the time. But, really—shoot 40% and get a board every seven minutes, bro.
Kawhi looked gassed. Probably was. This was an average to poor game form him in the playioffs. He still got 23 points, but you could see/feel the lack of aggression. He’s not going to be like this for many games, but still. Glad he played “only” 35 minutes.
On the plus side—Luke. If someone had told me “Hey, Luke is gonna get 11 points in a game 7 with some big fourth quarter hsots, and follow it up with a 19 point game,” it would have been a joke. I don’t expect this all the time—hell, I don’t expect this half the time. But credit where it’s due—he is stepping up big.
Zu had a very good game—needs to watch the fouls. TMann was strong again, should have played more. Good, albeit brief, contribution from Boogie. PatBev contributed on D, which is where I want him him to be a factor. The fact that bench players have contributed at all, much less the amount they have, is a huge plus.
Back to the fourth quarter—our stars got it done. PG gets a C- for the game, but an A- in the fourth. We had it tied with 9 minutes to go, and brought Kawhi back after a bit of rest. I really thought we were going to close it. In that last nine minutes, Kawhi got 9 points and was 4-7 from the field. PG got 9 points and was 2-4 from the field (which means/meant he got the line a lot, which is good). Luke knocked down a three. That’s 21 points in the last 9 minutes out of three of the five big minute players (can’t believe I’m saying that about Luke); that should be enough in a fourth quarter. But nobody else did anything. The weak link was Mook—1-7—this is why the +/- throws me. We would have won the game if he had shot 3-7, or tied if he'd made one more three (like … that last shot) . For most of the fourth, we ran a lineup of Kawhi, PG, Mook, Luke, and Rondo. Kawhi, PG and Luke (still can’t believe I’m saying his name) got it done. Rondo was ineffective. Marcus was a minus—enough so it cost us.
