GAME 39: Clippers @ Suns—THU 1/6 at 7 PM PST on TNT

[nickhx2]

that's some effort

[KL2]

Winslow is leaving everything on the floor. Wish sone others would follow him.

[og15]

Not a new thing, and it's hurting us, but anyone else love how much Bridges cuts? Batum is solid in that department too, but really love it.

[Clemenza]

Wtf Bledsoe

[KL2]

I know we’re undermanned and undersized at times but rebounding is also about effort too. This team lacks effort too many times,

[og15]

Someone has to shoot, unselfish is great, but that was extra

[nickhx2]

too sloppy in the wrong moments. hard to win this game all things considered, but wasn't ever gonna be a thing if we didn't play more error-free. oh well.

[LamarWho]

Stopped watching the game in the 2nd. Checked the score in the 4th, saw that we made a comeback but fell short as expected. OK fine, wasn't expecting us to beat Phx. But my goodness another game we got pounded on the offensive glass, can we get Reggie Evans or Macus Camby to come out of retirement?

[Wammy Giveaway]

Read on Twitter

With the Clippers now officially under .500, they have to make a decision: do they reactivate Leonard as a panic move, or they stay the course and hover in the bubble area, understanding the risk of missing the playoffs entirely. The standings have the Clippers currently as 8th seed (19-20), putting them in the play-in tournament. Originally, Clippers didn't want to bring Leonard back this hastly, opting to hide his status as a means of psyching out their opponents. It also served as another character test, qualify for the playoffs without Leonard in order to gain access to his services. In the meantime, he's just a Spursian mentor, Popoviching the regular season for the playoffs and showing Clippers how to behave when the odds are heavily stacked against their favor.

[og15]

too sloppy in the wrong moments. hard to win this game all things considered, but wasn't ever gonna be a thing if we didn't play more error-free. oh well.

Overall not the worst game. They had fight and hung in there for a bit, but Phoenix has the league's best record and is a top two way team for a reason, it isn't some accident.

The big FT advantage was destroyed by all the offensive rebounds given up and of course the very bad shooting didn't help

[Max Headrom]

Bottom line is, no matter if the defense is good, there's just not enough scorers for this team to win consistently right now. Effort can't magically make your offense good when it's lacking all the weapons the Clippers lack at the moment

[TheNewEra]

So many missed opportunities

[og15]

Bottom line is, no matter if the defense is good, there's just not enough scorers for this team to win consistently right now. Effort can't magically make your offense good when it's lacking all the weapons the Clippers lack at the moment

Defense is effort, they did that well until the getting the rebound part. The offensive rebounds remind me of when I played a team and we were undermanned and I had to guard the C as a guard, because supposedly being athletic was going to help. He was like 6'6, 260, I couldn't even see the ball or the rest of the court when he posted me up.

Offense on the other hand is a skill game, you're not going to get away from that. Ask The Warriors great system when Steph is out or Steph and Draymond out The Clippers do have an odd offensive collection at the moment. If you have a strong playmaker, shooters and a roll man, you can put together solid offense around the playmaker.

A current issue is no one is a strong playmaker, we know that, but there are multiple passable ones, that can kinda work... Oh but there's no roll man, and Bledsoe and Mann are not guarded as shooters, so spacing is only okay and no one really has "gravity" on the roster. Well...nevermind then.

[LamarWho]

T-Mann needs to get more involved on offense. I am looking at his game log right now. His shooting % has been really good since December. He's taken less shots than Amir Coffey the last 2 games. This is supposed to be his sort of break out year. Him and the coaching staff need to figure this out.

[esqtvd]

We are going to be so far out of the playoff picture by the end of this month, it's not even funny - well, except for OKC's front office, who will be cackling with glee over the free lottery pick they fleeced from us.

Honestly, at this point, Kawhi might as well not even bother coming back this season. It would be a nightmare if he ended up re-injuring himself trying to rescue a doomed season.

Sadly, our incompetent front office is sitting and waiting for him to come back instead of doing anything to fix the mess of a team we have right now.

Doc's fault
and Ty's
and Frank's
and Ballmer's


if they had only cloned Kawhi and PG and Batum and Zubac and Kennard and Hartenstein we wouldn't be having these problems now

[esqtvd]

T-Mann needs to get more involved on offense. I am looking at his game log right now. His shooting % has been really good since December. He's taken less shots than Amir Coffey the last 2 games. This is supposed to be his sort of break out year. Him and the coaching staff need to figure this out.

Not going to be increasing production at the same percentages at his age. We're asking T-Mann to "stay within himself" and he is. This is the best player he can be. Once Kawhi and PG are back, he's still a solid 15-20 mpg rotation player. That IS breakout for a 2nd-rounder.

Amir is trying to break out and is doing well enough. But at age 24+, once this crisis is over, here on in I think the development minutes will be given to Brandon Boston, who only just turned 20.

[esqtvd]

Bottom line is, no matter if the defense is good, there's just not enough scorers for this team to win consistently right now. Effort can't magically make your offense good when it's lacking all the weapons the Clippers lack at the moment

Exactly. Scoring is underrated among the commentariat. Doing the "little things" is nice but SOMEBODY has to do the BIG things and that's putting the ball in the hole.

This is why Jamal and Lou were LOVED by their teammates. Only know-nothings call them ballhogs and gunners and "selfish." Selfish players don't last long in the NBA because all you have to do is not pass them the ball.

They called Kevin McHale the "Black Hole." But Bird kept pounding it down to him


https://www.basketballnetwork.net/the-story-behind-kevin-mchales-unusual-nickname-the-black-hole/

[madmaxmedia]

Bottom line is, no matter if the defense is good, there's just not enough scorers for this team to win consistently right now. Effort can't magically make your offense good when it's lacking all the weapons the Clippers lack at the moment

Exactly. Scoring is underrated among the commentariat. Doing the "little things" is nice but SOMEBODY has to do the BIG things and that's putting the ball in the hole.

This is why Jamal and Lou were LOVED by their teammates. Only know-nothings call them ballhogs and gunners and "selfish." Selfish players don't last long in the NBA because all you have to do is not pass them the ball.

They called Kevin McHale the "Black Hole." But Bird kept pounding it down to him

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/the-story-behind-kevin-mchales-unusual-nickname-the-black-hole/

This is one of those areas where stats aren't going to tell you how much offensive burden a player is capable of taking on. I mean maybe you can tease it out of advanced stats by inference or something like that, but you need to watch a guy play...

Jamal and Lou were fantastic in that respect. If you are relied on in the NBA to consistently create for your team (especially if you are often playing with second unit guys), shooting in the low 40's FG% is pretty damn good.

[Clemenza]

T-Mann needs to get more involved on offense. I am looking at his game log right now. His shooting % has been really good since December. He's taken less shots than Amir Coffey the last 2 games. This is supposed to be his sort of break out year. Him and the coaching staff need to figure this out.

We all thought he would break out this season and he's had some moments, notably the Nets game last week. I do have a problem with him passing up shots and layups which he still does to this very day but I think its obvious he's simply just the perfect player to compliment PG and/or Kawhi with defense, rebounding, and supplemental scoring. Him breaking out into a scoring machine doesn't look like its going to happen. I don't think he's put up 20 points in a game since the 39 he put up against the Jazz in the playoffs. I kind of knew what he was about when he kind of disappeared in the following Sons series. Him and Kennard were pretty much MIA on offense in that series and we needed them badly

[nickhx2]

would love to see mann become that consistent 15ppg scorer this year but i agree, i don't think he has the chops for it. he's an energy guy who's gonna get his some nights and then lack the confidence to shoot others. let's not forget that he started off as a point guard, so expecting him to become more of a scorer might be too much as of this moment, and perhaps ever.