The LA Clippers were looking to pull off the seemingly unthinkable against Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, & Deandre Ayton’s Phoenix Suns by winning both road games to begin the series. But they would fall just short in what was a picture perfect shooting night for the Suns starters. Kawhi Leonard and Russell Westbrook did their part for the Los Angeles Clippers but the supporting cast failed on their end.
In this episode, Die hard Clipper fan and Host Darian Vaziri talks about what the loss means for the Clips, what it shows, what the team could have done better, what the Suns did well, and where they can possibly adjust for Game 3.
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28 Comments
Biggest reason we lost?
Toronto fan here. But I'm a big fan of Kawhi, Norman Powell, liked Reggie Jackson before the trade, and like Russ, so Clips have been my second team I've been watching, and cheering for you guys to have success.
Kawhi ball hugging playing hero ball, wonder why your role players aren’t making any shots ? They’re not getting any touches or quality shots lol suns had 30 assists they share the ball well they believe in each other abilities.
Clippers in 6
I’m more optimistic than I was before the series started for sure. But I’m not as optimistic as you. Maybe our role players will shoot better, but WB will prolly come back to earth too, not going to get an efficient 28 from him most games. We are not a particularly good home team. And the Suns now have their self-belief back which is important for a bunch of frontrunners. It was a significant opportunity lost but it is what it is. At least we have made it a series.
I'm a Suns fan, but I gotta' tell ya', if you guys had a healthy Paul George, we would be down 0-2. Ty Lue is the best NBA coach.
Laker fan here , I hope y’all win this series cus fuccc the suns 😅 ps my dad is a Clipper fan so I tend to like em
They made them work. Having Booker and KD playing 44 minutes in 2 games. Them starters are gonna be tired if this series keep stretching. We just gotta make some adjustments such as taking away the 3 guard lineup and adding some length and defense in Roco or even Mook. We can’t keep doing these 3 and 4 guard lineups. If the offense ain’t working we need better defensive players on the floor.
I’ve been a clippers fan since 08 the year they drafted deAndre Jordan. I noticed right before the half was ending. They were starting to rush shots. I was yelling at the tv saying to slow down lol. Also after the half it looked like Gordon was taking desperate long three pointers for no reason. He could of made one more pass instead of shooting it way beyond the mark. I believed in Russ. I got excited that he joined the team and shutting people up like skip bay less. Kawhi Leonard and Russ can’t do it all. Suns have 4 studs and we only have two. I don’t blame lue. Looking forward to see what adjustments he makes. Maybe when Aiden is on the bench, we put smalls its just my opinion.
Too many Missed shots. Only 43% from the field with 36% from 3
Played terrible defense couldn't get stops major defensive adjustments needed
No it was not a bad loss to be honest. Suns had to win! Clippers missed a lot of shots tho so that can be fix n bench also
Booker was in foul trouble early, we didn't post him up and attack him…
Stupidity.
T Mann locked up erabody first game & a half. And he was 3-3 FG 2-2 FTs in like 5min. Got benched = SUNS took off after. Stupidity
Then he waited til Booker's scorching 🥵 hot , to bring TMANN back…. stupidity
Clippers are a mediocre team. They will loose in 5. They can't win without shooting.
Suns have better shooters. 3rd game clippers will be demolished. Shooting wins championships not defence.
KD hasn’t even gone off and the Suns haven’t fully gelled yet.
Gotta get Robert Covington some playing Time , and Ty Lue's response wasn't good enough , from five minutes left in the second quarter the Clippers , got out played & Ty Lue didn't make the necessary adjustments with lineups and units while making substitutions !
A team doesn't need to worry until they lose a home court. The suns should be the one to worry about. Clippers did what they need to do, get the split
Put RoCo in and get Zubac out. It's the only way we can put pressure on the Sun's midrange shooters. Just go wing heavy for this series but I would prefer Caffey playing before Morris.
no the first game was a steal they shouldve lost both on the road
Seeing Gordon in there guarding KD late in the 4th instead of Terrance Mann was driving me crazy. No reason for that. Also Terrance needs to be more aggressive on offense when he is in. He makes so many defensive and offensive plays i can't for the life of me understand why Ty Lue doesnt see it.
Anyone see the bump Paul did to Kawhi after the game? I really hope the Clips destroy them.
Clippers look pretty good. If the role players shoot their averages it’s a really tight game at the end. Defensively I think they look pretty great, book/ Craig went nuclear and shot much better than their averages, clippers role players did the exact opposite. This series will come down to if those guys can make their 3’s.
Defense looks good, making kd and book play 45 minutes a night is incredible. The doubles on kd are great, I don’t think the drop coverage is going anywhere, forcing the suns to shoot contested 2’s is the best gameplan. Like I’ve said it’s all on the role players to score.
It’s clear to me that kawhi is the best player in the series, he has been unbelievably good. I just hope his legs stay strong.
I do think roco should get some burn, but he isn’t the answer like some fans seem to think. He’s too slow.
Russ has been incredible, he is so important in this series.
The clippers have to play close to perfect to overcome the talent gap, and they’re doing great.
i enjoying this section bro keep going 👍
They must add Robert Covington to the rotation and start Terrance Man as the shooting guard. Also late in the 4th quarter they need to try a four Wing lineup with Big Zoo
I feel the problem was just not enough firepower. From the start you can tell it was going to be an offensive shootout with tough defense on both sides. I think bring Morris off the bench would help with scoring since he's able to create his own shot and can catch fire at times.
Always love the Clippers … taking care of business getting one on the road. They didn’t play that bad considering they lost. The biggest reason for the lost, in my opinion, was the drop back defense. For example, Ayton getting wide open shots from the free throw line. They were killing us from the mid range, because of the drop back coverage . We need to bring the intensity and man up on defense. Kawhi and Russ have definitely been playing great defense, it’s a lot of the other crew that needs to pick it up on the defensive of end.
But just as much of a factor to us losing was a big donut from Batum and Norm Powell’s lackluster performance. But like you were saying, those two along with Terrence Mann, need to step up their games on both sides of the court and will take this all the way to Denver. Go clippers!