Lakers Clippers Preview + Midseason Reflection

Lakers Clippers Preview + Midseason Reflection

The LA Clippers are officially at the Midway point of the season and what have they looked like through 41 games how important is it for the second half of the season and what do they need to do in the second half of the season to make us go into the playoffs thinking that

This could be the year we win the championship and the Lakers playing the clippers for the first time on the Clippers floor on Tuesday going to be talking about that game and reflecting on the first half of the season and looking forward to the second on today’s

Lock on Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day Yes sir you are locking in with the clips thank you for making locked on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day I’m your host Darian vizeri born and raised in LA and in my 19th season as a Clipper fan you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram

At dim dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper where I posted a video of my experience at the Net game it was amazing on Sunday afternoon and of course lock on Clippers free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube or I want you

To let me know what your score prediction for the Laker game against the Clippers on Tuesday and this episode is brought to you by FanDuel America’s number one Sportsbook visit fanduel.com locked on to place your bets for anything including the Clippers to win the championship and those odds are only

Getting better we’ll be talking about the way the Clippers have played in the first half of the the season since it’s now officially the halfway point we’ve played 41 games so we’ll reflect on the first half of the season and then look at the second half of the Season what

The Clippers need to do to prove that going into the playoffs they should be considered as serious a championship threat as anyone but before we do that let’s get into the big one Lakers Clippers the Battle of La the hallway series well it’s the third game this season that we’ve played against them

And we are two this season against them which is a huge change from the 11 straight wins that we had against them in the tyo era but our matchup against them has gotten worse we lost some of the big forwards that we used to throw on LeBron James the Lakers have added

More size because before a lot of these years with 213 they’ve had smaller guards like kyp Avery Bradley Pat Bev even last year guard kawi Leonard Paul George you know Dennis shter of the world kcp I don’t know if I mentioned him already these guys weren’t going to

Stop Kawaii and Paul but now they have bigger guys you know cam reddish Christian Wood RI haimura torian Prince Jared Vanderbilt so these guys are going to help their match up against the Clippers but that being said the Clippers are a far better team the Lakers are a 500 team right now they

Have won three of their last four games and D’Angelo Russell is someone I think the Clippers need to be very careful about on Tuesday because not only did he play really well in the second half against us last time he’s been playing really well of late he just had a season

High with 30 plus points I forget the exact number but he’s also shooting over 50% from the field and 48% from three in the last eight games and he’s averaging 22 points and six assists in the last eight games he’s back in the starting lineup so I think the Clippers

Need to be very careful with him no LeBron James though he’ll be out with the ankle injury I think that’s complete load management I watched him up by 20 points and playing fourth quarter minutes on Sunday against the Blazers so I’m not going to go as far as saying

He’s ducking the Clippers or anything like that because he’s he’s won two games against us and he played a great defense on kawhai last time so I’m not going to hate but I will say the Lakers LeBron you know choosing to sit this one

Out it’s it’s kind of weak to me and I get it the Lakers want to preserve LeBron but look they have no room to flirt with the standing so this game we’re now in the second half of the Season they’re 22 and 22 they’re in the

Playing range with at the ninth seed if we were going with traditional one through eight they wouldn’t even be in the playoffs if it started today so every game is important for them so LeBron sitting out I get it playing for the Long Haul but if if it’s all for a

Second round exit or first round exit or you know I’d be I’d love if it was a play and exit then it’s all for not I guess but you know you don’t want LeBron to get a serious injury I get it who cares about them Clippers need to win

This game whether LeBron was playing or not we’ve lost two games to these guys this season let’s get the job job done and show we’re the better team Kawhi Leonard had a complete stinker against them last time and everybody was just missing threes the Clippers are one of

The best three-point shooting teams in the league we need to generate good shots and I think that’s going to be easier without LeBron who did a good job on kawhai so as far as the starting lineup for the Lakers I think we see Anthony Davis DLo Reeves ruy hachimura If toan

Prince is healthy tan Prince but he didn’t play last game so then cam reddish in his stead I think the Clippers will should absolutely eviscerate that like they’ll probably have ruy orando depending on who’s starting guarding Kawai and then reddish guarding Paul George and then torian Prince guarding

Harden if they have tan Prince and haimura and reddish starting all three alongside oh no they can’t because ad dowlo and Reeves are guaranteed to get three of those five spots so they’re going to have to start two of v ruy hachimura v ru hamura or reddish Vando R hamura reddish or Prince

Two of those four and you know what one of their guards is going to be Austin Reeds I think he’s going to be guarding James Harden so hopefully James Harden can take advantage in the pick and roll it’ll be interesting to see if the Lakers are willing to switch DLo on a

Harden because they’ve been very resistant with switching DLo on a good offensive players recently which I think has been to their benefit but with that starting lineup with Reeves ad and DLo gar a spot and you can only fit in two of ruy Vando Toran and reddish you’re going to

Have a weaker Defender guarding Harden and I think we should take advantage of that matchup put uh Harden and kawhai in the screen and roll action with kawhai said in the screen see if they’ll switch the obvious point of emphasis besides I think teren man hopefully will do a great job on

DLo the question is will he guard DLo or Reeves I’d assume he’s going to guard Reeves we have a PG on DLo for some length and size DLo is not the quickest in the world I think PG should be able to handle that Anthony Davis though that’s the big concern he’s been playing

Amazing lately this season whole season he’s been so good but we don’t have AIT Zub or and we don’t have AIT zubats so that’s going to make things hard I don’t know about Mason plumbley guarding ad oneon-one the thing about Ty Lou is you’ve seen in the past he’s had no

Problems double teaming guys and just taking the ball out of their hands and making someone else beat uh his teams and I think that’s what the Clippers may very well do especially without LeBron to ad especially with the fact that the Lakers aren’t a great three-point shooting team what I would

Do is just double team him every single time he touches the ball below the foul line make him swing just make sure you’re getting the the ball out of D’s hands on that swing and make somebody else shoot that open three that’s what I got live with the

Results but yeah that’s those are my main keys for the game double Anthony Davis he has been getting better about passing out of those but you got to live with the results I don’t trust our Personnel guarding ad one-on-one I don’t but if we keep DLo at Bay I

Think Reeves will get his 15 to 20 points hopefully we can hold him some inefficient shooting but DLo is the key he is the guy that if he gets hot we’re in trouble but at the same time hopefully we can generate a lot of open

Shots and open threes you know DLo or ad is going to probably try to switch on a Harden and try to disrupt the pick and roll action because Mason Plumley and Daniel Ty they really won’t post up but hopefully we can see some five out Clippers although can we do that against

Ad that’s the question so I don’t know if we can do that closing lineup we did last time I hope Russ calms down though he can’t just go 100 miles per hour I want revenge type of deal and we need to win this game like there should be a

Sense of Pride I know it’s not about beating the Lakers but we have lost them twice you never know if we play them in the playoffs maybe this is the year let’s get this job done man I don’t want to hear it especially without LeBron we can’t lose that game please Clippers

Lakers Tuesday night it’s going to be a big one I will not be there I have I’m coaching against Sierra Canyon on Tuesday so please wish me luck because yes the Sierra Canyon sixth grade obviously so who knows what they’ve got at that age but yeah wish me

Luck I won’t be able to be at the game but I will be at the second Laker Clipper game so hopefully we win both we got to win it it’s about time we start the second half of the season with a win against the Lakers and speaking of the

Second half of the Season let’s talk about the first half of the Season we’re at the halfway point we’re 27- 14 let’s talk about it coming up I got to tell you a little something about FanDuel America’s number one sports book the NFL season is down to

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The first ever 247 national sports streaming Channel Clippers Lakers Begins the second half of the season for the Clippers right now the Clippers at the halfway Point are 27 and 14 18 and four at home 9 and 10 away from home James Harden is leading the team in assists

With eight and a half a game kawhai Leonard and Paul George are only separated by a decimal point in PPG kawhai at 23.7 Paul at 23.6 it’d be nice if Kawai can get to 25 per game by the end of the season maybe doesn’t really matter as long as the

Team is winning but let’s just talk about the halfway point of the Season what a roller coaster it’s been and by the way if the Clippers beat the Lakers they’ll have a 28 and 14 record in the 20134 season we also had a 28 and 14 record through 42 why is that

Significant well that is the best team we’ve ever had in the regular season 2013 14 Clippers 57 and 25 now the best record we’ve had at this point of a season that’s 2012 13 Clippers that had the December to remember we were 32 and N so I’m not

Getting again super excited about the regular season record it’s about the process that’s very good but that’s why I’m not jumping out the window I’ve seen 32 and N I can’t get super excited till the playoffs I just can’t but am I seeing Championship habits Tendencies absolutely let’s look at how we got

There right it all started with training camp and the seriousness in which the Clippers seem to take it they were all smiles but tyo kept saying we’re going to take the regular season seriously this year we got to respect the regular season and from the first game against

Portland you’re thinking ah this opening night you know the Blazers are going to be energized Aon maybe have a point to prove and the Clippers came out and destroyed him next game San Antonio destroyed him Orlando destroyed him this is before James Harden’s even on the team totally different attitude from

Last year then of course James Harden comes you put the big four together in the starting lineup it looks like a disaster five straight L’s to begin the James Harden tenure everyone’s going nuts I was like we have to make a change or this is going to be a complete

Disaster even though you know obviously was not for the Harden trade because I didn’t know how Russ and Harden and all those would coexist but I didn’t think that we’d have a starting lineup change I thought we were going to be able to skate on by

And just be a three or four seat throughout the regular season with those four but in the playoffs it just wasn’t going to be a great blend but when Westbrook went to the bench it really changed everything we were three and seven before that and ever since that move we are

24 and seven we’ve won 24 out of our last 31 I mean we’ve been like the hottest team in the league and Everything’s changed I mean James Harden has been able now to do what he needs to do what he wants to do and that’s have the ball

In his hands that is control the game and he’s been doing a great job of actually getting the most out of everyone there’s no one that’s been minimized due to James actually Westbrook you can say but that’s and maybe a little bit Norman pal but Norman

Pal still fits in like a glove right he’s still doing his thing he still has a campaign in my opinion for six men of the year that’s budding but Russell Westbrook is he probably the only one that’s really been minimized I think kawii Leonard has been great I think

He’s had more legs to close games even though his defensive responsibility has increased and he’s been amazing stepping up defens without roko and Nico and then you see Amir coffee Under The Fray and he’s been fantastic and then let’s not forget the addition of Daniel Ty when d

Uh when PL Mason Plumley was out he came in right away and he’s been an absolute Revelation and then on both ends of the floor by the way even though he’s a small undersized Center he contests everything which obviously allows him to get dunked on here and there but he’s

Averaging a block a game when he plays 17 minutes I love his activity and he’s even given us the ability to switch at times with him on the perimeter so shout out Daniel Ty and then PJ Tucker getting pulled out of the rotation and replaced by Kobe Brown and now eventually Amir

Coffee I think it’s been great we’ve gone through the experimental period we have not load managed this season the health has been the best part of everything and the Clippers are starting to actually play games consecutively with PG and kawhai and that was always

Going to be a good team but now you had James Harden in the mix you had a Russell Westbrook who’s completely sacrificed and bought in and been a model citizen with insane energy every sing single game damn near I mean it’s the first ever Clipper super team kawhai

Is playing excellent ball you got Westbrook and Norm Off the Bench and tyo is doing a great job right now controlling everything it’s been a great first half of the Season better than I expected but that I think this was out of the question with a healthy kawaiian Paul no

Way I have a lot of confidence in those two guys that when they’re healthy Clippers can win games if tyo is on the right kind of stuff in terms of decisions and I think this St this time he has and I would be very very poor in my job if I’m talking about

The first half of the season for the Clippers and I don’t mention the play of not just kawh Paul and Harden and Russ but zubats zubats has been amazing James Harden has helped him in the get easy baskets in the pick and roll but his Rim protection has been excellent his

Rebounding has been fantastic he’s playing with much more confidence since James Harden has come and giv him couple extra easy buckets a game and then you also have teren man who’s starting to find that three ball in this new year things are looking up and coming up

Going to be talking about the second half of the Season what needs to be shown by the team to go into the playoffs in the right position what is the right position going to be talking about that coming up I got to tell you a little something

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For a first deposit match up to $100 prize picks daily fantasy sports Made Easy all right so to close out the show so let’s talk about the Clippers and here’s the thing about the Clippers the second half of the Season what they have to show is that they’re every bit of this

Team that they’re showing right now I know that sounds ridiculous and sounds simplistic but they just got to keep at it and stay healthy that’s really all it is keep at it stay healthy keep building reps Kawai and Paul George and James Harden and Russell Westbrook are on

Track to play like 70 games right now if that’s the case we can win like 54 plus games dare I say dare I say it 60 okay if we win 60 games I’m be I’m gonna be puffing my chest out before the playoffs swear to God if we win 60 games

I will say oh oh my God we needed James Harden to do this we’ never be there without him all this right now we definitely wouldn’t we wouldn’t be looking this good without James Harden there’s no doubt about it do I think we could have been 27 and 14 with the team

Before I had a lot of confidence in that team before so I do think if they were healthy they could have had a chance but the way we’ve been beating good teams I don’t know if we reached that ceiling without James Harden being a third star and that’s another argument like can

Which one of the Clippers gonna make the All-Star team kawia lock Paul and Harden I would advocate for both of them but we’ll see I think Harden’s position is more competitive that he is playing against so it’s going to be difficult what I want to see though is just Health

Kawai continuing to be amazing if he plays over 65 plus games I think he could be in the MVP race although the way Joel embiid is playing the man has a 70o game on Monday night it’s going to be tough if he reaches the 65 game threshold especially with the weight he

Has to carry on his team he doesn’t have a third star he has our good friend Tobias though but yeah I think it really comes I want kawhai to reach 25 points a game I want you know hopefully Russell Westbrook gets to get more minutes

Because I just think that he uh he adds a lot to the table but just keep at it keep stacking wins like that’s it keep building good habits the more healthy games you get together the more wins there’s going to be the better the team is going to be confidence-wise and just

Rhythm wise and that’s what it comes down to like you have to be a top three seed so in terms of the goal it’s very obvious it’s been laid out since day one I’ve been saying it for two years ever since I took over the show top three

Seed that’s what it is you have to get it if you want to win a championship you have to get it that’s what history says you get a top three seed we’re cooking with gas you know what I really want second seed at least because I

Don’t want to be playing a game seven in the second round at someone else’s house I especially if that house is Denver no no no we need second round homec court advantage for the first time in Clipper history because you know what 2020 we didn’t even get to reap the benefits of

It so that doesn’t even count I need the second seed I want a second round game one with me in attendance for the first time in my life I’ve never been to game one of a second round and that’s cuz we’ve never had one at Staple Center we

Need it so top two seed that’s the goal and I think it’s a CH attainable with the health of Kawhi Leonard Paul George and James Harden but mainly Kawhi Leonard and hopefully zubot back is there going to be a trade I really don’t know I’ve heard no

Rumblings of anything like that I don’t know if the Clippers stay put at the deadline they do always make some kind of little move I think they might but I think as of now there’s more there’s other teams that need moves more than we do but that’s it for this one go

Clippers big game against the Lakers you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram dim dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dim dropper where I will be live directly after the Laker game against the Clippers and I’ll also maybe be broadcasting the game live on the pro

Sports fans app so I’ll be watching the game live on that app so download that if you want to see my reactions live to a game we can hear your thoughts during the game then of course locked on Clippers you already know the drill make sure you subscribe to all locked on NBA

Channels locked on channels in general locked on NBA the podcast and of course lock on Clippers the only 5 day a week Clipper podcast let me know what you thought of the episode let me know your score prediction for this game why don’t you let me know your record prediction

For the second half of the Season I’m still trying to read your comments I appreciate everybody that’s been commenting throughout the season even if I disagree with you thank you for adding to the engagement we really are doing well right now here at lock on clips and

I want to see it continue because we really have the most loyal fan base in the NBA and I will die on this hill with that so please keep supporting we’re almost at 5K and I want to keep surpassing these other NBA teams I want to keep showing them what Clipper nation

Is all about and we are the real deal as a fan base and you know who’s going to find that out the hard way on Tuesday night the Lakers please if you’re in attendance be loud I know somebody at least one person that’s going to the

Game on Tuesday is going to be listening to this on your drive to work or are driving to the game and I’m encouraging you to please take it like a playoff game for the night in terms of voices in terms of loud cuz Laker fans you know how annoying

They can be they’re going to try to make it theirs and you know what if we blow them out like we should without LeBron get loud get ignorant get proud make them mad get extra loud on those free throws when they boo get those MVP chance for Co for Kawai show them whose

Home game it is 207 first 207 game versus Laker fans I’m hoping to see my section packed to the brim the age old proverb continues go Clippers

The LA Clippers play the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night in their third matchup versus their hallway neighbors this season. They are currently 0-2 against them and are looking to win the game with LeBron James out.

In this episode, diehard Los Angeles Clippers fan and host, Darian Vaziri previews the game against the Lakers, talks about the first half of the season since they’re officially at the halfway point, and discusses what they need to do in the second half of the season to go into the playoffs with the right momentum.

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