How The LA Clippers Had Their Ugliest Win Of The Season

How The LA Clippers Had Their Ugliest Win Of The Season

The LA Clippers bounced back on Friday night against the very short-handed Memphis Grizzlies and in a very nonon convincing fashion it was a close game all the way to the end how did the Clippers skin by why was their play so sketchy for the second night in a row

And we got to have some conversations about some players in our rotation particularly Paul George going to be talking about it all on today’s lock down 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 Daren 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 went live directly after the game to give my raw reaction and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube and I want you to let me know what’s

Your biggest concern about the way we’re playing so far after the All-Star break because listen I’m you’ve listened to me all season right and every single time we win one of these games I’m always like it doesn’t matter how much we win by it doesn’t matter how we win all that

Matters is that we win and this is the first time this season where we’ve had a win and I was like we played so badly like the only reason we won this game is because the Grizzlies were that short-handed and they’re so limited offensively without Desmond Bane without

John Morant without Brandon Clark still without Marcus Smart I mean they are just banged up to the tea and we still struggled majorly majorly so two straight games off the All-Star break Clippers have not looked good they win this one1 to 95 of course it is a second

Night of a back toback but we’ve seen them play on second nights of back-to-backs this season and been much better than this so we did skin by in the end it was very shaky all the way to to the last couple of minutes and James

Harden who was 0 for seven at one point of the game knocked down a huge patented stepback three talk about clutch there we needed him to hit something he had not found his shot all game he was still making some good passes but again another game with James Harden where he

Wasn’t creating as many advantages as normal now granted in the beginning of the game they had the Williams guys zier Williams and Vince Williams who I was pretty impressed by guarding 213 so the mismatch was Luke Canard our good old friend Luke Canard guarding James Harden and in the first couple of possessions

James did a good job of getting by Luke drawing ATT uh extra Defenders and then finding teren man for a couple of Threes And Terren man one of the biggest reasons we win this game was his performance I’m not going to say I told anybody so because I know who Terence

Man is this is why he’s one of the reasons why he’s my favorite player because the stuff that he does wrong is very minimal to me it’s just hesitancy confidence things but for the most part he’s always going to just work hard and be available and he had 10 points in the

First quarter of this game but what hurt him was that second fou he picked up his arm was getting locked and grabbed and they called the foul on Terren so that was very unfortunate but I like how he stuck with it there were still times where he and Amir coffee were not

Letting it fly when they caught the ball and the grizzly strategy was actually very smart in this game it was that they were going to stay home on what’s it called on uh Kawai Paul like all our Shooters and mind you Norman Powell didn’t play this game he had a sprained ankle

Hopefully it’s not too serious Brian Seaman kind of downplayed it during commentary but so hopefully we’ll have him against Sacramento on Sunday but their plan was to play high drop coverage and then leave Terence man open or air coffee or Russell Westburg open they were funneling it to those guys and

We didn’t make our lives any easier when tyou brought in PJ Tucker I’m going to talk more about that in the second segment but that was shocking to me that he played PJ Tucker because we didn’t have Norm typically I would think we’re going to go with Brandon Boston or Kobe

Brown without Norman Powell or even bones Highland before we go with PJ Tucker but of course there have been reports that PJ’s been unhappy he wanted to go to a different team where he could play so he got an opportunity and you know what he didn’t impress me at

All part of why we skinned by is cuz our besides Kawai the other three Russ Harden and Paul they weren’t very good James Harden created some good shots but for the most part he was not hitting anything he wasn’t getting super clean looks he was passing up mid-range

Step backs he finished one for eight from the field and 0 and one for four from three six for seven from the line he almost had a triple double though nine points eight rebounds eight assists so I’ll give him this he did a good job rebounding and he played 39

Minutes so he went back to playing him a lot and Russell Westbrook oh my God he was just I mean at one point I thought he was playing pretty well he was getting to the basket and he was five for eight this was in the beginning of

The fourth quarter and mind you Paul George is struggling a bit he’s not being very aggressive which is very disappointing considering the way he played against ok see he’s not being super aggressive but he finally hits a mid-range shot right and then Russ three straight possessions I kid you not three

Straight possessions looks to go ISO and misses every time you’re the point guard you have to understand what’s best for the team in that moment your job is to get the best scorer on the court Paul George going more so than yourself Russ was already five for eight and I think that’s where

It stems from he was like I’m five for eight I’m going off let me just keep going off man it really can be detrimental when he does that it’s very selfish and then I thought a lot of times whether it be Russ whether it be Kawai Paul even James

They missed Amir coffee and teren man wide open a lot in terms of waiting to pass them like I always tell the kids I coach this when you have the ball right and one of your teammates is open and you don’t pass to them and then two

Dribbles later you passed to them that advantage that you had might be taken away cuz they have time to recover when you see an open teammate that can make a shot from somewhere you throw them that ball on it like right away but the Clippers skin by I thought Kawai made

Some big plays and I think what turned this game around was kawh Leonard in the third quarter was just like No Nonsense anymore and he did it on both ends he really took over this game you know he had some monster dunks but the defense the constant deflections the blocks the

Help defense timely rotations he really took the game by the Scruff of the neck and I also think Paul George made some big shots in the fourth quarter his fourth quarter was probably his best quarter and that’s good to see so he actually shot well in the from three in

The game but not too great overall just 14 points for Paul five rebounds three assists on five for 12 shooting and four for seven from three kawhai had 24 points eight rebounds four assists three Steals and a block on 10 10 for 18 shooting and two for six from three so

He was good he was my player of the game kawii Leonard it’s really nice to have a player like that that’s just going to up the seriousness of the entire team but teren man you can argue was the player of the game too I mean huge plays

Including the one that sealed the deal where he threw it up to air coffee off of a James Harden strip against jiren Jackson teren threw it up to Amir coffee Amir missed the layup and Then teren followed it up and dunked he had 23 points 12 rebounds one assist and one

Steal on nine for 17 shooting and four for eight from three so big time stuff by Terren the Clippers outscored the Grizzlies 48- 36 in the second half and you know what just listening to those stats you would think that it’s cuz our defense tightened up a lot I think our

Defense tightened up but I think we got very lucky that the Grizzlies just missed shots I’m being that’s not even being a hater I’m being what that was what my eyes were telling me we were all over the place and coming up I’m going to be talking more about that sketchy

Play but the important thing is we won and it’s just the same as all the other wins on the on the Wind column 37 and 18 nice to bounce back after that Thunder game but let’s talk a little bit more about the sketchy play of the Clippers coming

Up all right so look I’m not going to sugarcoat it this was pretty brutal to watch it was another young team with athleticism that was exposing our age and lack of pace my first issues in the game and and you know what’s funny it felt just like the

OKC game for a second where we were up 23- 16 literally the exact same score 23 to 16 we were winning and then Harden and zubats come out and we slowly start losing control of the game now in this game as I mentioned just a second ago James Harden actually played more and

Part of it was a different rotation so normally we see or have seen of re in recent times Russell Westbrook will check in for James Harden like Midway through the first quarter and then he won’t come in until the start of the second and he’ll play the whole second

Same thing happens in the second half but in this game Harden only sat like three minutes uh in that first quarter and then he came right back in Russ I’m going to say this in the first quarter he scored four points and he got to the

Rim but his defense the last two games and it was mainly in the first quarter of this game I thought he got better as it went on it was really looking like Laker Russ defense not engaged at all falling asleep off the ball not tracking his man just like giving up on

Plays and not in a defensive stance at all just leaning over it’s really concerning when he does that because it’s like he’s not even trying on D and we know what Russell Westbrook looks like when he’s trying on D thankfully we cleaned it up but it’s

Going to stick out against good teams he needs to go back to being you know playing at a high level and somebody one of the the Russ fans he told me that his theory is that now that he he’s ineligible for all defense because I think you have to play 20 plus minutes

In a certain amount of games to be eligible he’s not trying as hard and that’s really shameful if that’s true because that would mean that he’s only caring about accolades and not actually contributing to wins and I don’t think that that’s the case I think Russ will

Have he he has no choice but to step it up defensively you know he’s he said that one of his biggest contributions to the team is coming out there and competing on defense every night he needs to get back to that cuz his offense can be shaky and in terms of

Shaky offense I think the main reason why this game was so close was I I even though the second half defense cleaned up I didn’t love it I really was sketched out about our lack of attention to detail at times and our lack of communication and I thought Harden

Wasn’t very good defensively either plumbley is atrocious on D Zub Bots I thought was really good but the thing is zoo needs to be more disciplined when he has four fouls and he’s moving his hands downwards on the contest against jiren Jackson that’s an obvious foul and look

We already know Zeus whistle is one of the worst in the NBA he needs to be smarter there I think he did a pretty good job protecting the rim on jiren Jackson rebounding scoring you know he had a double double but he only played 207 minutes because he fouled out 10

Points 10 rebounds and mind on five for seven shooting and mind you Tyler Lou didn’t play Mason in the second straight game in the second half all Mason did was he came in he rolled to the basket and got fou a couple of times he made all six of his free throws

Um but he was 0 for one and8 minutes a play but the main reason we really struggled was because our big four wanted to turn the ball over left and right Kawhi Leonard six turnovers which is very unlike him Paul George five turnovers James Harden four turnovers and then Russell Westbrook three

Combined you put that together you get 18 turnovers that is not going to win you games and mind you this is against a a a very injured team that’s what concerns me and it’s not a oneoff performance guys it’s after a loss that’s what really scares me because throughout this

Season we’ve seen the Clippers after a loss respond like Champions which is one of the reasons we are the three seed but this was like you really playing with fire majorly the turnovers were just out of control the second quarter was our worst one 30 to 24 we got outscored and I

Think our defense was just pathetic you know the Grizzlies went super small at one point Alama at the five and they were switching everything and their size and athleticism was bothering us you know straight up the Vince Williams Zahir Williams combination they have good size and athleticism on the wings

Defensively and Vince Williams and Terence man were kind of going at it a bit but what are the fixes I know sounds crazy but my only fix is one Daniel Ty needs to get back in the rotation over plumbley plumley’s defense is non-existant he’s just a better roller

And a rebounder that’s it but he’s really a net negative defensively and there were a couple of times where Harden threw him some good law passes from my vantage point they look good on TV and he couldn’t catch the ball his hands might be even worse than

Zoo’s very sketched out by plumbley I like Mason but I think Ty is better and he was playing really well when we were on that winning streak we should put him back in the rotation and then PJ Tucker playing was just kind of like a desperation like you know let me give

Him a chance kind of thing and we played him with Mason and Russ at the same time which is another huge reason we were falling apart PJ Tucker some people are saying oh he hadn’t played in months he looked exactly the same as when he did play last time he got one offensive

Rebound he got three rebounds in the game he was a donut with no shot attempts and he totally is a non-threat off offensively every team knows it we saw the playoffs last year it really hurts your halfcourt offense and it was hurting last night Mason plumbley and Russell

Westbrook and PJ Tucker on the court together crazy I don’t know what Tai was thinking the and Amir coffy didn’t play the whole first and I don’t think he played well either he was struggling immensely on defense for the second straight game and he wasn’t letting it

Fly from three when he got the ball he made one mid-range but overall Amir who’s been amazing this season last two games very sketchy two points one for six on the field and 0 for three from three here’s what Terrence man and Amir coffee need to understand and I

Guarantee you the coaches are telling them this just because you miss an open three doesn’t mean you can’t take an open three on the next possession if you get it who cares if you miss two shots in a row if they’re good shots it it’s okay it happens people are so afraid to

Miss shots missing open shots and good shots are the least bad thing you can do in basketball I truly believe that people are so hell like fixated on missing and making shots cuz they say oh it’s a maker Miss League that’s how you win the game no you win the game by

Doing the right things because eventually if you keep taking the right shots they will fall I promise Amir coffee needs to not worry so much but tyo playing Ty I’m sorry plumbley PJ and Russ all at the same time was really questionable if I were to play PJ Tucker

In the future and he might be needed small ball five that’s the only way to try it cuz your lack of spacing with him as a four is Major and it’s not like he does anything else offensively he’s the type of guy and like you’ll see kids do

This a lot when they have nothing offensively they’ll pass cuz they can’t do anything on the ball and then they’ll screen immediately for who they pass to cuz they’re like I got to contribute somehow and I am very anti- passing and then screening to the person you pass to

Cuz when somebody gets pass the ball their first instinct is to okay when they’re when they’re guarded right their first instinct is to okay let me see what I got you know let me see what my options are the second you pass to someone and then you go screen you’re

Bringing your Defender to them so so they’ve just caught the ball they’re kind of like relaxed they’re like looking around what’s happening and now they have to see two Defenders all of a sudden it’s a little stressful so that’s why when you see in fundamental levels coaches will say pass and then screen

Away so you can free them up off the ball and have an option for the guy that you just passed to to potentially give it to but anyway yeah that three you know PJ three non-shooters out there at once was sketchy Russell Westbrook just needs to be better on both ends these

Last two games have been really bad for him and I love Russ Paul George you know what we’re going to save that coming up but James Harden wasn’t good enough either he needs to be better he has not looked very quick the last couple of

Like the last month or so but I think James will come good I really do but let’s talk about Paul George coming up all right so let’s close this thing out listen I seem very aggravated and I’m not but it was very frustrating watching that game and I’m only saying

This because against any other team damn near we would have lost and we’re going to have to play better against Sacramento and I’m confident that we will given that it’s a home game and we’ll see if if tyo plays Ty I I don’t know if he will he might be fixated on

That Russell Westbrook had 13 points on six for 15 shooting and one for four from three no free throw attempts two rebounds here’s what I’ll say about Russ he did some good things getting to the rim but this turnovers are really sketchy Paul George though five turnovers lazy defense at

Times I think he stepped it up in the second half I mean we we only conceded 16 points in the third but I really want to give Kawhi Leonard and zubot most of the credit for that I thought they were carrying us I was watching the game and

I was telling my friend I was like Kawhi Leonard is really carrying us on D right now like he’s everywhere that he needed to be he was his defensive IQ is like really high compared to other players in the league there’s no secret why he was

One of the best defenders in the world and one defensive player of the year twice he he knows exactly which rotations to make he knows exactly who he needs to do certain things against like he knows his Personnel very well and his hands are just awesome so I

Thought he and zubot really anchored things not to say that Paul James and Terren didn’t try in the third quarter but I thought that they were just kind of helping and are kind of bailing guys out because I’ve noticed this about the Clippers when we have Zoo healthy were

So you know kind of reliant on him protecting the rim that will like overplay like crazy and just let guys beat us off the bounce or off the ball and and hope that Zoo will bail us out and late switch onto it our overreliance on Switching at times is

Really lazy and problematic last night I saw the our players switching off ball when guys were just running past each other not even setting screens you’re switching way too much in my eyes it’s very lazy that’s very lazy defense to me cuz nobody wants to stay attached nobody

Wants to sit down it’s it’s you’re not fooling me I know my I know Championship I don’t want to say Championship Tendencies cuz it’s one regular season game but I can see serious tendencies in a game and and when it’s not serious they’re switching way too easily soft switching but Paul George I

Mean it’s been a while now that he’s been playing bad 14 points is not enough at all 12 shots I know their their plan was to funnel the ball to Terren and and PJ and Amir and Russ but Russ shooting 15 times and Paul shooting 12 times that’s just not good enough and

He’s playing 14 less minutes Russ needs to calm down though like seriously you’re the point guard but Paul George needs to demand the ball here’s the problem with Paul George we know he’s not that type of guy he’s gonna let Russ Rock that’s a major issue Paul George

Man you got TW I love Paul George he’s my second favorite player on the team but he’s got 27 games for the playoffs time to round into form brother I know he’s had a groin injury but I’m going to keep saying it he does the same

Stuff healthy and and you know what it wasn’t a lack of effort from Paul in my opinion I just think he was missing shots and then he gets a little discouraged when he misses shots and he does some dumb things defensively and then turns the ball over I mean the

Turnovers are really bad and they’re always really T untimely but for the most part I think he was still trying he was just missing shots so I think that’s again same with air coffee missing shots not the worst thing in the world I don’t think he took any bad shots really Paul

George one of them by the way he should really be five for 11 he had to get a grenade at the end of the shot clock and throw it up so I’m going to give context to that so he was really four for six from three and five for 11 from the line

That shot that shouldn’t even really count it was a grenade but at least the Clippers won and we got to be much better against Sacramento defensively our attention to detail has to improve we need to stop soft switching so much and take some pride in staying in front of the damn

Ball we need to play TY but our Stars just need to be better like it’s there’s no sugar coding it we missed by the way we missed Norm immensely in this game because their game plan was really good for not having Norm he’s our best catch and shoot three-point player uh in my

Opinion just off the eye test I don’t have the numbers on their catch and shoot three-point percentage but I guarantee Norm’s top three and they were trying to funnel it to our other guys and shout out to Terence man he really stepped up he did a lot of great things

A lot of great cutting but yeah we got to be better that was really I mean that felt like a loss I shouldn’t say that but to me the performance was lossworkout a time right one game at a time Paul George man I’m really I’m really hoping you turn back around and

And show these people because this is this is it man you got you have a super team on your hands you have James Harden who arguably should have been an All-Star over you on your own team and your boy Russ Off the Bench and you’re playing with a better player than

You it’s time to put up a shut up ain’t nobody going to listen to podcast P once if if it Flames out in the playoffs they’ll want to hear your first podcast after to see what you say and then they’ll be like this guy’s unserious

Come on P I believe in you I trust you but Kawai thank God for him right cuz he really turned up that seriousness and zubot I love zubot he’s been really solid these last two games but he needs to be a little more disciplined defensively there jiren Jackson was

Doing a good job he was just scoring on him sometimes you can get scored on you can’t foul out of the game jiren Jackson had 29 Points on 11 for 25 shooting two for seven from three so there you go we still held him to a fairly you know not

The most efficient shooting game but yeah you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA Sports content and lock on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast the age-old proverb continues I’ll see

You all on Sunday I will be back at the game for my 19th game of the season our 26th home game or is it 27th home game let me do a little double check on that 26 27 it is our 27th home game the agel proverb continues go Clippers

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