Pelicans Or Mavericks? Which Series Is Potentially More Problematic For LAC?

Pelicans Or Mavericks? Which Series Is Potentially More Problematic For LAC?

The question you’ve all been waiting me to answer who is a better matchup for the Clippers or should I say which matchup is less problematic the New Orleans Pelicans or the Dallas Mavericks in the first round is there a possibility that we could play another team going to be previewing the game

Against the Kings and comparing the matchups on today’s lockon home stretch Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily lock Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes sir you 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 Dian vieri born and raised in the greatest city in the world of 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 for even more extensive LA Sports and NBA content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube and I want you to let let me know who you’d rather play the Pelicans or the Mavs and why before we

Get into that and previewing the Sacramento Kings game on Wednesday night this episode is brought to you by game time game time is the best place to find great deals on last minute tickets take the guest workout of buying tickets with game time all you got to do is download

The game time app create an account and use code lock. NBA for $20 off your first purchase all right so in this episode we’re going to be comparing both teams and our matchups what those matchups could look like in the postseason Pelicans Mavs then in the end I’m going

To be giving my verdict and deciding or looking at the game against Sacramento as well and then talking about if we could play any other teams but first let’s talk about the New Orleans Pelicans for the last couple of weeks it’s been kind of a prediction that the New Orleans Pelicans

Are going to finish in the five seed and we are going to finish in the four seed now now we are not going to move up past four this is where we are going to be either four or lower I think four to six because we are four games in the Lost

Column behind the Wolves for three and we’re four games ahead of the Suns in seventh so it looks like we will be making the playoffs outright for the second straight year which is great obviously that’s one of the main goals of course everybody wants to get their respective seeds that they you know

Shoot for in the regular season but the main goal is getting the top six now it’s not getting the top eight getting the top six now and it looks like we’re going to do that which is great of course coming off our worst stretch of the season and

I really do believe this recent stretch was worse than the five straight or six straight losses when he first got Harden because that was when you first get a new player you’re testing things out you have a starting lineup that had too many cooks in the kitchen it wasn’t working

But this was after you had gone on a run youve gotten the number one seed and now you’re just falling off a cliff the same players are just falling off a cliff so it was weird I thought it was our worst stretch of the season but we are on a

Three game winning streak as of this episode now here’s my thing right before we talk about the New Orleans Pelicans as I said it feels like we’re not going up to three so I did say all season long if you want a championship you got to be

A top three seed only two seeds have ever won the championship below three and I’m going to stick with my conviction I don’t think we’re going to win the championship but four seeds still go to the finals four seeds can still go to the Conference Finals so I

Still think we have a chance to make a run I really do and that’s always amazing and as a franchise who’s only made it to one Conference Finals I think it would be amazing it would still be a great achievement but let’s not distract ourselves from why we put this team

Together initially and added James Harden it’s Championship robust nothing other than a championship will suffi suffice I think fans will be able to walk away saying it was a fun season if we make it to the Conference Finals and say you know what there’s optimism let’s

Run it back but it depends on how we lose I just don’t know if we lose to a team like Denver who’s younger than us how we responded that but speaking of younger than us the New Orleans Pelicans so as I said the Clippers we are two

Games in the Lost column ahead of the fifth seated right now it’s the Mavericks six seed New Orleans so we because Brandon Ingram has been out and he continues to be out the Pelicans have dropped a bit they’re three and three without Ingram in the recent stretch and

They’re seven actually seven and four without him overall this season but the New Orleans Pelicans let’s just start with the absolute obvious right 38 and 25 with Brandon Ingram but the absolute obvious is in the regular season they might be our worst matchup in the league like they their size and athleticism is

Overwhelming for us we’ve never properly had an answer for Zion and Brandon Ingram I mean when we didn’t have Kawai Brandon Ingram used to light us up even when we have had Kawai he’s lit lit us up like no look no further in that game which was almost a year ago today when

The kawhai and Brandon Ingram were just going at it in New Orleans and Ingram was just showing you know why he’s such a star now obviously neither have Zion nor bi made the All-Star team this year because they weren’t averaging 23 points or more and the Pelicans were kind of

Hovering around that S8 spot then after the All-Star break they really started picking it up but the main thing with New Orleans this year is that Zion has played more games than he’s ever played in his career and Brandon Ingram has been healthy as well until until this so

It’s been a year where much like the Clippers the New Orleans Pelicans had a ton of questions coming into the year about injuries and they have been healthy and they’re showing how dangerous they could be they’re 12th in offensive rating so top half of the league but not top 10 but they’re fourth

In defensive rating and third in steals now mind you going into the season they had two guys in their starting lineup three really that were considered below average Defenders Jonas Valen Zion and CJ McCullum and this year surrounded by Brandon Ingram and obviously one of the best defenders in

The NBA today herb Jones and then when you bring in Nance Alvarado Murphy and Marshall Off the Bench those guys can all defend and they all have size and length so in terms of the starting lineup I think what’s really improved in my eyes whenever I’ve watched them play

Is Zion his ability to stay in front now is really improved looks like he shed some weight since that inseason tournament and since that inseason tournament that’s really when the Pelicans seem to have a wakeup call mainly Zion who as I mentioned earlier is playing a career high in games and he

Has a career high in assist per game because they’re using him a lot more as a point forward kind of deal so the Pelicans beat us 3-1 in the season series both games in La they beat us I was at both you can find the Vlog of

Both of those games on my channel and then we recently lost them in New Orleans in a very competitive game and then we had one of our best wins of the season when we absolutely destroyed them when we were rolling here’s my concerned with the pels especially after the trade for

Harden we have no front Court depth for Zion I was already saying that if because I was advocating for kawhai to play the four even before we got Harden I was saying that we don’t play against that many Bruiser bigs in the NBA today forwards

But Zion is one of those guys and the thing about Zion is he doesn’t let the defense off the hook he’s constantly going to go to the rim the thing about Zion is he doesn’t really have a mid-range yet and he doesn’t have a consistent post game he’s amazing at

Attacking your chest going right into your body but he still has a game that we haven’t seen in the NBA Playoffs this guy has never played a playoff game so the thing with the Pelicans that we clearly have is experience and the best player in the series now here’s what

Worries me the Pelicans are a good defensive team they have more guys that are equipped to throw at 213 and Harden than we have for Zion while we have Paul George and kawhai to throw at Ingram and Terren man cannot guard Ingram he shoots right over the top of him but Kawai and

Paul are decent to guard Ingram Amir coffee probably as well but Zion we don’t have much for him now there has been zubot guarding Zion for stretches and statistically I saw somebody post this but statistically Zoo holds Z Z to a low field goal percentage when they when he’s guarding him but ey

Testwise it looks like Zion can get the step on zoo and team we it it often feels like we overcompensate and one thing you start seeing is like when we’ll put a bigger wing on Zion and have Zoo as a RoR to help at The Rim they’ll

Just put zoo in the action and it feels like zo is getting attacked downhill against Zion and one thing you saw last time we played them is the second we took zo out of the game plumbley got absolutely crushed with them trying to seek him in the pick and roll seek him

In the pick and roll and mind you they’re setting the screen at like the free throw line so he’s getting downhill taking two steps he’s already gliding to the basket so the main concern with the Pelicans is that we have nothing for Zion while they have herb Jones na

Marshall and Trey Murphy and Brandon Ingram to throw at our best players and Alvarado for Harden so they have like on the court the Pelicans matchup doesn’t seem good they’re f an athletic for us but here’s the Saving Grace in the playoffs the game slows down we have the

Best player in the series even though they have better guys to guard our best player we if if kawhai doesn’t outplay Zion and Brandon Ingram in a series I don’t care who’s guarding him like the thing about Kawai is when we got him there was no oh this guy can guard him

Well like no there was nobody that could guard him he averaged 30 in the playoffs against for on a championship run so if we’re going to have a championship chance Kawhi Leonard he has to be unguardable doesn’t matter what great defender you put on him you need need to

Put play two put two Defenders on him or you’re screwed that’s what it’s supposed to be so Kawai I still have full confidence against the Pelicans he could be the best player in the series even against the likes of herb Jones but if you go by the regular season they’re a

Terrible matchup for us so it is going to be it’s going to be tough it’s going to be very tough but the Saving Grace is they haven’t had much playoff experience all they had was that 2021 I’m sorry that 2022 Series against the Suns and they were competitive in that that was

Kind of Alvarado Trey Murphy Brandon Ingram like they’re coming out party to the National audience uh herb Jones as well so it’ll be interesting to see uh the one thing about them is their other guys have shot a lot better from three this year herb Jones Alvarado Nance they’re sixth in three-point

Percentage but bottom seven in attempts and I think that’s cuz they take the right shots but here’s the thing about the pels brand Ingram is still injured and there’s only eight games left so if he comes back in these next couple of games he’s only got about five or six

Games before you’re ramping up to playing high level competition and let me tell you this if Brandon Ingram is not healthy they’re not winning a series against anyone anyone so there are some pros and some cons but coming up going to be talking about the team that just

Took the fifth seed and the whole rest of the world wants to wants us to play GNA be talking about the Dallas Mavericks coming up this episode or this next segment is brought To Us by our sponsor better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to

Get something off our chest big or small certain things can really start to get to you it’s important to let that out especially to someone who’s unbiased on your life so today I want to say how I really feel about something you might even beat thinking about the same thing this

Week I think the Clippers are locked into the four seed people are saying we have a tough schedule I think that some of those teams are really overrated and we probably be resting some guys and and I think the Gap is too wide but we shall see therapy can be different for

Everyone most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team and it’s important to get things off your chest every once in a while if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely online designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon MBA to get

10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com locked on NBA all right so now it’s time to talk about the dreaded Dallas Mavericks now I’ve seen a lot of people on Twitter and in Clippers Circle saying saying bring on the Mavs we don’t want to play the

Pels but we own the Mavs we’ve beaten them twice there’s this whole narrative about Luca owns Kawai and the I’m sorry not Kawai Luca owns the Clippers and all this but I’ve always said who’s undefeated against who in the playoffs do you guys value a individual stats or

Do you value the the actual goal of the game because the actual goal of the game is you play to win the game but in today’s NBA these new fans especially the stand booy Fanboy weirdos they just care about their favorite player like they don’t give a damn about the outcome

Of the game they’re just like oh my player got off you couldn’t guard him it’s like do you know that some coaches when they see that a player has less help they let that one guy do everything so then they get burned out because the thing about players without great

Supporting Cast is if you actually let their Supporting Cast cook then you’re in trouble which is exactly what was happening to us in the 2021 Series in the first two games when Maxi kba and Tim Hardaway Jr and all these guys were making shots left and right they cooled

Down and you know the law of averages worked itself out and Luca was getting gassed by ball his ball Domin heliocentric ball towards the end of games and by the way like they had Chris STS porzingis on that team and they just never gave him the ball and he wasn’t

Aggressive when he got the ball so I’m not going to fully blame Luca on that but they underutilized porzingis as we know now but of course porzingis is role is very different point is this this Dallas Maverick team is not the same you can say the same about the Clippers

Though we don’t have Reggie and Marcus Morris and Pat Bev anymore and Nico or yeah I’m not forgetting anyone really here’s the thing about Dallas Dallas does not have like if you look at the schemes and you look at the actual Personnel New Orleans has better Personnel for us like they just have

Better guys to guard our best players who does Dallas have to guard our best players PJ Washington and Derrik Jones Jr and then Kyrie Irving is guarding James Harden I mean I know Kyrie’s been playing better defense this year I know that Derrick Jones Jr is no slouch but I

Saw what kawhai did to Derrick Jones Jr last time he went to Dallas it was they can’t guard him he’s too strong Kawai is too strong for him PJ Washington we haven’t played the Mavericks with him in Charlotte I saw no semblance of a good Defender but I’ve heard that he has been

Defending well and body type wise those are the kind of guys that you put on Kawai but if Kawai is getting contained by PJ Washington then we deserve to go home here’s the thing about Dallas they are the hottest team in the NBA right now they’ve won seven games in

A row they’re third 34 and8 this season with Kyrie Irving they’re 11 and 11 without him so that’s a major draw difference you’re 16 games over 500 with Kyrie and you’re 500 with him in a solid sample size and the reason that is is because they don’t have that much depth

They have improved their actually you know what I rephrase that before the trade deadline they didn’t have much depth they don’t have anything close to a third star their third score is Tim Hardaway Jr who comes off the bench and is no better than Norman pal so they

Don’t have a third star like Harden they have nobody close to that but they do have two lob threats in solid bigs and they have you know sprinkled the roster around with some quality players PJ Washington being one of those guys and I think that as the years go on you’re

Going to start to see Dallas put better supporting casts around Luca but here’s the scary part right this is the Best Supporting Cast that Luca has ever had and Kyrie Irving is not pre- Nick Jaylen Brunson he is not uh Tim Hardaway Jr this is an NBA champion and I know

What some people are going to be saying Kyrie hasn’t played well in the playoffs since he’s been with LeBron well if there’s anybody close to getting the attention that LeBron gets it’s Luca and Kyrie’s having his most functional season in years probably since 2018 with Boston before it all went wrong there

Has not been any drama there has not been any controversy he resigned and extended with them in the summer he’s actually been playing defense the fan base and the players seem to like him this Mavericks team is 16- six with Daniel Gafford on the team and 11 in one

With him starting they they are sixth in offensive rating which again that’s not a shock with that with Luca and Kyrie Irving on your team it’s not a shock going to be a great offensive team but here’s the rub their 20th in defensive rating which is going to make everyone

Say they’re a bad defensive team it’s nowhere near as bad as New Orleans bring it on it’s going to be a battle but ultimately kawhai owns them and they’ve got nothing for him and we have a third star and they’re going have Kyrie probably guarding him a lot all those

Points are valid but here’s what people don’t get in the playoffs it often comes down to star power all this stuff I’m talking about it’s relevant but the Pelicans if we play the Pelicans it’ll be the truest test of how different is regular season basketball versus playoff basketball

Because in the regular season we get owned if we beat them in the playoffs that just tells you you can never take anything from regular season matchups you can take some things CU it’s not like we can get a new power fourward that can guard Zion but it’s just such a

Different game in the playoffs when you’re really scheming for one team over and over and a lot of times the best player wins if the supporting casts are equal the best player will win and I think each team has their big three they got CJ Ingram and Zion and we have

Harden Paul and kawhai the rest of their team is better than ours I think but we have the best player and I would like to think that Paul George is still better than Brandon Ingram and I would like to think that Harden’s better than McCullum any Pelicans fans might disagree but I

Think we got the three best each one I think we got three of the uh best five players in the series against Dallas we might not even have the best anymore I don’t care what any Mavericks fan says about those two series we played them in the past we had the best

Player he just didn’t have to do do as much but he’s guarding your best player and your best player can’t even think about guarding us we’re actually attacking his ass but this is a different Luca this is a Luca that’s come off a Conference Finals run this is

A Luca that missed the play in last year and was ridiculed for it he is playing at an MVP level he’s leading the NBA in scoring he has a vendetta against the Clippers and now he’s going to have Kyrie so defensively it’s going to be a nightmare we can’t just switch zubot on

To Luca we can’t switch certain guys on to Luka like we did the first two games of 2021 if we do that we will be going home this time I promise you we won’t be so fortunate so it has to come down to our offense being great against them but

Here’s the scariest thing the Mavericks are the third best net rating in the NBA in the clutch and that’s no coincidence because they have two of the best closes in the league now and you saw Luca get super Gass last year at the end of games

At times now he has Kyrie Irving who’s hitting left-handed floaters for game he makes they make me very nervous all the people that are dis in Kyrie Irving because of his recent playoff struggles are very foolish to just think that he’s going to do that again this is a playoff

This is an NBA champion we’re talking about with a lot to prove don’t think that he doesn’t hear the whole You’ve not done anything since LeBron he doesn’t BL buy into that stuff and play into that stuff but I promise you he knows and he’s and he’s thinking about

It here’s the scariest part about Dallas since February essentially since they made the trade for Washington and Gafford they’ve been the eighth best defense in the league and the second best offense you want to talk about peing at at the right time the Mavericks fans are not afraid of us

Anymore it’s here’s the so here’s the Dilemma basketball scheme wise the New Orleans Pelicans look like the tougher matchup they have the guy that we just sizewise don’t have a body for they have a better defense and they have more guys to throw at 203 they’ve been much better than the Mavericks

Against us in the regular season but they don’t have the same playoff experience they don’t have a guy nearly to Luca’s level and Brandon ingrams injured for the Mavericks their defense while it might be great lately I’m still not sold on it I’m still not sold on those guys I

Named locking down or containing our best players and we’ve done better against them and we kind of I want to say we have a psychological Edge on them but I don’t think we do I think legitimately we just beat a team that was worse than

Us I really do and it took kawi Leonard having the best game he’s ever had as a Clipper to do it on the road and nly just win the series forced the game seven that we still had to go back and win that I was at it was amazing but

Coming up I am going to give my verdict of who I want to play and we’re going to be looking ahead at the Kings game on Wednesday and talking about can we play another team besides those two going to be talking about that coming up I got to tell you a little something

About game time you know one time I was very frustrated at my mom because she came home and was like let’s go to the Clipper game and literally the game was starting in like 45 minutes and it takes me like an hour plus to get to downtown

So I was like I hate Starting Games late I don’t want to go we’re going to just be in the nose bleeds and we got ripped off by some scalloper for like $90 each for each ticket in the nose beds for Lob City against a weak Rockets team and

We yeah we paid over $90 for a regular season game but if there was game the game time app that would never have happened because game time is the best place to save you money on last minute deals save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports

Concerts comedy theater and more and with Flash Deals you can save even more with exclusive inapp deals on select seats ahead of the game or event and you can save even more when you choose a section and let game time choose the seats those are known as Zone deals take

The guest work out of buying tickets with Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on MBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code l o c k d n nbh that’s two NS back to back for $20 off

Download the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right so here we go Clippers and Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night it will be our chance to get four straight wins and we have some news to report this morning kawh Leonard will miss his

Seventh game of the season with KNE soreness now my first thought is load management third third time this season no no I don’t I don’t mind it you know we’re basically locked into that four seed we got Denver coming up on Thursday let’s just make sure kawh

Health at this point cuz he’s going to play 70 games as long as he plays two more games this season he’s going to play 70 so that’s all good but then we heard that he got sent back home he’s he’s back here now for treatment and anybody that’s just resting or load

Managing on a road trip does not go back home for treatment so he Tylo said it happened last game Kawhi Leonard is very interesting because he’s the first player I’ve ever seen in my life where he gets injured apparently and we just don’t know it we don’t see the play we

Don’t see anything don’t see any discomfort the guy closed out the game really well for the third straight game I don’t know uh I would say I hope it’s just load management but I don’t because we’re in no position to be flirting with losing that fory we should try to seal

It as quick as possible and then load manage like they used to before that turn was even coined which is when you are set for your seed you rest before the playoffs when the business is done that’s the original load management then about seven years ago we saw LeBron

Start doing in the middle of the season and then after they coin the term for Kawai in 2019 it’s taking over the league Donovan Mitchell as I speak is being load managed on Tuesday night with just coming back from his injury so I’m hoping it’s not load management it

Doesn’t sound like it is which honestly concerns me a bit but my gut the way this season is gone I think he’ll be fine and I’m still knocking but oh boy oh boy I’m still knocking all right but man we’re so close like if something happens now I don’t even know what to

Say like God just doesn’t want us to to succeed with this team I would say God just doesn’t want us to succeed the basketball Gods with the Clippers in general but nah sometimes things go well but yeah Kawai I really hope you’re okay get well soon if need you know if it’s

If it’s really serious get well soon if it’s not very serious still get well soon it’s going to be the Paul George and James Harden show against the Kings on Tuesday night they’re obviously going to be without Kevin hder and Malik monk we’ll see how it goes they’re Clinging

On a dear life for the playin so it’s going to be hard and here’s the thing if we lose this game that will be our 28th loss of the season the Dallas Mavericks are playing the Golden State Warriors in Golden State on TNT on Tuesday night I

Really hope the Warriors win so that even if plus yeah I I really hope the Warriors win because if the Mavericks do win they’re only one game behind us in the L column and if we lose home court advantage at this point that would be a disaster and that’s why I don’t think

That it’s load management because I really believe I mean kawai’s only load managed two games this year Golden State on the road in Milwaukee and we lost one so we’ve only lost one game due to load management this year whereas last year we lost like at least five at least five

So I think it’s going to be okay Clipper Nation but let’s see how this game goes without Kawai it’ll be a good test to see if we can throw zubas the ball down low more and see if James Harden’s got any offensive juice left because he

Needs to show something he needs to and Sacramento doesn’t have the best defense uh if they put Kevin herder I’m sorry um Keegan Murray on Paul George oh they’re going to have that key on Ellis guy guarding Harden we’ll see how that goes but I know you’re wondering uh you

Totally forgot which match up do you prefer bro no I just kind of you know I wanted you to stay till the end so the Moment of Truth who would I rather play in the playoffs I don’t think there’s any wrong answer to this I really don’t but I’d

Rather play New Orleans and here’s why if we lose to the Pelicans that would be a disaster I understand what CLE are thinking well we saw the wuning on the wall we we got crushed All Season by them truth but everyone else they don’t know about that and when the season when

The series begins it’s z0 and we have Kawai and three stars in a win Now situation and the Pelicans are building for the near future if we lose to a team where their best player Zion which I mean I think it’s debatable with Ingram but Zion is when he’s on he’s the mo

He’s Unstoppable so he’s their best right he’s the face of the franchise when Zion is on even so we have the best player in the series their best player has not played a playoff game in his entire career Luca donic people are saying he’s the second best PR in the NBA after joic

So willingly playing a guy who took us to seven games with no co-star and now you give him a co-star two lob threats and some solid players around him for the first time I don’t know if that’s a guy I want to see it’s about star in the

Playoffs all this team stuff that’s cool it’s it’s all about the dudes in the playoffs I really believe so and kawhai kills Dallas but I’m very nervous playing luuka and Kyrie because if we lose to them not only are we still going to get clowned but people are people are

Going to say though I mean it’s Luca you know there was a chance Clippers could lose people are going to go if we play the Pelicans the neutral fans going to say I got the Clippers in six or seven if we play the Mavs you’re going to see

A lot of divided opinion on who wins that series especially with the form that they’re in that’s the thing too they’re playing good basketball right now and we’ve never played them with Gafford and and PJ Washington here’s the biggest reason though where I’m okay with playing New

Orleans despite the fact they have good guys throw at ours if Brandon Ingram is not healthy it doesn’t matter they won’t have the offense and they their clutch time offense is very questionable sometimes it becomes a lot of iso for Ingram and CJ Zion’s lack of a jumper

Hurting him and I’ve seen it before whereas Luca if he’s got the ball with the last with game on the line we’ve already been burning a playoff game by that and Kyrie Irving that’s just I would take Kyrie Irving over any closure that the Pelicans have both teams are

Fairly deep I think that the Mavs it’s just it scares me because can we beat this guy three times in a row I don’t know if we can and that would be just a terrible loss we lost at Dallas it’s like where do we go from here and it puts a lot of

Pressure it puts a lot of pressure on Harden to be good because he’s going to have the easier matchup Derrick Jones and PJ Washington those guys are going to be guarding Kawhi and Paul Kyrie Irving likely will be starting on Harden so we’ll see how that

Goes but I I want to I want to get into more of like the schematic stuff with Dallas like how do we guard Lucas’s pick and roll like what should we do all this but we don’t have time for that in this episode and there’s no point of talking

About that really right now until we get them uh clinched but that’s my answer please let me know in the comment section though what you think Pelicans or MBS I think playoff basketball is a different game but and it’s funny you know Pelicans do play faster than us but

The Mavs actually are higher in Pace they’ve been playing the fastest Pace I’ve seen in the J in the Luca ERA this year I noticed that from the first game when we got killed right when we got hardened but the game will slow down in

The playoffs and we do have a guy who kills the Mavs but yeah Dallas I don’t know it makes me nerous they’re playing really good ball and the thing about Ingram is how many games is he going to get to regain his form remember when LeBron in

2021 was injured and he came back with only eight games left or and actually it was less it was like five games left he never really looked the same Lakers got bounced in the first round the series last year Lakers LeBron was uh played the last

Eight games but he was injured he had that foot injury he did regain some form though and plus LeBron is like a specimen but he didn’t score 30 points in a playoff game till game six against the Warriors so he didn’t score 30 plus points till his 12th game and he could

Get away with that because that Memphis Grizzlies team didn’t have stepen Adams they didn’t have Brandon Clark and Anthony Davis and LeBron was just more star power than that and Reves and DLo really stepped up to the plate but the Clippers or I’m sorry the Pelicans they

Won’t be in that situation where they play a team that they’re favored against like that if they play the Clippers first round you better have Brandon Ingram and playing at his best or else you’re in trouble remember we were in a similar situation in 2016 when Blake Griffin was having those quad issues

After he punched the trainer and then he comes back with I think five games left and was on a minutes restriction the entire time and we started playing him against Portland and he got injured in game five so I think I would rather take my chances with a not fully healthy

Ingram yet than Luca I mean just willingly wanting to play Luca especially when he’s got helped now it’s very dangerous to me but that’s my opinion I’d rather play New Orleans but either way it’s going to be a dog fight now in terms of other teams I mean the

Suns are two games back at Dallas in the Lost column I would love to play I’d rather play Phoenix than both of those teams to be honest cuz Beal that Health has been all over the place their centers are terrible their point of attack defense is a little weak and then

Sacramento would be the ideal but they’re not going to have Malik monk or Kevin hder so I doubt they’re going to move up but let me know what you think of the episode guys can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Diamond dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel

Diam dropper for even more content I will be live on Tuesday night directly following the conclusion of the Kings Clipper game and of course locked on Clippers you already know it’s to do hit the notification Bell so you know every single time we post a video the age old proverb continues go Clippers

The LA Clippers are looking like they are locked into the four seed in the Western Conference. Recent conversation has brought up a topic that is worth discussing. The LA Clippers are most likely either going to play the New Orleans Pelicans, or the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Which Matchup is more favorable?

In this episode, diehard Los Angeles Clippers, fan and host Darian Vaziri compares both matchups, their pros and cons, and ultimately decides which team he would rather face in the playoffs. In the end, he looks forward to the kings game on Tuesday night.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOClippers?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#Clippers #LosAngelesClippers #NBA #KawhiLeonard #PaulGeorge