How The LA Clippers Got Back To Winning Ways

How The LA Clippers Got Back To Winning Ways

The LA Clippers got back on track to a degree with a big time blowout over the Portland Trailblazers some good stuff from James Harden Paul George and kawi Leonard and is there still hope for the Clippers to close the season on a high going to be talking about it all on

Today’s locked on Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Applause] 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 Daran vieri 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 for even more LA Clipper 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 me know what you

Thought of this game it was an interesting one ultimately we got back on track so we’re going to be talking about that the performance of Our Stars how serious we looked and what we can build for the end of the season so before we get started this episode is

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Get started I just want to apologize for the no episode on Wednesday I was planning to do some kind of preview for Portland just talk about more of the issues that we’ve been having over the last couple of weeks in on Wednesday but I got pretty sick a lot of the kids I

Was coaching uh were sick over the last couple of weeks and I was in close contact with them frequently so I was kind of shocked at the time like I can’t believe I haven’t gotten sick yet but it happened so I wasn’t able to record the episode on Wednesday I was just really

Fatigued and I had to like lay in bed and it would have been me struggling to even continue to talk for 30 minutes straight so waited feel a lot better now recording this episode on Thursday and it is the Thursday episode so let’s get into it Portland Trailblazers I mean this is

A tanking Blazers team they don’t have Malcolm Brogden they don’t have robbert Williams they don’t have Jeremy Grant so it was it was really just Aon and Simons and Scoot Henderson that could potentially cause US problems and the Clippers were actually short-handed to a degree as well in this game no Russell Westbrook

Of course who still out Terrence man uh didn’t play and now they did Norman Powell but I don’t believe that what they have is too serious so they were on the bench Amir Coffee started in place of Terrence man and he was guarding Anthony Simons both teams were playing

Drop coverage throughout the game or actually no I’m sorry for the first half and one of the things that somebody was saying to me was well we know zubas is going to get dominated by Aon because DeAndre Aon going back to that Conference Final Series in 2021 he has

Had his way with Zoo so I don’t know I don’t know if I was expecting Aon to dominate him or anything like that but you know there’s some talk around especially with the way zo’s been struggling lately but I thought this was one of Zoo’s best performances in quite some time cuz

Testing every it’s almost like someone told him like yo there’s a narrative out there that it’s not even a narrative it’s like yo aon’s kind of crushed you in the past let’s show them that you’re good and you can hang with him and I thought that Zoo did a really good job

Of getting physical getting into his air space and playing good defense a couple of times whether it being pick and roll or one-on-one guarding Aon there was one time he forced him into taking a contested jump shot outside the foul line so good stuff from Zoo then offensively I thought he was really

Solid finish fishing around the basket and a lot of times it comes from being looked at and I think it’s really funny how some of you came to me came at me in the comments in the last video when I said zubot deserves to get the ball more down low because he

Actually has some postgame and I said he has a good right-handed jump hook over his left shoulder on the left block and now he’s even added a little bit of a left-hand jump hook and you guys ignored it and you saw he got to it a little bit

In that game he has the capability I’ve watched him for four and a half years now well technically I’ve watched him since he’s gotten in the league because he played for the Lakers and I watched their games as well cuz they’re local so I’ve seen zubot from the beginning

Obviously with the Lakers he wasn’t playing too much so it’s really just fair to say you know I’ve watched him every night with the clippers for the last four and a half year actually no five years total because he came Midway through the 20 1819 season and Zoo has some post

Game some touch around the rim and it start with James Harden giving him the ball whether it be on the ru or feeding him there were some times where James Harden would pull it back out and DeAndre Aiden had switched onto him on that late switch in drop coverage so

What teams will do sometimes is they’ll have their big in drop coverage but when the ball handler doesn’t pass or shoot and kind of pulls it back out instead of switching back because it’s hard if you switch back right then and there you’re leaving somebody open potentially for

The ball handler to throw the ball to or leaving him open so instead teams will just kind of stay with that late they’ll switch it late so Harden for example has Aiden on him but whoever was guarding Harden is now guarding zoo and it was one time where James threw him the ball

Right on the Block and it was easy money so great recognition from James and I think the seriousness team wide first quarter we were okay I thought our defense wasn’t great outside of zoo we were actually down 28 to 27 after the first quarter but in the second and

Third quarter we blew it open mainly the third but we we were up 33 I’m sorry we outscored the Blazers 3322 in the second and 3420 in the third and I think it just starts with you know the theme the last couple of games that tyo keeps saying is

We got to go back to doing the little things well getting back in transition being more physical on the boards having better rotations around the basket from our low guys everything just the little things have to be sharper and again one of the biggest reasons I think that they

Were lacking is cuz we are old and we have been healthy so there has been a lot of tread on the tires of our best players especially with the heavy minutes that they’ve been playing mainly James Harden throughout the season so it has taken a toll on him remember our

Four best players I mean depending on if you think our fourth best player is Norma Russ let’s just say it’s Russ for the sake of my what I’m about to say all of our best players are 32 plus years old so that is not the most ideal situation

To win a championship i’ have to go back and look I I’m pretty sure though the the 98 Bulls were all in in that age range as well but again it’s a much younger League these days but we will see they also had prime Michael Jordan

So it’s a little bit different I love Kawhi Leonard but like I’m not going that far and they were battle tested so that because I was trying to think of like who is all their best players are 32 plus and I don’t even think Kevin Garnett in 2008 was at that level so

It’s just not ideal but at the same time experience wins you championships more so than young teams you know what I’m saying so like of course I think we have a better chance of winning the chip than OKC even though OKC is higher ranked than us so actually Kevin Garnett was 32

Years old when he won that Championship so in fact somewhat similar but again that 08 Celtics team got it done and then after that they started aging and you saw the injury start rolling in of course Kevin Garnett got injured that very next year but yeah oh but I’m sorry

Paul Pierce was 30 at the time so he’s like smack dab in his prime so never mind let’s take away what I just said but the point is we got to go back to doing the little things well and the big reason we haven’t been doing that is

Because of age and we did a much better job of this one uh I thought Paul George was very solid in this game I’ll talk more about the stars in the next segment but in the second run we went on we went on an 110 run to start and I’ll tell you

Who actually catapulted that run on defense Daniel Tyson PJ Tucker and you’re starting to see PJ Tucker gets some more game time lately and he’s looking better I will say he’s starting to look serviceable so am I trending towards being wrong that PJ Tucker won’t be used at all or

Shouldn’t be used at all in the rotation in the playoffs I mean he does have playoff experience he is tough and if we play against the Pelicans first round he’s going to have to play to try to B body up Zion but let’s say we don’t play

The PS and we play another team should PJ Tucker get minutes well I feel like he’s compl LED his way into getting minutes cuz I mean the dude had public quotes about how he was unhappy so tylo’s giving him a chance he’s starting to show what kind of defensive tenacity

He can still bring in terms of physicality active hands and offensively he wasn’t really that bad he made some quick passes but against high level competition his offense will stand out in my opinion just like it did in the playoffs last year against Boston so we shall see but in this particular game

Just singling out this game I thought he was really solid and Daniel Ty you know did a great job of just being active at The Rim throwing his body around I mean the guy does not have the size to protect the rim but he sure tries his

Best we went on an 110 run to start the quarter and then James Harden started getting really hot from three it turned into a 21 to4 run in the second quarter and as I said Zoo had some nice jump hooks we shot nine for 18 from three in

The first half James Harden had five threes in the first half we were up 60 to 50 at the half and then in the third quarter we went on an 18-2 run started blitzing in for Simons kawhai was guarding him more and the amount of

Times kawhai got his hand on the ball in that third quarter was amazing we got out and ran blew them off the floor 18-2 run and ended up cruising to the victory by a score of6 to 103 but a lot of that was garbage time the Blazers outscored

US 33 to 22 in the fourth so again don’t take it seriously at all that final score we blew them out we were up by as many as 27 it was our best performance in quite some time let me look back like what it was our best performance

Since probably the win against the Timberwolves I would say that onepoint win against the timber BS so it’s was our best performance in a while again I know the level of competition wasn’t that strong but it was just more serious and that’s what it’s really all about

Yeah we might not have the legs we might not but we got to try our best right and I know that the Clippers have better in them than what they’ve been showing the last couple of weeks so 14 games left you’re now 43 and 25 it’s time for that home stretch and

You know what we still could have we go 14 and0 from the remainer of the Season it started I said it last episode if we go 15 and0 one down 14 to go we can still tie the best record in Clipper history now if we go 13 and one we can

Tie the second best record anything below that we’ll see what happens but the M moral of story we got more serious we clamped down and as James Harden said after the game this was a get our swag back kind of game and speaking of James Harden and the stars going to be talking

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Podcast Network your team every day all right let’s talk about our stars because in my opinion that was the biggest reason we won it was the performances of our three stars and I’ve been saying it for a couple of weeks now guys it all comes down to them they haven’t been

Good enough lately like let’s put it put it honestly they haven’t mainly Paul and James Harden and Paul George these last four games I think he’s been pretty good very good in this one against Atlanta H New Orleans and Chicago good timber wolves terrible so he’s been better the last couple of games

Now James Harden for me I don’t even know who I’d pick as player of the game but I think James Harden through the first half was our guy he was on fire from three he was taking the catch and shoot three with less hesitation there were even times where we started him on

The wing curling more which I really enjoy because I just think it’s so stupid I I I hate to use such a distasteful word but when James Harden only catches the ball behind the three-point line from the top of the key and that’s the only stuff he does when

You get him curling from that right side going to his left we can get some really good stuff in those dribble handoffs and curls so put him in a little bit more movement I mean the guy doesn’t move without the ball on his own on his own

Decision so you got to run something for him if you want to get him in movement he’s not one of those guys and quite frankly Paul George and kawhai aren’t exceptional at that either so got to try to get him in movement a little more but overall he was hitting his three ball

Making great passes I mean he was really hot in that second quarter wasn’t he five threes in the first half and I mean what ended up going viral by the way they started blitzing James in the fourth quarter but what ended up going viral was that close out on Kawai look

This is going to surprise some people because you know everybody knows I’m not the biggest James Harden guy in the world but I don’t care we win the game by 20 plus we won by 13 we were up 20 plus points that would have capped off

An insane run that was in the stretch in the beginning of the third where kawhai was literally stealing the ball every time down and scoring and that would have just been the cherry on top of the Sunday I haven’t had an ice cream sunday

In so long I’m very I’m not as big into the sugar these days very occasionally but God that’s making me want a Sunday anyway but it would have been a cherry on top of the Sunday if he had made it now I don’t know if that contest really

Affected kawhai shot at all it looked bad because he missed but Harden was trying to clown he said after the game you know he was just trying to lighten up the mood and stuff like that I don’t get mad at him when he played that well

And we won and we’re playing against the tanking Blazers but that moment went viral everybody’s like Harden’s so unserious and this and that it’s like look if you want to call James Harden unserious fine but I don’t think that’s the right example I think him playing

Badly against good teams is much more of an example than that so I thought he was exceptional quite frankly I thought it was his best game in a while and I’m really hoping that can get him some good momentum going forward again it was against the Blazers so like that doesn’t

Move the needle for me at all doesn’t make me change my fear of Harden going into the playoffs against good opposition but is it a bad thing no of course not him playing well is only good as he said let’s get our swag back hopefully he can lead to something

Special going forward to close this season so James Harden he in my opinion you could argue was the player of the game he had 19 points four rebounds how about 14 assists 14 assists I mean he was Diamond left and right he hasn’t had that many assists wow was that his

Since December 14th against the Warriors that was the game I went to he had 15 assists in that game that was his most as a Clipper so it was his second highest assist game as a Clipper on Wednesday night so what about that stat line 194 and 14 one block three

Turnovers he was 6 for 11 from the field so very efficient five for nine from three extremely efficient only two free throw attempts made them both and he was plus 22 how about PG thought he was very solid not falling too in love with the three ball he started out with our first

Basket getting downhill against eight which I loved and he was knocking down his jump shot he was good and I thought his defense was very solid playing with effort getting up into the defender I’m sorry into the offensive player chest out arms wide great stuff from PG 27

Points six boards four assists two Steals and a block and my favorite stat of them all zero turnovers 10 for 18 from the field four for seven from three Harden and Paul George played 36 minutes a piece I would have liked if they had played like two or 3 minutes less but

Whatever Paul George was our leading scorer and he was our leader in the plus minus plus 23 it’s good to see him start to round into form and I did say over the course of the last couple weeks I did call him out but I said I have faith

He will return back because the thing about PG is he’s just inconsistent for a star right he’s going to round back into form I know he is he’s going to start making shots again will he be good enough for us to win the championship have his inconsistencies that have now

Made just not be able probably to get the top three seed that I’ve been preaching all year we need will that be the difference you know will PG’s inconsistencies cuz if we get the four seed and don’t finish top three which is very likely PG’s inconsistencies are a large reason

Why we shall see he needs to have a big playoffs there’s no other way around it and then kawhai who I thought you could argue was the player of the game because of how active he was defensively in that second half especially that third quarter now he got hurt hurt his hand

But but tyo said he was good after the game he was fine again I don’t know what to believe he didn’t end up playing in the fourth so I’m hoping he’s okay I don’t I mean it’s not an injury that’s going to make him miss the playoffs I

Don’t think but yeah I would hope it’s not anything serious enough where he misses any games but he had 24 points four rebounds two assists and four Steals on nine for 16 shooting so so he shot over 50% and he was one for three from three

So very solid game five or six on the line as well so we got 24 points from Kawai 27 from PG and 19 from Harden so you put that together quick math 70 points from our three guys you’ll take that all day because that’s an average

Of over 20 coming up though going to talk about some of the other guys that played and talking about what this could mean for the upcoming stretch this next segment is brought To Us by our sponsor better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something

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Better help hp.com locked on NBA all right Clippers win at 116 to 103 to move on to 43 and 25 on the season Amir Coffee started in place of Terrence man and I thought he was very solid 11 points on Five for 10 shooting thing about Amir is when he gets in transition

Seems like he finishes just about everything goes right into the body finishes strong on that left side and he has good uh athleticism around the rim one for four from three though he didn’t shoot too well from three but as a team we shot great 52% from the field 42% from three

And 87% from the line Portland shot actually pretty well as well 48% from the field 41% from three 67% from the line so not great there and they got the same amount of foul shots that we did but they missed three more than we did they had 17 turnovers and I think that

Was a large reason why the game wasn’t super close and again that fourth quarter that skews the statistics like that that fourth quarter was nonsense so we forced 17 turnovers at 26 points off of them and Amir coffee kawh Leonard did a good job of taking advantage of that

Zubats almost a double double 14 points nine rebounds two assists four Steals and two blocks for zuo oh my God talk about active seven for nine from the field yeah now we need here’s the funny part you can say he did it against a bad team but aidon has given him problems so

Again hopefully he can build that was in 24 minutes by the way so hopefully he can build into something for the final stretch of the season and then Ty very solid he hit two threes both of his attempts 10 points five rebounds two assists and a block for Ty in 20 minutes

Of play shot three for four from the field and two for two from three PJ had a donut but he played 26 minutes didn’t shoot once had seven rebounds though one assist and two steals so it was good good enough for this one I’ll take it bones Highland wasn’t great to be honest

Zero points 0 for four from the field 0 for three from deep in just seven minutes but you know who was good Brandon Boston and people are starting to talk about Boston’s defense now who’s been saying it since before the season that he has defensive potential and he

Has good AR long arms in the passing Lanes right here brother and sisters right here doesn’t take a genius if you’re watching the games but because his reputation everyone’s going to say you know he can’t guard CU he’s a shot he’s kind of a gunner and he’s skinny

But he actually has good defensive instincts and you saw a little bit of that come out in this game again one steal and two blocks nine points got into his bag a little bit so I’ve noticed this he doesn’t have the best first step but he has a good handle that

Can get him where he wants the thing is when the hand checking doesn’t get called which sometimes it won’t even in today’s game he gets cut off so he ends up having to take that mid-range and he struggles to like plow through because he’s not that strong WR compared to most

Guys so when there’s no hand checking being called which there will be against at times here’s the thing though against players with no reputation they allow that stuff like they allow him to get away with it but against SGA you can’t touch him at all anymore against Harden

Or Norman pal God forbid they put a hand on him they’re gonna flop so Brandon Boston could flop he won’t get a call so that’s something I’m just noticing just watching him more but nine points four for nine to be honest there’s no reason why in this end of the season stretch

With we can’t give him some more minutes every game if we want to give some guys a a breather especially against teams like Portland so the question is can we build off of this absolutely hopefully James Harden was right and we get our swag back next game we’ll see what the word

Is on kawhai but our next game is at Portland again on Friday and then we have Philadelphia without embiid on Sunday I’ll be at the game it’s at 12:30 it’s those again one of those MAA games no excuses go out and get that done we’re looking at a three-game winning

Streak there then we got a tough game against the Pacers the very next day on a back toback but at least this time we have over 24 hours to recover so let’s do it let’s do it but one game at a time let’s get two in a row against the

Blazers yet again it’s hard to beat an NBA team two times in a row but this is the tanking Blazers so let’s build 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 NBA content it’s almost playoff time and when it comes to the uh playoffs I talk about every team and lockon Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast let me know if you think we can build a streak give me any thoughts you have on the

Game and the age-old proverb continues go Clippers

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