How The LA Clippers Continued To Look Worrisome

How The LA Clippers Continued To Look Worrisome

Just when you thought the LA Clippers might be getting back on track they take four or five steps back with an atrocious loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at home the Sixers were without Lowry without embiid without Melton without Batum without Morris without roko and they still beat the Clippers

Gonna be talking about what’s going on with this team 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 were 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 Dime dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA Sports content a video of my experience at Sunday’s game will be on my YouTube channel on Monday and it was an interesting one to check out because there were a group of Philly fans

From a fans of a podcast called the rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast that were flown out for the game so a bunch of Sixers fans were in the 200 section mainly sections 206 208 209 and 210 and they were causing a ruckus you got to see a little back and forth

There and more and locked on Clippers of course is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube let me know anything that you thought of this game and I’ve got a couple of things to say starting with the fact that we played no defense how it went so

Awfully wrong in the fourth quarter and we’ll be talking about the game in general plus looking towards the Monday game the second half of the back toback against the Indiana Pacers and before we get started this episode is brought to you by prize Pi prize pick is the best

Daily fantasy sports platform in North America all you got to do is go to prix.com lockon NBA and use code locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 all right Clippers had a chance you know after those Portland games I was trying my

Best to be optimistic that look this is the start of the Clippers going on one last run to close the season they’re doing it on a high so we go into the playoffs with momentum even if we don’t get a top three seed those two games against Portland we’re going to

Kickart the last stretch of the season for us well no looks like anytime we play a half decent team recently we get beat this one was 121 to 107 Sixers in Los Angeles no Nicholas patum who was supposed to make his return we did a video tribute by the way and combined it

With KJ and roko roko who wasn’t even there KJ getting any video tribute or any thank you from our organization is insane just taken away from Nik Batum Spotlight like that was just poor from the Clippers organization but we were down from the start of the game 41 to

29 I think a little bit was the Sixers just shooting lights out from three a lot of tough shots to start the game like contested threes but overall another lazy start again one of these matina games where we just don’t have very good intensity defensively and when we’re not hitting

It off or hitting the ground running offensively and teams are getting in transition against us we tend to crumble we don’t get back we get crossmatched and then we get exposed for not having as many good one-on-one Defenders as we think we have in this game teren man was guarding

Tyrese Maxi to start zubot was matched up against moamba Tobias Harris he was giving us a glimpse of 2019 Clipper Tobias Harris where he was amazing in the first half he had 19 points in the first half only six I’m sorry five in the second so

He ended with 24 points but in the first half he was lighting us up and he was hitting all sorts of shots mind you zubot is in drop coverage per usual but he was hitting shots not just against zubot in drop coverage but turnaround contested contested follows some really

Nice shots from Tobias but the Sixers just off to a great start and they L after one 41 to 29 our strategy to start the game was zubot hedging on the screens with maxi and when you do that because you want to take away his pullup in his downhill ability you give up

Something usually the corner three and the Sixers were just hitting their threes big time in the first half and you were just hoping they would cool off but I can’t say the Clipper defense was great there were not there wasn’t one player in particular that was like super

Bad at defense individually but as a team I just don’t think we played good defense I can’t pick one player that was good defensively we’re slow on our rotations our point of attack defense is weak we’re not actually showing much resistance if it’s a zubot I mean I’m

Not going to say he was terrible but he wasn’t very good he got a couple of blocks for my memory at least one he had four actually so yeah he had some good moments of Rim protection and he was definitely better than our other centers

He was actually a plus five in the plus minus and didn’t come back in in the fourth quarter which was very concerning and I’m going to talk about that more but he wasn’t fantastic in my opinion defensively I don’t think he was terrible coming out and and coming out

To the level of the screen but in drop he wasn’t as good as normal in the third quarter we switched to drop a little bit and Tyrese Maxi turned the corner on him fairly easily a couple of times so nothing was really stopping Philly and this is again without DeAnthony Melton without Joel

Embiid it’s it’s very disappointing you want to get three wins in a row you should get three wins in a row this game was supposed to mean a lot for Harden and I honestly think his defensive effort wasn’t too bad when he was guarding guys that he stood a chance

Against I thought he was showing hands and trying to do a decent job of contesting and not giving up and not getting them score super easily or get by him super easily but when he was guarding guys that were quicker he was struggling you know at this point even

In the playoffs I’m not expecting good defense from James Harden I’m expecting passable defense we got to be honest about who he is at this point just a couple a couple of months where he was playing decent defense when he first got on the team and was getting a couple of

Steals per game it seems like that’s kind of he’ll still get a couple of steals but it seems like the saying James Harden was was good defensively in this game I haven’t said he was good defensively in a while you know and I just think I don’t want to expect that

Anymore but honestly James for the in the first half was our best player he had a double double he was he had a couple of and ons in the first quarter when nobody was hitting shots and the you know the Philly contingent of the crowd was definitely hating on Harden as

As they should but James Harden he was doing a decent job in the first half compared to our other players we actually ended the second quarter prettyy Well after going down 17 and part of that was James Harden that was even one time where he got an

Offensive rebound and kicked it out to kawh Leonard for his only made three of the game I have to say the Philadelphia 76ers defense was better than ours and Nick nurse you know he is going to make sure that the star player of your team

Does not beat you or go off and they doubled kawhai and also they made sure they ran him off the line and a couple of times Kawai just he looks slow attacking Closeouts and a lot of stuff he does is just kind of slow not that it’s not effective but he doesn’t as

I’ve said many times he doesn’t necessarily work quickly off the catch he works pretty quickly in isolation and efficiently relative to other guys in the league but the act of it the actual physical movement of it isn’t very fast and that applies to when they ran him off the line he wasn’t

Really getting downhill or hitting the Jets or creating much separation when he was pump faking and stepping in also a very interesting defensive strategy against Harden towards the end towards the end of the first quarter where they had like one guy sitting right behind one guard sitting right

Behind the initial Defender guarding him and like leaving somebody open and then just rotating was very interesting but yeah the first quarter was no good Clippers got off to an awful start to the second again no bone Thailand being used in this game Paul Reed was in drop coverage versus James

Harden and as for Daniel tius he was actually switching out onto guards two through five so we were switching two through five he was switching out onto the twos and we had guys like Norman pal and Amir coffee guarding Paul Reed at times and we didn’t get taken advantage

Of it too badly um but one thing that hurt us was Daniel Ty missing two point Blake layups on rolls in that second quarter and the Sixers just did not miss and I thought it was very weird not weird but just a misstep that tyo did

Not call timeout for so long in that second quarter when the momentum was completely turning against us we were going down 17 when the Sixers weren’t missing I just couldn’t believe that he didn’t it felt like a lack of urgency from Tai and just like an a confidence

That we’re going to get back in the game when it didn’t nothing showed and we showed no indication of that at the point at the time I should say Norman Powell was like the only one playing well scor Bing off the catch on our side

KJ Martin was playing well by the way on their side making shots around the basket being in the right place right time some impressive finishes from him but we were able to end the quarter well as I said with Harden pick and roll and then a little bit of kawhai isoing on

The right hand side I thought zubats also finished decently when given the opportunity and in the third quarter we actually came back that’s when PG got going we hit he hit multiple threes we were able to finally get some stops as they cooled down just a bit and got on transition

And we were able to tie the game at 65 and that would be the last time it was tied because let me look at what the second quarter score was Clippers outscored them 2722 in the second and we outscored them 2725 in the third so it was only a fivepoint game going into

That fourth quarter but coming up going to be talking about that fourth quarter what went so horribly wrong down by five going into it lose by 14 121 to 107 but allowing more story allowing 121 points to a 76ers Team without all those players says a lot about the defense or

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Eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers all right Clippers losing this one 121 to 107 to the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth quarter we got out scored 33-24 and one thing that was interesting in this game again tyo going with first half Daniel Ty second half Mason

Plumbley and let’s just say that Mason plumbley didn’t do very well he made a layup that’s all I remember he actually had eight points but he had two crucial turnovers one of them in the back court where he was just completely rushing his pass to a guard and not looking to see

If the defense had gotten back he throws it away and Tyrese Maxi hits a right-wing three to make at 9685 and Tyrese Maxi absolutely crushed Us in the fourth quarter which if you remember in the game I went to last season against the Sixers he completely

Turned up in the fourth and that was with emen Harden so it was almost like an exact replica in the fourth quarter of last year where he was just going off and it happened without Kawhi Leonard on the floor and without zubot on the floor Ty James

Harden Paul George I believe Amir coffee and Norman pal and I want to say Amir coffee there were times where the guys just didn’t even look at him he was open they just wouldn’t even look at him and I think sometimes Kawai just takes too long to look up I’ve noticed and Paul

George was doing the same thing to Amir in this game and air only shot three times made one shot had two points Brandon Boston had four points in 12 minutes I thought he wasn’t great he was a plus4 and the plus minus but defensively I didn’t think he was very good uh which

Again I don’t think anyone was very good and offensively you know he had that last possession of the third quarter which was weird when kawhai was still on the floor but I don’t really have much to say about him we played air we played Brandon we played Mason Ty and Norm Off

The Bench so a 10-man rotation but again the Ty minutes were only six minutes and he had a donut 0 for two shooting was those two layups I was talking about three rebounds and two assists but but Mason Plumley played 12 minutes was two for two 4 for four from the line it’s

Funny how his stat line you know looks decent eight points five rebounds but those two turnovers they really hurt and he was a minus 11 so there you go that fourth quarter I mean James Harden and Paul George they got to be able to hold down the fort when kawh

Leonard’s out Paul George just turning the ball over again recklessly we talked about what’s the problem when Paul George is getting more on ball reps more pick and r reps he needs to take care of the ball Reckless passes when they sent out Defenders to the level of the screen

He’s throwing the ball away when he gets blitzed I do say sometimes he makes those good passes but when they take the first pass away he struggles to make those crosscourt passes or those skip passes and five turnovers from him he had 18 points he had a good third

Quarter he shot Seven for 15 and four for eight from three so he’s been shooting really well the last couple of games last 10 games or so but five turnovers that’s going to cost you that’s going to cost you and it comes down to Paul George not being

Trustworthy with the ball not being trustworthy in general for what he is as a player James Harden amazing first half second half dud was 0 for six from three five for 13 from the field two turnovers he had 12 points and 14 assists and in the second half he couldn’t guard anyone

Nobody was I mean and again for this whole thing about Kawai and Paul being such two-way players they don’t guard good players enough and we switch so loosely that it’s like all they need is to do is set a screen and then they’re off the the guy with the

Ball Paul George actually had some decent moments in defense but he’s not guarding the good players enough and Terren man I mean I can’t defend him in this one six points two for fight from the field he made both his threes but I had no moments in the game where I said

Good defense Terrence his offense has been better than his defense of late and our defense has been terrible and I I keep seeing those stats about how good our half court defense is listen our transition defense is atrocious when a team when we miss and we just got to get back and whoever’s

Closest to the ball has to pick up the ball they say they call it cross matching so for example if let’s say James Harden was guarding buddy healed in this game but we missed a shot so he just happens to pick up Tyrese maxi boom

Blow by it’s just we’re in a lot of situations like that and I just think that we don’t look like a good defensive team and then offensively we have these spells where we’re very cold I know Westbrook was out and I’m very excited to have him back

I’m going to talk about that in the final segment but Norman pal was like the only one that I think played up to his standard in this one I mean zubot had 13 and 10 and four blocks honestly he was pretty good he wasn’t perfect but he was actually pretty good

The fact that we did not put Kawhi Leonard back in the game I mean tyou we just waved the white flag and said oh let’s get ready for Monday how do we not go for it kawhai played 31 that’s crazy he played 31 minutes and we wanted him

To still play in the fourth I was saying but in like the at like the 10 minute Mark or 9 Minute Mark I said get kawhai back in this game right now because it was getting out of hand I couldn’t trust Harden and Paul and we just never put

Him back in never put Zoo back in just kept plumbley out there to see us get like just ran over like that by the Sixers without half of their rotation players I have to give them credit though Paul Reed was amazing 10 points eight rebounds three assists three steals two blocks monster statline

Campaign he’s been a thorn in our side for many years 23 points five rebounds and three assists he shot Five for 10 from three budy healed three for six from three Maxi three for five from three Tobias two for four from three Tobias shot 11 for 19 he and Maxi each

Had 24 so again they just outplayed us in every facet Paul George had 18 points on seven for 15 kawh Leonard 20 points on seven for 16 and he missed a lot of shots he usually makes he was one for six from three James Harden and kawhai together

Were one for 12 from three Sixers shot 53% from the field and 49 from three Clippers shot 48% from the field so not bad 36 from three so mediocre while Philly shot lights out we shot nine more free throws than them though and we made

10 more so we did shoot well from the line but it’s the defense for me that just wasn’t good enough and then five turnovers from Paul George two from kawhai two from Harden Norman pal had 20 points in 25 minutes on seven for 11 shooting and three for five from three

And three for three from the line so I actually thought he was fine but Kawai 20 points didn’t play in the fourth I would have lik to see him play in the fourth Paul George not good enough James Harden not good enough to win I’m sorry nobody was quite good enough but

Coming up let’s talk about what that loss means and looking ahead to the to uh to the Indiana Pacers game on Monday I got to tell you a little something about prize picks prize picks is America’s number one fantasy sports app with over 3 million members we are

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$100 prize picks pick more pick less it’s that easy all right Clippers losing this one 121 to 107 I know you’re wondering Darian why are you not more mad right now like is this acceptable to you no this is a joke are you kidding me I was

At that game how are you going to do this like where’s the seriousness of this team I thought we’ maybe turn the corner maybe I I was stupid to be optimistic clearly what was that don’t play a lick defense are we just too old are we just

Too old because the excuse of oh we just didn’t care we weren’t locking in we weren’t focused it’s game that was game 69 that was game six or was it game 70 it was Game 70 we’re 44 and 26 now the best record we can get now is 56 and 26

Which would tie the 2013 Clippers in the 2015 clippers but we are now 44 and 26 that was game 70 and we’re out here dogging it win winnable games now we got the Pacers tomorrow who by the way or Monday who by the way Run and Gun they

Play an up and down game they don’t play a lot of defense and last time James Harden went ballistic against them in their house but like the Pelicans are on our Tails I want to say this is a must-win game on Monday must-win what are we

Doing what are we doing and Ty like okay you want it to go all out for Monday we better win on Monday I’m G be there again by the way I set my uh career high for games in a season playoffs and regular season combined 24 so if that’s

If you’re wondering why my voice sounds a little gone I was at the game trying my best to try to yell over all these Philly fans it was crazy but they were all like in the 200 section it was kind of funny but they gave them so much to cheer about was

Embarrassing embarrassing we can’t guard PJ Tucker didn’t play by the way he’s been playing lately we can’t guard I don’t want to see that stupid stat about transition and like half court defense is so good our half court defense does not look good to my eyes does it look

Good to your eyes does it does it we can’t stay in front of the ball kawi Leonard never guards good players anymore the last couple of months Paul George like you just don’t know what you’re going to get from him defensively I just don’t know I just don’t know

So as I said we’re pretty much locked into four seater lower at this point and I always said to you that’s not going to win the chip we have faltered here we’ve got 12 games to make it right 12 if we go 12 and0 we can get tie for the second

Best record in CL history it’s not happening spoiler alert I wish I could be more confident but guess what some good news in the form of the return of Russell Westbrook now some of you might say that’s not good news do you enjoy what you’re seeing right now we’re six

And six without the guy there are lifeless games that Atlanta game and this game were lifeless that’s what I mean by he adds something to the game even when he plays badly the arena he adds to the Ambiance he adds to this game means something we’re too quiet

We’re too lethargic we look athletic old and uninspired without him he is the heart of this team we need him and let’s see I’m hoping that just the energy of having him back will cause something and then it’ll be like oh Russ is back the team’s intact and everyone’s feeling good again

Hopefully that’s the narrative after Monday night but we’ll just have to see you let me know what you think this is a must-win game you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at di dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA

Sports content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast let me know what you thought of the episode let me know what you thought of the performance and check out my Vlog on Monday with the the Sixers fans and just everything that went down it was a

Very interesting one thoughts from Clipper fans after the game as well the age-old proverb continues go Clippers

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