Game #17: LAC (7-9) @ SAC (10-6) WED 11/29—7 PM, NBA-TV

esqtvd · Post #61 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:28 am

wakelaunch1 wrote:Harden now looking worn out. They are hunting him on every possession. He can barely get the ball up the court. Kawhi playing very good coming back into the game.

You are correct for once, MTV.

nickhx2 · Post #62 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:33 am

and now

we can rest at ease

Wammy Giveaway · Post #63 » by **Wammy Giveaway** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:35 am

esqtvd wrote:I have no idea what a Scorpion Fatality is, but otherwise we seem to have doxxed each other to each other without being rude about it.

It gets gruesome in terms of graphic violence, but they are based on the arcade game Mortal Kombat. The Scorpion Fatality is where he unmasks himself and flames your opponent, which is a metaphor for blowing out the opponent. There's a Sub-Zero Fatality (which I won't go into detail here for obvious reasons), reserved for very close clutch games, when the margin of victory is by a point or two. Especially if that shot is a Sudden Death Shot. Then there is Shang Tsung for whenever a player gets ejected from a game - that comes from the 1995 movie, and most memorable quote "Your soul is mine!"

(May have to start using that now. Will be looking for a smaller version...)

esqtvd wrote:IF I may ask you a favor--Please don't encourage the board terrorist? Troll. And his sock puppet? There is only one source of discord in our community here. This is supposed to be fun.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me as a troll, but rest assured that I'll never stoop to a low hanging fruit. I make posts for both outcomes, win and lose. I may not be a true Clippers fan, but I do care about their growth and maturity; I want to see them embrace their full potential rather than squander it and accept their fate as loathing lugubrious losers. They have so much to live and appreciate for, moreso with their upcoming Intuit Dome.

LamarWho · Post #64 » by **LamarWho** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:36 am

Best win of the year by far. 4 TOs the whole game, that has to be a franchise record. All 5 starters played great tonight. Zu dominated Sabonis, didn't see that coming.

ERClips · Post #65 » by **ERClips** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:46 am

Yep proud of how they all played after Monday. And a nice little appearance from Kobe. Refreshing.
Let’s do it again tomorrow

NickP · Post #66 » by **NickP** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:50 am

This team is so enigmatic. Just when you give them no chance they surprise you. Nice win especially against a very good team.

LamarWho · Post #67 » by **LamarWho** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:53 am

Wow what has gotten into Ty lue?

Read on Twitter

esqtvd · Post #68 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:04 am

Wammy Giveaway wrote:
esqtvd wrote:I have no idea what a Scorpion Fatality is, but otherwise we seem to have doxxed each other to each other without being rude about it.

It gets gruesome in terms of graphic violence, but they are based on the arcade game Mortal Kombat. The Scorpion Fatality is where he unmasks himself and flames your opponent, which is a metaphor for blowing out the opponent. There's a Sub-Zero Fatality (which I won't go into detail here for obvious reasons), reserved for very close clutch games, when the margin of victory is by a point or two. Especially if that shot is a Sudden Death Shot. Then there is Shang Tsung for whenever a player gets ejected from a game - that comes from the 1995 movie, and most memorable quote "Your soul is mine!"

(May have to start using that now. Will be looking for a smaller version...)

esqtvd wrote:IF I may ask you a favor--Please don't encourage the board terrorist? Troll. And his sock puppet? There is only one source of discord in our community here. This is supposed to be fun.

I'm not sure if you're referring to me as a troll, but rest assured that I'll never stoop to a low hanging fruit. I make posts for both outcomes, win and lose. I may not be a true Clippers fan, but I do care about their growth and maturity; I want to see them embrace their full potential rather than squander it and accept their fate as loathing lugubrious losers. They have so much to live and appreciate for, moreso with their upcoming Intuit Dome.

You are not a troll, Whitney. You are a Blithe Spirit. You have never uttered a Discouraging Word.

You are a lover, not a fighter. Your soul is mine.

nickhx2 · Post #69 » by **nickhx2** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:04 am

some important things:

- zu got big minutes and for a little while now he'd been shut out of the end of games. tonight he got back in and i think it perhaps signals lue's intentions on shifting away from end of game small ball towards zu-ball.

- mann also got more minutes than he usually gets at times, but i wonder if this is more due to powell being hurt. still, he had a really nice game.

- i bring those two up because to me they're the keyest of role players that this team has in that they don't take shots away from the top scorers on the team, and they're going to be the ones doing all the small, gluey things that are critical for this team to win games. so if these guys playing more minutes tonight is lue signaling how things are gonna go for the rest of the season, then i think we're doing ok there and we can feel more comfortable. at the end of the day you play your best units the most minutes.

- that said, i'm not confident in that. in fact, i'd bet against it. powell is a good player and maybe ty just decided zu was doing a bit too well on sabonis to not play him more. or perhaps after the previous game, lue just decided he wanted to put something really stable out there just to get back to basics, and in the next game he's gonna go back to dumpstering zu on the bench while we get hammered and outrebounded at the rim. i mean we literally watched MULTIPLE games last season where covington/mann came in, had massive impact in lieu of morris minutes, only for lue to exile them to the bench the moment morris was available. so it doesn't make any sense to trust what lue's gonna do after just one game.

- lue forcing westbrook and harden on the floor together is a bit weird to me, but in the end i think it's something borne out of necessity. at the very least i can't say i'm opposed to it, and while it's not all that optimal, it's better for them to figure out how to get a handle on things now while we can, rather completely just giving up on it.

- kawhi's still really good. hard to know why he's had such a slow start to the season but honestly i think it's multiple things. i think maybe age is catching up a bit to him. i think that adjustment could be making him a bit moodier/temperamental than usual. i think having to adjust to the harden trade has escalated that even more, all the while he's trying to just be himself, and i'm sure that's not a great feeling for someone like him who's probably thinking "here i am, the healthiest i've been in years, but i'm just not good anymore and this sucks." so, lots of things going on there but if some of that stuff is getting taken care of, then the better he'll be. and i think this game is a pleasant one to notch if we're talking about future indicators for how he'll play.

now, do i think this game means he's BACK BACK? i don't think going off of one game is the right way to evaluate things, but he certainly looked better. he cared more, for one thing, which i think is something that's been lacking due to above factors. and confidence for people in competitive arenas is a fragile thing that's always in flux. sometimes you just feel like you're doing all the right things but nothing's going the right way, so doing small things to slowly build yourself back up can often be the right (or only) move. or sometimes you just have one BIG night and you're like oh yeah ok it's still there and i still have it. perhaps tonight's game informs him of the latter.

- PG looked a lot better. he wasn't like supernova PG from earlier in the season and you're kinda like "hmm he played 40 minutes and didn't do more?" but you take that after the denver debacle. honestly lue shoulda played his ass all 48 just to teach him a lesson that if you're gonna give 1/10 on the effort scale then you got some extra work coming.

- and, man, i don't know, i just feel like all these guys got together and partied WAY too hard the night before the denver game knowing who was gonna be out. anyway. they look back to normal and look actually ok and they actually pounded a very good team. and not only did harden show up big, kawhi showed us he's still KAWHI LEONARD. pretty much the best result we possibly could have asked for after the denver game.

bonus: no pj tucker? kobe brown getting minutes? i will say that despite my skepticism over zu/mann maybe being one-offs for tonight, the fact that brown's getting some burn i do think is a positive sign in that lue might be like "ok, i'm done with all this dumb stuff i've been up to all season, let's just make the good, obvious moves."

esqtvd · Post #70 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:08 am

LamarWho wrote:Wow what has gotten into Ty lue?

Read on Twitter

See my comment above. Ty gave Kobe Brown some key minutes in the first half. He responded well. 5 minutes, plus+2. Stood in all the right places and made the right rotations. Then Ty put him back in and he hit a key 3 in the 2nd half.

Coaches have "eye tests" too you know. :wink:

Let's give the kid a little burn.

Scoundreldays · Post #71 » by **Scoundreldays** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:14 am

I'm liking Kobe Brown could be a decent answer to our PF needs if he continues to develop. If Powells hurt Bones may get his chance now. Good bounce back win.

Warriors will be interesting they are up and down like us right now as well.

esqtvd · Post #72 » by **esqtvd** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:27 am

When you've got Kawhi Leonard, a 2-time Defensive Player of the Year

shooting 14-18 from the field for 34 points with 9 rebs, 3 assists, 2 blocks and a steal

it probably isn't going to matter what the others do, you know what I'm sayin :wink:

Roscoe Sheed · Post #73 » by **Roscoe Sheed** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:41 am

Scoundreldays wrote:I'm liking Kobe Brown could be a decent answer to our PF needs if he continues to develop. If Powells hurt Bones may get his chance now. Good bounce back win.

Warriors will be interesting they are up and down like us right now as well.

I want Bones to get an opportunity again, but I bet Coffey will play in his place because he can actually play defense- we'll see.

I hope Powell isn't too badly injured. He seems like a good guy and was playing very well recently

Clemenza · Post #74 » by **Clemenza** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 8:25 am

LamarWho wrote:Wow what has gotten into Ty lue?

Read on Twitter

We got the BBQ, rotisserie, and the main course dishes slowly coming together.. Now we got the back burners going with the mac n cheese, coleslaw, and baked beans. Let the kid play though a few mistakes and uncertainty on certain occasions while on the floor. Its going to pay off for us in the end. Lets Go!!

Sofia · Post #75 » by **Sofia** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 12:53 pm

LamarWho wrote:Wow what has gotten into Ty lue?

Read on Twitter

Probably gonna trade him and 3 picks for Tristan Thompson and a shoe

Bobbymcgee · Post #76 » by **Bobbymcgee** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 1:29 pm

Clippers slowly putting it together. Probably going to be a two steps forward and one step back situation for a while yet.

No CP3 or GP2 for the Warriors for the next two against the Warriors starting tonight. Hopefully the Clippers can take advantage and win both but I would settle for a split.

With Norm out, Bones might get his chance. Hopefully he steps up and plays well if Lue gives him some time on the court.

Post #77 » by **og15** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 2:54 pm

LamarWho wrote:Wow what has gotten into Ty lue?

Read on Twitter

A lot of NBA coaches will give vets, especially new ones the benefit of the doubt in terms of giving them time to see how things go. Guess the time is up, which is good.

Kobe has shown that he is NBA ready, so that's good.

clipperlover · Post #78 » by **clipperlover** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:03 pm

esqtvd wrote:Ty showing total respect with the starters out there with 5 minutes left and a 15-point lead.

As well he should and we should. This Kings team can beat anybody anytime. Wakeup call. There are no easy wins, especially for an older team...

like these guys

Read on Twitter

Kings can also get beat by any team because they do not have a Championship level defense. Our D is a work in progress, but their D is non-existent.

clipperlover · Post #79 » by **clipperlover** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 3:27 pm

Not worried about the 1st part of this season. Seen too many teams struggle in the first part of the NBA season before turning it on. Boston a couple of years back is a recent example. They came out at the beginning of the calendar year and went on a huge winning streak.

madmaxmedia · Post #80 » by **madmaxmedia** » Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:20 pm

clipperlover wrote:Not worried about the 1st part of this season. Seen too many teams struggle in the first part of the NBA season before turning it on. Boston a couple of years back is a recent example. They came out at the beginning of the calendar year and went on a huge winning streak.

It's always tempting to try to create conclusive narratives off a small stretch of games, but hey that's fandom and part of the fun.

Bye and bye we are getting better, no question. The big question will be how good can we get, and if we can find another significant trade over the course of the year to balance our roster. It would be incredible to kill 2 birds with one stone and get some front court value back for Norm, and simultaneously free up a rotation spot for Bones. I'm not against Norm individually at all, this is nothing like a Mook situation, but we need more youth and balance in the rotation.

I don't know how James' season averages will settle out out, whether he will end up near a 21/11/6 like he was last year in Philly. He's now all crafty with minimal explosiveness, but that was already the case last year. It does seem like he doesn't feel the pressure to try to score 30 points every night as this team learns how to play together. That's a good thing.

It would also be a huge bonus if Kobe gradually develops into a regular rotation player for us over the course of the year. I get the impatience about him not getting a chance earlier, but we are so early in the season. As a rookie he is still learning to catch up to NBA play and do all the right things, we all see the potential for this though so fingers crossed.