GAME #28: LAC (17-10) @ OKIES (17-8) THURS 12/21—5 PM, CHANNEL 5

[Captain Ballmer]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

[Max Headrom]

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

[Dynamix]

Boys had some fight in them, but completely ran out of gas after taking the lead. Had a bad feeling since the very start, when Giddey looked like Steph. Didn't even get a chance to cool down and miss a few, due to that ankle sprain.

Always thought Zu looks the best out there when sharing the floor with Kawhi, especially in those tougher matchups.

Maybe T-Mann just needs a fresh calendar year to get those shooting numbers back towards his career averages. Not expecting him to go 0.500 from range for the rest of the season or anything, but it has to improve from the current shockingly low number.

Haven't done a deep dive on his shot selection, but to my casual eye it feels like he either turns down, hesitates or is being passed up by others on some good looks, and ends up taking too many tougher shots, so he can't really get into a rhythm. His 3PA and 2P% are his highest ever, but his 2PA, FT and FT% have been the lowest since his rookie season. Still not a huge sample size, but enough to start making some adjustments. I refuse to believe he won't turn it around, with a little help from the coaching staff.

Liked to see Norm & Russ being consistent, we'll need a lot of that moving forward.

Not a lot of rest before the early home game against Boston, followed by several days off to prepare for Charlotte and Memphis. Need to finish this year strong, because the schedule gets a lot tougher afterwards. We'll play mostly solid opponents every other day in January, but at least there's only one B2B at the end of the month, when we should have a pretty clear picture of our true potential.

Overall, as long as Kawhi feels good, so do I about our season. Please be ok!

[PeteyPablo]

Clipper took the lead sometime in the 3rd qtr , 73-72. But went on to commit multiple turnovers and OKC came back at full speed and broke the game open.

From what I saw last night , at full strength having Kawhi and not on a back to back - Clippers can pull away from OKC last night.

On to the next one. I hope the team gets proper rest and recovery and come in ready to play vs Celtics and start a new winning streak.

[og15]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

[nickhx2]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

well said

not really fair at all be be judgmental of mann. he's not that "badass MFer" type of guy that lue was talking about when he was trying to amp up paul george. he's a "badass glue guy" that you put into lineups to let your best scorers do their thing. we should be careful not to overdo expectations on any particular guy in the lineup simply because they are a starter. do i wish he could be better or shoot better at least (or shoot at all)? yeah sure. i'm not personally worried about him but he has a ways to go, and sometimes confidence is like that. you lose it and you do weird things for a while then you get back to it and you're fine.

agree about the scheduling stuff too. the last few years the NBA has done a lot of cumulatively reducing back to backs. it's not perfect, it's unlikely to ever be, but it's way better than it ever has been. moreover, there's a delicate balance, over how many games to play and who wants what, all connected between the owners and the players. players want less games, but everyone wants more money, and losing money over that is essentially non-starter (as of now). it's not a thing solely decided by adam silver.

and take this from a person who would really prefer not to defend silver right now over his kissinger-comparison gaffe not all that long ago. silver's IMO been a way better commissioner than david stern ever was. i do, however, hope that the league continues to find ways to break up b2b's and eventually extinguish them completely. easier said than done, but positive scheduling changes i've always hoped for are gradually becoming real things: like more common sense scheduling of teams staying in the city and playing against an opponent consecutively (like a baseball series).

anyway, the best this team can do is to just hang in there until the new arena arrives. it'll help break up the back to backs for one thing, but more importantly it will finally put an end to these nightmare matinee games.

[og15]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

well said

not really fair at all be be judgmental of mann. he's not that "badass MFer" type of guy that lue was talking about when he was trying to amp up paul george. he's a "badass glue guy" that you put into lineups to let your best scorers do their thing. we should be careful not to overdo expectations on any particular guy in the lineup simply because they are a starter. do i wish he could be better or shoot better at least (or shoot at all)? yeah sure. i'm not personally worried about him but he has a ways to go, and sometimes confidence is like that. you lose it and you do weird things for a while then you get back to it and you're fine.

agree about the scheduling stuff too. the last few years the NBA has done a lot of cumulatively reducing back to backs. it's not perfect, it's unlikely to ever be, but it's way better than it ever has been. moreover, there's a delicate balance, over how many games to play and who wants what, all connected between the owners and the players. players want less games, but everyone wants more money, and losing money over that is essentially non-starter (as of now). it's not a thing solely decided by adam silver.

and take this from a person who would really prefer not to defend silver right now over his kissinger-comparison gaffe not all that long ago. silver's IMO been a way better commissioner than david stern ever was. i do, however, hope that the league continues to find ways to break up b2b's and eventually extinguish them completely. easier said than done, but positive scheduling changes i've always hoped for are gradually becoming real things: like more common sense scheduling of teams staying in the city and playing against an opponent consecutively (like a baseball series).

anyway, the best this team can do is to just hang in there until the new arena arrives. it'll help break up the back to backs for one thing, but more importantly it will finally put an end to these nightmare matinee games.

Yes, Clippers scheduling issues are also compounded by being in an arena with two other teams and all having to work your schedules around each other as well as anything else that might go on in the arena.

[Captain Ballmer]

Read on Twitter

This Okc game dropped our defensive rating quite a bit.

[Captain Ballmer]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

I overestimated T-Mann i guess. I saw him drop 8 treys 39 points in Playoff semifinals game 5. I saw him get 11 assist game. Saw him untouchable in FVV trades.

You described what Willie Green does. This isn't the same player above. If you want him to be a Willie Green thats ok. But you can find those players around and certainly not named then "untouchable".

I'm disappointed with him not being able to become consistent scoring option and overall satisfaction about him in clipsland that it's not that big of a deal him missed this. Certainly wishing now to trade him for the right 5th starter such as Anunoby. I would go for Mann+bones+ a future first if Raptors still interested with him.

Just saying.

[og15]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

I overestimated T-Mann i guess. I saw him drop 8 treys 39 points in Playoff semifinals game 5. I saw him get 11 assist game. Saw him untouchable in FVV trades.

You described what Willie Green does. This isn't the same player above. If you want him to be a Willie Green thats ok. But you can find those players around and certainly not named then "untouchable".

I'm disappointed with him not being able to become consistent scoring option and overall satisfaction about him in clipsland that it's not that big of a deal him missed this. Certainly wishing now to trade him for the right 5th starter such as Anunoby. I would go for Mann+bones+ a future first if Raptors still interested with him.

Just saying.

Mann has some advantages over Willie Green, #1 is size, he's 6'5, due to that size he has far more positional versatility on defense, and #2, probably also due to that size he's better on the glass. From a pure scoring standpoint, Willie Green is better than Mann though, so yea, if the scoring expectation is more than Willie Green, it's not realistic. He's 27 years old, not 22.

[nickhx2]

but, guys! willie green is coaching the pels now

[esqtvd]

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.


I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

I overestimated T-Mann i guess. I saw him drop 8 treys 39 points in Playoff semifinals game 5. I saw him get 11 assist game. Saw him untouchable in FVV trades.

You described what Willie Green does. This isn't the same player above. If you want him to be a Willie Green thats ok. But you can find those players around and certainly not named then "untouchable".

I'm disappointed with him not being able to become consistent scoring option and overall satisfaction about him in clipsland that it's not that big of a deal him missed this. Certainly wishing now to trade him for the right 5th starter such as Anunoby. I would go for Mann+bones+ a future first if Raptors still interested with him.

Just saying.

Mann has some advantages over Willie Green, #1 is size, he's 6'5, due to that size he has far more positional versatility on defense, and #2, probably also due to that size he's better on the glass. From a pure scoring standpoint, Willie Green is better than Mann though, so yea, if the scoring expectation is more than Willie Green, it's not realistic. He's 27 years old, not 22.

As a placeholder starter, Mann is somewhere between Willie Green and guys like Battier and Batum. The latter two give you 6'8" in length though, and can pretty much guard 1-through-5.

Clipper Nation--and it looks like Ballmer--have been seriously overrating him IMO, a nice rotation guy but hey, he wasn't even a star on his own team in college. Can't get blood from a turnip. He's still who he was at Florida State--10 ppg, a good rebounder for a guard, but not enough of a playmaker to be considered a combo guard. He's a 2-guard who can stick the open 3 but can't create his own shot. He's a plus defender from 1-to-3 but at 6'5", can be overmatched if you ask for more.

I don't expect him to remain in this shooting slump forever--he's up to 29.4% from 3 over his last 10 games after being under 20% to start the season.

But his mind does seem a little blown from losing his starting slot TWICE in the last 6 months, first to Russ then to Harden. He's having trouble figuring out where he fits offensively with the new lineup. He's overthinking everything out there and like Draymond told Kobe Brown, you got to keep firing or you fall out of the habit of taking and making shots in rhythm. Hopefully when we play some weaker teams, Ty will try to get some shots for him and break up the logjam in his head.

[clipperlover]

Read on Twitter

This Okc game dropped our defensive rating quite a bit.

We played three of the top 6 offenses in the NBA this week. So, not surprising. We did it all on the road also.

[clipperlover]

This is the type of games T-Mann has to step up. Bad look for him to be considered as a starter.

His role as a starter is, "do everything that the stars don't do", or at least aren't consistently asked to do. Guard the opposing primary playmaker, hustle plays, diving for loose balls, offensive rebounds, etc.

His outside shot has been off this season, but he's shooting 58% 2PT, right in line with his 60% 2PT last season. Still barely turns it over and doesn't foul a lot. He's a career 13 pts/36 player with a career high of 13.7 pts/36 last season, he's just not a guy we're every going to consistently expect to step up as a scorer. It's like a Shane Battier type player, any ppg they give is bonus, but we have to go away from thinking of Mann as a "scoring option". He's not, he's 100% a glue guy. I fill in all the holes, make few mistakes and get out of the way.

His 3PT shot does need to come back though. He was at 32% 3PT the last 7 games before last night, not good, but better considering he was at 17.1% his first 13 games of the season. So upward trend, hopefully he gets a streak and goes back to his 38% range he usually shoots.

This is a game you can't read much into honestly. The guys simply didn't have their legs. You actually saw a little bit of dead legs last night when they were giving up offensive rebounds to Dallas. The team just needs an f'n break. I hate Silver, he's destroying the NBA because he's money hungry and doesn't give a damn about the players with the scheduling.

I believe the NBA schedules have actually gotten better in terms of fewer back to backs and all that in recent years. The NBA season is a grind though. No one wants to make less money, including the players, and fewer games means lesser paychecks for them too, while more games, even if you are not playing, you're still making money.

I overestimated T-Mann i guess. I saw him drop 8 treys 39 points in Playoff semifinals game 5. I saw him get 11 assist game. Saw him untouchable in FVV trades.

You described what Willie Green does. This isn't the same player above. If you want him to be a Willie Green thats ok. But you can find those players around and certainly not named then "untouchable".

I'm disappointed with him not being able to become consistent scoring option and overall satisfaction about him in clipsland that it's not that big of a deal him missed this. Certainly wishing now to trade him for the right 5th starter such as Anunoby. I would go for Mann+bones+ a future first if Raptors still interested with him.

Just saying.

Let's show Mann some proper respect. He had that big game in the Series clinching Game 6. He made Gobert his b!tch in Game 5.

Mann has 4 more Double digit scoring playoff games than Willie had in his career.

[Ballings7]

Watch on YouTube

One of Mann's better offensive moments