Game #14: PELICANS (8-7) @ LAC (6-7) FRI 11/24, 7:30 PM

[Captain Ballmer]

Zion & Ingram came to the game today with full intencity. PG13 was ok with his activity but he couldn't find any help from others. Whatever Kawhi & Harden did out there isn't gonna enough. Still love Theis. Ok game from PJ. Definitely worst game of the season from Russ.

Russ, Norman and PG13 twice(one was clear foul by Nance) missed easy dunks man. This young pelican team made us wear and tear. On to the next.

[MartinToVaught]

Take away all the billions, and I really wouldn't want to be Ballmer right now, because you know he thinks about all this too from his courtside seat.

If Ballmer actually put that much thought into anything instead of just acting impulsively like Dolan, this organization would be in a much better place right now.

[wakelaunch1]

Its such an unathletic team. They looked so old next to zion/pelicans. The shooting percentages were bad. I am just not seeing it. The play were zion bullied his way into the lane, missed a shot, Harden didnt box him out and then he took the ball away from Harden when we needed a stop was so hard to watch. We have a guy on our squad who should be able to at least do a little better against Zion but Lue wont play him and thats Kobe Brown.

[KL2]

Take away all the billions, and I really wouldn't want to be Ballmer right now, because you know he thinks about all this too from his courtside seat. Add the new arena, uncertainty about the contracts for the three stars plus coach, several other younger teams on the come up, some of which even own our picks, and yeah, I'd be pretty bummed out.

This is all his doing so I don’t feel for him at all.

We had a team whether it would hold up all season is unknown. We had a game plan that was preached all summer. Getting younger, more athletic, and push the pace. That all went out the window with the Harden trade.

Obviously you can see what Harden can bring but the sacrifices made to make it happen is not something I think they can recover from. They tossed away all their picks, kicked what little youth and athleticism they had away or to the back of the bus.

There’s no balance to the roster. The only real contracts we have to get something in return are Zu and Mann.

The ones I feel bad for are those who hope for a rebuild. Ballmer is against it big time so the only thing we can expect is treadmill results.

I also worry about the locker room. You could feel the vibes before the trade. Now? Not so much.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Lue said that Ingram always comes out and lights them up in the first quarter, so why didn't he gameplan for that?

[Roscoe Sheed]

Its such an unathletic team. They looked so old next to zion/pelicans. The shooting percentages were bad. I am just not seeing it. The play were zion bullied his way into the lane, missed a shot, Harden didnt box him out and then he took the ball away from Harden when we needed a stop was so hard to watch. We have a guy on our squad who should be able to at least do a little better against Zion but Lue wont play him and thats Kobe Brown.

Zion does that to every team.

It also helps that he was getting a favorable whistle while the Clippers weren't- particularly PG.

They should have overturned the 2nd call involving Zion too- it was an offensive foul.

It is ridiculous that Scott Foster is still an NBA ref. I think it is clear something fishy was going on with him and Donaghy- who calls somebody several times a day? Odds are high he was betting on games too

[og15]

Gotta watch out for those young guys. Westbrook back in a tough spot, even worse than befor. Poor guy, not sure if he's going to last through this season in this role.

I can’t believe Theis. Whew.

Gave up $2M to come here taking the buyout. Never forget that. Otherwise he plays out his contract.

Gave up is a generous way to put it. Players in his situation give up the equivalent of a minimum contract and then are signed to a minimum contract, recouping all the money they "gave up" haha.

[esqtvd]

Gotta watch out for those young guys. Westbrook back in a tough spot, even worse than befor. Poor guy, not sure if he's going to last through this season in this role.

I can’t believe Theis. Whew.

Gave up $2M to come here taking the buyout. Never forget that. Otherwise he plays out his contract.

Gave up is a generous way to put it. Players in his situation give up the equivalent of a minimum contract and then are signed to a minimum contract, recouping all the money they "gave up" haha.

I suppose you're right. He apparently broke even. Good catch.

[PeteyPablo]

Pelicans came in with more intensity and wanted the win more.

Clippers gave a great effort but just did not have enough defense and offensive on this night.

[TrueLAfan]

i don't at all see how pj tucker is doing anything good for us right now

PJ is doing a *ton* of good things out there. On a team that has five starters/high rotation guys completely capable of scoring 20 a game, you need tough, role players that do the dirty work that doesn’t fill up a stats sheet. I just wish he was 3 years younger.

That was unfortunate and ball game.

The good? Guys fought back when down.

The bad? Took the foot off the gas and Lue with some questionable combos. Shot distribution too.

Yeah. This is my big concern. We’ve got plenty of scoring and, for the most part, efficient shooting. Buit not every guy is going to be on—the question is whether we can consistently move the ball around to the hot hand(s). Powell had 15 points on 10 shots in the first half last night—he and PG led the charge in the 2nd quarter. He got 4 shots the rest of the night in over 15 minutes of play; PG and Kawhi took 27 … and missed 17 of them. Ball has to get to the hot hands. We settle for lousy shot distribution too often.

Actually thought PJ looked good in the first half, he can definitely bother some larger guys more than Terance, but that offense is so rough with him and Zu (who was also quite decent) sharing the floor. He had an ugly miss from 3 when we were still up by 6, and it was all downhill from there.

And say what you will about Norm's value around the league, but the guy looks like our most consistent/efficient scorer right now, despite coming off the bench. This would've been a blowout from beginning to end without him stepping up.

Kinda the same thing. With Harden on board, we’ve got scoring. Ffs, Bones Hyland, Norman Powell, Russell Westbrook alone is very good bench offensive firepower—that’s leaving out the starters. All Tucker has to do is screen out on not turn the ball over on offense. We don’t need him to score; we need to him to be smart in moving without the ball—which he’s doing. Last three games—only 2 shots. Zero points total. But over half his rebounds are/were offensive, and he was a +21 in 51 minutes. He’s helping.

Powell is playing well. But he needs to get more touches when he’s the hot hand. Whoever is getting it to drop needs to get it. And the other guys need to move the ball around.

[Captain Ballmer]

Gotta watch out for those young guys. Westbrook back in a tough spot, even worse than befor. Poor guy, not sure if he's going to last through this season in this role.

Russ is such an enigma. After the well deserved critism, he put up a gorgeous game from bench against Dallas 24 hours later. I hope he can grown into this Igoudala role.