2024 NBA Playoffs - West 1st Round: #4 Los Angeles Clippers vs #5 Dallas Mavericks (DAL WINS 4-2)

[ChipotleWest]

How strong is Luka??

Because the guy was bullying Kawhi tonight on the block.

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[ChipotleWest]

They're now calling Kawhi "iffy" for Game 4, saying his knee didn't respond as they hoped.

[LaLover11]

Bring Paul George off the bench

[Johnny Firpo]

They're now calling Kawhi "iffy" for Game 4, saying his knee didn't respond as they hoped.

He looks terrible, they definitely have a better chance without him if he plays at this level.

[ChipotleWest]

They're now calling Kawhi "iffy" for Game 4, saying his knee didn't respond as they hoped.

He looks terrible, they definitely have a better chance without him if he plays at this level.

I'm starting to get deja vu for Game 4 already if Kawhi doesn't play.

It's at the same time as last Sunday 3:30 pm eastern, and no Kawhi? I seem to recall Clippers winning that one. Hope the team doesn't party too much Saturday night and not show up in the first half. 8 points in a quarter sounds like partying the night before.

[whatisacenter]

Mavs defense is LEGIT.

THAT is what matters most now.

Yeah, I have clowned on Kidd in the past but you have to give him credit for having the Mavs ready and locked-in on defense for this game. Even Kyrie and Luka were getting after it on D.

[Chuck Everett]

They're now calling Kawhi "iffy" for Game 4, saying his knee didn't respond as they hoped.

He's probably going to be out for Game 4. Mavs can't have a letdown.

[ejftw]

They're now calling Kawhi "iffy" for Game 4, saying his knee didn't respond as they hoped.

He looks terrible, they definitely have a better chance without him if he plays at this level.

I'm starting to get deja vu for Game 4 already if Kawhi doesn't play.

It's at the same time as last Sunday 3:30 pm eastern, and no Kawhi? I seem to recall Clippers winning that one. Hope the team doesn't party too much Saturday night and not show up in the first half. 8 points in a quarter sounds like partying the night before.

Matinee game hardly bodes well for the Clips.

Only thing is, without Kawhi, the offense should flow a bit more freely.

Was so frustrating to see how they tried to force it to him the last two games.

[CodeBreaker]

Is Kawhi washed?

[CodeBreaker]

It’s weird to think that Kawhi and PG have been with the Clippers almost as long as CP3 and Blake were. They had Lob City for 6 seasons, this is the 5th season with Kawhi and PG. This whole run with them has felt weird since Kawhi has missed so much time.

degenerative knee issues dont get better with age. not trying to be mean, its just a fact. he needs to be on a team where he can take 35 games off, while the team still wins most of those games, and then wish on a star that he can be healthy in the post season. if all those conditions arent met, we're gonna keep getting the same results

So true, which makes it so dumb that they added Kawhi to the Olympic team.

thats the perfect team for Kawhi. He gets to sit until the Gold Medal Game lol

[stoo]

i remember a few weeks ago people were saying how Clippers are clearly the best team in the west.

I remember guy told me 'come get it' when i laughed off the idea that Clippers are threat to the Nuggets, and i was like 'come where? get what?'

[Clemenza]

Stop trying to give the Clippers an advantage.

We dying for some Bones Hyland minutes right about now.

cmon bro. its not THAT bad

Bones is knocking down at least 2-3 of the threes Russ missed. And this is no hate on Russ but time is of the essence.

[LaLover11]

Do clippers blow it up if they lose this series?

[AdagioPace]

speaking of Chernobyl's anniversary yesterday, you need a suit to touch Kawhi's contract at this point. Pure radioactive waste.

[SFour]

Do clippers blow it up if they lose this series?

no, they'll just continue living in the "if Clippers are healthy" fantasy land

[MMyhre]

As expected, the load from all season is taking its toll on Luka. Banged up after 3 games in the postseason, guess what, playing intense defense with all that fat ain`t easy while carrying the offensive load. This man is the EASY MVP of the league if he just **** loses his body fat, you have access to every fking PED, chefs and whatever you want, just cut the weight man. It`s so silly, I guess he has to lose because of injuries this year to finally slim down in the offseason? And he can lose weight and keep most of, if not add more muscle mass because of PED`s for those saying he will lose his strength... it`s all about how much you want it. And sure, you lose a little bit of strength and banging ability - and gain - speed, quickness/agility, jump height, lateral mobility, endurance, less tax on your joints +++++++++++++++.

Same for Jamal Murray honestly, to a lesser degree, banged up and played too much, too heavy. Wolves and OKC might have a better chance to make it out of the West, Jokic is still the final boss though.

[Persi]

Kahwi deserves all the bad karma in the world for how he left Spurs. I'm happy to watch any of his failures.

[Demagoog]

Do clippers blow it up if they lose this series?

Very doubtful. The Clippers will move to Intuit Dome in Inglewood next season. Over his dead body Ballmer is letting it happen they're opening their arena with a season of sub .333 basketball.

Besides, Kawhi is owed more than $150 million over the next three years. Only Houdini could move that contract, given the state of his body. They might make some changes with Harden expiring after this season and George being an expiring contract next year, but the goal would be to win.

[Johnny Firpo]

i remember a few weeks ago people were saying how Clippers are clearly the best team in the west.

I think that wasn't weeks ago, more like months ago. The Clippers have been sliding hard since the 2nd half of the season.

[Bob8]

I'm not even sure what you're going on about here, sorry.


I'm not really understanding what you're arguing here. Where are you getting things like Kawhi beating them alone from? The poll results in here for example are impacted by how much people trusted Kawhi's health. Most people don't believe a Clippers team without Kawhi or with a very limited Kawhi is better than the Mavs.

The initial comment this is based on was:

"Crazy thing is The Clippers still haven't see the Real Luka or Kyrie yet and that's really scary."

The response is that sure, but the Mavs even more so haven't seen anything close to the real Kawhi who is the Clippers best and most impactful player. Luka has still averaged 33/10/8 on 56% TS and Kyrie 27 ppg on 65% TS.

Both teams have upside left and the Clippers have even more upside possible from Kawhi than the Mavs do with Luka and Kyrie since those two haven't been injured.

Kawhi doesn't need to beat the Clippers "alone", I'm not sure if you're dragging arguments from YouTube comments or Reddit or something into this discussion, but I don't know what you're arguing because no one in this thread is saying the things you are debating against.

Maybe you should check, who I was replying to. To help you, it was, "You would be very naive to not be scared of a healthy Kawhi Leonard. He's certainly capable of being the best player in the series."

My position is, I don't care what Kawhi is theoretically capable of, Mavs have 1:1 and have 2 home games next. Pretty solid position with Kawhi playing or not. And imho Kawhi is not looking scary at all. (Yes I know, he's just rusty.) I would imagine that current result impacts poll too, don't you think?

Luka was overall solid, but not great, do you understand what happens with Clippers' defensive game plan, if he starts hitting those step backs with better %?

Kyrie's far best Q was Q3 in game 1, when game was already decided. I expect from him far bigger impact on winning in next games.

Kawhi could and probably will play better too, but nobody should be scared of that. Mavs can win against any kind of Kawhi, because they have much better roster than 3 years ago, when it was freeway in the paint and around the paint with disgruntled KP and unmoving Boban. Mavs D is light years better then 3 years ago, so even, if we miraculously see 3 years younger and totally fit Kawhi, he won't be able to do what he did back then.

Btw. I'm not arguing with you, you're for some unknown reason arguing with me, not liking what I'm debating. Maybe I should stop debating and agree with you?

Bob, I am sorry. I was thrown off by the whole idea that players are scared of others.

Teams are always conscious of the performance of great players, so of course Dallas is not non-chalant about how the performance of Kawhi can impact the series and they shouldn't be. Similarly, Ty Lue is quite aware that there are greater levels of performance possible from Kyrie and Luka each game. Your goal is that you're not allowing great performances every game and by both.

Dallas accomplished what they needed to do, winning a road game, Clippers have to do the same now to keep the series more comfortable for them.

Both teams are different from when they met in the past, but what we know is that Kawhi if healthy is capable of performing against anyone. The difference he makes for the Clippers is consistency, Harden is not consistent, George is not top level consistent, Kawhi has a performance consistency that matches the top tier of players which is what makes his impact great.

Certainly if the Clippers can't get that, their chances of winning are far lower because Harden is much older and less reliable as a scoring force than when he was in his prime, and even then he could be prone to some disappearing acts. Paul George is a solid player, but he's simply not a super consistent star, which is part of why he's been in the next tier from the top stars.

Both teams will have to keep adjusting to whatever is happening, that's playoff basketball. You just have to hope you come out on top in more games than not, that's all a team can do in a close matchup.

I can mostly agree with you, although it's very unlikely that player looking like Kawhi is looking now, can turn in MVP Kawhi overnight. More importantly I believe you're missing crucial difference between 2021 in 2024 series, Mavs' D. It's the difference been disastrous D, no rim protection whatsoever, in 2021 and top 3 D in 2024. If they have had D like that in 2021, Kawhi heroics wouldn't have helped.