There was a lot of Zu shaking off the rust in this game, needing some minutes to get back his timing and rhythm and all the ways he was previously inserting himself into the mix . Hoping that PG can step it up after the road trip is over as well.

The Theis DNP is interesting. Part of it is keeping things simple with Zu coming back. But a bigger note seems to be Amir Coffey’s minutes. Norm 28, Coffey 23, TMann 20, Russ 15–those are the numbers to watch, going along with Harden 42 (too many). Coffey is playing really well, and the minutes for this mythical backup PF that everybody is hunting and talking about could be minimal. Lue is saying he doesn’t want to try Theis there, but he’d probably give it a try at some point. In the meantime, I love watching Coffey play and contribute.

But I’m pretty confident in the FO these days, after holding on to Norm (and TMann) in the Harden trade, and grabbing Theis. (I guess the Harden trade makes up for trying Wall vs. resigning Hartenstein.) So we’ll see what happens this week.

Even if we get another 4, will Coach actually play this new member, when we inevitably go small?

I have my doubts of a mythical unicorn of a mid-season trade that pushes us over the top, but instead, we should focus on playing more T. Mann and Coffey — these two are more reliable at this stage of our team’s development.

Also, as Khyber has pointed out about Russ — we need to get Focused Russ vs. Out of Control Russ. Having Russ really play focused for those 20 min. so that Harden doesn’t get worn out — 40 min. — yikes!

Yeah, we could also try out DT at the 4? Maybe tonight in the ATL?

Miami went almost exclusively zone. The Clippers have zone-busters. I guess teams will try this in an attempt to keep it close. It won’t consistently work.

I personally like Boston, Bones, Kobe, Miller, and Primo. I don’t know anything about P J Washington but I would hate to see these guys leave. I happen to like homegrown players who buy into the culture.

5 and 1 on the Grammy trip. I was hoping for 7 and 0. 6 and 1 seems to be doable.

Let’s see what happens tonight.

To get PJ Washington in a straight up trade it would take PJ Tucker + Bones + either Boston Jr or Kobe Brown. Clips might look to get a 2nd round draft pick in addition to PJ Washington. It might be the case that Clips use a 3rd team to make it happen. Memphis comes to mind as they have a bigger need for someone like Bones.

Trade deadline is only a few days away so the price on some players might drop to where the Clippers can get some real value.

If Theis isn’t being slotted for the backup #4 (he had a DNP today) and Kobe Brown isn’t ready to take the role this year, then we might see a move for someone like PJ Washington, who is only 25 years old.

Paul George played terrible basketball in Q1 and most of Q2 at both ends, and Russ was pretty terrible tonight after a good Q1. That enabled Miami to stay in the game and forced the Clips to play Harden a lot of minutes. The game was really won by Harden in Q4, with a series of drawn fouls putting Miami in the penalty, opening space for Norm and PG to hit some shots, while also hitting big shots of his own.

Mann and Coffey played very good games in their time on the floor. Zu was not very ready to play and needs more minutes to get back into playing rhythm. Plumlee was pretty good in half court defense making his presence felt but missed on a number of offensive rebounding attempts that got us caught flatfooted on defense. Norm was outstanding and once again hit the big shots to get some distance from the opponent in Q4.

I’m sure PG will find his A game again when the team returns home. The more concerning thing is Russ. The team needs him to be more consistent to get through 4 rounds of playoffs. He can’t be this erratic and Lue can’t go into the playoffs thinking he can load up Harden for 41+ mins per game after loading him up like this in the regular season.

The other adjustment the Clips will have to make is on the Kawhi double teams. With Kawhi entering the MVP convo, the Clips will see nothing but double teams the rest of the way. That’s good b/c it will give the team a lot of reps on how to deal with it and the experience may make us a much more efficient offensive unit come playoff time.

Hope we can finish the roadtrip off with a win over ATL. If the Clips win tomorrow, they’ll gain a half a game on Minnesota, OKC and Denver, as they’re all idle.