Comments on: Clippers Lose Game 4 to Suns Despite Russ’ 37 Point Effort

By: clipperchuck

clipperchuck — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 18:58:32 +0000

They don’t need to keep Bones. He’s a nice prospect the team got for super cheap. But much rather have a vet like Dinwiddie to pair with Russ for a good veteran PG tandem. We still have a 2-3 year window with KL and PG, just the odds of them being healthy at the same time for the entire playoffs seems laughable given their track records in a Clips uni.

By: Thretch

Thretch — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 01:09:30 +0000

My take on Marcus Morris in game 4: His best skill is the turnaround/post up mid range shot. He only did this once and made the shot. Take a look at his shot chart. If he’s not going to utilize the one skill for which is he good, then he should not be on the floor.

He is not boxing out, so having him as the lone “big” has no value.

By: Thretch

Thretch — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 01:03:03 +0000

I was wrong about Westbrook. Particularly this game, I give him a pass on his flaws (a couple of really bad jumpshots and turnovers).

Why? Because nobody else was being successful, so Russ was valid in high usage and trying everything he could. If he didn’t an airball, someone else probably would have wasted the possession anyway.

By: Goons 1

Goons 1 — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 23:34:08 +0000

Outside of guarding cp, Mann was REALLY bad defensively through the 1st 3 games, a big reason why I didn’t think he should be starting. + the offense is & has been the bigger issue, before the series even started. That’s why I was ok with Sr out there starting, to see if he can get something going cuz he’s the only one capable of providing a real offensive punch & someone you can go to. Unfortunately, the shot wasn’t there! He wasn’t any worse than Nico out there defensively & was much better than Roco. Considering the game that Norm was having, you needed more offense, especially since Bones was horrible. That’s the reason why Ty went back to him in the 4th.

For game 5, I’d probably go with Mann, to hopefully start faster & cuz he showed he could be effective on defense, as long as he’s not on Book. Mann on cp, Russ on Book, EJ on KD & Norm on Craig. The only issue here is the refs! They’re not allowing any type of physicality from the Clips & you may run into early foul trouble from all your guards. This was something we saw this game & it clearly affected the way they all defended. Regardless, Sr should still get min, just gotta hope he hits his shots cuz they need his scoring

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 20:41:19 +0000

Rui is not very good, postseason explosion aside

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 20:40:32 +0000

Plum and EG were both fine ish

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 20:40:12 +0000

I doubt the Clippers do a real rebuild for a variety of reasons but I totally get wanting to move on from this era

By: Bradley Curry

Bradley Curry — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 19:40:01 +0000

Per 100 possessions Mann is avg 5.1 rebounds, Norm 5.0, so it’s close.

I don’t think even Lue wants more Morris, there’s a reason he stayed on the bench in Games 1 and 2 even with PG out.

But what other choice did Lue have? Nico scored 3 points total in 3 games . With Kawhi out, the team needed some scoring to try to keep up with the Suns. Did it work? Absolutely not, but what were the alternatives?

Mann cannot create his own shot to the same degree that Marcus Morris can. RoCo can basically only shoot standstill 3’s given a lot of time.

Also RoCo got absolutely LIT UP by Durant, so if RoCo isn’t giving you a huge bump over Morris on the defensive end to make up for the lack of offense it’s not crazy to go with Morris and hope he can shoot straight for once in the last 3 months.

You could go without any of Batum/RoCo/Morris, but I’m not sure that would be sustainable for a full 48.

By: Bradley Curry

Bradley Curry — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 19:11:01 +0000

I’m not besmirching Mann’s career as a rebounder. But factually in this series he’s not rebounding much.

Per NBA match up data, so take that as you will:

Mann’s top 3 defended FGA are:
15 vs Booker
9 vs Durant
3 vs Shamet

Powell’s top 3 defended FGA are:
17 vs Booker
8 vs Chris Paul
5 vs Durant

Russ’s top 3 defended FGA:
19 vs Booker
15 vs Durant
6 vs Torrey Craig

If that data is to believed, and I can understand skepticism, then I’m not sure the idea that Norm is on non-shooters bears out. And even so, Russ is guarding much more volume on the perimeter and still averaging 4.5 more rebounds per 100 minutes than Mann.

Could some of that be people deferring to Russ? Maybe, but I still think if people are going to make the case that Mann should take Morris’s minutes I’d like to see Mann have significantly more rebounds than Morris and so far he hasn’t.

By: KingAlfonse

KingAlfonse — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 18:35:07 +0000

Norm is averaging more minutes than Mann so he’s going to average more everything I would imagine. There are other options to mitigate the rebounding than Morris. (RoCo, for example).

I don’t really understand how anyone could still advocate for Lue and/or more Morris at this point. (Not trolling, I just don’t understand that perspective at all.)