Can’t wait for a more reasonable schedule next season – we can finally be completely free from the Sterling legacy.

Also before we get into the “you think games are fixed??” discussion, no, I don’t think the league has a script written or anything like that. But I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to say that individual refs have agendas and the NBA has a definite preference for certain outcomes over others.

That opening of the 3rd quarter was a fucking travesty, and it’s a joke that Scott Foster is still reffing – dude should probably also have gotten jail time, given how close he was w/ Donaghy.

Four things that hurt the Clippers today:

• Scott Foster getting Zu into foul trouble early in Q3 after Zu had essentially locked up Giannis. We didn’t have Zu on the floor for most of the 2nd half and Milwaukee outscored us by around 9 or so in Q3. Although we battled back from that, it would’ve been a lot better to have played with a working margin as we did in the first half. Not having Zu on the floor in that stretch was basically the difference in the game. Also, Bucks took 27 FTs to our 10, and, no, not all of the Bucks FTAs were earned. One could say a number of them were gifts from Scott Foster.
• Ty Lue mismanaging James Harden. He played 36 minutes tonight and T-Mann only played 30 min. It was pretty obvious that James had no legs by Q3. He couldn’t hit a shot, struggled with his handle on double teams and couldn’t get back on defense. Lue failed to pull him early and instead we had to get down by about 7 points before Lue got Bones/Boston Jr into the lineup to get back into the game. I think we win the game if T-Mann got 35+ minutes and Harden had been limited to 25-30. There was commentary that Lue was angry when we got down by about -7 in Q3 after failing to get back on D. He should’ve been angry at himself. Everyone in the gym knew Harden was running on fumes.
• PJ Tucker taking 6 3s was not great. This was PJs best game as a Clipper but that doesn’t mean he should be shooting wide open 3s when we have other shooters on the floor. He’s wide open for a reason. I also think 25 min for him was a bit too much. I would’ve rather played Zu and Theis on the floor together for a 5 min stint and see how that worked. (A Kobe Brown sighting would’ve been nice too).
• Dame: killed us at the end with a couple of dagger 3s and a very unfortunate touch foul on Coffey (a gift from Scott Foster to Doc Rivers) on a 3 pt shot that led to 3 FTs. I think it was challengeable and Scott could’ve put his whistle in his pocket but Dame/Giannis got a zone of protection today that I felt was unearned, while Pat Bev (as much as we like him) was just a hacker out there. But the issue with Dame were the 3 3s we let him take by going under screens or not closing out enough on his pick and pop rolls in Q1. Those 9 relatively easy points (by Dame standards) early in the game prevented us from building a bigger lead.

That said, I was very happy with the effort and contributions. I just think the style of basketball played today should be embraced by the big 3. Getting 104 shots against a top team in the East when they are close to full strength is the type of thing we should be doing with the regular lineup. It means less dribbling, more moving, more attacking in space and following up misses at the rim. It also means more contact free basketball. Yes, you have to be in better cardiovascular shape, but if you’re taking fewer hits, and your shots are more open, you should be fresher and more energized. With as deep a bench as the Clippers have, there’s no reason why we can’t have multiple shifts and throw waves of players at the opponent, moving the ball quickly and shooting them out of the gym.

Good to see Boston throw down on Giannis. Need to get Boston and Bones enough time to soak up some minutes in the regular season.

I count four more B2B sets. I would like to see PG and KL both sit out one of those games, and let the other guys get some run.

We have a home/away B2B against the Suns, plus AZ doesn’t follow daylight savings, and it ends up screwing us up more. Might as well let the young guns run the away game.

Overall, good to see our guys not be behind 15 points before the half.