This is clearly our best shot at beating them so hopefully guys are ready.

Harden was bad far longer than the first half. He was pretty crap going into the 3rd until he got hot.

Simmons was the only good consistent player on BOTH SIDES.

Amir hit shots.

Charcoal: Ty Lue

Joke of a coach. No adjustment to constantly being shut down by a simple 2-3 zone. Didn’t play Simmons more. Didn’t get Zu the ball against a team playing 2-3 zone WITH NO CENTER!

One thing that’s becoming increasingly evident is that if Zu is missing shots down low the opposition just bolts down the floor where they get easy forays with no rim protection or reset with Zu pulling up late and having to guard a perimeter player—which is also a liability. This is no doubt why Ty is so consumed with small ball because our transition D is much better.

This presents somewhat of a conundrum with regard to how much we can utilize Zu offensively.

Fortunately the Lakers haven’t really got a dominant 5 so if Zu is clanking we should be able to run Nic and Simmons a lot there. Neither Luka or LeBron really play “fast” and I think our others are just as or more athletic than theirs.

The intrigue for Friday just became even greater after what we saw tonight.

James Harden didn’t have a very good first half, but he was conserving energy as he’s been playing so many minutes. The best thing about this game is we had Dunn, Simmons and Bogdanovic doing a lot of the ball handling, enabling Harden to rest, and he became a willing catch and shoot player. A rested James Harden is absolutely deadly from behind the arc. If you’re sketching out a theory of how the Clippers stay in the top 6 and punch above their weight in the playoffs, it’s with James Harden hitting big shots in Q4/crunch time, If he has fresh legs, his ability to do so improves.

The worst thing about this game: Zu getting only 8 shots. That’s criminal. However, I will say that in the last 4 mins of the game, just about every possession involved him setting a tough screen and getting a touch in the play set, which resulted in good quality shots. It was a very good process on offense during crunch time.

Kawhi Leonard – An uninspiring performance. Stats are not that bad, but it was just a middling effort on offense and a poor one on defense despite the fact that he had 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and a block. We can’t rely on him to be a true #1 option on the floor and he’s selectively playing defense. It’s almost like watching Paul George, but without the plus shooting ability from behind the arc.

Because Kawhi is playing mid basketball right now, the starting lineup with DJJ and Dunn doesn’t work that well b/c of spacing issues on offense. We can’t get the best out of Dunn b/c we can’t hide him on offense when DJJ is on the floor. DJJ had a good statistical game but he doesn’t give you enough to warrant a starting role unless Kawhi is Kawhi. I would prefer to see Batum start and play 20 mins. He played 17 tonight had no points and was a +10.

Harden – a genius performance. He managed to rest, play off the ball and save his best for the 2nd half. His Q4 defense was actually pretty good as well.

Zu – he’s our anchor. Needs more touches and shot attempts.

Dunn – Not as great as he was vs Detroit (damn shame that his effort was wasted). but I think he’s much better with a PF like Batum who can help space the floor.

Ben Simmons – a joy to watch. I’ve enjoyed every min he’s been on the floor for LAC. His 8 rebs and 8 assists, playing the 1 and the 5 were huge for this win. I also liked that little hook shot he had, and I think he can look for that shot more. I want to see more Ben/Zu lineups with 2 shooters on the floor and let it be a dunk a thon.

Bogdanovic – Was probably the x factor in the 2nd half to win this game b/c of the effort at both ends. He played much better on D than Kawhi, took a lot of ball handling duties, got meaningful paint touches and mid range attempts, had 6 assists and hit 4 big 3 pointers. He cost us the game vs Detroit but the effort was there. Today he was key to the win.

Coffey – had a nice shooting game and made a key midrange bucket in Q4. Was in the right lineup. He really benefited from the depth we had in the first half of the year. The unit he played the most minutes with (Bogdanovic + Simmons + Batum) really helped him be the functional equivalent of a DH who just gets to his spots and executes when he gets the ball in his preferred spots.

Eubanks – had only 4 minutes but had 4 pts/3 rebs/1 block and was +13. That’s about as efficient as it gets.