You know Steve Ballmer was thinking: Finally, I have the TEAM!

Healthy KL, PG being the MVP he has always destined to be, Harden showing the NBA World that he won’t quit and our role players fitting perfectly into beautiful basketball.

I can hope to dream.

For once, Ty did the right thing. I wish he did it more often telling him: you need to care a little bit on defense to see minutes. Would make us so much more of a team with a much higher floor

Spent halftime and the rough part of Q3 at the bar/restaurant watching the end of the Iowa-South Carolina game. Got back to the seats for the last 5 min of Q3 and we shrank the lead 24 down to 12. Everyone in the building thought we had a shot at that point.

Q4 saw the Clips shave another 6 point off the lead but it felt a little short as the offense started to stagnate into iso ball. When Garland made a big 3 to put Cleveland up 7 with under 3 min left I was prepared to say, ‘good comeback effort, but maybe we would’ve won this game had we not played so many minutes 4 v 5 with PJ Tucker on the floor’. Then PG made 2 FTs and a bucket and we finally corralled Garland and got the ball out of his hands or made him take a tough shot. T-Mann had a good contest, then Amir did, then Allen made a turnover and the ball rotated to where PG and Russ intentionally empowered Amir and T-Mann to make plays and each one made an absolutely huge 3. PG’s game winning basket and block were iconic and the Clips won the game.

I didn’t really think we played that badly even when we gave up 80 points in the first half. I just think we had a very hard time getting control of Garland, especially when T-Mann was not on the floor and he made us pay for every bad decision on the offensive end, whether it was Russ force feeding Plumlee w/T-Mann and Norm on the court and open, or a turnover. It was just really weird to be down by 20+ point with Harden looking great, Mann playing well and PG looking pretty solid. Garland was just that good and he got Strus/Levert going and they made a lot of shots, while Allen/Mobley were also ignited by his play. Cleveland did a good job of picking on Harden/Norm/PJ and we didn’t make sufficient adjustments in the first half.

In the 2nd half, Zu established himself and we started to see Allen/Mobley slow down while Strus/LeVert didn’t do much at all.

Plumlee was very solid in Q4 and seems to have found his niche as a guy who focuses on rebounding first, PnR/High post work 2nd, and post defense 3rd. Russ provided a lot of energy and made his share of plays, but his shot/pass selection and inability to make a layup held the team back. I do think we need Russ to be better than this in the playoffs.

Norm found his post-season rhythm in this game. He got exploited a lot on defense in the first half, but was much more solid in the 2nd half and provided those key buckets that made fans stand up and think ‘this is a game!’

Amir Coffey was very passive for most of this game, but man did he ever hit a huge, huge shot.

Mann was 6/6 and was robbed of a basket on a questionable offensive foul call. At what point does Lue turn him loose and tell him, ‘we don’t want you deferring to get PG or James a shot. Go get your shot every chance you get.’

I really don’t want to see PJ Tucker on the floor, period. When he was out there it was pretty obvious to folks in the building that the Clips were playing 4 v 5, Cleveland was able to cheat off him to close down passing and shooting lanes and that’s why our offense was slower than Cleveland’s. Harden’s hot shooting kept us from getting down -30 early but we can’t afford him on the court. Everyone finds him on defense, draws him closer to the 3 pt line and shoots over him. He’s actually a liability at both ends, not just the offensive end.

But this was such an amazing, visionary win by the Clippers that I yelled out ‘Clips are gonna win the chip! with fans nodding approvingly. Yeah, today it really felt like the Clips are going to win the chip. Paul George bringing his A game like that and Harden getting into form objectively make the Clippers one of the toughest teams to beat.

A+ for determination, energy, hustle and body language of the bench! They turned PG into a totally different player. A+ for Mann. While there were other issues (especially Russ’ awful finishing), this unit wasn’t gonna take no for an answer. A+ for Ty’s second half rotation, reading the game and riding with those qualities.

What was beyond an A+ grade: PG’s second half and the stamina of those guys: George played the ENTIRE second half, Russ and Norm 17 minutes straight, Amir almost 15 straight…

Then the clutch buckets of Mann, Amir, Norm and PG. Just a fantastic half to watch.

But the guy I really wanna highlight here is Plumlee: no turnovers, his two assists were HUGE to give us momentum (so was Russ’ hustle tap at the end of the 3rd), great energy and a 92 defensive rating with him on the floor. He played an amazing game and did so when we badly needed it. Thx!!!