Agree with Russ being pretty terrible after the first. That being said, it coincides – yet again – with the spacing being worse. Not to excuse his performance after the first quarter, it’s just noteworthy.

Disagree on the final part of that. Just look at either the first quarter with Kawhi and a ton of assists to bigs, cutters and shooters alike. Or imagine he made about his average, two of his five jump shots. Shooting luck. His problems imo were Memphis interior defense not allowing him to get all the way to the cup much nor to the free throw line at all, their good defensive rebounding taking away second chances and the amount of inaccurate passes/turnovers he had. I usually pay attention whether his turnovers are mostly the unfortunate kind, a miscommunication, an unfortunate call or non-call, saving a possession but then stepping on the line in the process, a teammate not being able to handle an accurate pass – or bad passes, bad ideas, a lack of focus and losing the ball. Tonight, his turnovers were a couple of sloppy ones and his passing was a mixed bag.

In conclusion my take would be that his turnovers were a result of individual lapses, facing a good defense and a lack of spacing, not that he can’t establish a rhythm with Kawhi. I neither see that reflected in the numbers (in particular not once Morris was out of the starting lineup) nor the eye-test. The only observation is share is them having very different playing styles that can be problematic when Kawhi has a lot of on-ball possessions where he is doubled and one reason for being doubled that frequently is Westbrook being beyond the arc in those possessions. Which further more takes away a potential rhythm from Russ by not being in a suitable/comfortable role for too many possessions. That’s the part where I would agree

• Kawhi looked out of it in terms of focus, hope the personal reasons stated aren’t about anything serious and it was simply the same as for everybody else, some plays where they weren’t sharp.
• Batum’s shot looked flat/gone. Need it tomorrow.
• Gordon ain’t 100%

Everything else I saw was very disappointing, in particular the turnovers and the second unit getting their lunch taken away without any kind of resistance after the first 90 seconds. Got two whistles too much early on which was helpful in the moment, not for the game as a whole. It got the crowd in it, Memphis played harder because of it and we didn’t get 50/50 calls after that whatsoever. 7 free throws total over the ensuing 3 quarters. Lue’s decision to throw the game was correct given the back-to-back and how the game went. It came too early though. Nonetheless, valuable reps for Norm, some minutes for the 3rd stringers, resting Kawhi, not overplaying a banged up Gordon, resting Russ.

Positives:

• starters’ defense in the 1st: they played hungry
• transition defense early on was stellar, clearly addressed by the coaching staff
• Zu was mostly fantastic, only some details kept him from being absolutely dominant
• Norm and Gordon looked alright
• they started out the game with a very balanced offense that was tough to defend, theoretically keeping Kawhi off the ball (and fresher) for the heavier workload as a scorer with the second unit

Negatives I can live with FOR 1 GAME:

• shooting will come and go. Lack of spacing was a noticeable problem after the 1st quarter. Hope it’s better tomorrow. Maybe it’s a positive that Westbrook’s shooting got back to normal. Form didn’t look bad but I’d like him to be careful with his shot selection vs the Pels. He’ll need some 3s from Mann (who should absolutely start vs Ingram) to facilitate at a similar volume, without the turnovers hopefully
• losing to a Memphis squad with JJJ, Bane and Jones back and a part of the turnovers or missed shots. I give Memphis credit for how they adjusted. JJJ is a monster and Tillman has shown that he’s a good defender and inside presence, he battled with an otherwise dominant Zu, deterred him from some shots that should have been bunnies.

Tomorrow’s the must-win. We need much better coaching than in the first matchup, some solid spacing and a far better defensive approach (Mann on Ingram! RoCo and Kawhi on Murphy, doubling off the right guys, better perimeter defense)

After tomorrow we have the lakers on wednesday on their second day of a back to back, then portland at home and what may end up being a meaningless game at phoenix.

I’m not even sure if we lose tomorrow we won’t still end up at 6. A lot of things in flux still.

• Thank you to the Lakers for beating Minnesota to keep the Clippers 2 games ahead of Minny in the loss column.
• Great Q1, as we scored 34 points w/Kawhi not doing very much. However, we had a lot of slop in Q2 with loose ball handling and not holding on to the ball in the paint upon contact.
• Ty Lue f’ed up the game…again..when he took Roco out in Q2 up +13 and went to that 4 guard lineup of Russ-Bones-Powell-Mann-Plumlee, and then later took Mann out for Gordon. Not a good defensive lineup. Bad turnovers. Luke got red hot and a 13 point lead was reduced to 0 when Kawhi was substituted. It’s tough to have a lot of confidence in Lue when he makes moves like that.
• I thought Mann missed an opportunity to take over the game. He hit a big 3 in Q3 to bring the Clips within 2. With Russ and others struggling, he really should’ve been the alpha dog. He didn’t put up enough shots, got passive with his ball movement and dribble, and the Clips fell further behind.
• Zu has really flustered Ja 2 games in a row. If we get into a playoff series with them, we can beat those guys if Zu can stay on the floor and avoid major foul trouble.
• Russ was pretty terrible tonight. He made some good plays off the pass in Q1, but after that period he was ineffective. He got his shot or drive going. I just don’t think he can get into a rhythm with Kawhi on the floor. I think he needs to come off the bench, get into a rhythm and then he can play with Kawhi in a staggered lineup.

Well, beating N.O. tomorrow would all but clinch a top 6 spot for the Clips. Gotta see if they can bring it on the road. I think the 10 players they’re using can do it, but I doubt Lue’s ability to really manage the roster consistently well.

I know the pelicans are more important but is this a warmup game? Kawhi was a plus 12 and Gordon was a plus 7.

I hope they know what they’re doing. They’d better pull it off tomorrow.