Comments on: Clippers vs Lakers Game Preview: 2023 Opener

By: osamu6238

osamu6238 — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 19:04:34 +0000

definitely, this was a game where if they play like this against a playoff team from last season, I think they should lose. Norm was just bad, Kawhi barely played, PG turned the ball over too much, bad Reggie game, 21 turnovers as a team.

If there’s one guy I’m a little worried about is Reggie. He shot amazingly well for a year and a half for the Clippers, but those seasons were well above his career average. Just makes me wonder if he can still be that super efficient off ball scorer. If Reggie is going to be the same inefficient shooter he was last year, he might find himself out of the rotation.

Obviously too early to tell, but with the depth of this team, everyone has very stiff competition for minutes. I wouldn’t be against starting Mann and having Wall off the bench if Reggie continues to struggle..

By: jbugs

jbugs — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 15:06:53 +0000

I agree. The media loves to overhype or crap on the lakers. This team isn’t elite by any means, but they aren’t a clear dumpster fire either.

By: osamu6238

osamu6238 — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 10:50:19 +0000

Yea, but still a worry to me. Playing a team with AD and Damian Jones as their only bigs, it’s really not a surprise to see them get away with going small. Might be a little different depending on the matchup.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 06:48:18 +0000

Yea, I choose to look at tonight as “the Clips played poorly, but still beat a team they should beat, if they want to be considered actual contenders.” We aren’t at the Warriors’ level yet, but that’s to be expected as the Clips are still incorporating back their two most important pieces (and more) into the team.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 06:46:51 +0000

Yea they’re better than the media makes them out to be. As currently configured they’re probably still in the 8-10 range, but if they make the rumored Hield + Turner trade, I could see them vaulting up to the 6 range – Ham has them playing tough, which is yet another reason I’m annoyed they hired him instead of Mark Jackson.

By: World B. We

World B. We — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 06:20:09 +0000

“The Jazz were willing to give Mike Conley, Rudy Gay and Bojan Bogdanovic along with a 2023 first-rounder in exchange for Westbrook and two Lakers first-round picks.” —I don’t think we beat that hypothetical team the way we played this particular eve

By: World B. We

World B. We — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 06:02:41 +0000

Oh yeah, and the Lakers are two picks and Westbrook being somewhere else in exchange for a sharpshooter away from being an actual playoff threat. I saw some things from them I liked. Bev’s 3 point shot percentage will increase (even without the 3 he had the best +\-on the Lakers) and I expect more good nights from Walker…think Juan Toscanderson is going to wake up a bit when they figure out what they have. A slashing layup artist. Obviously their identity is going to be defense. I was less thrilled with the lack of materialization of who we are, if I’m making sense, but HEY it’s early.

By: World B. We

World B. We — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 05:54:50 +0000

I was getting “we need Hartenstein vibes” but then again whenever we battle the Lakers there’s so much emotional investment involved my heart is racing like I’ve just snorted a line of meth. might be zooming past the reality of the situation is what I’m trying to say.
Turnovers. 21 to the Lakers 9. We can’t expect to win every night if Norm & PG13 shoot like that. Good thing there’s 81 games in the regular season to get those two sharp shooting. I promised I’d never say a bad thing about PG13 after he won us that Jazz series a couple of years back, so I’m not going to wail about his performance beyond “he’ll play better”

By: chogokin

chogokin — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 04:40:09 +0000

I agree w/ your overall point, but FWIW I don’t think the lack of a backup C was the problem tonight – I think the Clips actually rebounded and defended pretty well.

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 04:38:50 +0000

Hands down the best game Zu has ever had for want I want to see. Still think we missed that second big so hopefully they will take notice.