The Harden example is spot on. Vanderbilt, AD, to some degree Reddish and Prince: you wanna go at them or DLo, Reaves and exploit LeBron’s ball-watching instead? Norm and Kawhi were great and efficient 1-on-1. But we have room for improvement with regards to shot selection/decision-making and it takes the off-ball players to move once the offense stalls and the on-ball player to be active (which can be as simple as calling out plan B/help) once his play is shut down/disrupted and the shot clock ticking down.

Also noticed the typical wasted possession when Russ is off-ball: wasting clock, getting into the offense late, under 5 seconds left and him (or Theis) are the only passing options – in unfavourable spots where Russ doesn’t have enough time to create a good shot and Theis no hope at all. This is mostly a Harden issue (and to some degree Kawhi).

Another typical example: forced telegraphed plays. This time it was posting up Kawhi vs a mismatch. Lakers defended the entry pass well and Russ tried for at least 5 seconds to find an angle rather than abandoning the idea. The moment the defense is doubling the entry pass, that play is dead and you gotta improvise. This doesn’t happen too often, yet it’s possible to get it down to zero/near zero. If the eye-test is right, this is mainly a Russ issue (and to some degree PG).

• Clips still have this habit of trying to go up against length instead of moving the ball or dribbling away from it to exploit the more favorable match up. On the play where Reddish got injured (when he fouled Harden w/no call), for example, there was no reason for Harden to go up against the Lakers’ best defender when guys like D-Lo and Reaves are on the floor and are easier to exploit. I did see improvement from Kawhi as he attacked AD more cleverly, spinning in place and getting AD to back away thinking a drive to the rim was coming and then rising up to hit the short mid range shot.
• Defensively, this team plays so much better when the forwards and guards stop cheating or over helping to the middle, leaving the corner 3 or high elbow 3 on the weak side of the floor exposed. When a forward plays at the edge of the box and is able to credibly cover the ground to the corner 3, opposing teams end up dribbling into our length and a contest or missed shot ensues.
• Fast break: really just need to do a better job of finishing plays. If the Clips are going to play small lineups they have to finish in the open floor. Having personnel like Coffey and Mann on the floor helps with that. Russ needs more finesse in his game at the rim. Got to be able to pull up in traffic or use a hesitation/stand in place dribble to confuse defenders and be in a better position to finish with simple put backs and layups.

I understood the tech for Billups. The ejection and the second tech though were laughable like so many other techs this season. Refs power-tripping in the last minute of the game, who the hell wants to see that?