Trez? I hope this situation gets better. Maybe playing against Denver/Utah’s second units will be good for him. He won’t see a Boban on the 2nd unit, and LAC can minimize his minutes against the starters (Jokic/Gobert) by riding the Zu train.

Clippers are undefeated when I don’t post to the game thread until after the game is over. So, for the rest of the playoff I’m going to wait until after the game to post my observations, so here goes my top 10 observations from the game:

1) Kawhi is the all around best player in basketball. His dominance on both sides of the ball is amazing to watch. He really just out the entire team on his back in the 4th quarter to close this series out. We are incredibly lucky to have him on our team.

2) Reggie Jackson gets alot of slander from Clipper Nation, but I’m here to say he came up big in this one with clutch 3 after clutch 3 when the we desperately needed those buckets. When he just sticks to catch and shoot 3’s he’s a great addition to the line-up. Problem is he doesn’t always stick to that and tries to do to much at times, the result usually being a turnover.

3) Mook had a great series on both sides of the ball and I really don’t care for the way he was vilified by the Media, just because the golden boy Luka was crying about it. The ejection was BS if you ask me. He actually got ball and then the follow through hit Luka. How was this any different than the play from game 5 where Hardaway hit PG13 in the face on the same type of follow though? NBA was clearly doing a “make up” call for the “shoe incident” that Mavs and Laker fan haters went apeshit over on Twitter after game 5.

4) Trez is a BIG BIG BIG (did I mention BIG?) PROBLEM for this team. The minutes he was on the floor we were decimated by Dallas, again and again and again. We almost pulled a Houston Game 6 redux by playing Trez in the late 3rd quarter and into the early 4th. This is likely going to continue to be an issue with either Jokic or Gobert in round 2. Trez is AWFUL on defense (Kawhi got annoyed with him a couple times for blown coverages), gives up wayyyy too many offensive rebounds, and is just to damn small to protect the rim, so that when he’s in the other team is on a never ending layup drill. He is just a really flawed player. Can’t shoot from outside and too small to dominate inside. I hope playing him doesn’t cost us losing a chance at a chip this year but he has got to go in the off season. Would be great if we could pull off a sign and trade so that we could get something back.

5) PG13 seems like he started to revert back to Playoff P again. Sigh!… As soon as he started missing outside shots he got tentative and started over passing and not attacking. Generally he was OK out there but we REALLY need him to be much better if we’re gonna have a chance to get a chip this year.

6) ZU is da MAN!!!!… Aside from Kawhi and Mook who were both HUGE this series, I think ZU was really the MVP of the series. The minutes he was on the floor we dominated the Mavs. His defensive presence stifled the Mavs both inside and even on the perimeter. He was Kyptonite for Luka. As awful as Trez has been in hs center minutes ZU has been the complete opposite. He posted a mind blowing +33 ne rating today. WOW!

7) Sham and JMike were decent. Not spectacular, but very solid contributions

8) Lou put up a real stinker. The Lou and Trez minutes which used to be so much fun to watch have really turned into a train wreck. Here’s hoping that they can somehow re-kindle something on the offensive side of the ball because otherwise they are darn near unplayable together.

9) We REALLY REALLY REALLY need Bev back healthy. Please let that calf heal up and stay healthy.

10) Dallas was a really tough out. Not sure how that team finished 7th seed but Luka is a freaking madman and is pretty much unstoppable, and is likely going to be the best offensive player in the league in a few years if he isn’t already. Add a couple 3&D wings and they are a championship contender. We won this round but I definitely don’t want to be in their playoff bracket again next year.