Ty actually did still run some 3 guard lineups today, it’s just that instead of Wall-Norm-Luke, he played Wall-Norm-Mann, which still isn’t ideal, but makes a LOT more sense thanks to Mann’s defense and rebounding. Said it before, I’ll say it again – you can’t run an effective smallball unit w/o Mann out there. I’d still rather see Reggie slot in for Wall (hell at this point I think I’d rather have Preston over Wall), but at least Norm and Mann were both good enough in this one to sort of hide just how awful Wall was.

Don’t really like Powell getting too many minutes. Just wished it could be spread towards Coffey.

Had Wall not played, this squad would’ve won by more. Find a way to send Wall back home to Washington and bring back Hart.

This team doesn’t really need a real point guard. Just a bunch of dudes who can play defense. I don’t care if we score the lowest in the league. I’d prefer to go back to just shutting down the opponent because that is the team’s real identity.

The key was shot selection. Clips only took 12 3 pt shots in the first half. Everything was pounding the ball into the paint. We passed up 3 pt shots to dribble into space and take mid range shots or work the ball inside for layups or dunks. That, to me, is where this team’s A game resides. We are not a good 3 pt shooting team. What we can do is move the ball, create space and driving lanes and take defenses off the dribble. Kawhi played a near perfect game and the team seemed to align to his style of play.

The other key was Robert Covington, who literally saved us from another John Wall led small ball unit meltdown in the second quarter, and ignited a big run that led the Clips to a 22 point lead. Covington also made enough plays to get Powell enough opportunities to find a rhythm. The key for Powell tonight: playing with bigger players who can create space for him to drive. When he was good, every shot was in rhythm, within the offense and not rushed.

The second half was survival ball. We shot about 20 3s (which is about 8-10 too many), didn’t move the ball enough to create space to drive into the paint, got caught in traps, and fouled too much. Luka was a beast, taking advantage of our mistakes to keep his team in the game.

I don’t like Wall playing over Reggie. It’s not just disrespectful to Reggie, but Wall just isn’t good. I hope that changes soon because Wall’s poor play could’ve cost us this game had Covington not been so sharp to cover for him.

Wing stop lineups work for the Clips. 3 guard lineups do not. When PG gets back, I think the starting lineup will be Mann-Kawhi-PG-Morris-Zu. Batum will probably move to the 2nd unit, and we’ll have a lineup of Kennard, Powell, Batum, Roco and either Reggie or Wall at point, or Moses Brown (to go bigger). If PG and Batum have any say in the matter, it will be Reggie in 2nd unit lineups that have a point guard.