Comments on: Clippers vs Mavericks Preview: Season Winding Down

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:45:18 +0000

7 guys in double figures scoring. Not bad. Would having DJ and IJax have helped? I think so. Can we get them back vs. Portland? Do we want to lose to Blazers so we can have a better chance vs. Spurs–assuming we get that far. I think we need to beat the Blazers at least so we can feel good and finish the season on a high note.

By: Sweet Lou

Sweet Lou — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:54:19 +0000

So it all boils down to Friday game. Blazers are a good team but not a top team. Deni is their best player but he’s not Kawhi yet. It’ll come down to the rest of the crew. Jrue nailed us the last time. He’s probably the 3rd best players on the court. If we can match it I like our chances. Benn that was suppose to be our bench punch is out of touch. He’s a talented player that just got lost. DJJ is a huge disappointment.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:49:02 +0000

I think LAC needs Collins back in the starting lineup. Dunn can be the #2. That lineup complements Garland at both ends. On defense, Dunn provides protection. On offense, Collins can provide the outlet on the traps of Garland at mid court and he can attack with a numbers advantage. Will Lue do it? Probably not in time.

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:15:26 +0000

Gotta chime in on the Benn discourse. It’s pretty obvious to me that he was being aggressive and grifting with confidence when he first arrived and now he’s s being coached to not be so “selfish” and he’s the worst of both worlds.

We needed his grifting as a 6th man and now we’ve lost that upside. Hope he doesn’t turn into Nick Anderson (yes am going back a long way for those who know what I’m referencing).

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:54:11 +0000

Repeating myself but the biggest issue we have is a lack of firepower in the starting lineup. You just can’t have both DJ and Dunn out there and DJ is taller and a more reliable shooter. Also just a better overall basketball player. It’s probably too late to swap Dunn out with this big game coming up, but if we somehow make it to a playoff series starting Sanders instead—-even Miller—would be better. Both Garland and Benn need a more balanced offense with other players who draw gravity to be fully effective. So I don’t want to pass judgement on either—yet.

Am I the only person who wouldn’t mind seeing us host the Warriors in the 9/10? Draymond stated publicly last night that he could pretty much give a shit about being in the play in and Steph will be on a minutes restriction. Kawhi should be the best player in that matchup and we would be at home. I also look at it this way. If Portland is good enough to beat us Friday then they should have a good shot at taking out Phoenix. If that’s the relative strength of all teams concerned then I would like our chances in Phoenix too. They looked really terrible last night and Green may have gotten dinged up tonight too when they barely beat Dallas.

Pick your executioner: OKC or the Spurs. Against either the only shot is their MVP goes down to injury so we’re pretty much playing for pride and experience for the young guys toward next season. This is the one reason I wish Yanic was still with us.

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:33:46 +0000

This game exposed DJJ and Math. They’re basically trash vs. good, fast teams with tenacious D. DJJ made 3 consec. horendolus plays that took away any small chance. His b ball IQ sux. Amd Math—he’s so one dimensional — clips should just break up with this guy. KP Jr’s even better. He’s so predictable–just a bully ball, tunnel vision player. He’s gotta be just horrible to play with. Last game I saw Collins wide, wide open for a dunk with Collins hands outstreched begging for the pass that never came when Math tried to go it alone and lost the ball. I really don’t want Lopez, Math or DJJ back next yr.

By: Morty CA

Morty CA — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:26:44 +0000

No one is a good matchup against OKC besides the Spurs.
I think we have a better chance against the Spurs.

By: Josh Smith

Josh Smith — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:13:43 +0000

Dunn and Benn have been awful. This is a horrible matchup for them.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:12:36 +0000

The team has competed well against OKC tonight. They have a fairly low number of TOs given that Garland is not playing. They’ve positioned themselves well defensively to match up, haven’t fouled all that much, and they’ve attacked offensively with confidence.
They just can’t keep up with OKC when they attack off of missed shots or loose ball plays. No one in the league does that better than them. It’s probably the best part of their offense.

I’m a bit more confident and optimistic that they’ll play a better game vs Portland than they did the last time. They looked more serious tonight.

On a side note: Benn Mathurin just hasn’t been good tonight. When he’s bad he’s just an athlete who’s out of control and often self destructs with the ball in his hand. He’s been bad tonight.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 03:42:07 +0000

I hope (though I don’t expect it) Lue makes a lineup tweak for the Portland game and for the play in/playoffs.

Move Collins back into the starting lineup, keep Dunn in at starting SG and move DJJ to the 2nd unit.

With Garland on the court, DJJ has struggled to cover for Garland getting picked on defensively. Even more so, Dunn has been ineffective off the bench. There’s a very wide variance in Dunn’s effectiveness between the two roles.

Dunn has a bit more value paired with Garland b/c DG needs protection.

As for Collins, I don’t see any way that the Clippers can compete and have a shot at the playoffs or to make some noise in round 1 with Collins playing off the bench and being limited in minutes to under 30. He’s too talented a player. If you watch this OKC game and see how he’s able to move against this OKC front line and compete against them, you’ll realize that you need 32-35 mins of that to win real basketball games.

DJJ has worn down a bit, but he’s so versatile that you can plug and play him into multiple situations and he can be effective.

It’s also very clear that Sanders has juice and lineups that have Sanders and Miller together are just much more competent offensively than a lot of our other lineups.