Harden more “super Natural” than Kawhi?

Not only is that disputable, it is flat out wrong.

Look at the career advanced playoff metrics. Win shares per 48, Value over Replacement Player per game played, Box Plus/Minus. They tell a simple story. That story is that Kawhi is borderline top five player of all time (or at least since these metrics became available). Harder, while unfairly maligned for his playoff performances, is simply not in Kawhi’s league.

In the NBA today there are two players with better advanced stats in the playoffs than Kawhi – Lebron and Jokic. That’s it. Then Doncic is roughly on the same level as Kawhi. Everybody else is behind him. And Harden isn’t even close.

3-game vs. 7-game series.

Wouldn’t that just be crazy if we end up winning the Chip without Kawhi?

The only good thing I can say about the Q3 meltdown was that James Harden picked up his 4th foul and rested for the last 4 min of Q3. It gave him the legs he needed for Q4, and what a Q4 it was! 5 floaters in the last 4 mins to go with PG’s corner, behind the backboard 3 sealed a great, great win.

• PG – Great first half, CTE Q3, sloppy defense on close outs, but man did he hit one of the biggest shots ever when we absolutely needed it. We did get the game we needed from him overall, and we need 2 more.
• T-Mann played 35 min, put Luka in jail and hit 2 big 3s in the 2nd half to keep the hope for a win possible. He put up 9 shots, did better at not passing up shots and helped the team every which way possible. I would expect the team to encourage him to put up 12-15 shots in the next game at home.
• Amir Coffey’s stat line doesn’t stand out and he did make a few mistakes, but I would credit him with finally slowing down Kyrie in Q3 and pushing Dallas to put the ball back in Luka’s hands, which slowed the pace down and allowed us to get into our set defense where we put the handcuffs on him. Dallas not force feeding Kyrie and considering taking Luka out of the game was their mistake. Kyrie had 6 pts in Q3 and 12 in Q4 (Coffey mostly off the floor in Q4 and Kyrie got his buckets mainly off PG).
• Zu: was great. Refs simply refused to be fair when he has the ball in his hands. Tony Brothers’ crew let Dallas’ defenders just hack him like this was a WWE fight.
• Plumlee: an unsung hero, dare I say, of this game. We won the minutes that he was on the floor, and his entry into the game in Q4 with Harden penetrating to set up the lob was absolutely key b/c we blew the lead back up to 11.
• Norm Powell – Made 3 3PAs, which was good, but he was on the floor for 32 mins and we didn’t really need him on the floor except in the last 5 mins to stretch the floor. He committed some dumb fouls and we didn’t run enough sets for him to justify him being on the court.
• Russell Westbrook – Played about as bad a game as he’s played as a Clipper. He played irresponsibly, and I just wish the team would leave him in Dallas. A 35 year old NBA vet shouldn’t need to be told not to take stupid shots, don’t make stupid fouls, and just show some f’ing poise and leadership.

I think we’ve proven that this Dallas team isn’t that good. We spotted them 2 games where we played 4 v 5, but today’s lineup has pretty much owned the Mavs apart from 2 Kyrie outbursts.

You take 1 game at a time and the Clippers have often blown important opportunities in the playoffs in front of the home crowd, but one has to admit to be 2-2 with no Kawhi Leonard isn’t a bad place to be. We have owned Luka over 4 games, and we have the ability to manage Kyrie with more attention to film.

I don’t think Vegas will favor us in this series, but I do think we’re the better team and should win it.

Hindsight you wish they rolled the dice with the 1-0 lead for as long as possible and maybe gotten through this series without even having to bring him back.

Sometimes, the most basic choice is the best.

If Kawhi cannot help the team, he shouldn’t play.

If inflammation Kawhi does play, it brings this wierd negative mojo to the remaining guys.

They have such love and respect for their teammate, but they forget that they need to focus on each of their duties.

Kawhi is not going to save us.

Each player/coach has to focus on what they need to do for the whole team to win.

Glad to see the Team step up. We truly are the never say die Cardiac Clippers.

Big ? — Kawhi’s status going forward and if he’s somehow cleared, does Ty and the team take that chance given how the team has performed with and without?