I don’t think the series is “over” at all and am confident we will win every game at intuit. The larger take away for me is that neither of these teams stands a chance against OKC. Nevertheless, you keep fighting because there could be an injury or something that makes them vulnerable and it’s also important for our brand to make the longest push possible.

I know there are a lot of Russ haters here but in some weird way I was kind of happy for him to make those winning plays. Of course he also nearly cost them the game a few times. I think Joker made a point of giving him that opportunity which speaks volumes about what a great guy Joker is. I’m becoming more and more of a fan and this only added to that.

We need MUCH better play from the #2 guard position (Norm/Bogie) and we need better management of the lineups from Ty Lue. The DJJ/Batum lineup with Harden/Kawhi/Zu looked like a winner to me until Ty changed the whole thing up. If Norm/Bogie keep going like this, Amir might even crack the rotation again.

Ben Simmons – thought he was pretty good defensively and got a few good ball pushes on offense, but his unwillingness to attack the rim with authority makes him very limited, especially on the road. Ty is going to have to dial up a few things to get something out of players 4-10, and putting Kobe Brown in for some mins may make sense. Kobe is strong and aggressive.

The playoffs are already telling the Clippers some things:

• Live ball TOs will send them on an early trip to Cancun. They either get control of that issue or they will be sent home. They’re not good enough to survive that many mistakes. Valuing the basketball means: moving it and not standing around, making the correct, safe pass to avoid traps, and making the right judgments on shot/pass selection and taking the shot when it’s available.
• Clippers have to get something out of Norm Powell and Bogdanovic. Both were subpar and engaged in active self harm to the cause.
• Ty Lue cannot be playing Norm Powell over Nico Batum and DJJ. He got outcoaced by Adelman who sat MPJ down and played guys who were more active at both ends. He has to play lineups that win the net possession battle. Norm doesn’t fit that if he isn’t scoring.
• Kawhi Leonard has to be better. I felt he got tired and winded by the middle of Q2 due to the altitude and his game slipped at both ends. He committed unnecesary fouls, coughed up the ball a lot, took bad shots. It felt like a struggle for him to get through this game.
• Rebounds & Loose balls: Clippers lost that battle in the last 5 min of regulation + OT. That’s a product of choosing to go with Powell insteado f keeping both DJJ and Batum on the floor.

There really isn’t much more to say than this. Clippers outplayed Denver for much of this game, but they failed to really break them b/c of TOs and very poor play out of the shooting guard position.

On the bright side: the Clips won Game 1 in each of the last 2 playoffs only to get steamrolled the rest of the way. Maybe the Clippers will adapt better to the adversity of losing Game 1. Another thing is the altitude in Denver. I felt like Kawhi and others were impacted by it, but they should be acclimated by Game 2. Still, Ty has to figure out whether Norm Powell is playable. I’m not sure he is after this performance. He needs to turn it around quick if LAC is going to win this series.

There you go, taking care of the ball my ass.

Kawhi 7 TO.