I guess the reporter was thinking if there was a buyout guy or something Kawhi sees where we could improve, but still a weird question when we’re past the deadline and have a full roster.

More Konan. Less Lopez. Loved the dust-up with JV, who thought Konan would cower. He didn’t. Plus, Ben came in to push back. Good stuff. This team is tough.

Ben was magnificent. He is good.

I don’t believe Kawhi understands this team is better now than it was with Harden.

Can’t wait for Garland.

Clipper fans, we have a fun team.

• Kawhi played his worst game in about 3 months. Denver executed their game plan to face guard him; Kawhi did move the ball better, but it felt like he was worn down from all star weekend. His shot was very flat and never found a rhythm. He was mostly invisible offensively in crunch time and Ty couldn’t figure out how to get him the ball.
• Ty did make a good adjustment to bring Mathurin early in Q1 because that start did not bode well. Mathurin did a lot of what we saw in Houston last week, but added a lot more with a willingness to take and make midrange shots. He’s a foul baiter, every bit as effective as James, but that motor and aggression in the open floor or in situations when LAC is playing 4 v 3 due to a double team made him deadly tonight. He’s a great athlete who is in excellent physical condition and is a great finisher. Tonight he was feeling it and hit shots from spots on the floor where he hasn’t been great. If his shot making and overall motor becomes his baseline, then he has a chance to realize their potential. His defensive intensity was dawg like
• DJJ – Might be his best crunch time performance (would have to go back to some games he had with Dallas on their run to the finals, but he was a featured guy in crunch time and delivered).
• Jordan Miller – Played an impactful game, but my guy has to recognize that teams are giving him the midrange and 3 because they’re afraid of his dribble drive. He had 1 pt tonight and really could’ve had 12 if he had taken the mid range shot that his dribble drive had created for him.
• Collins: 15 rebounds tonight and is a high level shot maker who didn’t get enough shots (missing a PG can do that).
• Dunn: didn’t produce enough offensively, is great as a free safety defender when DJJ is taking reps against the big guns, 8 rebs/8 assists. We do need him to hit 12 pts per game to justify him playing that many minutes if/when Garland gets back.
• Brook Lopez – when he’s not shooting 3s he can make a contribution. Was a -11 in the first 3 quarters and it looked worse than that. He was +8 in the final stretch and he made a big stop and got 2 big buckets in crunch time. I think LAC would be a lot better off if he shot zero 3s.
• YKN – Really liked what I saw from him. He was impactful in Q3/early Q4 and helped put the team in a position where a win was plausible.

My only gripes in this game were: too many stupid fouls by LAC; and I’d rather that YKN play 20 mins per game. 13 min is too little. Lopez playing 31 is too much and it doesn’t help YKN’s development. If you give me a choice between winning 45 games this season with Lopez playing 30+ min or 40 wins with YKN playing 24 mins, I’ll take the latter.