Lue made the right move to go small, but I think Zu should’ve been back in the game to finish it b/c Cunningham got to the rim too easily and made this too interesting. My concern with Ty and small ball is that he sticks with it too long.

Kawhi Leonard did not play a good game, imho. He held the ball way too long, allowed double teams to fluster him and stagnated the offense. That’s what got us in the hole.

Harden was terrible in the first 3Qs, but I liked his game in Q4. Not having Kawhi on the court helped him. More space, more rhythm passes, better shots created.

PG was great from start to finish on offense. Defensively he had a number of good moments, but his weak side rebounding needs to be a lot better. He has to play more like a true forward, especially if we go small, and prevent offensive rebounds.

Russ played the type of game I wanted to see. He handled the point guard role well, got the ball moving, and took his shots in the right context and against the right matchups/coverage. He also was our small ball #5 during the big push to win the game.

Mann’s contributions will be unsung, but I thought he got the team out of a rut in Q3 with solid on ball defense, rebounds, and dribbling into the paint to draw 2 key fouls that got Detroit in the penalty which allowed us to claw back in by the end of Q3. There was a moment early in Q3 when Ty Lue seemed to put the clamps on Mann looking for his shot. I think he has to give Mann the same green light he gives Coffey.

Coffey had a bad first half, but was great in the small ball unit in Q4, looking for his shot, and much better defense. He knows his role and has a green light on this team. Ty should extend that green light to anyone who plays with the big 3. They’re the ones who are going to get good shots and break the game open.

Zu didn’t have a good stat line, but thought he came out of the gate strong. It was more about Harden and Kawhi playing poorly, holding the ball too long and not making good passes.

Norm didn’t get many shot opportunities before the injury but hit a key shot to switch the game in the Clips’ favor for good. My indictment of the performance of the big 3 is that they didn’t get Norm quality shots in 23 minutes on the floor. That can’t happen.

Hope Norm is ok…