Comments on: Clippers vs Suns Game 2 Player Grades

By: Clips_on_KCOP13

Clips_on_KCOP13 — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 21:29:50 +0000

Time to move on from this era. Move to inglewood already, time for a logo rebrand, get rid of Jasen Powell along with Jason Preston. Keep TMann, Bones, Boston Jr, Diabate and Zu as a young core. Resign Westbrook on a 1 year vet min at most. He can walk if he wants more than that. Decide between EJ or Norm since their skills sets mirror each other. Keep Batum, Plumlee and Roco as solid vet presence. Trade MM Sr at all costs. Coffey would likely be a throw-in in a trade. Then comes Kawhi and PG. Enough with load management. When they play, they claim they get hurt. When they sit out, they still get hurt. Each needs to play at least 60 games/season. As far a Ty Lue, his act is done. Udoka (because everyone deserves a second chance), Nick Nurse and Kenny Atkinson in that order are next on my replacement list.

By: lobc1t1

lobc1t1 — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 20:55:50 +0000

There you go. KL out for game 3. SMH. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36247669/source-clippers-rule-kawhi-leonard-game-3-vs-suns

By: jbugs

jbugs — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 17:17:21 +0000

Batum/RoCo on KD, Kawhi on Booker and Russ on CP.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 16:15:22 +0000

It depends a bit on Batum’s effectiveness. I like Batum on KD and Russ on Booker. But if we want to get optimal effectiveness, I think Russ, Mann, Kawhi, Zu + a shooter (Bones/Gordon or……ROCO!)

By: WhyNotTyler

WhyNotTyler — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 15:00:47 +0000

Stagger Russ and Mann to defend Booker AND have them play some minutes together where Mann can bother CP3 or Russ can get into KD’s grill. Stagger Kawhi/RoCo/Batum to have one of them on KD at all times. As the Suns will try to avoid some of these matchups, you need 3 of those 5 on the court vs their starters.

That part seems pretty obvious

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 14:04:30 +0000

I don’t know how closely Ty Lue looks at analytics or what categories he likes to focus on, but looking at the net rating data over the first 2 games, and a reasonably discernible trend is that having Kawhi Leonard and Terance Mann on the floor together tends to produce a good net rating.

Kawhi+T-Mann+Bones = +28.6 net rating
KL+TM+Plumee = +31.3 net rating
KL+TM+Powell = +29.6
Russ+KL+TM = +6.9

T-Mann also has a net rating with some non KL combos as well. It seems that the T-Mann combo that had a net negative rating was the super duper small lineup with no Plumlee or Zu.

In contrast, the starting 5 has a -27.3 net rating. I think the reason for that is we don’t have a match up defender for Booker in the starting lineup and we’re not getting any points out of Batum. In addition, Gordon has delivered some bombs from deep but not much else. 2 of the 5 worst performing players in these playoffs so far are in the Clippers starting lineup.

T-Mann looks to be that match up defender who keeps Booker at bay and provides the multiplier scoring effect that Kawhi needs. You may recall that when we built that working margin of around 8-12 points in Q1/Q2 of Game 2, it was T-Mann hitting a couple of 3s and finishing on some plays that made it happen.

Another guy who could help fill this role is Roco. If Roco were to play say 10 min (or dare I say 15 min), Mann could spend more time with Kawhi on the floor and we can light the Suns up in front of the home crowd.

I think an optimal lineup based on 2 games of data might be KL+T-Mann+Norm+Zu+ a matchup at the #4 for KD (Batum, Roco or even Russ).

By: Oodypkt

Oodypkt — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 08:05:05 +0000

If we somehow get past the Suns and that’s BIG IF.
PG needs to be fully healthy for us to have a chance against Denver.
They are big, athletic and always have our number.
But 213 duo is no joke.
If Kawhi have PG to take defensive load off him, he will be even more lethal on offense.
In a weird way, I still have solid confidence on our team, even as things always pile up against us.
Let’s see how it goes.
The next couple games will reveal a lot of both us and them.

By: lying dog-faced pony soldier

lying dog-faced pony soldier — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 06:03:42 +0000

Harks back to his game last year vs. Wizards, 7 in the final 9 seconds including the four-point play with 1.9 left on the clock.

By: dhpat

dhpat — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 05:33:00 +0000

Only way to stop Aaron Gordon — he just swoops in and kills us for second chance points.

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 04:47:52 +0000

Denver up 2-0 over Minnesota. It’s tough to judge how good Denver is vs an opponent like Minnesota, as they basically run no thoughtful offensive sets. In addition, they do so much drop coverage that you know where you’re getting your shots.

Murray had a 40 pt game tonight. I think that starting 5 of Murray-Jokic-MPJ-Gordon and KCP is very solid. What sets them apart, in my view, is the power and athleticism of Michael Porter Jr and Aaron Gordon and, of late, Murray to go with the power game and playmaking of Jokic. If we end up playing Denver in Round 2, I’d pay special attention to shutting Porter Jr down. I feel like he’s their X factor and difference maker. I think you also have to put Jokic into PnR actions and challenge their weaknesses on defense. If you stick with a perimeter focused game, they have the speed and length to make shots tough.