Comments on: Game Recap: Clippers destroy Pelicans, 126-103

By: Lucas Hann

Lucas Hann — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 21:43:52 +0000

While obviously you don’t want to overthink things-you want two of your very good players back in the lineup as soon as possible, it may end up making things smoother that Lou will return Tuesday while Trez will likely miss 1-2 more games at least. That way, we’re only adding one major piece back into the fold at a time.

By: zhiv

zhiv — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 18:43:16 +0000

First post glitch. Messed up the sobriquet. Fixed now.

By: zhiv

zhiv — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 18:41:01 +0000

Some fine tuning notes. It was a little shocking that the Clippers didn’t score 160 points in this game. The start was incredible–the key sign that something was going on was when Pat Bev hit the 3. It seems like he has needed time to find his stroke the past couple of years, starting both seasons really slowly and hitting droughts coming back from injury, etc., but then he gets going. With so many options, teams will leave him open and let him shoot. Right up top in this game it looked like he was picking up where he left off, and his 3pt. shot is a weapon that can absolutely kill other teams. PG was incredible, of course. We know he can play like a Kobe/MVP-type and be unstoppable, but that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch, especially alongside Kawhi. Zu had a fine game but he left some points off the board down low, he didn’t look completely dialed in yet, but his effort, running speed, and length are all there, and he should keep rising. PPaterson seemed to be rushing things and wasn’t hitting his shot–and if you’re looking at that item in a critique, you know you’re probably nitpicking an absolute blowout. TMann too, who hit the tidy final 3, but he was around the rim multiple times during the 4th, and nothing went in. Shamet hitting shots makes a big difference, and it’s still hard to say if Morris has the right mindset and can bring his best game consistently, but there was improvement. And it’s still very weird, like the Clippers aren’t the team we know, without both Trezz and Lou. Obviously they’re getting more 3s because Trezz isn’t voraciously eating buckets in the paint. Trying to ladle those guys their big minutes and looks on a team that just played such a strong game could be tricky, but it’s the ultimate high class problem.

By: lying dog-faced pony soldier

lying dog-faced pony soldier — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 17:38:04 +0000

The Raptors have the Lakers’ number. Lakers fans are worried that other teams may emulate Toronto and double or even triple AD, who I’ve read isn’t great at passing out of trouble in the paint. Certainly Doc and the Clippers’ braintrust are well aware of this, and I’m sure have tried this approach in the past. I will be interested to see if the Clippers employ this strategy in the playoffs.

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 16:09:13 +0000

Probably gonna break his streak of making the playoffs.

By: TheGreatestShowman

TheGreatestShowman — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 05:20:30 +0000

That was fun.

By: Niels Pineda

Niels Pineda — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 05:08:09 +0000

I think that Shamet and Morris are the two players who struggle the most by being in a system that isn’t really conducive to their styles.

This season, Shamet has fewer plays run for him and he’s used as more of an opportunistic spot up shooter. When he was starting alongside SGA, they clearly had dedicated sets to get him open looks in rhythm. Now as he plays more alongside Lou, he basically just stands around, let’s Lou do his thing, then gets thrown the ball if Lou is in trouble.

Morris on the other hand was used to being the ball dominant scorer who could chuck a huge volume with little to no pressure. Now he’s playing with offensive players all on another level and he doesn’t have that level of comfort or freedom. He clearly prefers creating his own shot, but even with the Clippers missing Lou and Trez, he will never get that opportunity with the level of talent the Clips have. I was/am hoping that he can kind of find himself like he did on the Celtics. He was still a bit of a blackhole, but didn’t need the ball as much.

By: Lucas Hann

Lucas Hann — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 04:57:23 +0000

Yeah, I don’t think any of these teams have a realistic shot of beating the Lakers–the Blazers are just the most likely to potentially steal a game, or at least make a couple of the losses competitive and keep LeBron and AD on the floor for a lot of minutes.

By: Niels Pineda

Niels Pineda — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 04:54:58 +0000

Yep. The Grizzlies might make a fun matchup for a little bit, but their lack of overall experience will kill them in the end game. Portland has a much better chance compared to any other team that would reach the 8th seed simply because they have one of the best closers in Dame.

The Lakers are also clearly struggling to contain guards without Bradley, and CJ/Dame would definitely light them up with their elite ball handling, penetration abilities, and shooting. On top of that, I think them having Whiteside defensively would be huge just based on his size and athleticism, and Nurk is probably going to be a tough cover for Dwight/Javale who are easily roped into fouls.

Obviously the Blazers wouldn’t have a great chance, but they would work them for sure.

By: sjake

sjake — Sun, 02 Aug 2020 04:42:17 +0000

Man, what a great shooting night. PG was on fire for sure. My hope is that Shamet can catch fire like he did last year. He’s been off. My guess is that he needs a handful of games and practices and he’ll be back to his normal sure shooting ways. Not a huge fan of Morris. He’s kind of seems like a knucklehead. Like Shamet, he needs to find his shooting touch.