Pairing Kawhi with EJ seems fruitful — Kawhi seems to trust another high IQ vet.

Morris has to play better. We all know that Coach is going to play him 25+ min. Yikes.

Would rather see Batum and Roco take up most of the minutes at the 4.

Roco has to be smarter in his shot selection. That 1 for 8 outing — what does he think he is Brandon Boston!!!

OKC is going to double Kawhi — how do we adjust. If Morris does his imitation of Luke K., we’re going to be in molasses. We have to be like Mobil 1 synthetic smooth. Move the ball, less iso crap.

My preference:

1st unit – Mann + Gordon + Kawhi + Zu + (gulp) Morris (or Batum/Roco).
2nd unit – Russ + Norm/Bones + Batum/Coffey + Roco + Plumlee

Russ doesn’t have the same chemistry with Kawhi as he has with PG. Kawhi is gonna shoot at the top of the key, low post/mid range area, or at the rim. He’s going to draw 2 or 3 defenders w/PG out. He just needs floor spacers, a roll man at the rim and folks who can rotate the ball to the other side of a court. Mann/Gordon/Zu are just better fits. (That said, I’d be ok playing Russ at the #4 instead of Morris).

The Lakers seem to have now elevated Austin Reaves to an alpha scorer. I’m not one who has much faith in D’Angelo Russell as a leader, and since their loss to Houston, Darvin Ham has put the ball in Reaves’ hands and he has really responded. He has been the best player on the floor in each of their last 2 wins. That team has a shot to go 4-2 or 5-1 in their next 6 games (OKC (2nd night of a back to back), CHI, @CHI, @Minn, @Hou, @Utah).

Clippers have to win tomorrow to stay on track.

One of the things I haven’t seen from the Clippers this year is a killer instinct in close games. They don’t execute that well at either end in tighter Q4 contests mainly because of bad personnel match ups (ahem, Lue) and poor offensive execution (ahem, Lue). We have the worst home record in the league among playoff/play in teams. We’ve lost 3 1 point games, 2 OT games, and a total of 5 games by 5 pts or less just since the all star break.

Tomorrow represents a real gut check time and a chance to put a very odd game in the rearview mirror. Can Lue improve his approach to game management? That’s the key imho. I’ll be at the game cheering the team on.

It’s time to fire Lue, trade everything save Zu and Mann (and both of them can go if need be) and restock draft capital and just be ready for when the next superstar demands a trade. It sucks, but this is where we are, IMO. Had we stayed healthy there was a chance with how wide open the west is this season but the window is shut. Burn it all down.