OFFICIAL LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS 2023-2024 SEASON THREAD

[P C H]

Yeah they get way too cute with the sets down the stretch. Just let your best two offensive players work

 

[P C H]

So I was thinking about the Clippers crunch time offense, and it dawned on me,

The reason why The Cljps are so mediocre down the stretch is because of their lack of individual offense. If you watch LAC offensively, their sets are gorgeous. I mean ATOs, in the half court, Doc is a wizard with the Xs and Os.

But what happens is things get boggled down down the stretch and plays don't work nearly as well. This is when you need your best players to be able to manufacture offense without needing trickery, or screens, and this is an issue with LAC. Chris Paul needs screens, Blake Griffin isn't good enough to get a quality shot 1v1 still I think, And this has been extremely problematic for LAC and it will be whenever we face teams like GSW who just switch everything.

It's great to have such a dynamic offense, but you need a guy that you can just throw it to that you can play through down the stretch that doesn't need screens.

Just an observation but, yeah.

 

[lawdog1]

So I was thinking about the Clippers crunch time offense, and it dawned on me,

The reason why The Cljps are so mediocre down the stretch is because of their lack of individual offense. If you watch LAC offensively, their sets are gorgeous. I mean ATOs, in the half court, Doc is a wizard with the Xs and Os.

But what happens is things get boggled down down the stretch and plays don't work nearly as well. This is when you need your best players to be able to manufacture offense without needing trickery, or screens, and this is an issue with LAC. Chris Paul needs screens, Blake Griffin isn't good enough to get a quality shot 1v1 still I think, And this has been extremely problematic for LAC and it will be whenever we face teams like GSW who just switch everything.

It's great to have such a dynamic offense, but you need a guy that you can just throw it to that you can play through down the stretch that doesn't need screens.

Just an observation but, yeah.

This is spot on, IMO and its why I've been harping on Blake needing to step up in late game situations. He's the only player we have that has the right combo of size, athleticism and skills to be able to manufacturer his own offense. I think he is good enough to do. Its more of a confidence issue with him. He still seems to tighten up, get more tentative and mechanical in crunch time situations. He needs to trust himself more.

Although they've been relatively few, there have been occasions where he has taken over games down the stretch and been successful. Like, there was one against Phoenix a couple of years ago where he hit a game winning 3. A few other times too. If he can do it at all, he should be able to do it more consistently. Its about building up his confidence and figuring out the best positions to put him in to succeed. Just straight post-ups aren't it. Maybe let him work from the elbow more. But a big part of it is him realizing he can do it.

 

[P C H]

Yeah I totally agree. It'd be one thing if he hadn't done it before but on several occasions he has. Just watch the moves he does in the post pre crunch time to crunch time, its like night and day.

You can always tell when Blake becomes a tight *** because he'll completely abandon his skill and try to get as close to the rim as possible and throw up some ridiculous caca. Like he'll just bulldoze his way to the rim without trusting any of the skills that he's worked on which leads to just pure nastiness. Or he becomes extremely passive.

Now LAC is good enough to where on most nights they'll still be okay. Prime example was last night against SAC. Blake tried to go 1v1 against Matt Barnes and it looked ridiculous down the stretch. CP saved us granted with his PnR play, but a lot of that has to do with Boogie being an awful PnR defender and being in "drop" / no mans land. CP3 kills teams when they do that. Now what happens when that's say, Draymond Green and Klay defending that PnR and they just switch it?

Projecting forward, there's no way we can beat GSW in a series if we can't get quality 1v1 action with Blake. He's the only guy on the team who GSW should have to double, but I could totally see Blake letting them off the hook and letting Draymond or KD guard him. We shall see.

 

[P C H]

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Got some early hoops in today haha [emoji]128170[/emoji][emoji]127998[/emoji][emoji]128170[/emoji][emoji]127998[/emoji][emoji]127936[/emoji]

 

[lawdog1]

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Got some early hoops in today haha [emoji]128170[/emoji][emoji]127998[/emoji][emoji]128170[/emoji][emoji]127998[/emoji][emoji]127936[/emoji]

Bro - I'm just right up the street from there. When can I come in and just get some shots up? I can't do that outdoor court outside of the practice facility. Got too many cats who think they're all stars.

 

[P C H]

Bro - I'm just right up the street from there. When can I come in and just get some shots up? I can't do that outdoor court outside of the practice facility. Got too many cats who think they're all stars.

I've never played there, i've always wondered how is it, especially on weekends. How often do you hoop there?

And it's completely random. Like today, because of the back to back, nobody was really using the court, just getting treatment and what not so I was able to hoop this morning with a few of the other staffers.

It's much harder to hoop there this year though because the training facility now is 100% basketball operations as opposed to the last two years where Community Relations (my dept that I was in) used to be stationed inside the training facility, in which I was there a lot more often than I am now.

But they've got a road trip coming up, so if I hear anything about potential hoops I'll hit you or any of the other Clipper thread fam that wants to hoop.

 

[lawdog1]

I've never played there, i've always wondered how is it, especially on weekends. How often do you hoop there?

And it's completely random. Like today, because of the back to back, nobody was really using the court, just getting treatment and what not so I was able to hoop this morning with a few of the other staffers.

It's much harder to hoop there this year though because the training facility now is 100% basketball operations as opposed to the last two years where Community Relations (my dept that I was in) used to be stationed inside the training facility, in which I was there a lot more often than I am now.

But they've got a road trip coming up, so if I hear anything about potential hoops I'll hit you or any of the other Clipper thread fam that wants to hoop.

Only been there like twice and am not currently playing that much due to age, injuries and generally being out of shape. But I can pull myself together to run on a nice court, so let me know.

 

[HIM]

Bro - I'm just right up the street from there. When can I come in and just get some shots up? I can't do that outdoor court outside of the practice facility. Got too many cats who think they're all stars.

Do you just always take clothes too hoop in? I remember they would let us hoop but 99% of the time I was wearing pants and a button up

Also, regarding that outdoor court, i forget where I heard this but apprently they gave a dude a tryout because every game they watched, this guy's team would win


Anyway, Clipper related news. Another ridiculous stat to show what we already know; Chris Paul is amazing.

Chris Paul is currently third in defensive Real Plus/Minus. No other PG is even in the top 150.

 

[P C H]

Lmao yeah whenever I do I bring clothes for sure. Part it is because I always have some sort of hoop gear with me in my car to begin with

I hate when we play the bulls at STAPLES. Outside of GSW and LAL, their crowd travels the most. It's crazy

 

[lawdog1]

Lmao yeah whenever I do I bring clothes for sure. Part it is because I always have some sort of hoop gear with me in my car to begin with

Yeah, I have an SUV and I keep a bunch of **** in it always, including work out clothes and hoop shoes. White guy stuff too. Beach chair, boogie board, etc.

 

[P C H]

Down 5 with Romdo and Wade hitting 5 first half 3s you'll take it, at least I will

Luc being special on both ends again. He's got jimmy butler at like 3/10 right now and making corner 3s. Hitting over 43% of his corner 3s albeit on low volume.

Interested in seeing how the 2nd half looks. You gotta assume The bulls will cool off from the 3pt line

 

[P C H]

Lmao they give it to Blake at the top of the Key and he freezes up and gets bailed out. Wow. He really ***** himself in the crunch time man. That's not good enough. He's way too good to be like this in moments of crisis.

Good win though.

12-2. Whew

 

[P C H]

.

 

[HIM]

Lmao they give it to Blake at the top of the Key and he freezes up and gets bailed out. Wow. He really ***** himself in the crunch time man. That's not good enough. He's way too good to be like this in moments of crisis.

Good win though.

12-2. Whew

Let me put my Blake cape on real quick. They gave dude the ball 20 feet away from the basket with like 7 sec on the shot clock and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Not only that, Taj was helping off of CP3 he should be better but we should also put him in a better position. It looked like the initial play design was supposed to be a screen by Crawford to get Rondo to switch onto CP3. That failed twice and by the that time we were already in a bad spot. I would have preferred CP3 to just iso on Taj Gibson.

Thank goodness for the bail out foul


A few observations.

-Speights is a national treasure
-DJ looked none too pleased being benched I think Doc should have brought him in earlier, but I love that he finally went with he flow of the game today instead of his normal rotations.
-Blake is a savage. Curnch-time pant-dookieing and all.
-Came back from 19, then came back from 12. I love that.
-Idk how ppl keep fallinn for the Luc pump fake but I'll keep allowing it. I would never close out on that man
-Still not sure how Felton's chubby *** gets to the rim so consistently

 

[P C H]

You're right on the money on that. I think the play was to try and get Rondo to switch on to CP, and play P&R with that. They blew that up by not switching, and Put LAC in a tough position. I just...I saw blake go right through Jimmy the moment Jimmy switched on to him in the first quarter from a similar area on the floor. All this indecisive pivoting and overall just uncertainty with him in crunch time is just...man. He's better than that.

In any event,

- What I am happy about, is the Clips showing some grit and winning a game that wasn't pretty. As Erupt alluded to, down 19, constantly being matched by a OReb or a 3pointer from Wade or something, and yet they fought and finally caught them. Winning games like this is impressive.

- 7&7 through 14 games last season. Yikes. 12-2. Stark contrast

Feels so good to start the season the way an aspiring championship team should.

- I think Doc may need to trust Luc in the 4th a bit more. He isn't as inept on offense as the team makes him out to be IMO and his defense is so necessary down the stretch. But, Jamal Crawford played well tonight. In control. No real ill advised shots. I'll take this Jamal Crawford, even if he's completely compromising our D down the stretch.

- This team has surprised me to start the season, but I REALLLYYYY don't think we're beating Toronto Monday lol off the top of my head I legit don't remember the last time we have and they legit kick our ***** when we play them lol I'll be very impressed if we beat Toronto.

 

[P C H]

 Clippers assignee Diamond Stone led Santa Cruz with 31 points (12-22 FGs; 5-6 FTs) and 9 boards in just 24 mins off the bench #NBADL

wtf

 

[P C H]

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[Nipsey3000]

Blake really needs a back to the basket go to move. I think his lack of comfort level with his back to the basket makes him catch the ball too far out, then he faces up and too many times that person ends up with a turnover or a wild *** spin layup or some ****. If he had a good jump hook or a turn around fade away...Not with a big time fade, bit a mini fade. He and the clips would be better off in crunch times in close games.


Cp3 see had the ability to get around folks but being so short, he has to get super creative with his finishes (a la the fade away against the spurs in game 7, 2 yrs ago)

Big fan of LRM and rivers catching the ball and deciding to take it to the hole instead of settling for 3s every time.

 

[moonman818]

I was at the game

It's ridiculous how many Chicago Bulls fans were in attendance.

That said it was a great game to be at.

 

[jumpmanpro97]

I was at the game

It's ridiculous how many Chicago Bulls fans were in attendance.

That said it was a great game to be at.

CHI fans really travel pretty good, plus a lot from CHI have moved to CA. Clippers showed heart last night. Early on I felt like they were giving up too early.

 

[jumpmanpro97]

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Got some early hoops in today haha [emoji]128170[/emoji][emoji]127998[/emoji][emoji]128170[/emoji][emoji]127998[/emoji][emoji]127936[/emoji]

Is this at the facility in Playa Vista? I've played on the outdoor court next to their facility. How'd you get inside?

 

[lawdog1]

I was at the game

It's ridiculous how many Chicago Bulls fans were in attendance.

Been that way as long as I can remember. Bulls, Celtics and sometimes the Knicks have almost home games when they come to Staples. Its all the transplants from those places that live in LA.

Solid win last night. While I wasn't happy about us going down early, I wasn't that worried because I knew Chicago was shooting at an unsustainable rate. (Someday we'll have a game when someone on the other team does not go off from the 3 point line. Someday). And it was good to see us comeback and pull out a game that was close in the 4th quarter. Wasn't perfect, but good enough.

Game ball goes to Mo Buckets. I don't think we come back without his offensive contributions.

And I agree with PCH that Luc needs to start playing more in the 4th. He's shown himself to be capable enough offensively to be in there.

I'm also not super optimistic about the Toronto game on Monday. They just seem to be one of those teams that always gives us problems. Last W I remember against them was a couple years ago in Toronto when Crawford had a shootout with Terrance Ross, who went for 50. But we're getting them on the 2nd night of back-2-back games, so who knows?

 

[lawdog1]

Is this at the facility in Playa Vista? I've played on the outdoor court next to their facility. How'd you get inside?

He works for the team, I believe.

 

[P C H]

- We haven't beaten Toronto since February of 2014 I believe. That changes tonight, I think. Toronto's on the 2nd night of a back to back and Dwyane Wade saturday was the only wing to have scored over 20 pts against our defense and he needed 5 3's to do so, something Demar doesn't do.

- Luc is shooting 40% from 3 on over 1 attempt per game. 90% of his 3's have been from the corners, and he's making 44% of his 3's from the corner. Added, he's shown an ability to attack closeouts and has a knack for cuts. This is probably the most groundbreaking development for LAC this year. If this is actually a thing, then he becomes playable down the stretch and makes an already great starting 5 unimaginably good. This is in addition to being the best wing defender in the league so far. I definitely think LAC if healthy should be a WC Finalist, but my outlook on this team changes dramatically if Luc playing both sides of the ball competently becomes a thing.