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Post by mistwell on Jan 27, 2024 18:20:23 GMT -8
Wow. That was incredible. Second night of a back to back on the road against the supposed best team in the NBA missing our center (they're missing Porzingis) and Paul George playing through a groin injury. We didn't even shoot the 3 great. And we kicked their asses hard. So hard our scrubs had a lot of playing time.
I was watching the Boston feed and their commentator said this Clippers team is the most well balanced team they've seen live at Boston other than the Celtics themselves. They made a point of saying they thought this Clippers team was better balanced than the Nuggets.
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Post by hitnrun24 on Jan 27, 2024 18:35:45 GMT -8
I wonder if this will help the ppl who keep pointing to Harden's scoring dip in the playoffs realize that this team can win without him scoring. His shot wasn't falling, but he does a lot to get us into good offense. Celtics will usually play much better so I won't make this mean too much, but it's good to see the Clippers handle them on a back to back. Since the early losing streak, I don't think the Clippers have been out of any game that Kawhi's played. Pretty phenomenal stretch.
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Post by v-ice on Jan 27, 2024 19:11:35 GMT -8
Awesome to read that Clippers won easily
Hopefully Sportscenter will show or say something about iit.
It’s a triple header on ABC so those are the games that they will talk about. Even Knicks.
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Post by nuraman00 on Jan 27, 2024 19:29:57 GMT -8
Awesome to read that Clippers won easily When you're done reading, can you still watch it? |
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Post by v-ice on Jan 27, 2024 21:05:46 GMT -8
What’s more impressive?
A WC team playing on a B2B and going into the best team in the league and beating them badly.
Or
A WC team winning on the road and beating a non play in team?
We don’t get any talk for our big win.
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Post by clipps on Jan 27, 2024 21:49:09 GMT -8
Clippers are dominating, I won my fantasy football league, Chargers landed Harbaugh. 2024 is a great year.
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Post by corkscrew on Jan 27, 2024 23:18:47 GMT -8
What’s more impressive? A WC team playing on a B2B and going into the best team in the league and beating them badly. Or A WC team winning on the road and beating a non play in team? We don’t get any talk for our big win. Fine with me, talk is cheap. As long as we keep kicking ass, I'm good. Clippers now 27-7 (.794) since mid-November. |
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Post by v-ice on Jan 28, 2024 7:31:25 GMT -8
Was thinking what our record would be if the Harden trade was made in September.
With him starting the season in shape.
But also would Westbrook had remain a starter instead of Mann?
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Post by corkscrew on Jan 28, 2024 10:05:52 GMT -8
One more thought about this industrial-size ass whooping: It was done mostly on defense, they smothered the Celts in their sleep. Clippers shot 44% (only 25% from 3). Imagine if the shot had been falling for the Clips.
This had to be one of the top 5 best Clippers regular season victories in franchise history. On the road, 2nd game of a B2B, against the winningest team in the league?...
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Post by dane on Jan 28, 2024 10:38:08 GMT -8
One more thought about this industrial-size ass whooping: It was done mostly on defense, they smothered the Celts in their sleep. Clippers shot 44% (only 25% from 3). Imagine if the shot had been falling for the Clips. This had to be one of the top 5 best Clippers regular season victories in franchise history. On the road, 2nd game of a B2B, against the winningest team in the league?... Up by 50 against LAL was my fave. (can't remember final margin). Was that last year? or the year before? |
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Post by v-ice on Jan 28, 2024 11:00:14 GMT -8
One more thought about this industrial-size ass whooping: It was done mostly on defense, they smothered the Celts in their sleep. Clippers shot 44% (only 25% from 3). Imagine if the shot had been falling for the Clips. This had to be one of the top 5 best Clippers regular season victories in franchise history. On the road, 2nd game of a B2B, against the winningest team in the league?... Up by 50 against LAL was my fave. (can't remember final margin). Was that last year? or the year before? |
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Post by dane on Jan 28, 2024 11:59:59 GMT -8
OMG! That long ago? Ha! The older you get, the less the difference between a year ago and a decade ago seems to matter.
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Post by corkscrew on Jan 28, 2024 16:25:26 GMT -8
Great Law Murray piece in The Athletic about the Clippers defense last night: ========= The 6 minutes and 34 seconds that make the LA Clippers scary
Saturday night was going to be one of the greatest tests of the season for the LA Clippers. The schedule had them visiting the Boston Celtics, a team that holds the best record in the NBA, one night after the Clippers started a seven-game road trip in Canada against the Toronto Raptors.
The Celtics blew out the Miami Heat on the road Thursday, giving them one day of rest. And the Celtics handed the Clippers their worst loss of the season last month right before Christmas, a 145-108 thrashing that saw Boston make a season-high 25 3-pointers.
I highlighted the Clippers defense this week and the areas of improvement the group needed to reach their ceiling. One of those was to defend without fouling, and the Clippers did that Friday night in Toronto, preventing the Raptors from attempting a single free throw in the first or third quarters. Kawhi Leonard, who missed the Celtics game last month due to a hip injury, played all 12 minutes of the first and third quarters in Toronto.
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said before this road trip that it was going to be a “mental trip.” While that emphasis did not translate in the team’s last home game, an offensive-fueled win against the Los Angeles Lakers, the team’s approach was much better in Toronto and to begin Saturday’s game in Boston, where the Clippers took a 55-39 halftime lead. The Celtics shot a season-worst 29.4 percent from the field in the first half, missing 19-of-23 3s. The Clippers held the Celtics to only five free-throw attempts and 18 points in the paint, a masterful defensive performance.
But what happened in the third quarter should open the eyes of every NBA observer going forward. The Clippers ripped off a 21-0 run to turn a game that wasn’t necessarily close into a complete blowout against a Celtics team that had only one home loss all season and only two losses in games that weren’t in clutch time (when the margin is within five points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter).
In beating the Celtics 115-96, the Clippers established a 27-7 record since starting the season 3-7. Sure, the Clippers offense is dangerous. But the 21-0 run Saturday night showed where the Clippers defensive ceiling is, even on the second night of a road back-to-back against a quality opponent while missing starting center Ivica Zubac.
Let’s look at the tape:
The charge
Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum is the head of the snake offensively. Tatum came out with urgency to begin the second half Saturday night. He beat Leonard on a drive in semi-transition, beat James Harden on a strong hand drive, then used a ball screen to make a 3 over Terance Mann in three of Boston’s first four possessions of the third quarter. Tatum’s 3 cut the Clippers lead to 58-46 with 9:52 left to play in the third quarter.
The ensuing Celtics possession came after Mann converted a put-back following a Leonard miss. The floor was spread for Tatum, who was being defended by Mann at the top of the key while Boston shooting guard Derrick White cut through. Tatum chose to drive left on Mann to get into the paint.
Paul George, who played in Toronto and Boston despite being listed as questionable due to a groin injury, was defending White. With Clippers center Mason Plumlee in the strong side corner covering Boston center Al Horford, George represented the rim protection on the possession.
Watch as George never takes his eyes off of Tatum and rotates to help Mann, beating Tatum to the spot to draw his fourth charge of the season before Tatum could get the ball to Jrue Holiday for a spot-up 3-point attempt. George drew three charges all of last season:
cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/01/27230316/George-draws-charge.mp4?_=1
The contest
No team attempts more 3s off the dribble than the Celtics. The offense is powerful, yet simplistic, as the Celtics want to isolate and get 3s either by pulling up or moving the ball to a fully spread floor of waiting spot-up shooters. Per Second Spectrum, the Celtics are in the bottom 10 in passes per game and the bottom five in drives per game.
The Clippers were cooked by the Celtics last month, but their assignments were sound on Saturday night. On the defensive possession after George drew a foul on Tatum, George drew Tatum in isolation. Tatum didn’t elude George at all before going into a pull-up 3-point attempt. Not only did Tatum’s shot miss so badly that it injured Holiday’s hand on the ricochet, but it allowed Leonard to rebound the carom and find George for a timeout-inducing leak-out dunk:
cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/01/27231254/George-contest-leak-out.mp4?_=2
Blow up the after-timeout play
When Leonard missed last month’s matinee loss against the Celtics, Lue compared Leonard’s absence to how a football team’s defense misses a “shutdown” cornerback, “a guy we can put on multiple guys to kind of slow them down a little bit.”
Teams call timeouts to draw up their best plays offensively and to switch up the game plan defensively. The Celtics were victims of Leonard’s awareness, versatility and playmaking on the defensive end of the floor.
With Holiday in the dunker spot and White and Jaylen Brown occupying the corners, Horford set a ball screen for Tatum at the top of the key. Plumlee left Horford to meet Tatum while Mann recovered, and Horford faded out above the arc. Leonard left Brown and sprinted from the weak side corner to discourage a 3-point attempt from Horford, with Harden, Plumlee and George rotating behind Leonard’s closeout. As Horford began his drive towards the basket, he had a step on Leonard momentarily. But the rotating Clippers did their job, and Horford left his feet with nowhere to go with a pass. Horford tried to fit a pass into Holiday, but Leonard read him like Mac Jones and secured the steal:
cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/01/27232647/Leonard-steals-Horford-ATO.mp4?_=3
To recap: Leonard started the possession off the ball, read the high pick-and-roll developing, prevented a 3-point attempt, and then forced a turnover that potentially saved an attempt at the rim. He is an MVP candidate.
The rim protection
The Clippers forced a second Boston timeout during this run, and Leonard closed out on a missed Sam Hauser 3-point attempt, getting a spinning dunk on Luke Kornet to extend LA’s run to 16 unanswered points. No, Boston substitutions did not abate the beatdown.
x.com/LAClippers/status/1751422722960151004?s=20
The aftermath of Leonard’s dunk left the Clippers in less-than-ideal matchups, starting with Plumlee alone on the perimeter against Tatum while Mann was alone in the paint against Kornet. Tatum decided this was an opportunity to get the 7-foot-1 Kornet the ball inside against the 6-5 Mann.
But as Kornet tried to gather himself for an attempt at the rim, Leonard came off of Holiday to help in the paint. By the time Kornet was ready to power into a chance to score, Leonard was there to block the shot and get a rebound. Leonard ended Saturday’s game with two steals, two blocks, and only one personal foul to go with a game-high 26 points.
cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/01/27233836/Leonard-blocks-Kornet.mp4?_=4
The effort
The eleventh scoreless possession in a row for Boston was arguably the most frustrating. Tatum received a handoff from Holiday, squared Leonard up, and then tried to get to his strong hand and go downhill. Tatum attracted the eyes of all five Clippers defenders, with Harden swiping at Tatum just before Tatum gathered for an attempt.
Leonard blocked Tatum’s initial attempt, and Tatum recovered the ball for a second attempt at the basket that hit the backboard. Tatum’s momentum carried him into a put-back attempt, but Tatum left his third attempt short. Tatum then tried to tip in one final attempt over Plumlee that missed. After Russell Westbrook finally recovered a defensive rebound and saved it with a pass to Leonard, Tatum was called for a technical foul. Leonard capped the game-defining 21-0 run with a free throw to give the Clippers a 79-46 lead.
cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/01/27235111/Tatum-tech.mp4?_=5
The Clippers were as bad from 3 as the Celtics were, as both teams missed 30-of-40 3s Saturday night. But while the Celtics lead the NBA in points coming off of 3s (40.3 percent), the Clippers only get 33.2 percent of their scoring from 3s — 16th in the league.
During the 21-0 run that lasted 6:34, the Clippers did not attempt a single 3-pointer. On the flip side, the Celtics missed all four 3s during this third-quarter stretch. Tatum missed half of Boston’s 12 missed field goals total, and the Celtics failed to attempt a single free throw. The Clippers forced three turnovers, while the Celtics failed to score after grabbing four offensive rebounds (three on the one possession by Tatum that led to his technical foul).
Since November 17, when the Clippers changed their starting lineup, they have the NBA’s best record, eclipsing the Celtics’ mark of 26-9. This was a statement stretch by the Clippers, who made what could ultimately be the biggest statement the team could make in a regular season game.
theathletic.com/5232297/2024/01/28/clippers-defeat-celtics/?redirected=1&source=googlesearch&access_token=15000296========= |
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