How Minnesota’s Defense Stifled The LA Clippers

How Minnesota’s Defense Stifled The LA Clippers

The LA Clippers would finally face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night the first time this season against the West’s best team record-wise and it ended up being a tough loss for the Clippers a game that shared some similarities to the Laker loss recently going to be talking about the details of

This game a very intriguing matchup what went wrong for the Clippers what made Minnesota so tough and what they can do to be better next time and going forward going to be talking about it all on today’s locked on Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los

Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day yes sir you are locking in with the clips thank you for making locked on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day I’m your host Daren vizeri born and raised in LA and in my 19th season as a Clipper fan you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram

At dim dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper LA Sports and NBA content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube where I want you to let me know what you thought of

The game what made it so tough for us do you fear Minnesota in a playoff series after watching this game let me know what you think and this episode is brought to you by jcece medical get the jce case it has five different antibiotics to treat a long list of

Bacterial illnesses all you got to do is go to JM medical.com and use offer code locked on to get $20 off your first order order all right Clipper Nation let’s talk about this one finally we play the Minnesota timber roles it took 39 games to finally play them they have

The number one record in the west right now so we’re chasing them and they’ve been one of the biggest surprises of this season I had them around the playin range improving by a bit I heard people having them in that range a little bit higher but nobody seemed to have them in

Their top four at least they’re top two really and they have shocked everyone of course Anthony Edwards is a very great young player in this league but they are filled with great defensive personnel and I think that’s what stood out to me in this game Rudy goar in Utah see

Obviously we have our run-ins with Rudy goar and there was plenty of Rudy goar to mention in this game he just seemed to have his fingerprints on everything for good and bad but let me say this in Utah the whole thing about the Clippers played him off the floor and exposed him

That’s really OV exaggerated if anything goar’s a liability offensively but the reason why the Terren Man game happened was because goar maybe he over helped off of Terren once or twice but he could not trust his other perimeter Defenders on that Utah Jazz team their best one was Royce O’Neal guys like bogdanovich

Conley in that moment did not look as good to offensively as these last two years for whatever reason I don’t know what happened to him but he returned to being a very good defender of course he was coming off an injury That season in that playoff series and only played in

That game six but Donovan’s not a good Defender like that and then guys like Joe Eng Les Jordan Clarkson like these guys aren’t good Defenders their best defender was Royce O’neal He had to protect everything now he’s surrounded by guys like Jaden McDaniels Anthony Edwards Nel Alexander walk ER then he’s

Got a seven-footer next to him that’s the only not you know known as a positive defender in that starting lineup so my main takeaway was that the Wolves they have a lot of size and they have a lot of good bodies to throw at our best players kawh Leonard being

Guarded by jadden McDaniels that was very obvious coming into the game jadden McDaniels is one of if not the best point of attack one-on-one Defender we have in the league right now he is up there with anyone and you saw why in this game despite kaw’s efficient

Statline of N9 for9 19 from the field I would like to see what he shot with McDaniels guarding him because he was forcing misses and forcing Kawai to resort to and mainly in the first half a lot of foul bating nonsense where it was UN I me kawhai definitely complains and

Does that hey when he gets fouled but it was excessive how he was looking for fouls and flailing and at times he did not get a call when he should have but there were also times where I felt even after watching a replay he was flailing

He was flopping like you got to play basketball bro I mean I I expect a little bit better from kawhai that was mainly in the first half but you had Nik uh not nille McDaniels guarding Kawai you also had him guarding Harden for a stretch and in

The beginning of the game actually they had McDaniels guarding Harden and Cat being guarded or cat guarding Kawai Edwards on Paul George and then Conley on Terren and Rudy goar on Daniel Ty which brings me to mention that OTS was ruled out of this game with a calf

Strain he was a late scratch they said he had calf tightness and right before the game he was ruled out and we really felt that loss in this one both on the pick and roll with his screening and his finishing but also his RI protection and

You know what I think Daniel Tyson Mason plumbley actually played really well their stats might not suggest that but I think they actually played really well I think they are just small like and well Zu plumy is not small but he’s not a good rim protector neither of them are

Real Rim protectors so they’re just backup centers and they’re very good at that but they did get taken advantage of just a bit in this game down low but I also think in general we went with smaller lineups in this game particularly a lineup I’m going to

Mention late in the game which was Westbrook Powell Kawai the basically the big four and Powell so really really small Kawai at the five but in general we went smaller in this game and I think it really came down to the lack of shot making from our

Team from the Clippers I mean the Minnesota timber RLS in this game they turned the ball over 19 times 19 the Clippers turned the ball over 11 times but we shot 43% they shot 57% the Wolves shot 16 less shots than the clippers but they shot 13 more free

Throws and both Clippers actually shot well on the foul line 16 for 18 wolves shot 20 for 31 and we’ll get into Rudy goar and his free throw shooting as the episode goes on but Clippers shot 43% they shot 44 from three so we actually shot better from three than the

Field the Wolves shot 57% from the field and 50 from three so even though they didn’t shoot well from the line they shot well from the field and three and I think that their shooting was not a result of us playing bad defense I think we had some bad laes in concentration

Dumb moments low IQ moments but I think their shot making was simply better than our shot making in this game and that’s a game by- game basis thing so even though I sense the size you know Kyle Anderson coming off the bench with nil Alexander Walker and they were getting

Interceptions you know jayen McDaniels got two interceptions in the first quarter where guys just didn’t realize these guys are really really long they got long Wing spans they’re athletic they’ll pick off your passes and what I thought was interesting was we putting goar in the pick and roll and of course

You know you’re going to get gobear drop coverage but what they were also doing was because the point of attack defense was so good because the roller Ty plumbley mainly When Ty was in he’s not really a vertical threat he’s not tall and what I mean by

Vertical threat is he’s not really a guy that’s going to go up for lobs unless he’s wide wide open I said that about zoo in the past but zoo is still a seven-footer Ty is not so Ty usually likes just stop short around the restricted area for that little push

Shot but goar when he’s defending with McDaniels or somebody that’s that good in the point of attack getting over the screen he can easily play two at once he doesn’t have to cover that much ground or worry about getting up in the air after coming out to contest Kawai he

Doesn’t have to worry about getting super high up in the air for the lob and what you were seeing was the late switch which is oh kawhai doesn’t have a shot right now so he’s going to pull it back out goar is now guarding him and they

Had no prom switching guys like Edwards or McDaniels onto Ty cuz Ty is not going to take advantage of anybody on a switch so that’s where we miss zubats but what I was really disappointed about especially in the first half Kawai James Harden and Paul George they just settled

For jump shots when cat and goar were switched on to them and I I I get that goar is one of the best defenders of this era and he’s one of the best Rim Protectors of all time but and he is better on his feet than people think but

You can’t be settling for three over a seven-footer with that wingspan as opposed to trying to make him defend you downhill it’s just not smart Carl Anthony Town similar thing we had him guarding kawhai to start the game and we weren’t going to him and I put that on

Tyou because I saw him calling plays were not going to him enough when he was the favorable matchup so overall James Harden and Paul George they really couldn’t get going Paul George shot a ton of Threes like too many for my liking and I’ll I’ll elaborate on that

In the next second segment but he was 5 for 19 in the game and 4 for 13 from three played 42 minutes he had 16 points The only positive I’ll say about Paul one turnover and his defense was good he did get bullied One Time by Anthony Edwards but overall I thought his

Defense was good I thought our defense was pretty good I thought our help defense was good I thought our on ball defense was good I thought our rotations were really sharp when we were scrambling we just didn’t have our rim protector and I thought we had bad

Moments in the game very bad lapses and concentration and the inability to consistently make shots and get high quality looks I think we got some high quality looks but not nearly compared to recently and I thought it was because our offensive process was too slow and because the

Minnesota timber roles have very heavy switch heavy Personnel that is not just regular switch heavy Personnel great Defenders that are switching on to you and then goar he blocked kawhai multiple times he was doing a good job of getting up and taking away that immediate shot

Off a screen and we didn’t have anybody to really you know threaten them on the backside with zubot being out so zubats being out is very relevant but I think the Clippers there were stretches in this game particularly in that third quarter and then Midway well through that actually really the beginning of

The fourth quarter that put him in a hole we made a run at the end we actually cut it down from 17 all the way to 3 104 to 107 I believe but or was it it may have been 103 to 107 I don’t know I think we cut

It down to four but we were down by 17 and we fought at the end we fought with a small lineup and coming up I am going to be talking about that small lineup further analyze the performances of the big four what we got from Norman

Powell Off the Bench what we got from Russell Westbrook Off the Bench um but yeah it was 103 to 107 and the Wolves just did a good job making their free free throws late in games late in the game I think the Wolves really impress

Me in this game am I worried about them come playoff time not really I think the Clippers need just need to make shots but if you’re wondering you said the same thing against the Lakers well you are right and I’m going to be talking about why I’m not worried coming

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Order all right Clippers losing this one it breaks their three game winning streak 109 to 105 at the Target Center in Minneapolis the wolves are the number one team in the western conference right now they are 28 and 11 just three games exactly three games above the Clippers which is definitely not not

Insurmountable it would have been really nice to get this win on Sunday but it is what it is we got plenty of season left we’re two games away from the halfway point so we got a whole another half left to go and I have a feeling the

Clippers will continue to move up the standings especially if they are healthy but credit to Minnesota their length their size their defensive Personnel it is good to guard us I will not lie it’s not a coincidence that the Clippers Miss shots they did a good job of contesting

We’re trying to hunt matchups and I’ll tell you what was really smart about them they were not conceding Mike connley to switch on a kawi Paul they were hedging and recovering and he was doing a good job of that and one thing I’ve noticed about the Wolves game

Wolves when they play the Lakers and the Clippers they do a really good job of putting immense ball pressure on your ball handlers and getting physical and it pushes their pushes them out beyond the three-point line and takes time off the clock like they do a really good job

Of pushing you out as far as possible and then making you work defense offensively nil Alexander Walker really good defensively Off the Bench Kyle Anderson I mean he was him and Norman pal of course part of those really solid UCLA teams in 2014 or that very solid UCLA

Team in 2014 because Kyle went to the league after but he made some huge shots in the fourth including that n one and the three in the left corner that was very very frustrating he’s a very good player though Kyle Anderson he’s smart he defends he makes the right plays as

Far as us defensively kawhai was guarding connley to start the game which I found interesting Paul George on Carl Anthony towns I would have figured it would have been kawhai on Carl Anthony towns Terren man on Ant and I thought he was exceptional defensively on Ant I was

Shocked how well he was playing moving his feet staying in front and not falling for his fakes he actually created two turnovers in the first five minutes of the game on the guarding the Ant-Man one was just great one-on-one D that forced a shot clock violation then

The other was a denial that forced a pass from Carl Anthony towns to a cutting Anthony Edwards that went out of bounds so very impressive from Terren Harden was guarding jadden McDaniels as you would expect I thought Harden had three steals one one deflection off a knee then two interceptions but other

Than that his defense was pretty poor his rotations were non-existent on the on the low block and he was getting blown by fairly easily I thought we needed much more from him on both ends of the floor his shot making he just he he he took the shots that he normally

Shoots but I will say this when he has gobear on him too I mean that step back like if it’s not going you’re settling like and that’s one of the things I’ve always had an issue with Harden in the playoffs he that step back is bread and

Butter until it’s not until he starts missing it and like you don’t want to the thing is sometimes that’s the that’s the shot he takes he creates separation he lows his Defender sleep and that’s the shot he gets when he’s got a big guy on him I think that’s a settle even for

Now we’ve seen James Harden show that he can still get by guys that don’t have the best lateral quickness and so I thought not just James Harden though other guys were settling when big guys were being switched out onto them especially goar on that late switch you

Got to think if you get by goar who’s at the rim protecting it cat I mean I’ll take my chances as far as what we were doing defensively Ty was blitzing the Ant-Man dropping on Mike connley Mason plumbley though for the most part was coming out on the to the level of the

Screen with everyone cuz plumbley is not a rim protector and you saw that in this game but I have to say plumbley and Terren and Daniel Ty this is why I think I played well Ty look he made a three to start the game he had several really

Good box outs on goar I think the first half was more of Daniel Ty’s half he had three points and three boards um actually I’m sorry no he had three points four boards a steal on one for two shooting and then in the second half he had a donut he only played six

Minutes in the second half actually so he was pretty quiet uh overall in the second half but in the game he had three points four rebounds and a steal on one for three shooting one for two from three in 21 minutes and 37 seconds of play I think he was

Actually pretty decent Mason plumbley came in and he was linking up with Russ really well you got to see Mason back in regular minutes for the first time in a while and he was finishing passes around the basket he had that really nice take

At goar Russ fed him for two lobs and I have to say Russell Westbrook and Norman pal in this game they gave us an instant spark and that spark lasted all the way to the end of the game Russ was able to get into the paint over and over again

I’m going to repeat though the one frustrating thing he misses layups constantly and it’s it’s like he’s going way too fast the one play where the the Wolves challenged it and Anthony Edwards didn’t really push him I I I’m totally behind the fact that that’s not a foul

That’s minimal contact I agree it’s not a foul foul but then when kawh Leonard does the love tap same exact level of contact basically on Ant-Man like 30 seconds later and then he gets called for a foul cuz Ant-Man walks out of bounds that’s ridiculous but anyway Russell Westbrook one thing I noticed

When he shot that layup is he’s shooting with his right hand not saying that he should he should uh he missed because of that but like I’ve I’ve called it out several times and it’s not just been now I think throughout his career Russ has never been the best with his left hand

But he should have finished that there was two or three layups he missed but overall his defense was exceptional especially in the passing Lanes I liked how physical he was getting with Carl Anthony towns he drew an offensive foul in the fourth should have been two when

He got his El like the basically like hooked essentially at the neck area didn’t get any call but I thought he was super active defensively he was getting rebounds he knocked down two threes in the fourth quarter he got to the paint a lot his screening was good and you know

When Conley was or towns or goar were like with towns they hedge and recover they don’t drop with towns so when they’re when they when Kawai is the ball handler for us and he’s calling for a screen with towns towns Hedges and at times they were putting towns and goar on Russ

Which we’ve seen a lot because they don’t think he can they’re not afraid of his shooting they want to invite him to the basket because they know that’s where he wants to go anywhere and they’re big guys so when they step feet back at beh they step back feet back

They inviting him to drive they’re not necessarily blown by and they might be able to contest a shot or block it but I like that Russ was making that three in the fourth quarter and just the constant finding open guys whether it be Mason plumbley on those

Lobs or Shooters he was really good in this game and speaking of Shooters Norman pal absolutely lights out was huge in that fourth quarter as well for us got us back in the game he continues to be except Ally consistent he had 24 points on 9 for2

Shooting and 6 for9 from three another rare game where Norm did not shoot one free throw but I will absolutely take 75% from the field and 66 from three that is amazing in 30 minutes for Norm Russell Westbrook on the other hand 12 points almost had a triple double 12

Points eight rebounds 13 assist assists two steals three turnovers one of them he was going too fast in the first half and just dribbled the ball off his knee against Kyle Anderson another one really you know what a stretch in this game where the Clippers really screwed up was

This beginning of the third quarter right the Wolves went on a 60 run to begin the quarter but the bad decisions that we were making like this is just totally un like this is totally avoidable stuff that’s why I say I’m not worried because I think two things lost

Us this game three things actually one Kawai needs to be the best part on the court in my opinion he was Ant-Man this game Kawai was efficient why is he shooting the same amount of shots as Paul George was five for 19 Kawai needs to be this there has to

Be a hierarchy against these good teams Kawai needs especially when he’s efficient he started out you know trying to get fouls he was missing shots he missed a dunk for God’s sake in the first quarter but he slowly grew back into the game and started making some

Shots and he was two for three from Deep 9 for9 from the line from the field and he’s shooting the same amount of shots as Paul George I don’t care about oh it’s just in the flow of the offense he’s taking what the defense gives no we were not running enough through kawhai

Throughout the game in my opinion in my opinion especially in the beginning when we had towns guarding him Kawai Leonard needs to be shooting the most Ant-Man was the best part on the court if we play them in a series I want Kawai to stand out as the best player on the

Floor that’s not the main reason we lost those second James hard and Paul George combined for 9 for 33 from the field and 6 for 22 from three too many threes for the both of them in my eyes I don’t care how efficient they’ve been when you’re

Not hitting you have to do something else but I get it you know why cuz the front office not not the front office the this team the analytics Department in the team they en the coaching staff they encourage them to shoot threes because they shoot such a good percentage unfortunately you can shoot

Yourself out of a game very easily doing that but I’m not worried because I think these are very easily fixable problems coming up going to be talking about what needs Improvement I’m going to go more in depth about that third quarter stretch of bad decisions and rounding it

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Make your first bet a layup FanDuel official partner of the National Football League all right Clippers losing this one 109 to 105 against the Minnesota Timberwolves now the Minnesota timber bols as I mentioned they shot really well you had guys like Carl Anthony towns shooting well hit a contested three in the first

Quarter and I thought he did a good job of attacking close outs and taking advantage of the lack of size at times around the rim for the Clippers and he ended up being a little bit of a problem Carl Anthony towns and I think that the Minnesota timber bbls ceiling can be

Dependent on his aggression if he wants to just shoot threes he’s going to have games he makes he’s also going to have games where he misses and he’s not going to contribute in other ways but if he dominates on the inside draws double teams which at times I thought we

Unnecessarily threw at him when guys like Paul George are guarding him oneon-one or even Westbrook and he’s be beyond the free throw line we don’t need to double him there we don’t and I thought throughout the game one prom for the Clippers that they don’t need to do especially when they

Have such good one-on-one Defenders were overh helping massively at times Kawhi Leonard is a good one-on-one Defender Terren man is a good one-on-one Defender Paul George the same at times we’re overh helping I remember there was one time Ty was just sinking in for no reason when teren man had Anthony

Edwards just going nowhere so we need to be more strategic and just alert about overh helping so that’s one thing that needs Improvement but this third quarter stretch that we had let me also like Paul George like in the first quarter he’s getting the step and then he’s pulling back unnecessarily

He’s passing up wide open shots James Harden’s passing up wide open threes he’s taking too long to get into our offense at times like those two were just not good and it’s unfortunate because against the Lakers it was Harden and kawhai aren’t good now this and Paul

George was solid but could have been better now it’s the exact opposite it’s Harden and Paul George not being good and Kawai was solid could have been a little bit better difference was Westbrook and pal played really well in this game and I just think the wolves

Are better than the Lakers right now um they just are they’re just better than the Lakers but but and we didn’t have zoo zoo was a monster against the Lakers he makes a massive difference here but the Wolves they went on a 19-3 run in the first

Quarter and they LED 29-19 after one we were basically playing catch up from that point forward U we did take the lead though in the second which was our best quarter we outscored the Wolves 26 to 17 in that one it actually started out with Harden and Paul George being

Terrible just not making shots but with plumbley in tight and then a little bit of Russ got us little bit of momentum and then Harden started getting going a little bit started with an and one and that led to a 120 run he had that extra pass in the

Corner to PG for an open three which was his only made shot of the first half and then a hockey assist when he pushed the ball kicked it to Paul in the corner and then an extra swing to Kawai for three so we were having some success in that

Second quarter one thing that was really funny in that second quarter was Rudy goar airballing free throws and he was so so bad at his free throws that we ended up doing hacka Rudy in the fourth quarter and one thing I will say we did struggle to get stops in the second half

We allowed 63 points which is way too much and we need to be better defensively overh helping as I said but also you know I don’t actually have anyone to call out one-on-one I think James Harden I mean he could have been better he was the one in my opinion that

I was like nervous when he was guarding the ball I was legitimately a little bit nervous uh we also didn’t have Rim protection but Russell Westbrook really good kawai’s defense yeah Jaden McDaniels blew by him one time and there was another time where he closed out way

Too hard on Cal Anderson for no reason but other than that I thought kawai’s defense was good um had a couple of steals two to be exact Kawai had 26 points nine rebounds four assists and two steals one turnover on nine for 19 shooting two for three from Deep two of

Those misses he got blocked by goar I got to give goar some credit his presence was definitely felt and and his shot blocking was superb him and teren man getting into it a little bit of course teren man and Rudy goar definitely have their history with Terence man as Brian Seaman alluded to

In commentary usually getting the better of him but I thought our in the first half though Clipper defense was really really good outside of some overh helping second half not as good and I thought the Wolves got a better whistle for sure but we just struggled with the

Ant-Man I think he just started making shots those bang shots he was and he just was the best part on the court for me in this one 33 points nine rebounds six assists that 33 points was the highest of any player in the game for either team 10 for 16 from the field

Two for four from three and the stat that really stands out for me 12 free throw attempts 11 for 12 that’s not me blaming the refs that’s me saying he got to the rim more than our players did and he had the green light to do so we have

Goar sitting down there on our side they have Tyson Plumley sitting down there so it’s not a big deal one thing that I felt was very interesting in the fourth quarter tyou went to an ultra small lineup with no five against two bigs go Baron towns to

Try to spread them out use our skill to dribble drive and make open threes even though we hadn’t really been hitting threes at that point and at first it didn’t work at all we brought it in with 7 minutes and 53 seconds left down 7789 and we went down

97 to 80 uh it was bad it was bad but let me just also describe the stretch where the Clippers kind of lost control of the game and that was in the third quarter and by the way uh Russ came in with like two minutes to go in the

Second quarter and I think the rotations have been very interesting because in the beginning when you first uh started seeing Harden in the starting lineup I thought it was going to be Russ and Paul George sharing minutes a lot in the second quarter and then Harden and Kawai

Doing so but now it’s changed to where Russ will be the first person Off the Bench Midway through the first quarter and then he’ll play the whole quarter with kawhai because kawhai tends to play the whole first and third Harden and Paul George have been playing the whole

Second and fourth in this game Paul George and Harden played the whole fourth and Kawai played the entire third so you’re now having Russ and Kawai line up together more as opposed to Russ and Paul George which I think is a little weird and I don’t know if it’s

Beneficial for the team I would much rather have I’ve been saying I would rather have Kawai play the whole fourth quarter than I get it though I think their thought processes give his legs some rest before coming back in but I would like our best player to play the

Whole fourth quarter if I had to choose would I rather him play the whole third or the whole fourth I would choose the whole fourth let him get in rhythm in the beginning of the quarter so then Paul George doesn’t get hot and then we’re like oh Paul George is feeling it

We go away from kawhai don’t really necessarily like that um and I don’t know why Paul George and Harden are playing so much together when it was always Westbrook and Paul George that was the great pairing and then Harden and kawhai have great chemistry as well

But Russ he came in in the last two minutes of the second quarter and immediately created six points with two paint touches one he kicked it out to kawhai for a corner three the other he got an and one he had seven assists in the first half but here’s the stretch in

The third quarter that really screwed things up for us Harden had a turnover we just completely overpassed it or over uh put too much force on the pass it was a lead entry pass into Kawai then Daniel TI fronted goar in the post in the middle of the floor I don’t know why

You’re fronting Rudy goar he’s not I mean if he catches it really really deep I get it but he’s got no post game let him catch the ball in the middle of the key I’m not concerned about that PG had a foul on Anthony Edwards on a three

With two on the shot clock that was terrible and then Kawai instead of passing to an open Westbrook he threw it like rifled it at Daniel Tyson’s legs when he was standing not too far away from him and then Russ missed the layup and then Russ his turnover when kawhai

Back cut when he telegraphed it the entire way when Norman Powell was actually the right pass in the corner was bad and they took advantage of that one and knocked down a three to put us down 13 and that’s when I got a little bit

Nervous as far as cat and Nas Reed they were hedging on the screens with Kawai so the clear plan is besides goar if it’s not goar we’re not letting kawhai get downhill and walk into jump shots they allow it with gobear because they’re they know that goar’s contest

Will be enough to deter potentially but as far as the small ball lineup that’s the last thing I want to talk about 753 we go in with this lineup down 7789 switch everything in hopes of you know making them play more oneon-one and then obviously our shooting and skill

Would take advantage of things well it was 9780 and then we went on a 20-6 run Norman pal got really hot Russ did a good job of Defending rebounding finding open guys I thought Harden made some really good passes in the stretch as well but I will say one huge mistake cat

Had the ball against Westbrook Norman Powell completely left his man to load up and they left Jaden McDaniels wide open for three I think it was McDaniels killed the game off basically at least I thought and we still had another push Norman pal cut to the basket on a Russ

Pass and I thought Russ did made some really good reads on that on the screens in the short roll Harden hit a step back that cut it to 97 103 and then Powell hit a three um which was because he was hedging because Conley was hedging and

Recovering on Harden he didn’t they even let Conley switch on to harden and then they ended the game by goar making four straight free throws so one of the things that got us back in the game we were doing the hacka Rudy we were fing him intentionally because his free throw

Were so bad that clip went viral of him nearly airballing two free throw in a row in the second quarter one was the first one was well short second one was an airball and the bench went nuts but the last laugh was had by the Wolves you

Know we cut it down goar got to give him credit made four big free throws and the Ant-Man made free throws so we lost it Valiant effort what needs Improvement I think just lack of focus at times and when teams switch everything like that we need to get downhill that’s what we

Need to remember Lakers and the Wolves if they have switchable size that’s the way to beat the C is switchable size that can stay in front one-on-one that’s always been the way even before Harden now with Harden more so the one-on-one has to be downhill Paul George I get it

Everybody he wants him to shoot more threes because he’s so efficient at it have you noticed after five damn years of having him on the team that when he just shoots threes with no end in sight he shoots himself out of games a lot it’s when he’s taking the right threes

And he’s hot and he you know shoots him in Rhythm not just shoot and I know a lot of them were open I know they were but some of the shots it’s like how many times did Paul even try to get to the rim and when’s he at his best when he’s

Shooting 10 threes or when he’s getting to the rim we know the answer it’s not shooting a bunch of Threes but anyway Paul George 16 points on five for 19 shooting and four for 13 from three he was not good enough James Harden 14 points eight assists that’s the one

Thing I will say he did well two steals two blocks four turnovers though four for 14 from the field and for n from three in the last two losses a common theme has been James Harden not making his open shots but again I think James Harden will hit but probably the next

Game the thing about Harden is we just got to hope that these games where Paul and Harden don’t shoot well or don’t play they didn’t really play well they don’t happen in the same night and if they do kawhai needs to be that much better to make up for it obviously we

Didn’t have Zoo so that that’s another thing I don’t I wouldn’t Panic at all the fact that we played poorly and I think they played well and we only lost by by four that’s major to me major so Clippers got out we also outscored them 3728 in the fourth after getting

Outscored 3523 in the third last person I wanted to talk about actually Mason plumbley eight points three rebounds on four for five shooting and 16 minutes I thought he was pretty good coffee was really quiet just nine minutes a donut I already mentioned Westbrook almost had a triple double with 12 points eight

Rebounds 13 assists on three for eight shooting made both his threes and was four for five from the line so over all good game for Russ he should have been four for eight minimum with those layups and then we have Terrence man you know questionable that he didn’t play

More with the way he was defending he he only shot one three he missed he had two offensive rebounds three overall he had two points and he played Stellar defense in his 19 minutes but that’s it was just that 19 minutes so it is what it is guys

Not a big deal but OKC will be a challenge on Tuesday I actually won’t be at the game but let’s see how it goes tough games back toback for sure against the first and second seed but this is what we have to see how good we

Can be against the best so I wouldn’t Panic at all it just shows you how big zubot is for the team let me know what you thought of the episode let me know what you thought of the game you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at

Dime dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA Sports content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube let me know what you thought of the game the agel proverb continues go Clippers

The LA Clippers were finally faced the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night, the best team in the Western Conference record wise. It would be a good test for the Clippers to see where they are at during this hot stretch of play. They were without Ivicaivica Zubac and it proved to be a big loss.

The Los Angeles Clippers would lose 105-109 to Minnesota after a rough shooting night from Paul George and James Harden.

In this episode, die hard LA clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri breaks down why the Minnesota Timberwolves’ defense made it hard for the Clippers to get going. Then he describes why he’s not concerned about the loss and finishes with what he thinks the Clippers can improve on.

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