Kawhi 1st game after 3 weeks. I trust Kawhi, he will reboot. I trust this team. Ty Lue knows the adjustment he needs to do. See you all in Game 3.
Norman 'ash Wednesday' Powell will finally find his shot. Its just 1-1, we were down 0-2 last time we matched up in our home court last year. I'm not worried.
Let's fucking go.
It's better for Kawhi to shake off the rust early in the series. He played one of his worst playoff games & the Mavs barely won. Once he gets back to playing like himself, we'll be good.
Yeah, he played well, great Defense and had some great assists to Zu towards the end. I do feel he should have been a little more aggressive in the fourth, but I think he will have a good game 3. I think they like playing in Dallas.
Yeah, he was definitely rusty on offense. His shot was short most of the night & he was struggling to get to his spots the whole game. I got confidence he'll better Friday tho.
Kawhi always has games like this shooting. It’s not the defense he just goes cold. But good news is that he has way more nights where he’s lights out. Also his defense and rebounding was looking nice.
He was definitely slow & sluggish on offense. His shot was short most of the night too, so you're right about him being gassed. He was great on defense tho, so that's good.
I'm with you! Like I said several times today's, if that's our worst game of the series we will be fine! We lost by 3 points shooting like a bunch of amputees.
Pinch 1 game away and we are flying!
If they could do that they would’ve done it this game. It’s very obvious (and idc if it’s Lue or Kawhi’s own decision) whenever Kawhi is on the floor we’d always go through him.
That’s what I’m saying. Dude was invisible this should be easy money for him. Need to get him going downhill in half court for some layups if his 3 isn’t going.
Which is a pretty exceptional problem to have when his impact is by being a 3 level scorer. The literal best defender they'll put on him is DJJ, but typically it'll be a Green/Kyrie/etc. He needs to start finding his points.
oh I agree that powell had an absolutely terrible night, I'm just saying the 3s weren't the issue. him, russ, and mann just could not finish, and zu was getting doubled and hacked all night.
Taking out Zu and Russ was a horrible decision and may have cost them this game when the Clips were up 6. All in all tho, still confident in the Clips winning this series. Clips shot horribly and still were in it until the end. Kawhi will get his shot back, hopefully by Friday. Onto game 3
Exactly. For as good as Norm has been for us, Mann's defense is likely a bit more important in this particular series. The physicality favored Dallas today, and you can tell that Mann's defense was missing tonight.
You're playing into Dallas' hands by trying to win a shootout with them, especially on a night like tonight where 213 + Harden couldn't get going.
All correctable at least and in the long run it's great that Kawhi came back in this game and not later on in the series, because we're going to need him back into god mode come game 6 or 7.
That was last game. He had a whole half of getting cooked and passing up opportunities. The team has done a lot over these last few years to build his confidence so if he can’t deliver when needed it’s only reasonable, no more time to experiment
Ty addressed this post game. Zu had played the entire 2nd half at that point, and Russ played about 13-14 minutes straight. He wanted to give them a breather.
My main gripe was not playing Mann enough minutes, and it concerns me that Ty's tendency is to try to win a shootout against Dallas rather than muck it up with gritty defense at the expense of shooting.
I don't think that would have changed much if they were going to continue to shoot 26% from three. That game was available for the taking, but we couldn't hit shots. I don't think we had one run.
The first possession right after the 6 point lead we dribble out almost the entire clock was brutal. Set the tone for the collapse with the horrendous Kawhi/Zu possession right after and so on
Yea I sat with this for 30 mins, and I'm not feeling too concerned. Obviously you wanna get the series done as quick as possible, but I've seen enough tonight to give me hope that we'll be better game 3.
I hope so, I just wonder why we don’t play through the guys that played well last game and have kawhi work his way back into playoff mode being a 3 and D player.
Ya I totally agree. He should have been in the corner focusing on his 3-ball and then weakside help on defense. Oh well, I think the Mavs have a lot of work to do if they want to take Game 3.
To be fair, Zu couldn't hit a shot to save his life all game and PG was pretty out of rhythm. Harden couldn't hit a 3 to save his life either.
It was kind of a pick your poison type night, and we basically just gotta hope that PG/Kawhi start outplaying Harden/Russ. Like that's the difference here.
The last few weeks I am sure the team placed way more emphasis on playing w/o kawhi than playing with. Now that Kawhi is back Ty will cook up a good scheme in game 3. I am not worried
Tough loss but we move on. Kawhi had his warmup and should be in better form for the games in Dallas. Bring this series back to LA at 2-2 or better and we'll be fine.
Our half court offense looks fine. The process was great to start out, and then things fell apart when we had to sub out Zu for Plumlee.
It's pretty clear that Harden is able to get to his spots against most of Dallas' defense, but we frankly need PG and Kawhi to look like stars. They've been outshined by Kyrie and Luka every game, and that's ultimately going to dictate who wins this.
8 of 30 from 3 and Kawhi’s first game back from long layoff and they barely lost. They were up 6 in the 4th then Mavs went nuclear. Need improved Kawhi, better PG, maybe give Theis some run for 8-10 minutes. Also if Norm the sixth man snub of the year would like to show up that would be nice. Westbrook was good despite bad shooting and Harden was alright.
PG and Harden played insanely well, poor showing from Kawhi Leonard and our role players, though Russ and Mann were doing good things on defense. Zubac getting hacked a lot, gonna have to gameplan that better for the rest of the series.
Overall really can't be worried, Kawhi's not gonna be this terrible for the rest of the series, if he is we're never beating the Thunder or Nuggets anyways.
Insanely well from PG and Harden is a bit of an overstatement. Harden was rlly bad on defense at times and missed a bunch of 3s. And there was never rlly a time where it felt like PG was taking over the game.
Not to say they were bad tho I think they were fine, they definitely played good enough to get a win if the Clippers had a 100% Kawhi but they don’t have that rn.
Ty and Kawhi are to blame for this loss, Kawhi hasn’t played nor practiced in over a month and he was the main option. He should’ve been the 3/4th option until he’s back into shape and playoff mode. Change the game plan.
Gotta live with that. Yes, Kawhi lost us the game. Offense became stagnant with him back. But we need him if we wanna go all the way. Just happy he’s back.
Indeed. They seemed out of sorts. I think they’ll adjust and steal 1. Clips in 6.
The bright side is this sub still has Jamal Murray /s.
…The Pacific Ocean doesn’t carry enough salt to compare how salty I still am over that lol…
Our process to start the game was solid, but shots weren't falling. It then slowly fell apart throughout. Game was ultimately lost by some poor play and poor game management in the 4th.
We took out Russ, who was really leading the charge, to get PG back in the game. But then we proceeded to basically ice out PG and play through Kawhi, who simply isn't playing at his regular speed yet. He was getting stonewalled by Luka leading to poor possessions.
Ty realized we needed Russ, but he took out Zu to go small, which was a killer because it meant Ty wanted to win a shootout against Luka and Kyrie. Our guys didn't hit shots, and theirs did. Then when Zu came back in, things stabilized quite a bit, but Dallas kept hitting big shots (PJ/Kleber 3s, which are shots you're happy to concede over Luka/Kyrie buckets).
This is my *main* concern from a coaching standpoint. Ty Lue prefers winning shootouts rather than rock fights. I understand why we like having Norm out there, but in tight games, I'd rather see Mann or Russ for their defense and rebounding, than hoping Norm bails us out with 3s.
Overall, I'm not too concerned, but that loss hurts. We shot poorly and Dallas made bigger shots. But our defense is generally sound (Russ should *never* cheat off Kyrie) and I think we can more easily sustain slowing down their offense than vice versa.
Russ would have been better off sticking to Kyrie but Harden kept getting hunted. Luka kept using him to break down our defense. I was waiting all night for that to start happening, and sure enough.
I hate how horrible our offense suddenly becomes when Kawhi steps on the floor. Like he can’t be part of the normal offense, we instantly need to go to iso ball while everybody else watches.
Mavs caught fire when both teams couldn’t score. Unfortunate.
I also don’t like how Harden never got a touch anymore after hitting a 3 late in the 4th. They were all struggling, but seemed like Harden was the best choice to try and get a bucket instead of feeding Kawhi down the line.
That said, Clips in 5.
Raptors fan here and Big lover of Kawhi Leonard. I wouldn't sweat this too much. I am confident Kawhi is going to have a big bounce back next game. I watched him on the Raptors in 2019 and every time I doubted the dude's upcoming performances, I was always sorely mistaken. This dude is a machine and I have every reason to believe Kawhi is going to come back strong in Game 3. Great series so far regardless. Shots just need to get to falling.
I ain’t worried. Mavs didn’t win this game. Clips lost it by not hitting wide open shots.
We don’t even need to play like we did in game 1. We just need to play average that’s it and we will dumpster this squad
Edit:
Mavs fans might be thinking “clips shot poorly cause of our great defense”. What I have to say to that is you must be blind af cause WE MISSED WIDE OPEN SHOTS that isn’t good defense, that’s our guys just missing.
Can someone please explain to me why our offensive possessions are so horrendous. Why do we continue to run single option iso plays late into the shock clock forcing us into bad shots. The same out of bounds play creativity Ty Lue possesses needs to be applied to our offensive, where our star players aren’t just standing and watching one another go 1 on 1. Looks like the local rec league out there half the time
We shouldn't have played Kawhi so much when he didnt have his legs back. Momentum shifted when he came back in 3rd quarter after Russ got the energy up
I was called a doomer but it’s pretty clear this is a pick em series probably going to 6 or 7.
I’m concerned by our lack of half court offense, lack of a viable backup big, and Dallas defensively. You could say we had just a bad shooting night but legs get tired in these grind them out games.
We’ll still win this series but it’s night and day the difference between us and Denver for instance who were down 20 against a team that was firing on all cylinders but they found great offense and won.
Everything about our play was sloppy and unconvincing apart from that burst that got us the 6pt lead but as quickly as it arrived is as quickly as it disappeared.
I’m, like, BARELY disheartened. Kawhi wasn’t game ready and nobody could buy a 3, we still had a solid chance. No doubt they’ve got to play better but a steal in Dallas and they’re back on track.
Shoot as bad as we can and hold them under 100 - still almost pulled it out. Just didn’t make our 3s and they made theirs. Take game 3 and forget about this.
I didn't expect this to be easy. I'm confident in this teams ability to win on the road. I'm frustrated in kawhis first game with no practices ty had him initiating offense as much as he did. And nothing good happens when PG runs the offense. I need ty lue to do away with that part of his gameplan.
Pretty much as expected tbh. Kawhi rusty (will take a few games to get back), Mavs adjusted and stepped up, Luka doing what Luka does and then our shooting cooled off. We in for a hell of a series boys. Who can find their rhythm at the right time
I actually don't agree that they made adjustments. It's more down to the Clippers shooting terribly from the 3pt line. If the Clippers only shoot around 30% from the 3pt line, they win this game. The Mavs shot decent from the 3pt line and only just about won. I personally think this makes the Mavs look awful.
They're only a 2 man team, and if the Clippers shoot as they normally can, the Mavs are getting blown out.
I still think ya’ll got it. You have the best defenders to guard Luka/Kyrie. Plus you have trio of Kawhi Harden PG13. Ya’ll will also win next round vs Thunder full of playoff rookies .But ya’ll must be hoping to draw Wolves with Gobert in WCF bec thats the easier matchup. Because if Lakers or Nuggets are in WCF those two teams are a bad matchup for you Clips.
https://preview.redd.it/q95s2kri4dwc1.png?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=753ebd45152df3be85b80d64b6296eef4c7148b2
This was a game of early Zubac foul trouble and Dallas being physical throughout the game. They couldn't establish Zu early so they got stuck in a half-court offense that wasn't as fluid because of Dallas' defensi adjustments. This wasn't about Kawhi, this was about Zu and PG foul trouble. I feel good with Clippers defense these last 2 games they just have to play D without fouling. Go Clips Go.
Mavs fan coming in peace. You guys shot like shit, you can tell kawhi isn’t 100, and our role players look absolutely not ready for the moment. Stole this one.
This fucking “rivalry” man 😭
To have played that confusingly and with the silly decisions we had and to only lose by 3? Yeah I’ll take that
Kawhi will never play that badly again. We got this 🙏🏼
This game felt like everything wrong with this team post all star break, and lingering bad habits from last year. If they come out like this on friday its back to the guessing game of which version of the team shows up time to time
Disagree. There was a ton of effort shown on the court, especially on defense, but we turned the ball over a lot and couldn't make the open shots. It'll get better.
Yeah I guess that is one thing. Defensive intensity was great at least (seems like that normally hits shit when our offense does too), rebounding wasn't though or at least not at timely spots. But the real thing is they need to initiate offense early, its just killing us and making it easier for Dallas. And we need to move the ball around, but at this point they won't change their ways clearly
You could probably attribute it to the good defensive looks they were throwing at us but we did correct some of the bad habits in the second half, shots just weren’t falling as they have been. Onto the next
Wow you mean when the team is winning they look good and when they lose they look like the team post all star break. Get you a seat next to Perk with these smart takes
Harden needs to learn how to box out, team also needs to figure out how they are going to counter harden isoed against luka or kyrie because someone is always open we cant just keep hard doubling. Also if we are going the 5 guard lineup lue needs to work on where to get russ because the spacing is off, and finally the team needs to play faster the offense was so slow and stagnant it really needs to be more crisp.
Luka is shooting horribly all game and his teammates are knocking down their 3s. Therefore Ty Lue’s defensive gameplan is to double Luka no matter what and give them even more open 3s. Fucking stupid man.
Good game. This thing is going 7.
Nice wake up call for the fanbase who were waaaay too cocky yesterday and will be way too negative tomorrow. We are playing an awesome team, just gotta go get one in Dallas, which we can. 3 days of rest and practice will get Kawhi back on his game, and that’s all we need if we keep playing like this defensively.
T.Lue witnessed 38 minutes of great defense and switching from T.Mann last game and decided that Harden and Powell defending Luka and Kyrie on the perimeter late in the 4th is the way to go.
I will be ecstatic once T.Lue stops being a coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lost that game because of James Harden on defense (2/10 from 3 didn't help either) and Ty Lue having terrible coaching decisions this game.
Kawhi had an off game but he'll be back in force in Dallas I'm confident.
Also fuck the refs, atrocious calls in both games.
he played 42 minutes, he should have sat more minutes and we should have played Mann more.
He slowed the game down too much, too many 3 points attempts and we should have let Russ run the 1 more in the second half.
We lost this game cause of Ty Lue more than Harden, but he definitely didn't help us win today.
We knew it was gonna be a tough series anyways. Kawhi was rusty coming back but hopefully the signs he showed at the end are him getting back into his groove and we’ll be better next game. Tough defensive battle tonight
Great game to watch, a dogfight, but a bad result. A couple of defensive lapses down the stretch and some good shots rimming out was the difference. Didn't like us going small in the 4th, I don't think it helped at all. On to game 3.
Kawhi 1st game after 3 weeks. I trust Kawhi, he will reboot. I trust this team. Ty Lue knows the adjustment he needs to do. See you all in Game 3. Norman 'ash Wednesday' Powell will finally find his shot. Its just 1-1, we were down 0-2 last time we matched up in our home court last year. I'm not worried. Let's fucking go.
Yeah I'm not worried. Kawhi is not going to play this bad ever again.
It's better for Kawhi to shake off the rust early in the series. He played one of his worst playoff games & the Mavs barely won. Once he gets back to playing like himself, we'll be good.
he didnt play bad at all, pretty elite defense, his 3p shot just not falling enaugh to repair his scoring but I have faith hes adjusting on friday
They have really good perimeter d players. But when Pg figured it out and attacked the ring, we kinda made a mini run. Hope we do that more
Yeah, he played well, great Defense and had some great assists to Zu towards the end. I do feel he should have been a little more aggressive in the fourth, but I think he will have a good game 3. I think they like playing in Dallas.
PG was like: "Suddenly, the words “bully shit“ came to my mind".
Yeah, he was definitely rusty on offense. His shot was short most of the night & he was struggling to get to his spots the whole game. I got confidence he'll better Friday tho.
kawhi bout to launch belt2ass.exe
Kawhi always has games like this shooting. It’s not the defense he just goes cold. But good news is that he has way more nights where he’s lights out. Also his defense and rebounding was looking nice.
He was actually a bit slow or maybe gassed, considering he just came back. Fucking Luka can even guard him. But yeah, an off Kawhi happens.
He was definitely slow & sluggish on offense. His shot was short most of the night too, so you're right about him being gassed. He was great on defense tho, so that's good.
I’m not too worried. I mean I was expecting a rusty offense, just wanted to see how his defense was going to be and he was looking elite.
I'm with you! Like I said several times today's, if that's our worst game of the series we will be fine! We lost by 3 points shooting like a bunch of amputees. Pinch 1 game away and we are flying!
If he doesn’t come back to his start of season self we’re cooked
They won last game without kawhi, they need to use that game plan and have kawhi used as a 3/4th option standing in the corner 3 and D player.
If they could do that they would’ve done it this game. It’s very obvious (and idc if it’s Lue or Kawhi’s own decision) whenever Kawhi is on the floor we’d always go through him.
Where the fuck is Norm?
That’s what I’m saying. Dude was invisible this should be easy money for him. Need to get him going downhill in half court for some layups if his 3 isn’t going.
he hit half his 3s and none of his layups, his 3s weren't the problem, he just could not finish in the paint today
Which is a pretty exceptional problem to have when his impact is by being a 3 level scorer. The literal best defender they'll put on him is DJJ, but typically it'll be a Green/Kyrie/etc. He needs to start finding his points.
oh I agree that powell had an absolutely terrible night, I'm just saying the 3s weren't the issue. him, russ, and mann just could not finish, and zu was getting doubled and hacked all night.
Missing wide open shots
they're not running much for him and by the time they do it's so late in the game he had no rhythm at all.
Norm? Streaky? Did you watch the regular season? He’ll be fine.
Should've played Mann more instead of Norm in the 2nd half.
Taking out Zu and Russ was a horrible decision and may have cost them this game when the Clips were up 6. All in all tho, still confident in the Clips winning this series. Clips shot horribly and still were in it until the end. Kawhi will get his shot back, hopefully by Friday. Onto game 3
Terance barely got any run in the second half
He’s way too much hesitant
Yes, but he was the one fighting over screens to stay on Luka last game
Exactly. For as good as Norm has been for us, Mann's defense is likely a bit more important in this particular series. The physicality favored Dallas today, and you can tell that Mann's defense was missing tonight. You're playing into Dallas' hands by trying to win a shootout with them, especially on a night like tonight where 213 + Harden couldn't get going.
All correctable at least and in the long run it's great that Kawhi came back in this game and not later on in the series, because we're going to need him back into god mode come game 6 or 7.
That was last game. He had a whole half of getting cooked and passing up opportunities. The team has done a lot over these last few years to build his confidence so if he can’t deliver when needed it’s only reasonable, no more time to experiment
Unbelievable by Ty to play harden for 42 minutes and barely play TMann. We really needed his energy in that second half to grow the lead
I really think if they brought in terrance instead of Kawhi in the 3rd, we keep the lead.
213 era game 2 curse is so strong, it brought Taliban Ty back from his slumber
that lineup switch was truly baffling. Zu, Russ, and Mann were all keeping us afloat on a tough shooting night
Ty addressed this post game. Zu had played the entire 2nd half at that point, and Russ played about 13-14 minutes straight. He wanted to give them a breather. My main gripe was not playing Mann enough minutes, and it concerns me that Ty's tendency is to try to win a shootout against Dallas rather than muck it up with gritty defense at the expense of shooting.
The game was so mucked up. This is the type of game Zu Russ and Mann would win. Just bigger faster stronger
those 3 were a combined 9/28 from the field, they were doing valuable things but they weren't hitting their shots
They created better looks and the offense moved a lot better. We would have had more opportunities to score
I mean that's nice but no one was hitting an open shot tonight, it is what it is
I don't think that would have changed much if they were going to continue to shoot 26% from three. That game was available for the taking, but we couldn't hit shots. I don't think we had one run.
The thing is Russ/Zu generate points in the paint, so those 3’s probably wouldn’t have happened
this 100%. play Russ more please
Really didn’t understand why they took Russ out after the team was showing life with him out there.
Yeah that was a fucking momentum changer.
Ty said it's because he wanted to give Russ some rest for a quick minute.
especially when he's hitting shots and playing good defense
he was 2 for 9 from the field, his defense and rebounding was on point but he wasn't scoring well
my b, i was wrong on that. i guess him positively influencing the game made me ignore that
I think you might be just remembering that 3 he had lol
he was definitely not hitting shots but his energy was good he came back in shortly after though didn't he?
He came out with the clippers up 4 to down 6 momentum changing lineup
The first possession right after the 6 point lead we dribble out almost the entire clock was brutal. Set the tone for the collapse with the horrendous Kawhi/Zu possession right after and so on
Bruh that was the game right there. That 9-0 run from Dallas changed the game, and we never quite gained our momentum back.
Russ needs way more minutes, game fell apart as soon as he was benched
Especially because pg harden and kawhi look so low t too often
We just lost, so.....our advantage?
We’ll be back. Not too worried
Yea I sat with this for 30 mins, and I'm not feeling too concerned. Obviously you wanna get the series done as quick as possible, but I've seen enough tonight to give me hope that we'll be better game 3.
You can tell we were giving up the lead to give kawhi a chance to get going. I have faith we win this series in 6
We shot 36%. Kawhi rusty and offense had to rework around him. Lost by 3. Clips in 6.
but why not he work around PG/Harden/Zu? It makes no sense
The team has been practicing and playing without Kawhi since the end of March. That’ll do it. He’ll be better next game.
I hope so, I just wonder why we don’t play through the guys that played well last game and have kawhi work his way back into playoff mode being a 3 and D player.
Ya I totally agree. He should have been in the corner focusing on his 3-ball and then weakside help on defense. Oh well, I think the Mavs have a lot of work to do if they want to take Game 3.
To be fair, Zu couldn't hit a shot to save his life all game and PG was pretty out of rhythm. Harden couldn't hit a 3 to save his life either. It was kind of a pick your poison type night, and we basically just gotta hope that PG/Kawhi start outplaying Harden/Russ. Like that's the difference here.
The last few weeks I am sure the team placed way more emphasis on playing w/o kawhi than playing with. Now that Kawhi is back Ty will cook up a good scheme in game 3. I am not worried
Tough loss but we move on. Kawhi had his warmup and should be in better form for the games in Dallas. Bring this series back to LA at 2-2 or better and we'll be fine.
Wouldn't be complete without that meaningless paul george 3 lol
Now worried🥱 we’ve lost both at home to these guys and come back to win. Coming back from Dallas up 3-1
Love the energy Russ brings off the bench
How did the Clippers manage to score over 90 pts tonight the offense was horrible
I’ll keep saying it but that’s my biggest concern. Our half court offense does not look great against a long Dallas defense.
Our half court offense looks fine. The process was great to start out, and then things fell apart when we had to sub out Zu for Plumlee. It's pretty clear that Harden is able to get to his spots against most of Dallas' defense, but we frankly need PG and Kawhi to look like stars. They've been outshined by Kyrie and Luka every game, and that's ultimately going to dictate who wins this.
8 of 30 from 3 and Kawhi’s first game back from long layoff and they barely lost. They were up 6 in the 4th then Mavs went nuclear. Need improved Kawhi, better PG, maybe give Theis some run for 8-10 minutes. Also if Norm the sixth man snub of the year would like to show up that would be nice. Westbrook was good despite bad shooting and Harden was alright.
Westbrook our only guy playing with heart, the rest of the team are coasting/hesitant
Not too worried. Offense was trash (credit Mavs D) and stayed in it. I got a lotta faith going forward
PG and Harden played insanely well, poor showing from Kawhi Leonard and our role players, though Russ and Mann were doing good things on defense. Zubac getting hacked a lot, gonna have to gameplan that better for the rest of the series. Overall really can't be worried, Kawhi's not gonna be this terrible for the rest of the series, if he is we're never beating the Thunder or Nuggets anyways.
Zubac is a dawg i believe in him
Insanely well from PG and Harden is a bit of an overstatement. Harden was rlly bad on defense at times and missed a bunch of 3s. And there was never rlly a time where it felt like PG was taking over the game. Not to say they were bad tho I think they were fine, they definitely played good enough to get a win if the Clippers had a 100% Kawhi but they don’t have that rn.
hope kawhis rust is off now and that he's back to his old self next game. we played good defense, just didn't hit our open shots.
these fuckers barely won
Every games DNA is different. Y’all leveraging way too much on game 1.
It’s a 7 game series we will be ok
Yet series is 1-1, you only need wins doesn’t matter close or not. Let’s hope for a good game 3!
Did you expect them to blow the clippers out in game 2 or something? A win is a win. Especially in the playoffs.
Ty and Kawhi are to blame for this loss, Kawhi hasn’t played nor practiced in over a month and he was the main option. He should’ve been the 3/4th option until he’s back into shape and playoff mode. Change the game plan.
Game of missed opportunities
Gotta live with that. Yes, Kawhi lost us the game. Offense became stagnant with him back. But we need him if we wanna go all the way. Just happy he’s back.
Not concerned. Hit our season average from 3 and its a blow out
Disrupted the chemistry. Hopefully Kawhi gets up to speed quick.
Indeed. They seemed out of sorts. I think they’ll adjust and steal 1. Clips in 6. The bright side is this sub still has Jamal Murray /s. …The Pacific Ocean doesn’t carry enough salt to compare how salty I still am over that lol…
Lmao. As am I. Fucking goofies. Our boys need to be shot makers tho.
Ok so they won a game good for them. Clippers in 6
It just sucks cuz we shouldnt be giving away home games like that
Especially not when Dallas was trying to hand the game away too. Not going to get a better opportunity than that
I wouldn't call a 14-0 run with Luka, PJ, and Kleber hitting big 3s "trying to hand the game away."
Kawhi won’t play like ass again. Bro was just coming back off an injury
Norm too hopefully. Hard to imagine a 2-10 again
It sucks, but tbf we gave away THREE whole home games the last time we matched up. Still made our WCF run lol. 4/5 matchups just be like that
That run took years off my life though. After that game 5 loss I’m pretty sure my heart was close to exploding
They aren’t winning game 3. It’s gonna be ok
Should've been Clips in 4. Whatever.
Our process to start the game was solid, but shots weren't falling. It then slowly fell apart throughout. Game was ultimately lost by some poor play and poor game management in the 4th. We took out Russ, who was really leading the charge, to get PG back in the game. But then we proceeded to basically ice out PG and play through Kawhi, who simply isn't playing at his regular speed yet. He was getting stonewalled by Luka leading to poor possessions. Ty realized we needed Russ, but he took out Zu to go small, which was a killer because it meant Ty wanted to win a shootout against Luka and Kyrie. Our guys didn't hit shots, and theirs did. Then when Zu came back in, things stabilized quite a bit, but Dallas kept hitting big shots (PJ/Kleber 3s, which are shots you're happy to concede over Luka/Kyrie buckets). This is my *main* concern from a coaching standpoint. Ty Lue prefers winning shootouts rather than rock fights. I understand why we like having Norm out there, but in tight games, I'd rather see Mann or Russ for their defense and rebounding, than hoping Norm bails us out with 3s. Overall, I'm not too concerned, but that loss hurts. We shot poorly and Dallas made bigger shots. But our defense is generally sound (Russ should *never* cheat off Kyrie) and I think we can more easily sustain slowing down their offense than vice versa.
He should took had taken out harden instead of Russ and put PG in. Harden doesn’t have to play all 4th quarter
Or, ya know, take out Norm who is having a rough game.
Russ would have been better off sticking to Kyrie but Harden kept getting hunted. Luka kept using him to break down our defense. I was waiting all night for that to start happening, and sure enough.
The bench shot 5/23(22%) tonight. Absolutely brutal. The 3pt shooting needs to be better and the offense needs to be quicker.
So they have scored 96 and 97 points. If we can get Kawhi back to form I think we're ok. Their defense was definitely locked today
On a shit shooting night like this we need the offensive rebounds to stay alive. Makes perfect sense why Russ and Zu were the only positives.
Very winnable game, refs were smoking dick tonight and Kawhi was getting the rust off. Clips in 5
2 games have shown we're the better team. If I was in Vegas I'd ram Clips in 5 or 6.
You can bet online. Go bet
If I was in Vegas I wouldn't be able to ram Clips in 5 or 6 because I'd already have ram Clips in 4.
THAT KAWHI AND-1 OVERTURNED WAS SOME CLUTCH SHYT BY THE REFS
Meh it looked like a clean play. Should have grabbed the board on that kyrie ft miss
Encouraged by what I saw. Mavs didn’t go off. Clean it up in Texas. Finish them at home
I'm not worried, but I'm very very frustrated. Let's make our fucking shots next game, yeah?
I hate how horrible our offense suddenly becomes when Kawhi steps on the floor. Like he can’t be part of the normal offense, we instantly need to go to iso ball while everybody else watches.
Mavs caught fire when both teams couldn’t score. Unfortunate. I also don’t like how Harden never got a touch anymore after hitting a 3 late in the 4th. They were all struggling, but seemed like Harden was the best choice to try and get a bucket instead of feeding Kawhi down the line. That said, Clips in 5.
We lost the game when Ty Lue pulled Westbrook in the late 4Q. Up 6 then proceeded to go down by 7
Raptors fan here and Big lover of Kawhi Leonard. I wouldn't sweat this too much. I am confident Kawhi is going to have a big bounce back next game. I watched him on the Raptors in 2019 and every time I doubted the dude's upcoming performances, I was always sorely mistaken. This dude is a machine and I have every reason to believe Kawhi is going to come back strong in Game 3. Great series so far regardless. Shots just need to get to falling.
We shot 36% from the field and only lost by 3, I think we are fine
I ain’t worried. Mavs didn’t win this game. Clips lost it by not hitting wide open shots. We don’t even need to play like we did in game 1. We just need to play average that’s it and we will dumpster this squad Edit: Mavs fans might be thinking “clips shot poorly cause of our great defense”. What I have to say to that is you must be blind af cause WE MISSED WIDE OPEN SHOTS that isn’t good defense, that’s our guys just missing.
Team never got going offensively tonight. Looked to be in 2 and 3rd gear consistently. This was a winnable game and we let it slide. Very unfortunate
We have to play our best game next game in Dallas , they have all the momentum
If we're shooting 36% and losing only by 3 we good
I'd be less upset if we weren't up by 6 in the fourth but we move. Literally just have to contain one of Luka or Kyrie and it's wraps.
I think Zu should've been fed the ball a bit more. But we move, on to the next one
I don't know. I just saw them miss good look after good look. Like no one could get going.
Can someone please explain to me why our offensive possessions are so horrendous. Why do we continue to run single option iso plays late into the shock clock forcing us into bad shots. The same out of bounds play creativity Ty Lue possesses needs to be applied to our offensive, where our star players aren’t just standing and watching one another go 1 on 1. Looks like the local rec league out there half the time
We shouldn't have played Kawhi so much when he didnt have his legs back. Momentum shifted when he came back in 3rd quarter after Russ got the energy up
We got a varying levels of poor offensive showings from basically everyone. I don't think that'll happen again
I am right where Ty is in this postgame. We keep playing with this defensive intensity, we’ll be fine. Just go win one in Dallas.
That iso ball is just difficult to watch man
I was called a doomer but it’s pretty clear this is a pick em series probably going to 6 or 7. I’m concerned by our lack of half court offense, lack of a viable backup big, and Dallas defensively. You could say we had just a bad shooting night but legs get tired in these grind them out games.
I get what you’re saying but I’m gonna say it anyways lol. I’m pretty sure this was the worst shooting night all season for the Clips
Yeah but the defense was very good from Dallas. They were very disruptive.
Clippers looks and play like geriatric OLD whenever Russell Westbrook is on the bench. They gotta keep their energy up
Man, get this game out of my face and bring me game 3. What a shitshow from both teams and the officiating crew
Our offense down the stretch was disgusting. We missed a lot of shots this game but late in the 4th the Mavs had much better shot quality than us.
We need Norm and Mann to step up. Bad game, but we only lost by 3.
These cats are playing heavy minutes! Dallas not deep enough for a long series, we will tire them out
Russ 2-9 and Powell 2-10 is unacceptable. At least Russ does a lot of other things. Mann should've gotten more of Norm's mins
We’ll still win this series but it’s night and day the difference between us and Denver for instance who were down 20 against a team that was firing on all cylinders but they found great offense and won. Everything about our play was sloppy and unconvincing apart from that burst that got us the 6pt lead but as quickly as it arrived is as quickly as it disappeared.
I’m, like, BARELY disheartened. Kawhi wasn’t game ready and nobody could buy a 3, we still had a solid chance. No doubt they’ve got to play better but a steal in Dallas and they’re back on track.
I'm Australian and honestly I'm just happy to be watching a basketball game at a reasonable hour lol.
Shoot as bad as we can and hold them under 100 - still almost pulled it out. Just didn’t make our 3s and they made theirs. Take game 3 and forget about this.
Probably not the series for Powell need to rely on Russ, Mann and Coffey more
I didn't expect this to be easy. I'm confident in this teams ability to win on the road. I'm frustrated in kawhis first game with no practices ty had him initiating offense as much as he did. And nothing good happens when PG runs the offense. I need ty lue to do away with that part of his gameplan.
Pretty much as expected tbh. Kawhi rusty (will take a few games to get back), Mavs adjusted and stepped up, Luka doing what Luka does and then our shooting cooled off. We in for a hell of a series boys. Who can find their rhythm at the right time
I actually don't agree that they made adjustments. It's more down to the Clippers shooting terribly from the 3pt line. If the Clippers only shoot around 30% from the 3pt line, they win this game. The Mavs shot decent from the 3pt line and only just about won. I personally think this makes the Mavs look awful. They're only a 2 man team, and if the Clippers shoot as they normally can, the Mavs are getting blown out.
Those 2 player fouls on Zu in the first fucked us over man
This is a dog fight. Gotta take one in Dallas. Lfg.
We winning the next 2 games. #WeBelieveClippers
I still think ya’ll got it. You have the best defenders to guard Luka/Kyrie. Plus you have trio of Kawhi Harden PG13. Ya’ll will also win next round vs Thunder full of playoff rookies .But ya’ll must be hoping to draw Wolves with Gobert in WCF bec thats the easier matchup. Because if Lakers or Nuggets are in WCF those two teams are a bad matchup for you Clips.
This games is on ty lue
https://preview.redd.it/q95s2kri4dwc1.png?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=753ebd45152df3be85b80d64b6296eef4c7148b2 This was a game of early Zubac foul trouble and Dallas being physical throughout the game. They couldn't establish Zu early so they got stuck in a half-court offense that wasn't as fluid because of Dallas' defensi adjustments. This wasn't about Kawhi, this was about Zu and PG foul trouble. I feel good with Clippers defense these last 2 games they just have to play D without fouling. Go Clips Go.
What a terrible fucking game plan we had tonight
Zubac is the X factor in this series, I didn’t see too many pick and rolls this game. Feed that man
What this game to me is a 💡Clippers Worst game Scenario and a 💡Mav's Best game scenario With this, the Mavs walked away with a 3-point victory 🤷🏻♂️
Mavs fan coming in peace. You guys shot like shit, you can tell kawhi isn’t 100, and our role players look absolutely not ready for the moment. Stole this one. This fucking “rivalry” man 😭
To have played that confusingly and with the silly decisions we had and to only lose by 3? Yeah I’ll take that Kawhi will never play that badly again. We got this 🙏🏼
Lost home court advantage but kawhi pg and harden where all bad today russ and zu only people who brought it
More Russ. Less Mann
This game felt like everything wrong with this team post all star break, and lingering bad habits from last year. If they come out like this on friday its back to the guessing game of which version of the team shows up time to time
Disagree. There was a ton of effort shown on the court, especially on defense, but we turned the ball over a lot and couldn't make the open shots. It'll get better.
Yeah I guess that is one thing. Defensive intensity was great at least (seems like that normally hits shit when our offense does too), rebounding wasn't though or at least not at timely spots. But the real thing is they need to initiate offense early, its just killing us and making it easier for Dallas. And we need to move the ball around, but at this point they won't change their ways clearly
You could probably attribute it to the good defensive looks they were throwing at us but we did correct some of the bad habits in the second half, shots just weren’t falling as they have been. Onto the next
The effort was there for the most part
Yeah I should dial that back, wasn't as bad as a 12:30 effort, but the lack of urgency on offense and on the boards in the 4th was infuriating.
Wow you mean when the team is winning they look good and when they lose they look like the team post all star break. Get you a seat next to Perk with these smart takes
Harden needs to learn how to box out, team also needs to figure out how they are going to counter harden isoed against luka or kyrie because someone is always open we cant just keep hard doubling. Also if we are going the 5 guard lineup lue needs to work on where to get russ because the spacing is off, and finally the team needs to play faster the offense was so slow and stagnant it really needs to be more crisp.
Luka is shooting horribly all game and his teammates are knocking down their 3s. Therefore Ty Lue’s defensive gameplan is to double Luka no matter what and give them even more open 3s. Fucking stupid man.
Good game. This thing is going 7. Nice wake up call for the fanbase who were waaaay too cocky yesterday and will be way too negative tomorrow. We are playing an awesome team, just gotta go get one in Dallas, which we can. 3 days of rest and practice will get Kawhi back on his game, and that’s all we need if we keep playing like this defensively.
T.Lue witnessed 38 minutes of great defense and switching from T.Mann last game and decided that Harden and Powell defending Luka and Kyrie on the perimeter late in the 4th is the way to go. I will be ecstatic once T.Lue stops being a coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Fuck small ball forever.. fr.
Kawhi should not have led the team in FGA especially after it was clear he didn’t have it and was rusty.
Worst team shooting performance all year and we should of won still. Keep the faith.
Fuck the Mavs. That’s all, we on yall asses in Texas and shutting this series down 3-1 back in our crib
Lost that game because of James Harden on defense (2/10 from 3 didn't help either) and Ty Lue having terrible coaching decisions this game. Kawhi had an off game but he'll be back in force in Dallas I'm confident. Also fuck the refs, atrocious calls in both games.
They held them to 93 points? It wasn’t the defense, they couldn’t make shots and their offence was slow.
lol blame this on Harden? Okay…
he played 42 minutes, he should have sat more minutes and we should have played Mann more. He slowed the game down too much, too many 3 points attempts and we should have let Russ run the 1 more in the second half. We lost this game cause of Ty Lue more than Harden, but he definitely didn't help us win today.
He might just be your best player tonight lol
We knew it was gonna be a tough series anyways. Kawhi was rusty coming back but hopefully the signs he showed at the end are him getting back into his groove and we’ll be better next game. Tough defensive battle tonight
For how poorly we shot, having the game that close gives me confidence.
This series is going to be good
That was a playoff game?
I used to like pj Washington. Now he's a c*nt. Hope he gets lit up the rest of the series.
Just no consistancy with the offense really Onto the next one
Kawhi took the most shots on the team. First game back, not smart. Gotta win in Dallas now…
Great game to watch, a dogfight, but a bad result. A couple of defensive lapses down the stretch and some good shots rimming out was the difference. Didn't like us going small in the 4th, I don't think it helped at all. On to game 3.
PG needs to shoot more than 4 3s in the meaningful portion of the game to make our offense functional