Around the league thread

[kekgeek]

Just a question. If the Clippers blow it up would you trade our pick if they kept it for Paul George??

[thedoper]

Clippers are about to fall down 2-0 in the 1st round. Kawhi can become a FA at the end of the year.

The clippers D is awful. Just horrible gameplan.

Haven't watched much of the game but if you are going to double when Pat Bev is on Luka what is the point of having Pat Bev out there?

That is just it. They played super small and Luka would walk to the rim when he got that switch. George and Kawhi for all their defensive acclaim wanted none of Luka. It looked way to simple for Dallas. There is a deep seeded culture problem with the Clips that seeps into every player who plays for them. As wolves fans can spot losers when we see them I guess.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Clippers are about to fall down 2-0 in the 1st round. Kawhi can become a FA at the end of the year.

The clippers D is awful. Just horrible gameplan.

Haven't watched much of the game but if you are going to double when Pat Bev is on Luka what is the point of having Pat Bev out there?

That is just it. They played super small and Luka would walk to the rim when he got that switch. George and Kawhi for all their defensive acclaim wanted none of Luka. It looked way to simple for Dallas. There is a deep seeded culture problem with the Clips that seeps into every player who plays for them. As wolves fans can spot losers when we see them I guess.

I think most people thought the George/Leonard pairing was going to work because both were long and excellent on both sides of the ball.

So to see/read that Doncic is absolutely destroying the Clippers defensively... often without either guy guarding him... makes one wonder what the hell is going on. If you're Lue (or George/Leonard) don't you set the matchups so most switches somehow involves one of them?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I admittedly haven't watched any playoff games, but these switches that teams manufacture to get the right matchup......is it really THAT hard for the defensive side to have the guy guarding the screener do a quick show and allow time for the guy guarding the ball handler time to recover? And Doncic isn't even that deadly of a 3-point shooter, so seems odd that you couldn't stick your best defender on him and then not have to switch at all.

Steph Curry....I get it. Use the "hand-off" strategy and switch every screen because he can squeeze his shot off with the smallest crack.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I admittedly haven't watched any playoff games, but these switches that teams manufacture to get the right matchup......is it really THAT hard for the defensive side to have the guy guarding the screener do a quick show and allow time for the guy guarding the ball handler time to recover? And Doncic isn't even that deadly of a 3-point shooter, so seems odd that you couldn't stick your best defender on him and then not have to switch at all.

Steph Curry....I get it. Use the "hand-off" strategy and switch every screen because he can squeeze his shot off with the smallest crack.

Even with Curry though... I thought Caruso (LAL) and Brooks (MEM) did good work fighting and battling with him. Granted, both are not needed as much offensively... BUT...

The Clippers have both George and Leonard. Let one of them just work on Doncic... they still have the offensive firepower of the other guy and the supporting cast. They don't need both guys to focus primarily on offense when the team's #1 issue is stopping Luka Doncic right now.

Although, which guy is taking on that less glamorous role at this point? Which guy is willing to take the "Player A only scored 13 points" criticism as he digs deep to play defense? From what we've heard about the Clippers culture being centered around its star players whims in the past couple of seasons... I'm not sure either is willing to make that type of sacrifice for the good of the team.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I admittedly haven't watched any playoff games, but these switches that teams manufacture to get the right matchup......is it really THAT hard for the defensive side to have the guy guarding the screener do a quick show and allow time for the guy guarding the ball handler time to recover? And Doncic isn't even that deadly of a 3-point shooter, so seems odd that you couldn't stick your best defender on him and then not have to switch at all.

Steph Curry....I get it. Use the "hand-off" strategy and switch every screen because he can squeeze his shot off with the smallest crack.

Even with Curry though... I thought Caruso (LAL) and Brooks (MEM) did good work fighting and battling with him. Granted, both are not needed as much offensively... BUT...

The Clippers have both George and Leonard. Let one of them just work on Doncic... they still have the offensive firepower of the other guy and the supporting cast. They don't need both guys to focus primarily on offense when the team's #1 issue is stopping Luka Doncic right now.

Although, which guy is taking on that less glamorous role at this point? Which guy is willing to take the "Player A only scored 13 points" criticism as he digs deep to play defense? From what we've heard about the Clippers culture being centered around its star players whims in the past couple of seasons... I'm not sure either is willing to make that type of sacrifice for the good of the team.

It's also game plan. Who do you want beating you from 3 - Doncic or the rest of their roster? I say Doncic. Force him into as many step backs and pull ups as possible. But do NOT let him get into the paint and give Hardaway, Kleber, et al wide open corner 3s. I guess easier said than done, but you don't need a crazy switching scheme if you are going under screens and playing him soft on the perimeter.

Damn, McDaniels with his length and lateral foot movement could end up being such a huge asset for us. Let's hope the kid keeps on improving.

[Monster]

Just a question. If the Clippers blow it up would you trade our pick if they kept it for Paul George??

Absolutely not

[SameOldNudityDrew]

PG and Kawhi absolutely do need to step up, and I couldn't agree more about the lack of leadership and absence of a cohesive culture with that team, but I think this is about Luka's greatness more than the Clippers defense. I've watched most of both of these games. Luka is just f'ing killing whatever defense they throw at him. The Clippers really are harassing him, and they did force him into more mistakes in that last game, but he's just too good--he's pulling up from Curry/Dame range and hitting sideways fadeaway threes at this point. He wasn't a great statistical 3 point shooter this season, but he's really stepping up here and making superstar plays.

What the Grizz did against Curry in the play-in game might be the risky last resort they could try to turn to. Double team him and trap him literally the second he gets to half court to force the ball out of his hands, and take your odds playing 3 defenders against the other 4 offensive players basically. They've been hitting him with doubles (not early enough though) but keeping Kawhi and PG back presumably because those two are exactly the kind of good help defenders you need to mitigate the danger of doubling--that may explain why they're not using those two directly on Luka as much. The problem is, Luka's so much taller than Curry that even if they hit him with the trap as early as half court, he'll likely get the pass off quicker and easier, and the rest of the Mavs team is more offensively talented than Curry's supporting cast.

The Clippers should have a better defense than this, but I think this is also about a superstar playing like one.

[Monster]

I admittedly haven't watched any playoff games, but these switches that teams manufacture to get the right matchup......is it really THAT hard for the defensive side to have the guy guarding the screener do a quick show and allow time for the guy guarding the ball handler time to recover? And Doncic isn't even that deadly of a 3-point shooter, so seems odd that you couldn't stick your best defender on him and then not have to switch at all.

Steph Curry....I get it. Use the "hand-off" strategy and switch every screen because he can squeeze his shot off with the smallest crack.

Even with Curry though... I thought Caruso (LAL) and Brooks (MEM) did good work fighting and battling with him. Granted, both are not needed as much offensively... BUT...

The Clippers have both George and Leonard. Let one of them just work on Doncic... they still have the offensive firepower of the other guy and the supporting cast. They don't need both guys to focus primarily on offense when the team's #1 issue is stopping Luka Doncic right now.

Although, which guy is taking on that less glamorous role at this point? Which guy is willing to take the "Player A only scored 13 points" criticism as he digs deep to play defense? From what we've heard about the Clippers culture being centered around its star players whims in the past couple of seasons... I'm not sure either is willing to make that type of sacrifice for the good of the team.

It's also game plan. Who do you want beating you from 3 - Doncic or the rest of their roster? I say Doncic. Force him into as many step backs and pull ups as possible. But do NOT let him get into the paint and give Hardaway, Kleber, et al wide open corner 3s. I guess easier said than done, but you don't need a crazy switching scheme if you are going under screens and playing him soft on the perimeter.

Damn, McDaniels with his length and lateral foot movement could end up being such a huge asset for us. Let's hope the kid keeps on improving.

Haven't watched the games but...here is the thing about Dallas...they are big and have shooting everywhere. Their shortest starter is what like 6'6"? Brunson is the only short guy that played the last game. Powell and WCS are the only guys that played that don't take and make 3's. You can't just leave guys like all ever Hardaway and...This is wild Finney Smith open because they all shoot over 39% from 3. Luka is shooting over 40% from 3 in this series and even his regular season 35% means you can't just dare him to shoot from there.

Meanwhile I'll take Rick Carlisle as a coach over Ty Lue. I still don't know how good of a Coach Lue is and I'm a fan of the guy in general.

The series isn't over yet but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Lipoli390]

Just a question. If the Clippers blow it up would you trade our pick if they kept it for Paul George??

Absolutely not

I'm with Monster!! Wouldn't even consider it.