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Game Thread May 16, 2021 07:00PM MT: Jazz at Kings

Added to Calendar: 05-16-21

My thing is, the Clippers really can't counter Gobert as effectively as the Lakers/Suns/Nuggets. We have fared well against them at full strength the last couple seasons - their one win post-Clarkson trade, we got them into the shot profile we wanted, and they honestly just shot an unsustainably high percentage from mid-range.
They’ll counter Gobert by playing Ibaka at the 5. And that’ll work pretty damn well.
 
If you don’t fear the Clips defense, then have a listen to Locke’s show today. If you put their healthy playoff roster on the floor, the filtered stats show and absolutely elite defense. An elite offense, too.

Nobody should sleep on the Clippers.
The filtered stats over the season is kind of garbage for a team like the Clippers who did so much load management. There is no load management in the playoffs. According to Locke's filtered stats the Warriors are the most dangerous team in the playoffs, simply because they sat Wiseman and Oubre. Stats are a useful part of the story, but they aren't all the story. Clippers are good, but they are properly rated as is.
 
The filtered stats over the season is kind of garbage for a team like the Clippers who did so much load management. There is no load management in the playoffs. According to Locke's filtered stats the Warriors are the most dangerous team in the playoffs, simply because they sat Wiseman and Oubre. Stats are a useful part of the story, but they aren't all the story. Clippers are good, but they are properly rated as is.
There are also no back-to-backs in the playoffs which is the scenario that load-management most-often targets.
 
There are also no back-to-backs in the playoffs which is the scenario that load-management most-often targets.
Kawai would often duck the harder of the two matchups in a back to back. I'm interested to see him, AD, and Lebron play 40 mins a game for a couple series.
 
It sure didn't work in their two full-strength games against us in the regular season.
What’s the basis for the above claim?

The only chance teams have against Gobert is to drag him out of the paint and let the rest of the Jazz defend in space. Are you saying that Ibaka is somehow strangely bad at doing this?
 
The filtered stats over the season is kind of garbage for a team like the Clippers who did so much load management. There is no load management in the playoffs. According to Locke's filtered stats the Warriors are the most dangerous team in the playoffs, simply because they sat Wiseman and Oubre. Stats are a useful part of the story, but they aren't all the story. Clippers are good, but they are properly rated as is.
“as is”. Ok dude. Whatever that means.

FWIW, my feelings about the Clips aren’t just stat based. I’ve seen games. I see what their perimeter defense has been and could be. And I know the kind of defense the jazz struggle most against.

Guess what.... there’s a correspondence here.
 
Kawai would often duck the harder of the two matchups in a back to back. I'm interested to see him, AD, and Lebron play 40 mins a game for a couple series.
Has the fact that they dropped a series against Denver after leading 3-1 made you doubt them?
 
What’s the basis for the above claim?
The Clippers scored 44 points in the paint and 30 points in the paint in their two matchups against us when they were at full strength. We also limited their 3 pt attempts on a per-possession basis below their average by a decent bit in both games.

It was an outstanding shooting night from mid-range that got them the narrow victory in the 2nd game, but our defense controlled their shot profile the way it wanted to.
 
Good news is serge is shooting only 34% from three

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Has the fact that they dropped a series against Denver after leading 3-1 made you doubt them?
Mostly, its their locker room that makes me doubt them. They kind of feel like they are punching a timecard sometimes. As talented as they are, they should still be blowing teams up, even when one of Kawhi or PG are out. But they just kind of idle along. They almost need both of their stars playing really well to win against talent. I feel like the Lakers, Suns, and Jazz have more leeway, as did Denver before their injuries.
 
Mostly, its their locker room that makes me doubt them. They kind of feel like they are punching a timecard sometimes. As talented as they are, they should still be blowing teams up, even when one of Kawhi or PG are out. But they just kind of idle along. They almost need both of their stars playing really well to win against talent. I feel like the Lakers, Suns, and Jazz have more leeway, as did Denver before their injuries.
I agree that their weakness is a mental thing. Definitely.
 
The Clippers scored 44 points in the paint and 30 points in the paint in their two matchups against us when they were at full strength. We also limited their 3 pt attempts on a per-possession basis below their average by a decent bit in both games.

It was an outstanding shooting night from mid-range that got them the narrow victory in the 2nd game, but our defense controlled their shot profile the way it wanted to.
Both teams withheld punches in those games.

There’s really not much room to doubt whether LAC has the profile and talent level of a team to give us real problems. I don’t like the matchup. The good news is that PG has been slumping pretty hard lately.... and he will cave into excuse-making as soon as such a thing is convenient for him.
 
So is Clarkson. Still high enough to be a threat.
One thing though is that Clarkson takes a hell of a lot more off-the-bounce 3's, contested 3's late in the shot clock (and sometimes not so late in the shot clock).

Ibaka's are mostly just catch and shoot wide open looks.
 
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