May 31, 2021 • 50 mins
Clippers Talk with Adam Auslund after they win 106-81 in Game 4 in Dallas. The Mavericks go just 5-30 from three and Kawhi continued to dominate. Lucas Hann joins the show.
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(00:00):
Clip, get your fall. It'stime to react bella Clippers basketball. This
is a playoff edition of Clippers Talk, Reaction and Analysis hosted by Adam Oslay.
You know he's feeling good. Takethe show with you anywhere you are
and get the podcast. I mean, iHeart radio and now your host.
(00:20):
He makes everything happen, Adam Mossley. Well, they say everything's bigger in
Texas, including blowouts. The Clipperswin Game four by twenty five with a
final score of one oh six toeighty one in favor of your Los Angeles
Clippers, and they're coming back toStaples Center for Game five Wednesday night.
With this series, all's hied upat two games apiece. Welcome in to
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your Clippers post game show. Thisis Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Oslin to
eight six six nine eight seven twofive seventy eight sixty six nine eight seven
two five seventy is the phone numbercoming up on the show. We got
postgame audio on this very segment fromKawhi Leonard also Lucas Hand, one of
my favorites. He's staying up latefor us on the East Coast. He's
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at two one three hoops. He'sat Lucas Jay Hann on Twitter. He
covers the Clippers for two one,three hoops. He's been doing it for
a very, very, very longtime. He's fantastic. We'll have great
analysis from him coming up. Butthe Clippers have figured something out defensively now.
Some of this to be this lapsidedin a victory in a team as
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good as the Dallas Mavericks have beenin this series overall, and as well
as they have played offensively for thingsto fall apart for them. It's a
combination of factors. First of all, the Clippers are starting to figure things
out more and more as this seriesgoes along. We talked about coach Lou
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being the king of adjustments going backto his Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching days and
what he was able to do duringthose runs where he was not afraid to
bench starters, to bring in anyone, to find that energy, to find
that hustle, to find that defense, and they have done that now.
The Clippers held the Dallas Mavericks tojust thirty six points in the second half
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total. Dallas finishes with just eightyone points on the night, a top
ten offense, a team that hasbeen godlike from the outside. Basketball gods
have been favoring them with that threepoint shooting, but not in Game four.
Remember Dallas first three games they shotalmost fifty one percent from three.
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I went back and looked at everysingle series box score during the five year
run for the Golden State Warriors whenthey won three championships. Three championships they
won twenty fifteen, twenty seventeen,twenty eighteen. So I looked from twenty
fifteen through twenty nineteen the end oftheir run, the end of their dominance,
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because they changed the game with thatthree point shooting. The best they
ever shot in a series from threewas forty one percent, and through three
games the Dallas Mavericks had shot fiftyone percent until tonight. The law of
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averages can hit you hard. Itcan be drastic. That regression to the
mean can be brutal, and itwas. They were short on everything from
the outside. They finished just fiveof thirty from three, that is sixteen
point seven percent, after they hittwenty of their thirty nine attempts in Game
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three, a game in which theClippers still found a way to win Friday
night. I think it's a combinationof things. The Clippers defensively have gotten
better and better the last six quarters. Now they've given up just one hundred
and twenty eight points. Last sixquarters total one hundred and twenty eight points.
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That's an average of just twenty onepoints per quarter for the Dallas Mavericks.
Remember that other stat. Dallas wastwenty nine and zero when they won
the first quarter all season long,including games one and two in this series.
They finally lose a game after winningthe first quarter in Game three,
and I was wondering what that woulddo to their confidence, because it felt
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like the momentum had shifted in theClippers favor after what they were able to
do Friday night, and it wasDallas who was feeling the pressure and it
looked like it early on. Thoseshots just didn't look as loose and as
free. And it's the Clippers defenseas well. They held Dallas as just
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twenty two points on that first quarter. They won that first quarter thirty one
to twenty two. So there wego, Clippers basketball getting off to a
good start, having that defensive mentality, all those little things that lead to
big big things for this team,as they have all season long. They're
starting to come together. But it'sthe adjustments. It's coach lou It start
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Reggie Jackson in Game three and thenalso pulling a Vizza Zubats out of the
starting lineup, who has been sogood there all season long. Just a
bad matchup for him against the DallasMavericks, who were a plus thirty five
when they had Luca Dante's out thereon the court. Next two of Vizza
Zubats on the other side for yourLos Angeles Clippers, they were a plus
thirty five coming into this Game four. He saw it. Coach Low he
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put in Nicholas Batoum, kind ofa big small type of lineup because you
could say, when you have Battoum, when you have Kawhi Leonard, Marcus
Moore's, Paul George, those arefour guys that can play three different positions,
some of them four different positions.Reggie Jackson was the small out there
and Dallas wasn't able to exploit itnearly as much. And then once again
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Kawhi Leonard gets off to that hotstart in game three. He started eight
of eight from the field. Tonightin game four, starts six of six
from the field. Playoff Kawai's atdifferent beast We've known this for a long
time now, but he gets upfor the playoffs. Post game after Game
three, where he had thirty sixpoints, he talked about how he just
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never feels tired in the playoffs.He's in good shape. He's not even
dealing with the same injury he hadduring that twenty nineteen run with the Toronto
Raptors, that knee injury. He'splaying better, he looks better. He
looks more explosive now than he dida couple of seasons ago. And he
got off to a hot start lastyear in the playoffs for the Clippers first
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seven games, scored twenty nine pointsor more. First guy to do that
last season since Michael Jordan back innineteen eighty eight. So he got off
to that good start. We knowhow it ended, but he's doing it
again. He's playing even better thanthat. He shot over sixty six percent
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from the floor to night in thisgame, had twenty nine points on eleven
of fifteen shooting, plus ten boards, three assists, two steals, two
blocks, and played some tremendous defenseon Luca Dontech, especially in the first
half. To throw Luca at arhythm. You could see it. And
yes, Luca Dontch, she's dealingwith that neck injury. How much that
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affected him in this game, whoknows, but he was grimacing out there
at times you could see it visibly. And I hope he gets back to
full strength and is able to giveit a go in Game five, because
you want to beat everyone at theirbest, You want no excuses, and
it also makes you sharper. Ironsharpens iron. You want to beat everyone
when they're fully loaded. But hewent just nine of twenty four, nineteen
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points, four turnovers, just sixassists, six rebounds. I say just
six assists, six rebounds. Buthe's been close to a triple double so
far in this series. And theDallas Maverick offense clearly they go as Luca
Dontitch goes in Game two at thathalf of Game two, to put things
in perspective, to look at justhow much the Clippers defense has started to
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settle in now in this series.Go back to Game two with the half
the Dallas Mavericks had seventy one pointstonight through four quarters, they finished with
just eighty one. It's been anunbelievable adjustment for the Clippers defensively, but
also Dallas was short on shots fromthe outside. Some of those three pointers
they were hitting. We knew itwas hot shooting. We knew it wasn't
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sustainable. And tonight, going fiveof thirty from three, after coming into
this game shooting fifty one percent fromthree, that law of averages hit them
hard, and we thought if itdid. With the way the Clippers were
playing even early on in this series, offense wasn't the problem. If Dallas
just cooled off at all, theycould have taken one of the first two
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games, Game one or Game twoin this series. But Dallas was that
good from the outside. I mentionedthat Game two where Dallas had seventy one
points on the first half, Clippersactually had seventy three. They put up
one hundred twenty one points in thatgame and lost to Dallas, putting up
I believe one twenty seven or onetwenty eight. But through the last six
quarters now Dallas is just averaging twentyone points per quarter, and in the
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second half tonight they had just thirtysix points. The Clippers held them to
fifteen in that third quarter. Theywere great. The Nicholas Batoum adjustment that
worked. Rick Carlisle countered by puttingout Boban Marianovitch, our old friend.
We saw some Bobie ball. Iused to call him the secret weapon.
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He's still that. He played well. He was actually a plus three in
a game they lost by twenty five. Had twelve points in fifteen minutes plus
six rebounds, had a quick fourpoints. Rick Carlisle angry. Jim Carrey
puts him out there. Coach Loucounters by putting a Vizza Zubos out there,
and overall at worked A Vizza Zuboswas a plus eight. Doesn't get
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the start, didn't sulk about it, didn't complain. These guys are sacrificing.
All they want to do is win. You saw Patrick Beverley on the
sidelines. He doesn't get into thegame until it's inconsequential garbage time, but
he was cheering guys on. Itwas that raw rob Patrick Beverley that we've
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seen before, and he can makea difference there too. That energy also
keeps guys up. The Clippers reallynever let up in this one. They
kept the pressure on. They keptapplying the pressure in the aggressiveness in this
one, playing Downhill and Kawuhi andPaul George, who had eighteen of his
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twenty points in the first half.Cooled off after that, but they got
off to a great start again.They were fourteen of twenty two from the
field in the first half. Theyhad thirty five points in the first half.
Combined, the Dallas Mavericks had justforty five as a team. And
it's the second straight game now wherePaul George and Kawhid have just been insane
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gotten off to great starts. Theywere eighteen of twenty two in the first
half of Game three. They havebeen leading, they have been playing like
the superstars that they are, andthey've been great and fantastic throughout this series.
But they had to find a wayto slow down this Dallas Mavericks defense
or offense, excuse me, withthe Clippers defense. Eventually those shots were
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going to start or stop falling forDallas. It finally started to happen tonight,
and you see the result, atwenty five point victory, even though
the Clippers only put up one hundredand six points and they still won by
twenty five. That's what makes itso impressive. Reggie Jackson late in this
game put the finishing touches on itwith a couple of three pointers I thought
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Marcus Morris looked to be in anice groove. Finished with just nine points,
but had five of those on thethird quarter. He had a tough
layup over Dorian Finney Smith in thatthird quarter. You can tell he's starting
to feel right from the outside.His defense has been much better. He's
been much quicker with the footwork,and guys have been staying in front of
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their man. We heard this fromJen Rondo after Game three, who had
seven points, was a plus fourteenand twenty minutes and had some really nice
passes. I'm thinking of the runoutby Kawhi Leonard to get an easy dunk.
He also found to beat the zoobas for a big two handed throw
down. But Rajon Rondo said itwas that professional pride that started messing with
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them, where they were getting beatoff the dribble far too much the first
two games of this series, guystook it personally, and since then,
last six quarters, Dallas has justbeen averaging twenty one points per quarter and
the Clippers are now tied up attwo games apiece after being down two in
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an O two hole just five teams. Ever, in a first round,
we're gonna playoff series have come backin that situation before, a few of
them in the past twenty years.Two thousand and five, the Dallas Mavericks
actually did it against the Houston Rockets. They started in that O two hole,
mind you, when the first twogames are at home. The Boston
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Celtics did it in twenty seventeen,starting off oh and two at home against
actually was Gen Rondo and the ChicagoBulls. Rondo got hurt and they would
win four straight the Boston Celtics.So Clippers are looking to make history,
but there is a lot of morework to be done, because I don't
think Dallas is going away quietly intothe night. Clippers win one, O
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six to eighty one. Let's takea quick phone call Jose and south Gate.
What's up? You're on? Clippersstop without Amslem. Turn off your
radio, Jose, Oh, turnon my radio. Adamya hear me?
I got you now, Jose,what's up? Are you ready? Hold
only hold on? I got thewomen can worry study. Clipper nation is
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together and feeling good. Just rememberall the hot takes after the Clippers were
down oh two in this series,people saying it's the same thing once again.
They're not making adjustments. Please,it was mostly just incredibly hot shooting
by the Dallas Mavericks that was theproblem. You see that after a game
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light tonight where they finally cool offand the Clippers proved to be the better
team, they out executed Dallas allover the floor to win this series,
though, they got to keep itgoing. This same mindset, this same
type of adrenaline they're playing with.They said after they won Game three,
we haven't done anything yet. It'sjust one game. I'm interested to hear
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from Kawhi. Leonard will play thatfor you next here on Clippers Talk.
Sorry, Zach, I know Iteased it. We'll play some Kawhi Leonard
Audio will play some coach Lou Audio. After the Clippers win by twenty five
alice, they make it back toback victories. Coming back to Staples Center
for Game five Wednesday night, theygot a couple of days off. Kawhi
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only had to play thirty five minutes, same with PG thirteen. In this
one, Daniel O two U gothis first playoff bucket. Clippers have tied
this series up at two games apiece. More Clippers coming up next right here
on AM five to seventy l Sports. I think we are squared up to
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take him out. First round.NBA Playoff action is off. This is
LA Clippers playoff basketball extra Pats PittySmith straight away three is short and the
rebound Grondo up over the defense.It's Leonard streaking out for a right handed
jam Cool White. Leonard and ronchNon Rondo with some fast break perfection for
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the Clippers as they leaded fifty fivethirty eight. Kawhi Leonard finishes with twenty
nine points on eleven of fifteen shootingstarted off six four six from the field,
and it's just the third player inthe shot clock era to have at
least twenty nine points while shooting atleast sixty six percent from the field in
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three consecutive postseason games. The Clipperswin by twenty five in Dallas over the
Mavericks in Game four. Welcome backinto Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Oslin to
eight six six nine eight seven twofive seventy eight six six nine eight seven
two five seventy is the phone number? Quickly, let's hear from the claw
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post game speaking with who do wegot here? Zach? I know,
yes, Dennis Scott, my guythree d here is Kawhi Leonard post game
fifteen from the field all four gamesand then getting all to a fast star
talk about your groove and how wellyou're playing. We're playing great, you
know, that's all. That's allI care about. I want the whole
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team to play great. You know, one player, two players game,
you know, win a championship.We are win a playoff series. So
you know, I'm happy that weare playing well now by playing better defense.
And speaking of that defense, howbig was it for toddlu to put
the tune in the starting line upto get your all defense though from a
fast start tonight, it was big, you know, you know it's the
next man, that mentality. Younever know who serious is going to be.
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And it's just like I said,we need everybody. We need the
whole five that's out there and therest of the eleven that's on the bench,
and as well as the coaching staffand trainers. Now, how do
you follow this up? This wasa must win game tonight. How do
you take this effort active stable centerfor game five? You know, look
at film, see what we didwrong. Just keep trying to improve.
That's it, that's all we gottado. Keep being ourselves, keep playing
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hard and trust one another. Iappreciate your brothers, keep doing what you
feel was Early there was Kawhi Leonardpost game on TNT with three D Dennis
Scott. He had back to backdunks at one point in this game.
We played one of those, thefirst one in that sequence on that long
pass from gen Rondo to him toget into that fast break opportunity. But
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he's just playing like a man possessedto start things off. He had that
big time block on Luka don Itwas a tone setter. He had a
reverse lay up early on. Wasjust playing elite defense on Luka Dont when
they weren't able to set screens.When he wasn't calling for screens every time
down, Everybody kept asking why isn'tjust Kawhi Leonard playing him straight up the
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entire time? Because they're not playingit straight up On the other end,
he's hunting for screens to get thatmismatch and get on a smaller player Luka
Luka don Is. It's an intelligentmove, it's the smart move. But
when he wasn't able to do that, Kawhi Leonard was all over him and
this Clippers team defensively with Nicholas Batoumin the starting lineup, who had two
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block Toombs Matombos, he had foursteals out there, ten points. He
was a plus twenty seven. Ina game where they led by as many
as twenty eight, he was aplus twenty seven. Rondo also found him
in the post. That's been areally good connection since they brought in Rajon
Rondo, just getting the ball toNicholas Batoum and getting him in his spots.
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Nicholas Batoum, I forget who itwas, but he backed down the
defender for a quick turnaround bucket.Just three of eight, but two three
pointers in this one. They haveso much versatility on this team, but
the only way to unlock it isto do so in the same way that
we've seen from coach Leu the pastcouple of games, to mix and match,
to find those mismatches to attack theweaknesses of the Dallas Mavericks, who
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have not been a good defensive teamall season long. They were almost bottom
ten and the Clippers they're starting tofeast now. They're starting to shoot their
typical numbers from the outside there aboutforty percent shooting now from three in this
series after shooting forty one point onepercent during the regular season. Let's hear
from Jeff and Tarzana. Jeff,what's up. You're on Clippers stock.
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You know, maybe the other callof this series, the home court disadvantage.
You know what, Adam? Youknow, I knew they were capable
of playing this one. I'm veryproud by the way the Clippers played the
last two games. Should be Andyou know, all these people think lucas
a superstar. The guy can't playdefense and he's a terrible free throwers.
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He's a great shoot, Jeff,Jeff, he's in a free throw funk.
He has shot seventy three percent forhis career at the charity stripe.
Well, you know what you think, seventy three percent? Adams a good
free thrower. It's solid. It'snot great, But you said he's terrible.
There's a big difference between terrible andseventy three percent. Well, I
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don't think anybody under seventy five percentis good, okay, Jeff, I
mean just seven out of They onlymake seven out of every ten. Jeff,
I got news. Worry Luka,Dontech is a superstar, Okay.
Well, when he's the face ofthe league in a few years. Call
me. There's a lot of guysyou forget. You forget that kid on
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Memphis and the kid Jahmrand and TreyYoung. Is that where you're going?
Those guys are good, too,great young players. The league is in
good hands. But Luka Dontich rightnow is better than both of those guys
who also don't play defense. Well, that's true, Adam, But you
know what, don't you think guysshould if you're scoring thirty, how many
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points is he giving up? Well? It was effective through the first two
games, Jeff, Okay, AndI don't think the Clippers were going at
him enough early on in this series, and that was an adjustment they had
to make make him work defensively.I think that's maybe part of the reason
he's had tired legs from the outsideand from the free throw line. He
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was just one of seven from three. But he's also playing through a neck
injury right now. Let's not forgetthat. Okay, you know what,
he's good. I never said hewasn't good. I just don't think he's
as great as everybody makes it outto me. And the other thing is
the only other thing I'm mad aboutis I love Bobon. I just wish
he was still on the Clippers.You see how fast he scores when he
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has a mismatch in certain situations.He can be a specialist out there.
He can affect a game very quickly. We saw it a couple of years
ago with the Clippers when it wasToby and Boby. It was a lot
of fun. I love thinking ofhim as like that combiner Transformer devastator out
there these multiple parts because he's justso huge. But I thought Avisa Zubots
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held his own against Bobon in thisone. Let's hear from Coach Lou post
game after the Clippers win by twentyfive in Dallas in Game four, they're
taking on while they're running back backat Stay Center for Game five Wednesday night.
But let's hear from coach Lou postgame speaking with the media. I
just want to know what you learnedthe most about your team in these two
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games. You know, coming hereto a hostile environment, you know,
down older two and you know themost thing I'm proud of, just you
know, it's keeping our pois,you know, following the game, playing,
cleaning up some mistakes, making acouple of adjustments, and like I
said, you know, from twodisappointed losses on our home floor, you
know, I thought we really hadthe pocus are coming in taking the one
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game at a time and winning thesetwo games. So I'm just very proud
of the way our guys, youknow, focusing, locked in, and
I was able to execute, speciallyin the defensive end the last six quarters.
Thank you. Next we'll go toAndrew Hi. Ever since you guys
fell behind by nineteen, you've outscoredthere in about fifty points. I know
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there's this a game of many adjustments, but are there a couple of things
you would point to the most youfelt like you're happiest to have gone your
way to the adjustments that have madethat possible. I think defensively, just
you know, getting better strings onthe floor of Luca. I think happening
our little man awareness when guys arebeat out the dribble, it's like hard
Away, making him drive it clear, making him put the ball on the
floor. And I probably really dida good job of that. You know,
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we really locked into those two guysand they're very important to their team,
but at three point shooting and they'respacing, So I was proud of
our guys. Were really locking in, you know, trying to get those
guys out the line, making themplay inside the three. Nick just talked
about how the team had no panicarriving here in Dallas, down two Old.
Want to be observed from your guysthe last four days since you've been
here, just pois and focus.I think, staying poise, understanding the
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task at hand. It's the firstof four games. You know, we
still haven't done anything yet, butyou know it's a good start for us,
going down Old too at home andcoming out and be able to win
two on their on our floor.So now I'm seriously tied up. Were
going back home. I'm gonna tryto take care of home court advantage on
Wednesday. I don't even know whatday it is, but and just keep
it going from there, just continueto keep building momentum. Thank you.
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Next we'll go to a lot.We discussed the specific game plan and the
stakes, the things that you wantedto see fixed, and as Andrew alluded
to, back seat and ten.They were held to one of eleven from
the field. Obviously only eighty onepoints to the team you gave up so
many points to earlier in the week. Were there any more game playing mistakes
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despite the Great defense or are yousatisfied with the complete game from your defense
tonight. I'm satisfied with a completegame. I mean throughout the course of
the game, you're gonna have somemistakes. You know, we understand that.
But it can't resonn in forty pointsor you know, thirty seven points,
you know, things like that.But you know, you canna have
some mistakes because they're good players.They're gonna run some good stuff. You
know, Great does a great jobof running stuff out of time out,
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so put your some compromise and positionsas well. So just clean up the
mistakes. We can't give up,you know, thirty five forty points on
our mistakes, and we did thattonight. And then, like I said,
our guys are flying around, youknow, really fisical the defensive end,
I thought, for the most probablytrying to check in box out even
though they was you know, wewere small a lot, so they got
some offensive rebounds. But you know, overall, I'm just proud of our
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effort and I'll following the game playingas best as possible. How how did
you react to the wrench that wasthrown at you. With Boban re emerging
in this series, Yeah, hewas a factor. You know. I
think him in Big Zoo out thereto get you know, together, battered
a little bit. It's something tobe def didn't see coming, you know,
but he gave a little you know, a little joke, you know,
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offensively, you know, the fansleve'em. He came in and
playing well, you know, fiveor nine, you know, twelve points
and six rebounds. So you know, come next game, we gotta be
prepared for him and ready for himin his Pison county and it's hype.
Thanks. Next up we'll go toow Ti. Kawai has been relentless,
like the last three games. I'mwondering, You've obviously played alongside the some
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of the all time grades, andyou've seen Kobe take his game up a
notch in the postseason. What whatis Kawai and like when he takes his
game up a notch, I meanon both ends of the floor. I
think rebounding the basketball, you know, really attacking, you know, I
think through the course of the season, he coast you know, sometimes just
you know, preparing and getting readyfor this moment. But the painting.
The speed he's playing with, thisis what we need and it's unbelievable.
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Like attacking the basket, quick moves, quick decisions, That's what our whole
team like, we talked about,you know, getting into the paint,
driving a basketball with Kawhid be phenomenal, rebounding basketball, attacking, but also
catching the ball and making quick decisionsattacking really so you know, we want
to continue to keep doing that.You know, we still got some work
to do, but I like thedirection we're trending in. There was Coach
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Lou post games speaking about those KawhiLeonard rebounds or speaking too. He led
them with ten boards in this one, tough boards, and he was guarding
guys in defending in the paint.Early on. He made his presence known
at the basket. I think hecompletely changed the trajectory of this game.
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That physicality that he brought. Heand Paul George. Paul George was absolutely
relentless with getting to the basket earlyon in this one. Whether or not
he got the foul didn't matter.He was looking for contact and he was
finishing through contact. Finished with twentypoints on just six of sixteen shooting,
kind of got cold in the secondhalf, but it didn't really matter.
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Other Clippers were able to step up, and coach Lou said it, we
haven't done anything yet. I lovethat mentality. These guys are hungry.
That fire is burning. They're notresting on their laurels now, just tying
this series up. It already soundslike they're ready to go for Game five,
but two days of rest until Wednesday. Tip time will be at seven
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pm at Staples Center. While wehave a moment, let's pause ten seconds
for station identification here on five seventysports KLAC Los Angeles, SHD two Los
Angeles available everywhere with the iHeart RadioWhip now number one for podcasting and iHeart
Radio station. Know what before webreak here, I'm sorry Zach, CJ
(29:04):
and Alhambra since we missed you thelast couple of times you called into Clippers
Talk and I just saw your numberpop up. CJ. How you doing,
Hey? I am doing wonderful.Man. It is finally good to
see the Clips get back on track. You know, I really hated the
media narratives, both local and national, that the Clips were kind of taking
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out just to take the easy routeagainst the Dallas Mavericks, because I think
this kind of fueled a little lumbradgewith them, especially in Games one and
two. But we got our stufftogether. We hit the switch where we
decided to focus less on Dunkach andmake sure that everybody else got covered with
honest defense and the aggressiveness that Isaw the interior offense was exciting and I
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was a little banged up, butyou know, they had some good on
Mavericks play out for them, likePat Farrer, Eric Lewis, and Tyler
Ford. Those Mavericks were really killingus. Thank you for the phone call,
CJ. You bring up that mediadriven narrative about the Clippers tanking at
the end of the season and losingthat final game to the OKAC Thunder and
(30:22):
saying they lost it because they wantedto avoid the Lakers in the first round.
That game, the final day ofthe regular season on that Sunday versus
the OKAC Thunder had zero bearing onwhether or not they were going to be
playing the Los Angeles Lakers in thefirst round or not. It was already
decided they'd either take on Dallas orthe Portland Trailblazers, So it was an
(30:45):
extremely lazy, media driven narrative,and maybe it did get Dallas going somewhat.
I think I'm just gonna credit them, and they're hot shooting that they
had coming into the playoffs. Itcontinued, but the Clippers they weathered the
storm. They waited out the stormof three pointers. Finally, Dallas goes
(31:07):
just five of thirty. So let'ssee here, that means they missed twenty
five threes. Oh, they loseby twenty five. Clippers win one oh
six to eighty one over the Mavericks. More Clippers talk coming up next.
Lucas hand will be here from twoon three hoops. I'm out of Oslin.
This is a five seventy Yelis forms. I think we are squared up
(31:34):
to take him out first round.That'd be a playoff actions. Oh,
this is La Clippers playoff basketball years. Clippers win by twenty five in Game
four. Game five back at StaplesCensor is Wednesday night. It has become
(31:57):
a best out of three series withClippers having that home court advantage back.
Welcome back into Clippers talk. I'mat a maslin to eight six six nine
eight seven two five seventy eight sixsix nine eight seven two five seventy is
the phone number. We'll get backto your phone calls. We got more
postgame audio coming up, but firstlet's go to the East coast, east
(32:19):
of the Rockies. Fool. It'sLucas jay Hahn. Follow him at Lucas
jay hanh Han on Twitter at Lucasjay Han. He covers the Clippers for
two, one, three hoops.I did it again. All right,
Lucas, Let's get the low down. Let's get the toughest question out of
the way first. How much icecream did you consume today? Did you
(32:39):
get to all thirty two flavors?I? You know what, I had
a little bit in the fourth quarterbecause I wanted some, but the Clippers
did not need me tonight. Ifyou don't know, Lucas has become famous
on Twitter for the ice creams superstition, and he's putting his health at risk.
He really did that Friday night.He was in just a gallon of
(33:00):
Rocky Road on Friday. Diabetes isimminent for Lucas hand, but he risked
it all for the Clippers. Lucas, what was the biggest adjustment you feel
like Coach Lewis made so far inthis series to get the Clippers back to
a tie to two series. Well, I think the most important things that
(33:21):
they've done, Adam. You know, everyone wants to talk about the defense
and Luca and all that, themost important thing that they've done is on
offense. Take advantage of the factthat Dallas does not have a room protector.
Christaps Porzingis is tall, but he'sjust not a guy you're very scared
of. Down there. Kawhi Letterand Paul George are both feasting inside the
(33:42):
arc. I think Kawai was nineof eleven inside the paint today. And
you know, it's been the casereally starting in Game two. They just
couldn't keep up with Dallas's three pointersin Game two. But then in both
of these games and Dallas, theClippers have just killed them in the paint
offensively. Did you feel like itwas more about what the Clippers were doing
defensively in this game on the perimeter, or Dallas was just due to fall
(34:05):
off a cliff with their three pointshooting percentage, which was unbelievable through three
games. It's a little bit ofboth, right, and that's with Dallas
making all their threes through the firstthree games. It was also a little
bit of both to an extent.Dallas was playing very freely, very confidently.
The Clippers were having defensive breakdowns,guys were getting good looks, and
they were hitting way more of thosegood looks than they have hit at any
(34:29):
point in their careers. In thisgame, the Clippers played much more aggressive
perimeter defense taylu mentioned before the gameright, wanting to run these guys off
the line. They only give upthirty three point attempts, which is low
for Dallas for this series, andyet Tim Hardaway Junior gets a wide open
three and missus right like a lotof still good shots missed by the Mavericks
tonight. Five of thirty is theirworst three point shooting game of the season
(34:52):
and seventy six tries. So Ithink the Clippers both took care of their
business tonight and got a little bitof Lady luck on their side. Who
do you think has been the thirdmost important player for the Clippers in this
series behind the two one three connection, Nicholas Patum. I mean, I
think what he's brought them defensively,and when you can consider you know,
(35:15):
Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson, theseother guys who you count on to bring
offense, haven't you know, reallyshot amazingly well in this series. Nicholas
Patum his mate shots and he hasjust been I mean, he's been amazing
for the Clippers defensively. Four stealsand two blocks in this game, and
he's kind of filled the box scoreup like that throughout the series. So
I think the adjustment to put himin the starting lineup, even though it
(35:37):
leaves the Clippers without a big whichI'm a little aware of, just getting
Nicholas Patum on the floor for moreminutes is good because he's been with the
Clippers. Third best player playoff.Lucas is our guests here on Clippers Talk
after they win by twenty five inGame four in Dallas over the Mavericks.
Follow him at Lucas Jay Hahn onTwitter. He covers the Clippers for two
(35:59):
on three hoops. So, Lucas, I wanted you on here because you
are so heavy and in tune withthe numbers and the matchups. What do
you think the next adjustment is inthis series? Because we saw initially in
the first quarter it was first ofall the Mavericks tried to get Chris DApps
porzingis going. He had a quickfour points. But then they brought in
Boban to bring out a Visa zoobotsfor the Clippers. Then they put Boban
(36:22):
back on the bench. Rick,Carlile and Tlu they've been having this chess
match, So who do you thinkmakes the next big move? You know,
honestly, I think if I'm theClippers, if I'm Tylu, obviously
you're going to try to tune somestuff up. But I think there's the
story of this series, and thisis a Clippers team. They did not
have a lot of reps with theirmain guys coming down to the home stretch
(36:45):
of the season. So if you'rethe Clippers, I think you want to
say, hey, what we're doing, Let's keep doing better at it,
Let's keep trying to make fewer mistakes, and then we can start adding some
wrinkles as this series drags on,as the Clippers, you know, hopefully
get into future series. We sawa Game two they tried to change stuff
up in a pretty significant way ifthey really fell on their face. Coming
(37:07):
out of Game two, Tyler wassaying, we need to simplify, simplify,
simplify, and it's worked in thesenext couple of games. So I
think to ramp up two more complexcoverages, especially on the defensive end,
is going to be slow and cautious. But the biggest thing Adam to be
honest, Luca don Chich did notlook right tonight, and he didn't use
that as an excuse in his postgamecomments. He said, no, I'm
(37:29):
one hundred percent. I just playedterrible. But you could see watching him,
his movement, movement was not normal. He was in pain. And
if that's the case, and it'sunfortunate because he's an amazing, amazing talent.
But if that's the case, allthe Clippers have to do is,
you know, stay home and forcehim to beat them with shots. And
(37:49):
the Mavericks offense is going to havea lot of pretty poor nights like they
had tonight. We all talked aboutit before the series. Let Luca get
his stop everybody else and they losta game where he had forty four points
and nobody else had more than fourteen. In Game three, as you mentioned,
it did look to visibly affect himout there that neck injury. Just
nine of twenty four for Luca dontagehere in Game four for nineteen points,
(38:13):
struggled Kawhi Leonard Meanwhile, we talkabout things that are sustainable, repeatable and
things that are not. But we'veseen this so many times from Kawhi Leonard
in the playoffs, and this isn'ta really good matchup for him so far.
They just have nobody who can guardhim. How long can he keep
this up? Lucas, Yeah,I mean it's a great question because,
like you said, Kawhi is obviouslya guy who we know is capable of
(38:37):
great things in the playoffs. Buteven in you in Toronto that run,
you think back a couple of years. In Toronto, he shot fifty four
percent on two pointers, which isagain amazing. In this playoffs he's shooting
like sixty eight percent. So thesenumbers are going to come down. They
especially are going to come down ifthis does become a long Clippers playoff run.
(38:59):
Two round, three rounds, fourrounds, they start playing against some
fiercer defenses, plus you get alarger sample size of games. But the
answer right now is with the lookshe's getting, so many looks at the
rim and little short floaters, andthe extent to which it feels like Dallas
is really kind of helpless, itreally wouldn't surprise me if the Clippers come
(39:20):
back to La and Kauai has anotherten or fifteen shooting game for thirty points,
because it just doesn't feel like theMAVs have an answer to keep him
from getting easy looks. He's shootingalmost sixty five percent in the series right
now. He's also shooting fifty percentfrom three while averaging thirty three points per
(39:42):
game. There is an argument tobe made, considering he plays on both
ends, that he's been the bestplayer so far in these playoffs. But
let's go to his right hand manin the two one three connection, that
would be the thirteen and once againin the second quarter, Paul George caught
fire. I think at one pointhe had four st eight baskets, had
thirteen points in the second quarter ofthis game, just like he did in
(40:05):
Game three. How important has thisquick start, this fast start, especially
offensively, even though he has struggledfrom three overall in these four games three
of six though in this one.How important has that been just for Paul
George to get off to this startthroughout these playoffs? And what could it
mean moving forward? Well, Ithink it's big in terms of confidence.
You look how the playoffs went forPaul George last year. You look at
(40:27):
the media, the press that hegot coming out of that, and the
treatment that we've seen him, youknow, kind of be open about getting
from opposing players, just in termsof on court trash talk. This season,
I mean, it's it's impossible asa human being for that to not
affect you mentally. And I thinkfor him to come out and start slow
in Game one and gather himself andhave a really great three and a half
(40:51):
games since then, and for anything, he wasn't even that heat. I
mean, you know, six ofsixteen shooting the night twenty points. The
Clippers didn't need him that much,and I think he maybe took his foot
off the gas a little bit becauseof that compared to other games. But
like I said, him getting tothe rim has been fantastic in this series,
even with the three point shot notfalling at his normal levels. And
I think for him, especially interms of playoff performances, confidence is so
(41:15):
so important, and he's a guywho has it right now. He is
playoff Lucas. Follow him at Lucasjay Han. He's got two ws now
next to his playoff Lucas name onTwitter. Fourteen more to go for the
Clippers to reach that final goal.He covers them at two one, three
(41:37):
hoops. He's fantastic. He bringson a lot of the same guests that
we have here on this show,including himself. Lucas, thanks for doing
this tonight. Don't get sick.If you're lactose intolerant, you're even more
of a g for pulling this off. I'm not okay, you'd be dead
by now, Lucas. We'll talkto you. We'll talk to my friend
(42:00):
coming up next quick break here,we'll come back. We'll preview Game five.
Clippers win by twenty five in Gamefour, gorgeous victory, magnificent like
one of Kanye's weird album covers.I mean this is old Kanye. I
(42:20):
like this. I like that songwaves though two. Okay, I'm getting
off track. Clippers win one ohsix to eighty one in Dallas over the
Mavericks. If you're listening to Clippersstock, I'm out of Maslin. And
this is a five seventy LA Sports. I think we are squared up to
(42:45):
take him out first round NBA playoffaction? Is this is LA Clippers playoff
basketball? Glennard wants to go towork double comes inside. Jackson Porzingis helps
to the out side, but tubcorner three is open head gun on the
far side. Nick Buttomb splashes holdthe triple perfect ball boopen for the Clippers
(43:08):
to make it seventy four fifty one. Saint Nicholas Batoum got the start,
hit two three pointers, was aplus twenty seven and thirty six minutes.
The Clippers went small and it waseffective. They went on to win by
a score of one oh six toeighty one, the Clippers allowing eighty one
(43:29):
points tonight. That is tied forthe second fewest amount of points allowed in
a postseason game in franchise history.For your Los Angeles Clippers, welcome back
into Clippers talk. I'm Adam oslinto eight sixty six nine eight seven two
five seventy eight six six nine eightseven two five seventy is the phone number.
The Clippers had the Dallas Mavericks scrambling, and they seem to be more
(43:52):
and more cohesive and more locked inon the defensive end themselves. They're just
tightening things up. The attention todetail has ramped up. Coach Luke talked
about it postgame. That focus thatpoise. They've shown it off, especially
the last six quarters, where theMavericks are just averaging twenty one points per
(44:13):
quarter over the last six going backto the second half of Game three.
So what they're doing is working theadjustments they have made. It is working.
And I love the fact, andI think I brought this up earlier,
but Patrick Beverley just played five minutes. It's just a tough matchup for
him against Luca dontchitch because he's givingup seven inches and I'll bet one hundred
(44:36):
pounds in size to Luca dontchich.But he got into the game late and
he made a bucket and he gothis defender up in the air at the
basket, he got it to go. But more importantly, these guys who
have not been playing have been rootingon their teammates. That culture that they've
been developing all season long, thattight knit group. We're seeing it so
(44:58):
far. Because guys could splinter whenthere's adversity, when you're down OZ two,
they've stayed together and they stayed confident. And everybody criticizing TLU for saying
they weren't concerned, what are yougonna say now? The series is tied
up at two games, apiece.I think he knows his team better than
you do. I think he knowswhat he had to preach and what he
(45:22):
had to show. He was unfazed, and it is trickled down throughout the
roster because these guys came out andlook as poised and determined in the last
two games as they have looked allseason long. They're playing their best basketball
when their best was required, butthere is still a lot of work to
(45:43):
be done in this series. Theygot to bring this same energy that maybe
was somewhat supplied by playing in frontof a home sold out crowd. Once
again. They hadn't experienced an environmentlike this in Dallas these last two games
in over a year, and itseemed to ignite and bring out the best
in the Clippers, being in thatLion's dead and surviving it and more than
(46:06):
surviving in this game, winning bytwenty five. But the adjustment in game
four was Nicolas Batum in the startinglineup over a Vita Zoo Bots. And
here was Nicholas Batum post games,speaking with Christina Pink from Valley Sports.
It's this defense was swarming from thestart. You hold Dallas to just thirty
five percent, shooting Luca to justnineteen points. What made the difference and
(46:29):
why you guys were so locked indefensively? We finally have a good start.
No, what they've been doing withus? Three game the good job
on us. No, they havebig lead right away, so we have
to foot back in and so Iget back in the game. So didn't
happen in the first two. Wedid a good job game in three,
but tonight we didn't need to adda good start too. I mean,
so they can't get in the waythat I'm the crack can and get into
(46:51):
it and to get that momentum inoutside that we did it tonight. Well,
yeah, you guys got off toa good start. You were also
inserted to the starting lineup for thefirst time in this series. When did
you find out and how did thatchange your approach tonight? All right,
he told me that after a Gamethree. No, well, we started
the same on that that way.So after the after the game, he
told me that we're gonna start thatway in game four, So hand me
(47:12):
wait two days ago so I couldprepare myself. Then you know what,
we worked pretty well then, Imean they met some adjustment because they felt
super big. So we gotta liketo welcome that foot game five, so
I got gotta go home and takeher business. Well, yeah, we
saw a lot of that preparation.When you look at your line to night,
ten points, five rebounds, foursteals and a pair of blocks.
(47:32):
Where did you feel like you madethe biggest impact on the game? Avery
bit on everything you say? No, No, I as that's why you
have to do with this team.No, I got everybody from point guard
to center, and I gotta sayscreen, I gotta shoot three, I
got a drive, and I geteverything to make Kawaii and PG lives better.
So that's my job with this team. Well, Nico, somehow the
(47:53):
road team has won every game inthis series. How do you guys change
that trend on Wednesday? You know, No, we know what we cannot
do again these teams, So nobig start, and you know Luca have
been great teen our house, soI don't get to have to go back
home to Cubis ness. I dothe same job and even better that way
(48:13):
you've been doing the last two gameon on Wednesday, I think. So
now I can't wait to be backhome front in Fontevo fans and maybe get
a win. Don't panic, don'tworry about the pressure. Just play with
a sense of urgency. That's whatthe Clippers have done. And Nicholas Betune,
by the way, appropriately so wouldmake an immediate impact starting at this
game, but hitting the first shotof the game for the Clippers, a
(48:37):
three pointer. They go on towin by twenty five. In Dallas.
The series is tied up at twogames. Apiece is the best out of
three, and the Clippers have Gamefive and if necessary, Game seven at
Staples Center. Game five tips offWednesday night at seven pm. We'll have
Clippers countdown before you're starting at sixpm. Before we get out here,
(49:01):
I do want to hear the photoOfphs and I also want to thank the
Clippers organization. Noah Eagle, BrianSeaman, Ralph Lawler, big brother,
Jake Warner. We'll see you atStaples Center, our head engineer there,
see you Wednesday. Jake back herein Burbrank though, getting all the highlights,
(49:27):
running the board, playing the greatmusic. Zach l Quality, Thank
you Zach. You guys are it'sKawhile Leonard. That's a good drip until
Wednesday with ther pregame show starting atsix pm. I met him Oslin for
Game five. We'll talk to youthen. This has been Clippers Tall Playoff
(50:04):
Edition, the Home of the Clippersrecap of all the Clippers action on their
official Hall dynasty. So you'll missa single show every day. Good queen
hear anything you missed? I mean, I Heeart radio WA is amazing,
man. I'm happy to be partof it. Join us next game.
I'm your home for LA Clippers basketball. Okay, great, see you later.
(50:25):
By the LA Clippers, U C. L. A. Brewett,
LA Dodgers Baseball five seventy LA Sports, LA's Best sports tal
Clip, get your fall. It'stime to react bella Clippers basketball. This
is a playoff edition of Clippers Talk, Reaction and Analysis hosted by Adam Oslay.
You know he's feeling good. Takethe show with you anywhere you are
and get the podcast. I mean, iHeart radio and now your host.
(00:20):
He makes everything happen, Adam Mossley. Well, they say everything's bigger in
Texas, including blowouts. The Clipperswin Game four by twenty five with a
final score of one oh six toeighty one in favor of your Los Angeles
Clippers, and they're coming back toStaples Center for Game five Wednesday night.
With this series, all's hied upat two games apiece. Welcome in to
(00:43):
your Clippers post game show. Thisis Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Oslin to
eight six six nine eight seven twofive seventy eight sixty six nine eight seven
two five seventy is the phone numbercoming up on the show. We got
postgame audio on this very segment fromKawhi Leonard also Lucas Hand, one of
my favorites. He's staying up latefor us on the East Coast. He's
(01:06):
at two one three hoops. He'sat Lucas Jay Hann on Twitter. He
covers the Clippers for two one,three hoops. He's been doing it for
a very, very, very longtime. He's fantastic. We'll have great
analysis from him coming up. Butthe Clippers have figured something out defensively now.
Some of this to be this lapsidedin a victory in a team as
(01:27):
good as the Dallas Mavericks have beenin this series overall, and as well
as they have played offensively for thingsto fall apart for them. It's a
combination of factors. First of all, the Clippers are starting to figure things
out more and more as this seriesgoes along. We talked about coach Lou
(01:48):
being the king of adjustments going backto his Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching days and
what he was able to do duringthose runs where he was not afraid to
bench starters, to bring in anyone, to find that energy, to find
that hustle, to find that defense, and they have done that now.
The Clippers held the Dallas Mavericks tojust thirty six points in the second half
(02:13):
total. Dallas finishes with just eightyone points on the night, a top
ten offense, a team that hasbeen godlike from the outside. Basketball gods
have been favoring them with that threepoint shooting, but not in Game four.
Remember Dallas first three games they shotalmost fifty one percent from three.
(02:34):
I went back and looked at everysingle series box score during the five year
run for the Golden State Warriors whenthey won three championships. Three championships they
won twenty fifteen, twenty seventeen,twenty eighteen. So I looked from twenty
fifteen through twenty nineteen the end oftheir run, the end of their dominance,
(02:55):
because they changed the game with thatthree point shooting. The best they
ever shot in a series from threewas forty one percent, and through three
games the Dallas Mavericks had shot fiftyone percent until tonight. The law of
(03:15):
averages can hit you hard. Itcan be drastic. That regression to the
mean can be brutal, and itwas. They were short on everything from
the outside. They finished just fiveof thirty from three, that is sixteen
point seven percent, after they hittwenty of their thirty nine attempts in Game
(03:36):
three, a game in which theClippers still found a way to win Friday
night. I think it's a combinationof things. The Clippers defensively have gotten
better and better the last six quarters. Now they've given up just one hundred
and twenty eight points. Last sixquarters total one hundred and twenty eight points.
(03:57):
That's an average of just twenty onepoints per quarter for the Dallas Mavericks.
Remember that other stat. Dallas wastwenty nine and zero when they won
the first quarter all season long,including games one and two in this series.
They finally lose a game after winningthe first quarter in Game three,
and I was wondering what that woulddo to their confidence, because it felt
(04:19):
like the momentum had shifted in theClippers favor after what they were able to
do Friday night, and it wasDallas who was feeling the pressure and it
looked like it early on. Thoseshots just didn't look as loose and as
free. And it's the Clippers defenseas well. They held Dallas as just
(04:39):
twenty two points on that first quarter. They won that first quarter thirty one
to twenty two. So there wego, Clippers basketball getting off to a
good start, having that defensive mentality, all those little things that lead to
big big things for this team,as they have all season long. They're
starting to come together. But it'sthe adjustments. It's coach lou It start
(05:00):
Reggie Jackson in Game three and thenalso pulling a Vizza Zubats out of the
starting lineup, who has been sogood there all season long. Just a
bad matchup for him against the DallasMavericks, who were a plus thirty five
when they had Luca Dante's out thereon the court. Next two of Vizza
Zubats on the other side for yourLos Angeles Clippers, they were a plus
thirty five coming into this Game four. He saw it. Coach Low he
(05:23):
put in Nicholas Batoum, kind ofa big small type of lineup because you
could say, when you have Battoum, when you have Kawhi Leonard, Marcus
Moore's, Paul George, those arefour guys that can play three different positions,
some of them four different positions.Reggie Jackson was the small out there
and Dallas wasn't able to exploit itnearly as much. And then once again
(05:46):
Kawhi Leonard gets off to that hotstart in game three. He started eight
of eight from the field. Tonightin game four, starts six of six
from the field. Playoff Kawai's atdifferent beast We've known this for a long
time now, but he gets upfor the playoffs. Post game after Game
three, where he had thirty sixpoints, he talked about how he just
(06:11):
never feels tired in the playoffs.He's in good shape. He's not even
dealing with the same injury he hadduring that twenty nineteen run with the Toronto
Raptors, that knee injury. He'splaying better, he looks better. He
looks more explosive now than he dida couple of seasons ago. And he
got off to a hot start lastyear in the playoffs for the Clippers first
(06:33):
seven games, scored twenty nine pointsor more. First guy to do that
last season since Michael Jordan back innineteen eighty eight. So he got off
to that good start. We knowhow it ended, but he's doing it
again. He's playing even better thanthat. He shot over sixty six percent
(06:54):
from the floor to night in thisgame, had twenty nine points on eleven
of fifteen shooting, plus ten boards, three assists, two steals, two
blocks, and played some tremendous defenseon Luca Dontech, especially in the first
half. To throw Luca at arhythm. You could see it. And
yes, Luca Dontch, she's dealingwith that neck injury. How much that
(07:15):
affected him in this game, whoknows, but he was grimacing out there
at times you could see it visibly. And I hope he gets back to
full strength and is able to giveit a go in Game five, because
you want to beat everyone at theirbest, You want no excuses, and
it also makes you sharper. Ironsharpens iron. You want to beat everyone
when they're fully loaded. But hewent just nine of twenty four, nineteen
(07:41):
points, four turnovers, just sixassists, six rebounds. I say just
six assists, six rebounds. Buthe's been close to a triple double so
far in this series. And theDallas Maverick offense clearly they go as Luca
Dontitch goes in Game two at thathalf of Game two, to put things
in perspective, to look at justhow much the Clippers defense has started to
(08:05):
settle in now in this series.Go back to Game two with the half
the Dallas Mavericks had seventy one pointstonight through four quarters, they finished with
just eighty one. It's been anunbelievable adjustment for the Clippers defensively, but
also Dallas was short on shots fromthe outside. Some of those three pointers
they were hitting. We knew itwas hot shooting. We knew it wasn't
(08:28):
sustainable. And tonight, going fiveof thirty from three, after coming into
this game shooting fifty one percent fromthree, that law of averages hit them
hard, and we thought if itdid. With the way the Clippers were
playing even early on in this series, offense wasn't the problem. If Dallas
just cooled off at all, theycould have taken one of the first two
(08:50):
games, Game one or Game twoin this series. But Dallas was that
good from the outside. I mentionedthat Game two where Dallas had seventy one
points on the first half, Clippersactually had seventy three. They put up
one hundred twenty one points in thatgame and lost to Dallas, putting up
I believe one twenty seven or onetwenty eight. But through the last six
quarters now Dallas is just averaging twentyone points per quarter, and in the
(09:13):
second half tonight they had just thirtysix points. The Clippers held them to
fifteen in that third quarter. Theywere great. The Nicholas Batoum adjustment that
worked. Rick Carlisle countered by puttingout Boban Marianovitch, our old friend.
We saw some Bobie ball. Iused to call him the secret weapon.
(09:35):
He's still that. He played well. He was actually a plus three in
a game they lost by twenty five. Had twelve points in fifteen minutes plus
six rebounds, had a quick fourpoints. Rick Carlisle angry. Jim Carrey
puts him out there. Coach Loucounters by putting a Vizza Zubos out there,
and overall at worked A Vizza Zuboswas a plus eight. Doesn't get
(09:56):
the start, didn't sulk about it, didn't complain. These guys are sacrificing.
All they want to do is win. You saw Patrick Beverley on the
sidelines. He doesn't get into thegame until it's inconsequential garbage time, but
he was cheering guys on. Itwas that raw rob Patrick Beverley that we've
(10:16):
seen before, and he can makea difference there too. That energy also
keeps guys up. The Clippers reallynever let up in this one. They
kept the pressure on. They keptapplying the pressure in the aggressiveness in this
one, playing Downhill and Kawuhi andPaul George, who had eighteen of his
(10:37):
twenty points in the first half.Cooled off after that, but they got
off to a great start again.They were fourteen of twenty two from the
field in the first half. Theyhad thirty five points in the first half.
Combined, the Dallas Mavericks had justforty five as a team. And
it's the second straight game now wherePaul George and Kawhid have just been insane
(11:01):
gotten off to great starts. Theywere eighteen of twenty two in the first
half of Game three. They havebeen leading, they have been playing like
the superstars that they are, andthey've been great and fantastic throughout this series.
But they had to find a wayto slow down this Dallas Mavericks defense
or offense, excuse me, withthe Clippers defense. Eventually those shots were
(11:22):
going to start or stop falling forDallas. It finally started to happen tonight,
and you see the result, atwenty five point victory, even though
the Clippers only put up one hundredand six points and they still won by
twenty five. That's what makes itso impressive. Reggie Jackson late in this
game put the finishing touches on itwith a couple of three pointers I thought
(11:43):
Marcus Morris looked to be in anice groove. Finished with just nine points,
but had five of those on thethird quarter. He had a tough
layup over Dorian Finney Smith in thatthird quarter. You can tell he's starting
to feel right from the outside.His defense has been much better. He's
been much quicker with the footwork,and guys have been staying in front of
(12:05):
their man. We heard this fromJen Rondo after Game three, who had
seven points, was a plus fourteenand twenty minutes and had some really nice
passes. I'm thinking of the runoutby Kawhi Leonard to get an easy dunk.
He also found to beat the zoobas for a big two handed throw
down. But Rajon Rondo said itwas that professional pride that started messing with
(12:28):
them, where they were getting beatoff the dribble far too much the first
two games of this series, guystook it personally, and since then,
last six quarters, Dallas has justbeen averaging twenty one points per quarter and
the Clippers are now tied up attwo games apiece after being down two in
(12:50):
an O two hole just five teams. Ever, in a first round,
we're gonna playoff series have come backin that situation before, a few of
them in the past twenty years.Two thousand and five, the Dallas Mavericks
actually did it against the Houston Rockets. They started in that O two hole,
mind you, when the first twogames are at home. The Boston
(13:13):
Celtics did it in twenty seventeen,starting off oh and two at home against
actually was Gen Rondo and the ChicagoBulls. Rondo got hurt and they would
win four straight the Boston Celtics.So Clippers are looking to make history,
but there is a lot of morework to be done, because I don't
think Dallas is going away quietly intothe night. Clippers win one, O
(13:35):
six to eighty one. Let's takea quick phone call Jose and south Gate.
What's up? You're on? Clippersstop without Amslem. Turn off your
radio, Jose, Oh, turnon my radio. Adamya hear me?
I got you now, Jose,what's up? Are you ready? Hold
only hold on? I got thewomen can worry study. Clipper nation is
(14:03):
together and feeling good. Just rememberall the hot takes after the Clippers were
down oh two in this series,people saying it's the same thing once again.
They're not making adjustments. Please,it was mostly just incredibly hot shooting
by the Dallas Mavericks that was theproblem. You see that after a game
(14:26):
light tonight where they finally cool offand the Clippers proved to be the better
team, they out executed Dallas allover the floor to win this series,
though, they got to keep itgoing. This same mindset, this same
type of adrenaline they're playing with.They said after they won Game three,
we haven't done anything yet. It'sjust one game. I'm interested to hear
(14:46):
from Kawhi. Leonard will play thatfor you next here on Clippers Talk.
Sorry, Zach, I know Iteased it. We'll play some Kawhi Leonard
Audio will play some coach Lou Audio. After the Clippers win by twenty five
alice, they make it back toback victories. Coming back to Staples Center
for Game five Wednesday night, theygot a couple of days off. Kawhi
(15:13):
only had to play thirty five minutes, same with PG thirteen. In this
one, Daniel O two U gothis first playoff bucket. Clippers have tied
this series up at two games apiece. More Clippers coming up next right here
on AM five to seventy l Sports. I think we are squared up to
(15:41):
take him out. First round.NBA Playoff action is off. This is
LA Clippers playoff basketball extra Pats PittySmith straight away three is short and the
rebound Grondo up over the defense.It's Leonard streaking out for a right handed
jam Cool White. Leonard and ronchNon Rondo with some fast break perfection for
(16:02):
the Clippers as they leaded fifty fivethirty eight. Kawhi Leonard finishes with twenty
nine points on eleven of fifteen shootingstarted off six four six from the field,
and it's just the third player inthe shot clock era to have at
least twenty nine points while shooting atleast sixty six percent from the field in
(16:22):
three consecutive postseason games. The Clipperswin by twenty five in Dallas over the
Mavericks in Game four. Welcome backinto Clippers Talk. I'm Adam Oslin to
eight six six nine eight seven twofive seventy eight six six nine eight seven
two five seventy is the phone number? Quickly, let's hear from the claw
(16:44):
post game speaking with who do wegot here? Zach? I know,
yes, Dennis Scott, my guythree d here is Kawhi Leonard post game
fifteen from the field all four gamesand then getting all to a fast star
talk about your groove and how wellyou're playing. We're playing great, you
know, that's all. That's allI care about. I want the whole
(17:06):
team to play great. You know, one player, two players game,
you know, win a championship.We are win a playoff series. So
you know, I'm happy that weare playing well now by playing better defense.
And speaking of that defense, howbig was it for toddlu to put
the tune in the starting line upto get your all defense though from a
fast start tonight, it was big, you know, you know it's the
next man, that mentality. Younever know who serious is going to be.
(17:30):
And it's just like I said,we need everybody. We need the
whole five that's out there and therest of the eleven that's on the bench,
and as well as the coaching staffand trainers. Now, how do
you follow this up? This wasa must win game tonight. How do
you take this effort active stable centerfor game five? You know, look
at film, see what we didwrong. Just keep trying to improve.
That's it, that's all we gottado. Keep being ourselves, keep playing
(17:52):
hard and trust one another. Iappreciate your brothers, keep doing what you
feel was Early there was Kawhi Leonardpost game on TNT with three D Dennis
Scott. He had back to backdunks at one point in this game.
We played one of those, thefirst one in that sequence on that long
pass from gen Rondo to him toget into that fast break opportunity. But
(18:12):
he's just playing like a man possessedto start things off. He had that
big time block on Luka don Itwas a tone setter. He had a
reverse lay up early on. Wasjust playing elite defense on Luka Dont when
they weren't able to set screens.When he wasn't calling for screens every time
down, Everybody kept asking why isn'tjust Kawhi Leonard playing him straight up the
(18:36):
entire time? Because they're not playingit straight up On the other end,
he's hunting for screens to get thatmismatch and get on a smaller player Luka
Luka don Is. It's an intelligentmove, it's the smart move. But
when he wasn't able to do that, Kawhi Leonard was all over him and
this Clippers team defensively with Nicholas Batoumin the starting lineup, who had two
(19:00):
block Toombs Matombos, he had foursteals out there, ten points. He
was a plus twenty seven. Ina game where they led by as many
as twenty eight, he was aplus twenty seven. Rondo also found him
in the post. That's been areally good connection since they brought in Rajon
Rondo, just getting the ball toNicholas Batoum and getting him in his spots.
(19:22):
Nicholas Batoum, I forget who itwas, but he backed down the
defender for a quick turnaround bucket.Just three of eight, but two three
pointers in this one. They haveso much versatility on this team, but
the only way to unlock it isto do so in the same way that
we've seen from coach Leu the pastcouple of games, to mix and match,
to find those mismatches to attack theweaknesses of the Dallas Mavericks, who
(19:48):
have not been a good defensive teamall season long. They were almost bottom
ten and the Clippers they're starting tofeast now. They're starting to shoot their
typical numbers from the outside there aboutforty percent shooting now from three in this
series after shooting forty one point onepercent during the regular season. Let's hear
from Jeff and Tarzana. Jeff,what's up. You're on Clippers stock.
(20:11):
You know, maybe the other callof this series, the home court disadvantage.
You know what, Adam? Youknow, I knew they were capable
of playing this one. I'm veryproud by the way the Clippers played the
last two games. Should be Andyou know, all these people think lucas
a superstar. The guy can't playdefense and he's a terrible free throwers.
(20:33):
He's a great shoot, Jeff,Jeff, he's in a free throw funk.
He has shot seventy three percent forhis career at the charity stripe.
Well, you know what you think, seventy three percent? Adams a good
free thrower. It's solid. It'snot great, But you said he's terrible.
There's a big difference between terrible andseventy three percent. Well, I
(20:55):
don't think anybody under seventy five percentis good, okay, Jeff, I
mean just seven out of They onlymake seven out of every ten. Jeff,
I got news. Worry Luka,Dontech is a superstar, Okay.
Well, when he's the face ofthe league in a few years. Call
me. There's a lot of guysyou forget. You forget that kid on
(21:15):
Memphis and the kid Jahmrand and TreyYoung. Is that where you're going?
Those guys are good, too,great young players. The league is in
good hands. But Luka Dontich rightnow is better than both of those guys
who also don't play defense. Well, that's true, Adam, But you
know what, don't you think guysshould if you're scoring thirty, how many
(21:37):
points is he giving up? Well? It was effective through the first two
games, Jeff, Okay, AndI don't think the Clippers were going at
him enough early on in this series, and that was an adjustment they had
to make make him work defensively.I think that's maybe part of the reason
he's had tired legs from the outsideand from the free throw line. He
(21:57):
was just one of seven from three. But he's also playing through a neck
injury right now. Let's not forgetthat. Okay, you know what,
he's good. I never said hewasn't good. I just don't think he's
as great as everybody makes it outto me. And the other thing is
the only other thing I'm mad aboutis I love Bobon. I just wish
he was still on the Clippers.You see how fast he scores when he
(22:22):
has a mismatch in certain situations.He can be a specialist out there.
He can affect a game very quickly. We saw it a couple of years
ago with the Clippers when it wasToby and Boby. It was a lot
of fun. I love thinking ofhim as like that combiner Transformer devastator out
there these multiple parts because he's justso huge. But I thought Avisa Zubots
(22:45):
held his own against Bobon in thisone. Let's hear from Coach Lou post
game after the Clippers win by twentyfive in Dallas in Game four, they're
taking on while they're running back backat Stay Center for Game five Wednesday night.
But let's hear from coach Lou postgame speaking with the media. I
just want to know what you learnedthe most about your team in these two
(23:07):
games. You know, coming hereto a hostile environment, you know,
down older two and you know themost thing I'm proud of, just you
know, it's keeping our pois,you know, following the game, playing,
cleaning up some mistakes, making acouple of adjustments, and like I
said, you know, from twodisappointed losses on our home floor, you
know, I thought we really hadthe pocus are coming in taking the one
(23:27):
game at a time and winning thesetwo games. So I'm just very proud
of the way our guys, youknow, focusing, locked in, and
I was able to execute, speciallyin the defensive end the last six quarters.
Thank you. Next we'll go toAndrew Hi. Ever since you guys
fell behind by nineteen, you've outscoredthere in about fifty points. I know
(23:48):
there's this a game of many adjustments, but are there a couple of things
you would point to the most youfelt like you're happiest to have gone your
way to the adjustments that have madethat possible. I think defensively, just
you know, getting better strings onthe floor of Luca. I think happening
our little man awareness when guys arebeat out the dribble, it's like hard
Away, making him drive it clear, making him put the ball on the
floor. And I probably really dida good job of that. You know,
(24:08):
we really locked into those two guysand they're very important to their team,
but at three point shooting and they'respacing, So I was proud of
our guys. Were really locking in, you know, trying to get those
guys out the line, making themplay inside the three. Nick just talked
about how the team had no panicarriving here in Dallas, down two Old.
Want to be observed from your guysthe last four days since you've been
here, just pois and focus.I think, staying poise, understanding the
(24:33):
task at hand. It's the firstof four games. You know, we
still haven't done anything yet, butyou know it's a good start for us,
going down Old too at home andcoming out and be able to win
two on their on our floor.So now I'm seriously tied up. Were
going back home. I'm gonna tryto take care of home court advantage on
Wednesday. I don't even know whatday it is, but and just keep
it going from there, just continueto keep building momentum. Thank you.
(24:59):
Next we'll go to a lot.We discussed the specific game plan and the
stakes, the things that you wantedto see fixed, and as Andrew alluded
to, back seat and ten.They were held to one of eleven from
the field. Obviously only eighty onepoints to the team you gave up so
many points to earlier in the week. Were there any more game playing mistakes
(25:21):
despite the Great defense or are yousatisfied with the complete game from your defense
tonight. I'm satisfied with a completegame. I mean throughout the course of
the game, you're gonna have somemistakes. You know, we understand that.
But it can't resonn in forty pointsor you know, thirty seven points,
you know, things like that.But you know, you canna have
some mistakes because they're good players.They're gonna run some good stuff. You
know, Great does a great jobof running stuff out of time out,
(25:44):
so put your some compromise and positionsas well. So just clean up the
mistakes. We can't give up,you know, thirty five forty points on
our mistakes, and we did thattonight. And then, like I said,
our guys are flying around, youknow, really fisical the defensive end,
I thought, for the most probablytrying to check in box out even
though they was you know, wewere small a lot, so they got
some offensive rebounds. But you know, overall, I'm just proud of our
(26:06):
effort and I'll following the game playingas best as possible. How how did
you react to the wrench that wasthrown at you. With Boban re emerging
in this series, Yeah, hewas a factor. You know. I
think him in Big Zoo out thereto get you know, together, battered
a little bit. It's something tobe def didn't see coming, you know,
but he gave a little you know, a little joke, you know,
(26:29):
offensively, you know, the fansleve'em. He came in and
playing well, you know, fiveor nine, you know, twelve points
and six rebounds. So you know, come next game, we gotta be
prepared for him and ready for himin his Pison county and it's hype.
Thanks. Next up we'll go toow Ti. Kawai has been relentless,
like the last three games. I'mwondering, You've obviously played alongside the some
(26:55):
of the all time grades, andyou've seen Kobe take his game up a
notch in the postseason. What whatis Kawai and like when he takes his
game up a notch, I meanon both ends of the floor. I
think rebounding the basketball, you know, really attacking, you know, I
think through the course of the season, he coast you know, sometimes just
you know, preparing and getting readyfor this moment. But the painting.
The speed he's playing with, thisis what we need and it's unbelievable.
(27:17):
Like attacking the basket, quick moves, quick decisions, That's what our whole
team like, we talked about,you know, getting into the paint,
driving a basketball with Kawhid be phenomenal, rebounding basketball, attacking, but also
catching the ball and making quick decisionsattacking really so you know, we want
to continue to keep doing that.You know, we still got some work
to do, but I like thedirection we're trending in. There was Coach
(27:38):
Lou post games speaking about those KawhiLeonard rebounds or speaking too. He led
them with ten boards in this one, tough boards, and he was guarding
guys in defending in the paint.Early on. He made his presence known
at the basket. I think hecompletely changed the trajectory of this game.
(28:00):
That physicality that he brought. Heand Paul George. Paul George was absolutely
relentless with getting to the basket earlyon in this one. Whether or not
he got the foul didn't matter.He was looking for contact and he was
finishing through contact. Finished with twentypoints on just six of sixteen shooting,
kind of got cold in the secondhalf, but it didn't really matter.
(28:21):
Other Clippers were able to step up, and coach Lou said it, we
haven't done anything yet. I lovethat mentality. These guys are hungry.
That fire is burning. They're notresting on their laurels now, just tying
this series up. It already soundslike they're ready to go for Game five,
but two days of rest until Wednesday. Tip time will be at seven
(28:42):
pm at Staples Center. While wehave a moment, let's pause ten seconds
for station identification here on five seventysports KLAC Los Angeles, SHD two Los
Angeles available everywhere with the iHeart RadioWhip now number one for podcasting and iHeart
Radio station. Know what before webreak here, I'm sorry Zach, CJ
(29:04):
and Alhambra since we missed you thelast couple of times you called into Clippers
Talk and I just saw your numberpop up. CJ. How you doing,
Hey? I am doing wonderful.Man. It is finally good to
see the Clips get back on track. You know, I really hated the
media narratives, both local and national, that the Clips were kind of taking
(29:30):
out just to take the easy routeagainst the Dallas Mavericks, because I think
this kind of fueled a little lumbradgewith them, especially in Games one and
two. But we got our stufftogether. We hit the switch where we
decided to focus less on Dunkach andmake sure that everybody else got covered with
honest defense and the aggressiveness that Isaw the interior offense was exciting and I
(30:00):
was a little banged up, butyou know, they had some good on
Mavericks play out for them, likePat Farrer, Eric Lewis, and Tyler
Ford. Those Mavericks were really killingus. Thank you for the phone call,
CJ. You bring up that mediadriven narrative about the Clippers tanking at
the end of the season and losingthat final game to the OKAC Thunder and
(30:22):
saying they lost it because they wantedto avoid the Lakers in the first round.
That game, the final day ofthe regular season on that Sunday versus
the OKAC Thunder had zero bearing onwhether or not they were going to be
playing the Los Angeles Lakers in thefirst round or not. It was already
decided they'd either take on Dallas orthe Portland Trailblazers, So it was an
(30:45):
extremely lazy, media driven narrative,and maybe it did get Dallas going somewhat.
I think I'm just gonna credit them, and they're hot shooting that they
had coming into the playoffs. Itcontinued, but the Clippers they weathered the
storm. They waited out the stormof three pointers. Finally, Dallas goes
(31:07):
just five of thirty. So let'ssee here, that means they missed twenty
five threes. Oh, they loseby twenty five. Clippers win one oh
six to eighty one over the Mavericks. More Clippers talk coming up next.
Lucas hand will be here from twoon three hoops. I'm out of Oslin.
This is a five seventy Yelis forms. I think we are squared up
(31:34):
to take him out first round.That'd be a playoff actions. Oh,
this is La Clippers playoff basketball years. Clippers win by twenty five in Game
four. Game five back at StaplesCensor is Wednesday night. It has become
(31:57):
a best out of three series withClippers having that home court advantage back.
Welcome back into Clippers talk. I'mat a maslin to eight six six nine
eight seven two five seventy eight sixsix nine eight seven two five seventy is
the phone number. We'll get backto your phone calls. We got more
postgame audio coming up, but firstlet's go to the East coast, east
(32:19):
of the Rockies. Fool. It'sLucas jay Hahn. Follow him at Lucas
jay hanh Han on Twitter at Lucasjay Han. He covers the Clippers for
two, one, three hoops.I did it again. All right,
Lucas, Let's get the low down. Let's get the toughest question out of
the way first. How much icecream did you consume today? Did you
(32:39):
get to all thirty two flavors?I? You know what, I had
a little bit in the fourth quarterbecause I wanted some, but the Clippers
did not need me tonight. Ifyou don't know, Lucas has become famous
on Twitter for the ice creams superstition, and he's putting his health at risk.
He really did that Friday night.He was in just a gallon of
(33:00):
Rocky Road on Friday. Diabetes isimminent for Lucas hand, but he risked
it all for the Clippers. Lucas, what was the biggest adjustment you feel
like Coach Lewis made so far inthis series to get the Clippers back to
a tie to two series. Well, I think the most important things that
(33:21):
they've done, Adam. You know, everyone wants to talk about the defense
and Luca and all that, themost important thing that they've done is on
offense. Take advantage of the factthat Dallas does not have a room protector.
Christaps Porzingis is tall, but he'sjust not a guy you're very scared
of. Down there. Kawhi Letterand Paul George are both feasting inside the
(33:42):
arc. I think Kawai was nineof eleven inside the paint today. And
you know, it's been the casereally starting in Game two. They just
couldn't keep up with Dallas's three pointersin Game two. But then in both
of these games and Dallas, theClippers have just killed them in the paint
offensively. Did you feel like itwas more about what the Clippers were doing
defensively in this game on the perimeter, or Dallas was just due to fall
(34:05):
off a cliff with their three pointshooting percentage, which was unbelievable through three
games. It's a little bit ofboth, right, and that's with Dallas
making all their threes through the firstthree games. It was also a little
bit of both to an extent.Dallas was playing very freely, very confidently.
The Clippers were having defensive breakdowns,guys were getting good looks, and
they were hitting way more of thosegood looks than they have hit at any
(34:29):
point in their careers. In thisgame, the Clippers played much more aggressive
perimeter defense taylu mentioned before the gameright, wanting to run these guys off
the line. They only give upthirty three point attempts, which is low
for Dallas for this series, andyet Tim Hardaway Junior gets a wide open
three and missus right like a lotof still good shots missed by the Mavericks
tonight. Five of thirty is theirworst three point shooting game of the season
(34:52):
and seventy six tries. So Ithink the Clippers both took care of their
business tonight and got a little bitof Lady luck on their side. Who
do you think has been the thirdmost important player for the Clippers in this
series behind the two one three connection, Nicholas Patum. I mean, I
think what he's brought them defensively,and when you can consider you know,
(35:15):
Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson, theseother guys who you count on to bring
offense, haven't you know, reallyshot amazingly well in this series. Nicholas
Patum his mate shots and he hasjust been I mean, he's been amazing
for the Clippers defensively. Four stealsand two blocks in this game, and
he's kind of filled the box scoreup like that throughout the series. So
I think the adjustment to put himin the starting lineup, even though it
(35:37):
leaves the Clippers without a big whichI'm a little aware of, just getting
Nicholas Patum on the floor for moreminutes is good because he's been with the
Clippers. Third best player playoff.Lucas is our guests here on Clippers Talk
after they win by twenty five inGame four in Dallas over the Mavericks.
Follow him at Lucas Jay Hahn onTwitter. He covers the Clippers for two
(35:59):
on three hoops. So, Lucas, I wanted you on here because you
are so heavy and in tune withthe numbers and the matchups. What do
you think the next adjustment is inthis series? Because we saw initially in
the first quarter it was first ofall the Mavericks tried to get Chris DApps
porzingis going. He had a quickfour points. But then they brought in
Boban to bring out a Visa zoobotsfor the Clippers. Then they put Boban
(36:22):
back on the bench. Rick,Carlile and Tlu they've been having this chess
match, So who do you thinkmakes the next big move? You know,
honestly, I think if I'm theClippers, if I'm Tylu, obviously
you're going to try to tune somestuff up. But I think there's the
story of this series, and thisis a Clippers team. They did not
have a lot of reps with theirmain guys coming down to the home stretch
(36:45):
of the season. So if you'rethe Clippers, I think you want to
say, hey, what we're doing, Let's keep doing better at it,
Let's keep trying to make fewer mistakes, and then we can start adding some
wrinkles as this series drags on,as the Clippers, you know, hopefully
get into future series. We sawa Game two they tried to change stuff
up in a pretty significant way ifthey really fell on their face. Coming
(37:07):
out of Game two, Tyler wassaying, we need to simplify, simplify,
simplify, and it's worked in thesenext couple of games. So I
think to ramp up two more complexcoverages, especially on the defensive end,
is going to be slow and cautious. But the biggest thing Adam to be
honest, Luca don Chich did notlook right tonight, and he didn't use
that as an excuse in his postgamecomments. He said, no, I'm
(37:29):
one hundred percent. I just playedterrible. But you could see watching him,
his movement, movement was not normal. He was in pain. And
if that's the case, and it'sunfortunate because he's an amazing, amazing talent.
But if that's the case, allthe Clippers have to do is,
you know, stay home and forcehim to beat them with shots. And
(37:49):
the Mavericks offense is going to havea lot of pretty poor nights like they
had tonight. We all talked aboutit before the series. Let Luca get
his stop everybody else and they losta game where he had forty four points
and nobody else had more than fourteen. In Game three, as you mentioned,
it did look to visibly affect himout there that neck injury. Just
nine of twenty four for Luca dontagehere in Game four for nineteen points,
(38:13):
struggled Kawhi Leonard Meanwhile, we talkabout things that are sustainable, repeatable and
things that are not. But we'veseen this so many times from Kawhi Leonard
in the playoffs, and this isn'ta really good matchup for him so far.
They just have nobody who can guardhim. How long can he keep
this up? Lucas, Yeah,I mean it's a great question because,
like you said, Kawhi is obviouslya guy who we know is capable of
(38:37):
great things in the playoffs. Buteven in you in Toronto that run,
you think back a couple of years. In Toronto, he shot fifty four
percent on two pointers, which isagain amazing. In this playoffs he's shooting
like sixty eight percent. So thesenumbers are going to come down. They
especially are going to come down ifthis does become a long Clippers playoff run.
(38:59):
Two round, three rounds, fourrounds, they start playing against some
fiercer defenses, plus you get alarger sample size of games. But the
answer right now is with the lookshe's getting, so many looks at the
rim and little short floaters, andthe extent to which it feels like Dallas
is really kind of helpless, itreally wouldn't surprise me if the Clippers come
(39:20):
back to La and Kauai has anotherten or fifteen shooting game for thirty points,
because it just doesn't feel like theMAVs have an answer to keep him
from getting easy looks. He's shootingalmost sixty five percent in the series right
now. He's also shooting fifty percentfrom three while averaging thirty three points per
(39:42):
game. There is an argument tobe made, considering he plays on both
ends, that he's been the bestplayer so far in these playoffs. But
let's go to his right hand manin the two one three connection, that
would be the thirteen and once againin the second quarter, Paul George caught
fire. I think at one pointhe had four st eight baskets, had
thirteen points in the second quarter ofthis game, just like he did in
(40:05):
Game three. How important has thisquick start, this fast start, especially
offensively, even though he has struggledfrom three overall in these four games three
of six though in this one.How important has that been just for Paul
George to get off to this startthroughout these playoffs? And what could it
mean moving forward? Well, Ithink it's big in terms of confidence.
You look how the playoffs went forPaul George last year. You look at
(40:27):
the media, the press that hegot coming out of that, and the
treatment that we've seen him, youknow, kind of be open about getting
from opposing players, just in termsof on court trash talk. This season,
I mean, it's it's impossible asa human being for that to not
affect you mentally. And I thinkfor him to come out and start slow
in Game one and gather himself andhave a really great three and a half
(40:51):
games since then, and for anything, he wasn't even that heat. I
mean, you know, six ofsixteen shooting the night twenty points. The
Clippers didn't need him that much,and I think he maybe took his foot
off the gas a little bit becauseof that compared to other games. But
like I said, him getting tothe rim has been fantastic in this series,
even with the three point shot notfalling at his normal levels. And
I think for him, especially interms of playoff performances, confidence is so
(41:15):
so important, and he's a guywho has it right now. He is
playoff Lucas. Follow him at Lucasjay Han. He's got two ws now
next to his playoff Lucas name onTwitter. Fourteen more to go for the
Clippers to reach that final goal.He covers them at two one, three
(41:37):
hoops. He's fantastic. He bringson a lot of the same guests that
we have here on this show,including himself. Lucas, thanks for doing
this tonight. Don't get sick.If you're lactose intolerant, you're even more
of a g for pulling this off. I'm not okay, you'd be dead
by now, Lucas. We'll talkto you. We'll talk to my friend
(42:00):
coming up next quick break here,we'll come back. We'll preview Game five.
Clippers win by twenty five in Gamefour, gorgeous victory, magnificent like
one of Kanye's weird album covers.I mean this is old Kanye. I
(42:20):
like this. I like that songwaves though two. Okay, I'm getting
off track. Clippers win one ohsix to eighty one in Dallas over the
Mavericks. If you're listening to Clippersstock, I'm out of Maslin. And
this is a five seventy LA Sports. I think we are squared up to
(42:45):
take him out first round NBA playoffaction? Is this is LA Clippers playoff
basketball? Glennard wants to go towork double comes inside. Jackson Porzingis helps
to the out side, but tubcorner three is open head gun on the
far side. Nick Buttomb splashes holdthe triple perfect ball boopen for the Clippers
(43:08):
to make it seventy four fifty one. Saint Nicholas Batoum got the start,
hit two three pointers, was aplus twenty seven and thirty six minutes.
The Clippers went small and it waseffective. They went on to win by
a score of one oh six toeighty one, the Clippers allowing eighty one
(43:29):
points tonight. That is tied forthe second fewest amount of points allowed in
a postseason game in franchise history.For your Los Angeles Clippers, welcome back
into Clippers talk. I'm Adam oslinto eight sixty six nine eight seven two
five seventy eight six six nine eightseven two five seventy is the phone number.
The Clippers had the Dallas Mavericks scrambling, and they seem to be more
(43:52):
and more cohesive and more locked inon the defensive end themselves. They're just
tightening things up. The attention todetail has ramped up. Coach Luke talked
about it postgame. That focus thatpoise. They've shown it off, especially
the last six quarters, where theMavericks are just averaging twenty one points per
(44:13):
quarter over the last six going backto the second half of Game three.
So what they're doing is working theadjustments they have made. It is working.
And I love the fact, andI think I brought this up earlier,
but Patrick Beverley just played five minutes. It's just a tough matchup for
him against Luca dontchitch because he's givingup seven inches and I'll bet one hundred
(44:36):
pounds in size to Luca dontchich.But he got into the game late and
he made a bucket and he gothis defender up in the air at the
basket, he got it to go. But more importantly, these guys who
have not been playing have been rootingon their teammates. That culture that they've
been developing all season long, thattight knit group. We're seeing it so
(44:58):
far. Because guys could splinter whenthere's adversity, when you're down OZ two,
they've stayed together and they stayed confident. And everybody criticizing TLU for saying
they weren't concerned, what are yougonna say now? The series is tied
up at two games, apiece.I think he knows his team better than
you do. I think he knowswhat he had to preach and what he
(45:22):
had to show. He was unfazed, and it is trickled down throughout the
roster because these guys came out andlook as poised and determined in the last
two games as they have looked allseason long. They're playing their best basketball
when their best was required, butthere is still a lot of work to
(45:43):
be done in this series. Theygot to bring this same energy that maybe
was somewhat supplied by playing in frontof a home sold out crowd. Once
again. They hadn't experienced an environmentlike this in Dallas these last two games
in over a year, and itseemed to ignite and bring out the best
in the Clippers, being in thatLion's dead and surviving it and more than
(46:06):
surviving in this game, winning bytwenty five. But the adjustment in game
four was Nicolas Batum in the startinglineup over a Vita Zoo Bots. And
here was Nicholas Batum post games,speaking with Christina Pink from Valley Sports.
It's this defense was swarming from thestart. You hold Dallas to just thirty
five percent, shooting Luca to justnineteen points. What made the difference and
(46:29):
why you guys were so locked indefensively? We finally have a good start.
No, what they've been doing withus? Three game the good job
on us. No, they havebig lead right away, so we have
to foot back in and so Iget back in the game. So didn't
happen in the first two. Wedid a good job game in three,
but tonight we didn't need to adda good start too. I mean,
so they can't get in the waythat I'm the crack can and get into
(46:51):
it and to get that momentum inoutside that we did it tonight. Well,
yeah, you guys got off toa good start. You were also
inserted to the starting lineup for thefirst time in this series. When did
you find out and how did thatchange your approach tonight? All right,
he told me that after a Gamethree. No, well, we started
the same on that that way.So after the after the game, he
told me that we're gonna start thatway in game four, So hand me
(47:12):
wait two days ago so I couldprepare myself. Then you know what,
we worked pretty well then, Imean they met some adjustment because they felt
super big. So we gotta liketo welcome that foot game five, so
I got gotta go home and takeher business. Well, yeah, we
saw a lot of that preparation.When you look at your line to night,
ten points, five rebounds, foursteals and a pair of blocks.
(47:32):
Where did you feel like you madethe biggest impact on the game? Avery
bit on everything you say? No, No, I as that's why you
have to do with this team.No, I got everybody from point guard
to center, and I gotta sayscreen, I gotta shoot three, I
got a drive, and I geteverything to make Kawaii and PG lives better.
So that's my job with this team. Well, Nico, somehow the
(47:53):
road team has won every game inthis series. How do you guys change
that trend on Wednesday? You know, No, we know what we cannot
do again these teams, So nobig start, and you know Luca have
been great teen our house, soI don't get to have to go back
home to Cubis ness. I dothe same job and even better that way
(48:13):
you've been doing the last two gameon on Wednesday, I think. So
now I can't wait to be backhome front in Fontevo fans and maybe get
a win. Don't panic, don'tworry about the pressure. Just play with
a sense of urgency. That's whatthe Clippers have done. And Nicholas Betune,
by the way, appropriately so wouldmake an immediate impact starting at this
game, but hitting the first shotof the game for the Clippers, a
(48:37):
three pointer. They go on towin by twenty five. In Dallas.
The series is tied up at twogames. Apiece is the best out of
three, and the Clippers have Gamefive and if necessary, Game seven at
Staples Center. Game five tips offWednesday night at seven pm. We'll have
Clippers countdown before you're starting at sixpm. Before we get out here,
(49:01):
I do want to hear the photoOfphs and I also want to thank the
Clippers organization. Noah Eagle, BrianSeaman, Ralph Lawler, big brother,
Jake Warner. We'll see you atStaples Center, our head engineer there,
see you Wednesday. Jake back herein Burbrank though, getting all the highlights,
(49:27):
running the board, playing the greatmusic. Zach l Quality, Thank
you Zach. You guys are it'sKawhile Leonard. That's a good drip until
Wednesday with ther pregame show starting atsix pm. I met him Oslin for
Game five. We'll talk to youthen. This has been Clippers Tall Playoff
(50:04):
Edition, the Home of the Clippersrecap of all the Clippers action on their
official Hall dynasty. So you'll missa single show every day. Good queen
hear anything you missed? I mean, I Heeart radio WA is amazing,
man. I'm happy to be partof it. Join us next game.
I'm your home for LA Clippers basketball. Okay, great, see you later.
(50:25):
By the LA Clippers, U C. L. A. Brewett,
LA Dodgers Baseball five seventy LA Sports, LA's Best sports tal
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