GAME #32: HEAT (19-13) @ LAC (19-12) MON 1/1—7:30 PM

[LamarWho]

Like Dwight Howard said, "Our D was good tonight". After the disappointing 1st quarter, we shutdown Herro and Duncan Robinson. Bam usually plays like a HOF against us, but had a relatively poor shooting night.

Interesting to see how Plumlee and Kobe Brown will fit in the rotation going forward. Coffey played 19 mins last night, while nothing for Kobe until garbage time.

[Ballings7]

Solid win even though no Butler. Heat are still a tough beat..

Kawhi apparent to be right back where he left off in Dallas.

Not too worried about Phoenix.. they don't have a consistently capable defensive team (so far at least) to me, like say Denver, Minny, Memphis (projected, off last season, and when Clarke is back as well), New Orelans have shown.

Beal back (again) isn't going to make their defense much better, as a result of better offense and less transition scenarios from the opponent.

I think if ever played in a series, LAC's defense and more well-rounded, "certain" depth would be the difference (past health). Aside from Kawhi being the best player in the series again (like in last years playoffs); Durant can still be elite every game, same with Booker -- offensively.

[Dynamix]

[donemilio21]

[quote="esqtvd"]

Read on Twitter

17-5 with Theis

3-2 (loses by 2 points and in OT) with Plumlee not counting the Knicks game he got injured

0-5 with neither and PJ Tucker averaging 14.4 MPG

[donemilio21]

Like Dwight Howard said, "Our D was good tonight". After the disappointing 1st quarter, we shutdown Herro and Duncan Robinson. Bam usually plays like a HOF against us, but had a relatively poor shooting night.

Interesting to see how Plumlee and Kobe Brown will fit in the rotation going forward. Coffey played 19 mins last night, while nothing for Kobe until garbage time.

in close games, our rotation is 8 sometimes 9 players if everyone is healthy. That's Harden, Mann, PG, Kawhi, Zubac, Norm, Westbrook, PLumlee and Theis. Coffee is the direct injury/resting replacement as a starter for Mann, PG and Kawhi but outside of that he wouldn't play too many minutes in the rotation. Kobe and Bones would occasionally see playing time every few games. Diabate and Boston are garbage time only. Tucker is just garbage.

[nickhx2]

i bet kawhi asked russ to play the background role again and take the picture

[esqtvd]

in close games, our rotation is 8 sometimes 9 players if everyone is healthy. That's Harden, Mann, PG, Kawhi, Zubac, Norm, Westbrook, PLumlee and Theis. Coffee is the direct injury/resting replacement as a starter for Mann, PG and Kawhi but outside of that he wouldn't play too many minutes in the rotation. Kobe and Bones would occasionally see playing time every few games. Diabate and Boston are garbage time only. Tucker is just garbage.

LAST 10 GAMES:

Westbrook-Harden per 100 poss = plus+19.1

That combo was killing us [minus-12.8 in November], now an asset. Just breaking even on the Harden-Westbrook minutes will be fine. Finding Russ minutes is a must for morale and for the organization's rep of treating their veteran signees with respect. Since Beard will get 30+ mpg, some have to be with Russ.

NB: Over the last 10 games, per 100 possessions,

Russ is #6 at plus+6.9

Theis is 7th at MINUS-4.3.
Coffey 8th at minus-4.4,
Mann is ninth at minus-5.8.


That's a BIG gulf. Although Russ seems to be out of the soup [worst except for Tucker in November at minus-8.5], the bench minutes are still a concern.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?LastNGames=10&PerMode=Per100Possessions&TeamID=1610612746&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS

[nickhx2]

That was one of the best wins of the season. Everyone chipped in, and when it mattered, the team came up with steals and contested a lot of shots while getting high percentage shots of their own. Really fun game to watch.

last night's win kinda made me think of the scene in the first avengers movie where they see what things can really be like once everyone's all on the same page and they all start working together

zu being the hulk, kawhi being thor (of course), harden being captain america cause he calls the shots, PG being iron man cause he talks too much, powell is hawkeye and mann is obviously the black widow in his "i'm helping!" role

and clearly westbrook is loki for obvious reasons

[clipperlover]

That was one of the best wins of the season. Everyone chipped in, and when it mattered, the team came up with steals and contested a lot of shots while getting high percentage shots of their own. Really fun game to watch.

last night's win kinda made me think of the scene in the first avengers movie where they see what things can really be like once everyone's all on the same page and they all start working together

zu being the hulk, kawhi being thor (of course), harden being captain america cause he calls the shots, PG being iron man cause he talks too much, powell is hawkeye and mann is obviously the black widow in his "i'm helping!" role

and clearly westbrook is loki for obvious reasons

I like how Russ is developing in his role. If he just focuses on bringing maximum defensive effort during his time on the court, then he helps us tremendously.

[esqtvd]

That was one of the best wins of the season. Everyone chipped in, and when it mattered, the team came up with steals and contested a lot of shots while getting high percentage shots of their own. Really fun game to watch.

last night's win kinda made me think of the scene in the first avengers movie where they see what things can really be like once everyone's all on the same page and they all start working together

zu being the hulk, kawhi being thor (of course), harden being captain america cause he calls the shots, PG being iron man cause he talks too much, powell is hawkeye and mann is obviously the black widow in his "i'm helping!" role

and clearly westbrook is loki for obvious reasons

I like how Russ is developing in his role. If he just focuses on bringing maximum defensive effort during his time on the court, then he helps us tremendously.

Good point. Russ is at 23.9 mpg, which is just enough to not feel like a scrub, and he's getting more efficient. Even including his rough start where he had to move over for Beard [worst plus/minus except for the unplayable PJ Tucker], his per-36 numbers are quite good

17 ppg on 47% shooting
9.7 rebs [!]
7 assts/3.5 TOs [2-to-1 is just fine for a combo guard]
plus+1.2 [including a disastrous minus-6.5 in November]

And over the last 10 games, shooting 54% and 2nd only to Zubac in rebounds per minute

I'm just so happy to see Russ happy
he deserves it
gives 100%
100% of the time
every night

this guy deserves a ring

[Vae Victus]

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17-5 with Theis

3-2 (loses by 2 points and in OT) with Plumlee not counting the Knicks game he got injured

0-5 with neither and PJ Tucker averaging 14.4 MPG

It just kills me to think at how much better the team would be if we had kept Batum and not taken on the corpse of PJ Sucker. Not to mention future cap flexibility and lux tax savings.

[esqtvd]

It just kills me to think at how much better the team would be if we had kept Batum and not taken on the corpse of PJ Sucker. Not to mention future cap flexibility and lux tax savings.

Batum + a garbage first-round pick in like 5 years was the only decent thing we gave a desperate Morey to dump Harden. Harden has been way good here.

Taking on PJ's TWO years @ $11M in exchange for Mook's one year @ $17M. RoCo can't crack the rotation in Philly either. KJ either.

If my math is right, we got Harden for Batum.

[Dynamix]

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[Vae Victus]

It just kills me to think at how much better the team would be if we had kept Batum and not taken on the corpse of PJ Sucker. Not to mention future cap flexibility and lux tax savings.

Batum + a garbage first-round pick in like 5 years was the only decent thing we gave a desperate Morey to dump Harden. Harden has been way good here.

Taking on PJ's TWO years @ $11M in exchange for Mook's one year @ $17M. RoCo can't crack the rotation in Philly either. KJ either.

If my math is right, we got Harden for Batum.

It's hard to call that pick 5 years out garbage or not. It could be insignificant, or it could be a lotto ticket that hits. None of PG13, Kawhi, and Harden will be impact players by then, and if the team fails to quickly rebuild or reload, it's 2 chances for PHI to get lucky on a good pick. I mean, it annoys me to no end we couldnt even hold onto KJ, Morey did his absolute best to hamper the team in the short term by taking ALL of the PFs. Theis' signing has been a literal godsend, but PJ is becoming disgruntled and i hope there's some idiot team out there willing to take a chance on him, but i doubt it, since the Clips have absolutely no sweeteners to add into a deal, unless someone is enamoured by the end of bench dudes we got.

In the short term, if all the superstars stay healthy, the team has a 2 possibly 3 year window to make it work. The franchise really needs some chips out of this trio, it's given up SO much for it.

[esqtvd]

It just kills me to think at how much better the team would be if we had kept Batum and not taken on the corpse of PJ Sucker. Not to mention future cap flexibility and lux tax savings.

Batum + a garbage first-round pick in like 5 years was the only decent thing we gave a desperate Morey to dump Harden. Harden has been way good here.

Taking on PJ's TWO years @ $11M in exchange for Mook's one year @ $17M. RoCo can't crack the rotation in Philly either. KJ either.

If my math is right, we got Harden for Batum.

It's hard to call that pick 5 years out garbage or not. It could be insignificant, or it could be a lotto ticket that hits. None of PG13, Kawhi, and Harden will be impact players by then, and if the team fails to quickly rebuild or reload, it's 2 chances for PHI to get lucky on a good pick. I mean, it annoys me to no end we couldnt even hold onto KJ, Morey did his absolute best to hamper the team in the short term by taking ALL of the PFs. Theis' signing has been a literal godsend, but PJ is becoming disgruntled and i hope there's some idiot team out there willing to take a chance on him, but i doubt it, since the Clips have absolutely no sweeteners to add into a deal, unless someone is enamoured by the end of bench dudes we got.

In the short term, if all the superstars stay healthy, the team has a 2 possibly 3 year window to make it work. The franchise really needs some chips out of this trio, it's given up SO much for it.

Ballmer is 68 and the clock is ticking on 213. A pick 5 years out is probably going to be traded 2 or 3 times before a selection is ever made. It's an abstraction. The future is now.

As for everyone but Batum, meh.