216 Comments

IF anyone wanted to make a bet that DUBS would beat the CLIPS by 20+ points while shooting 40 percent FG and 30 percent from 3pt, I would have bet against it....GO WARRIORS...

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Don't have to bet. Just believe. We need that unjustified and irrational Dino optimism going into the playoffs!

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Once we get Steph/Wiggs/GP2 back, I hope it looks like the squad we've been seeing, but with:

1. Jerome → Steph

2. Lamb → Wiggins

3. DDV → 50% DDV / 50% GP2

This team is going to be nasty... if they can get healthy and finish gelling. If that happens, I fear absolutely nobody. I guess Giannis, Jokic, Embiid are a little scary... but honestly, I trust Loon to be able to sorta kinda handle them enough.

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I hope EA got his Joga in… cuz these Warriors are looking like they’ll be setting him up for plenty of E1Ps

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Big fan of the Bjork song Joga, does that count?

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Just realized that Poole had more points in the 3rd quarter [22] than the Clipper's high scorer Kawhi [21] had for the game.

Plumley had 20 rebounds - Clippers as a team had 47. Dubs had 60 with Klay & DDV grabbing 11 each with 43 rebounds among the starters + Kuminga had 7.

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It helps when both teams keep missing!

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No Kawhi for the Clippers tomorrow night against the Kings in Sacramento.

https://twitter.com/lawmurraythenu/status/1631539737826836480

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0-5 in the Westbrook era.

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I love seeing Poole explode last night. And Dray and Klay being Champion level studs. Looking through the box chart (yah, still on the road, no Dubs for me except here) I saw …

- Kuminga had a really well balanced stat line. How was his game? If anyone can write up a few thoughts/notes I’d really appreciate it.

- I love how DDV contributed on the glass even though his shooting wasn’t there. He must have had some good ball hawkery, leading the team in +/-.

- Looney. As usual. The Dog God. The Dog Star. Canis Major.

- Really nice minutes distribution. Only JP (barely) over 30 minutes. Seems like Kerr is thinking about winning tonight and not exhausting his guys for the stretch run.

- Tyjo and Lamb - lots of minutes but neither was killing it out there. Still, hit the FTs, no turnovers. These two shouldn’t be carrying the Dubs so I call that Doing The Work.

- PBJ returns to earth. No worries, glad to see him get a few minutes.

- Poor Moody. Relegated to the JMG zone.

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JK showed up as always.

Overall on D, he was great. Kawhii definitely vetted him up on a couple rip throughs resulting in cheapo fouls, but that's part of JK's learning curve. Regardless of those learning moments, he did a great job on KL and PG. He's really starting to get a more instinctual feel for his defense role, knowing when to faceguard an opp, and when to sag a bit. Also, when he has to switch and guard a lesser player, he's doing a great job feeling out the degree to which he can sag off and affect and dig in on an adjacent drive while still being able to recover.

On offense, he was much more aggressive in garbage time, but played within himself in a fairly aggressive way when he was on with the vets. By that I mean, he passed and screened most of the time, but every so often would take the 3 or drive opportunity. He still needs to work on his handles a bit. He gets a great first step, but then often gets stopped in the mid range and usually ends up having to bail and reset. He needs to learn to either keep driving to the hoop when 1-1, and hunt the foul or layup/dunk or make a quicker pass-out when doubled so that the D doesn't have time to reset. JK also stepped out of bounds once on a swing pass(iirc) posession. Finally, he was aggressive on the boards, which I think is the biggest recent improvement in his game.

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Well-done...

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JK kicked butt from the minute the entered the game...he was ready...

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If Johnny can play like this in the playoffs, this thing is in the bag.

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That made me imagine Fitz calling a Kuminga dunk... "Heeeeere's JONNY!" and I'm not mad at all :P

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Kuminga was great. He did get caught with his hands out fighting over a screen, and got a rip through though. Really excited for him to learn to not let grifters grift him so much in the offseason.

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Kuminga was fantastic. There was a lot that I noticed in highlights that I missed in the game. Timely scoring, hustle, tight D on scorers, more attention to offensive rebounding, blocks. Might have been his best game yet.

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Kuminga brought energy. There were a few plays in the 1st half where Kawahi big brothered him and Kuminga reacted but then got right back in KL’s grill and played tough D. It never felt like he gave up the fight and Kawahi eventually wore down.

Lamb got a lecture from Dray one defensive possession and the next thing I see is a perfectly timed last second help for Looney to create a miss of an almost certain layup.

The crazy play that was pure hustle ending in a Poole 3 was awesome. But my play of the game was a Klay to Looney perfectly timed pass to a wide open dunk.

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Loved to see that coach Dray to Lamb moment

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It seems like Dray is increasingly being able to do that in a way he hasn't since training camp. A good sign.

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Yah, that was great. It was the second or third time that game that Russ nailed an alley-oop to the Clips' big guy (forgot his name), and Dray immediately got in Lamb's face. Probably about communication or shifting the angle of his feet. The Dubs' had some momentum, but the easy alley-oop helped keep the Clipps in the game.

After the talk, the Clips' momentum started stalling out again.

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That Klay pass made me so happy. He's clearly worked on that part of his game since his return and it shows.

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Mar 3, 2023Liked by punk basketball

Marcus Thompson II

@ThompsonScribe

PBJ confirmed he’s up to 6 feet, 11.25 inches with shoes

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Mar 3, 2023·edited Mar 3, 2023

His combine height with shoes was 6'10.25."

So he's grown an inch since the combine (May 16-22, 2022).

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Do we have updated wing span numbers for him? What's his vert reach?

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I know you all are buzzing about PBJ (me too!) but he was a flyer - injured, not much playing history, all potential. Sounds like Wiseman to me. Pretty damn good if even one of these works out.

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Similar -- but much easier to swallow at #28 (with the commensurate salary) than at #2. That high, you're counting on Wiseman to develop and contribute quickly. If he'd been taken at #30, he'd still be a Warrior.

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The MPJ comp seems to fit pretty well with PBJ, imo

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Mar 3, 2023·edited Mar 3, 2023

I think the more likely thing is that he becomes a 4-5, but more on the 5 side. Imagine a Looney-PBJ combo at center, with Draymond being the switchup center.

This depends on PBJ getting a lot better on defense, but I think he will. And, in that, I think he'll be different than MPJ.

Baldwin is quicker than we were led to believe (probably at least as quick as Looney), and he has the smarts to be able to bulk up (and maybe be slightly slower), but compensate by reading the action faster than most centers.

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Poole-Wiggins-Kuminga-PBJ-Looney as the post-core starting lineup is dripping with potential.

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Don't forget Gui. It's too early to even say if he's going to be an NBA player, but I like what I've seen so far.

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Trying to market himself as a center, I see…

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Mar 3, 2023Liked by punk basketball

He’s almost a Stretch 6

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brilliant!

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author

What kind of shoes? I'm 7 feet in 1 foot tall heels

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Kinky Boots!

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Duby,

Bringing the mosh to the mosh pit.

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Pics or it didn’t happen

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So he is still growing? :)

When he went for the dunk with outstretched arm up high, he looked really tall. Hopefully he can expand his offensive game beyond sweet 3 ptrs.

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Gotta keep feeding him PBJ sandwiches

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Dang. And he's got that sweet shooting stroke.

He's got the look of a guy that's going to be a problem after he works with NBA strength trainers and coaches for a while.

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Tell him to stop! We can’t have anyone over 7 feet…

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We'll just do what we did with Durant: List him at under 7 feet. He's 6-9!

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I had a friend in college who was really self-conscious about being 6 feet tall, so she told people she was 5’11” and 4/4”

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So we've officially signed our backup big?

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The fact that we’ve got such a high ceiling youth brigade while the core does what it does blows my mind whenever I think about it.

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Mar 3, 2023Liked by punk basketball

Jay-sus.

Scratch the tank for Wembanyama.

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I just cant believe we got him, just cause he injured his ankle????

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Was/Is there a rule of thumb on being up by a certain number of points with a certain amount of time remaining and play out the clock or sub in the bench to play garbage time?

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Mar 3, 2023·edited Mar 3, 2023

LOL. My 10 year old son was asking this exact question to me last night. He was like, there's 4.5 minutes left, and they're only up by 20, why is the other team giving up?

I ran through the math with him. Best case scenario: Clipps' score 2 points each time they have a posession, and it takes 10 seconds each time. Dubs get stopped each posession, but use up 24 seconds. That's 10 posessions for the Clips and 9 stops against the Dubs. 100 seconds used by the Clips' on offense, and 216 seconds used by the Dubs' on D. 316 seconds total is over 5 minutes.

There's no way the Clips 20-0 the Dubs at only 10 seconds per offensive posession, regardless, and even if they did, they run out of time. So, time to give up.

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I need a live graph of this or some sort of %chance of winning (eg chess)

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You got to be a fucking clown to throw a dude who won't even play defense like Westbrook onto the court to completely sabotage your offense into playing 4 on 5. How can any grown man sit there watch that and be ok with it

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Hey now! We watch it and are more than okay with it! Laissez les bon temps rouler!

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Westbrook, the true destroyer of LA basketball

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Maybe he needs to be renamed Gozer.

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Is that the gate keeper or the key master?

Or is this an alternate universe Gozer ... the Brick Layer.

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He's not the destroyer. He's the deliverer. They just need to give him the ball and let him play his game.

Give him a chance, Ty. Trust me on this.

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Mar 3, 2023Liked by punk basketball

Clearly it was too far to send scouts to see what his game was like now. If only they'd gone to a few Lakers games.

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it was probably hubris -- they think the Lakers suck and don't know how to use Russ. Plus PG13 really really likes Russ.

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And how many rings do PG13 and Russ have combined?

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It would really be interesting (in a car crash kinda way) to hear what their logic was on how he could fit in their rotation.

If he's just playoff insurance in case PG or Kawhi goes down, that still might make some sense (and be worth throwing a couple of regular season games).

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“Playoffs? You talking bout playoffs? You kidding me? I just hope we can win a game. Another game.”

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He may not play defense, but his shooting makes it all worth it.

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The only player he can stop from scoring is himself

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Mar 3, 2023Liked by punk basketball

While we’re all on a high (various) I’d like to point out how no one on this site has been anything but supportive of Wiggins and whatever tough personal situation he’s going through. It’s all been classy fandom rooting for Andrew to be ok.

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Very true. Of course, from everything we've seen, Wiggins is a true team player willing to do whatever it takes to win, including resigning at a discount. Hard not to wish him the best outcome during this difficult situation, whatever it is.

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*re-signing

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Yea. Whatever is going on must be extremely rough. Kind of amazing how well the W’s are handling this.

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Awesome to see how much the Dubs treat mental health as well as physical. Would hate to imagine how the Fail Blazers would handle our Wiggs.

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Seems pretty simple. He's never been a distraction or given anyone a reason to doubt his commitment to doing his job, so he gets the benefit of the doubt that his situations is serious.

But as a basketball fan, don't be gone too much longer please

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I’d argue that vaccination bruhaha was a distraction until it wasn’t.

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Their fans too (ugh)

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How we roll

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Mar 3, 2023Liked by punk basketball

We’re Streaking! We’re Streaking!

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Frank the Tank! Frank the Tank!

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Is that Old School reference?

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😉

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Put your clothes on, there are children here!

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I think the you gest person here is a senior in highschool… so maybe not a minor anymore ? ; )

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https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxbNylsZPWg5-ccCnnWS02fX9eizWoxC0F

Zach Lowe covering Westbrook's dedication to improving his all-around game, such as setting more screens. This year he's reached a career high of... barely over 1 screen/game.

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I wonder if Wiseman is a better at ball-screening than Westbrook 😂

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So you're saying he's improving...

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lol yes apparently. career high.

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😂😂😂

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Damn! Dray has had near triple double these two games. Glad he is not Russ.

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Festus and Loon doing Yoga alongside each other? I so want that video ASAP.

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Gotta have some pretty long mats

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These dudes are paid well. They can afford 2 yoga mats.

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I would prefer we stop spotting teams 15 points before we remove our Chuck-E-Cheese bibs and start playing like we can, but that was pretty fun, anyway.

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Some interesting Clippers stats - Powell (42% 3 point shooter on the season) 0/7 on threes.

Hyland - Fouled out in 12 minutes

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Also, PG was 3/15 FGs. He shot the ball worse than Westbrook tonight. He deserves some blame for the loss, too.

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have you ever seen this guy perform when it really matters? Kawhi is the real clutch player there - outside of him, clippers have no one

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"Playoff P!" ;-P

He's actually been pretty good in the playoffs over his career ... just not amazing. (Pretty comparable career playoff stats to Klay, if we're really keeping it a buck...)

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I think he meant "Play off P".

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To be fair he was playing four on five on offense most of the night

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Something he has only himself to blame for.

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