What should be Coach Doc strategy going into the series against OKC?

[ElNono]

This series starts tomorrow, wanted to get some impressions on how this might play out before the games are played.

Obviously, the Clippers are a very different team than the Grizzlies, especially what they can throw at Russ and Kevin defensively.

The two games the Clippers won in the RS came to basically outscoring OKC (111 pts in the first, 125 pts in the 2nd one). Doc did get the addition of Danny Granger, which I suspect, along with Barnes, will take the bulk of time defending KD.

I think there's going to be a lot of small ball this series from OKC... Perk is a good, rugged defender against slower, post up opponents, but Blake is a much more dynamic type of player. DJ will have to match, if not outplay Abaka.

I still don't know how or who defends Russ. CP will have a tough time staying in front of him, IMO. I think their best strategy is to have DJ try to block at the rim, and then give him the long jumpers.

Thoughts?

[Clipper Nation]

Doc has already said he's not going to have Choke guard Westbrook exclusively and he's going to use multiple defensive looks instead, tbh...

[Mugen]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/3701659/simpsons-monkey-fight-o.gif

[Venti Quattro]

Make Westbrook, and not Durant, beat them in crunch time. They'll probably lose 2 games, 3 at most, with this strategy but they should take their chances than letting Durant kill them.

[Mugen]

Blake's going to have to be huge in this series for the Clippers to have a shot tbh. They'll also need to contain the supporting cast. Russ/KD are both top 10 guys but OKC is truly elite when they can create for Serge/Reggie/Butler.....

[spurraider21]

The Clippers weakness has been the same this year as it had been for the past two, at the wings. Its the same reason the Spurs were foolsgold in 2010 and 2011, until we added Leonard and Green emerged as a good 3 and D guy. The Clips have guys like Jannero Redick, Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford, Jared Dudley, and Danny Granger that get their minutes at the 2-3. The only one of that group that is a decent defender at the moment is Barnes, but its not like he can dream to check Durant...

As is the case with most teams against OKC, their best bet is to slow the pace down and hope Griffin can dominate in the half court, which he is capable of doing. Paul does a terrific job of keeping turnovers low, which is paramount against OKC

[Robz4000]

Yeah, I have no idea who guards Chimpbrook tbh. I like the Clips' matchups everywhere else, especially with Barnes and Granger to throw on Durbeta, yet I don't know if they can keep DeMonkey and Ginger on the floor together enough to dominate. If Meth goes small, the paint opens up wide for them. I also think defensively MethKC is better built to defend any smallball lineup Tom Rivers throws out.

[Thebesteva]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view3/3701659/simpsons-monkey-fight-o.gif

:lmao

[spurraider21]

If OKC tries to go small against Blake and DeContract, I would expect to see a shit ton of high-low action ending up with a Griffin-Jordan alley-oop

[sexinthatsx]

I think this second round series will be even more chippy than the first between the Clips and Warriors. My guess is that at some point in the series, Deandre Jordan is going to catch an alley-oop dunk or putback dunk on Kendrick Perkins, and Perkins goes into full on bitch mode and pushes DJ for a suspension.

[Clipper Nation]

I think this second round series will be even more chippy than the first between the Clips and Warriors. My guess is that at some point in the series, Deandre Jordan is going to catch an alley-oop dunk or putback dunk on Kendrick Perkins, and Perkins goes into full on bitch mode and pushes DJ for a suspension.
Hopefully Blake can bait Ibaka into spazzing out per the usual and get him suspended too :lol

[Venti Quattro]

I think this second round series will be even more chippy than the first between the Clips and Warriors. My guess is that at some point in the series, Deandre Jordan is going to catch an alley-oop dunk or putback dunk on Kendrick Perkins, and Perkins goes into full on bitch mode and pushes DJ for a suspension.

I would love nothing but to see a tag-team match between DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin vs Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins.

[Mugen]

Yeah, smallball shouldn't be much of a problem for the Clippers considering they have the most athletic frontcourt in the league. They can just hide Blake on Butler/Fish/Thabo which would leave Durant boxing out Deandre tbh


I would love for the Clippers to win this obviously but Chris Paul is one of the biggest playoff losers of all time tbh and I think he's going to be badly outplayed by Westchimp this series.....

[Malik Hairston]

Can't wait to see what Tom Rivers does to counter Durant/Westbrook with the horrible Clippers' wing defenders, tbh..

[HemisfairArena]

Tell his team Sterling still owns them and hates their nigga asses,,,,maybe they still fight with a chimp(chip) on their shoulder.

[apalisoc_9]

Rivers will make them play harder than OKC..IMO, that should give them the edge over OKC

[sexinthatsx]

I would love nothing but to see a tag-team match between DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin vs Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins.

Same here, it's about time someone lays Kendrick Perkins out. Ibaka is kind of a bitch too.

[lefty]

Playhardreboundsdefensecomeon

[Mugen]

Perkins is useless in this series tbh.

[Venti Quattro]

Same here, it's about time someone lays Kendrick Perkins out. Ibaka is kind of a bitch too.

Jordan and Ibaka monkey-punching each other would be a sight to behold.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Does OKC have an answer for Griffin? Ibaka and Perkins aren't going to get it done. Jordan's development as a help defender will help contain Westchuck's out of control drives to the basket a bit.

[Chinook]

I think Griffin is mobile enough to guard Butler/Thabo. If so, then the Thunder will struggle to go small. However, I don't think the Clippers have any answer for Durant or Westbrook, so it really depends on who's match-up advantage can prove to be more fruitful. Chris Paul needs to be able to beat Sef and score enough to draw Ibaka and allow easy baskets to Jordan. He simply can't allow himself to be shut down in this series.

As far as strategy goes, I'd do my best to make sure Durant and Westbrook have to work on defense. That means calling a lot of plays for Redick and hitting Barnes/Granger with the pass anytime Griffin or Paul draw help from that side. Redick for sure has to be more than a safety valve offensively.

[Sybok]

Ubuntu

That's all we need. After all we've been through... the Amistad slaves had it easy... we had to deal with have a guy as a team owner who made a statement about separation of the white jews from the black jews, and no one should have to do that while raking in millions to dribble a coconut.


So Ubuntu... if we can ubuntu or Fubu, we should be ok.

[Spurs9]

It's going to be a great series either way.

[Malik Hairston]

Ubuntu

That's all we need. After all we've been through... the Amistad slaves had it easy... we had to deal with have a guy as a team owner who made a statement about separation of the white jews from the black jews, and no one should have to do that while raking in millions to dribble a coconut.


So Ubuntu... if we can ubuntu or Fubu, we should be ok.

:lmao
:lmao Tom Rivers

[Malik Hairston]

Does OKC have an answer for Griffin? Ibaka and Perkins aren't going to get it done. Jordan's development as a help defender will help contain Westchuck's out of control drives to the basket a bit.

Griffin couldn't consistently dominate against a Warriors team with Draymond Green and David Lee in the frontcourt, so dominating much better defenders in Ibaka/Collison is not a given, obviously..

The Warriors also sent quick double teams for long periods of time and had some success, OKC could execute the same style with much superior athletes and help defenders, if required..

[Franklin]

shit's gonna be a tough one for monkeyball. Westchuck is too big for CP3 and they have literally no one to restrain the Servant.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Griffin couldn't consistently dominate against a Warriors team with Draymond Green and David Lee in the frontcourt, so dominating much better defenders in Ibaka/Collison is not a given, obviously..

The Warriors also sent quick double teams for long periods of time and had some success, OKC could execute the same style with much superior athletes and help defenders, if required..

If Ibaka wants to double off of Jordon then that opens up lob city. They have the over the top game to punish that. If they put Ibaka on Griffin then a quick move beat a quick double team.

I also think that you are severely underrating Golden State's athletes. Igoudala, Thompson and Bogut are all elite, rangy NBA defenders. Sefalosha and Ibaka are elite but Chuck does stupid shit all too often giving up easy scores when he helps. If he locks in the that is one thing but that is hardly a given. If they let him foul though then watch out.

Looking at the games they have played this year, OKC has given no indication that they can defend Griffin who has been both efficient and productive.

I see the series coming down to how well the Clippers can defend OKC. They have so many liabilities and limited guys on offense for all the greatness of Durant and Westbrook. The Clippers defense is designed to overload playside and still get back. Jordan is more than athletic to pull it off and Perkins, Sefalosha and Fisher are not overly terrifying bouncing off closeouts.

I like the Clippers chances.

[benefactor]

With no real notable perimeter defenders, the Clips only chance defensively is to close the paint off and make Westbrook and shoot jumpers. I don't know what the hell they are going to do with Durant. They could run some doubles at him to get the ball out of his hands but then you risk him finding an open cutter going to the rim.

I agree that Perk is useless this series. If it takes Brooks a long time to figure that out, it could cost OKC homecourt and possibly the series.

[Mal]

Whoever wins refs battle is gonna win this series.

[Captivus]

Can Collison stop Jackson?
Jordan should never attempt a post move against Ibaka.
Dont forget about Davis?!

This is going to be a great series,specially if Paul isnt injured (or faking).

[TDMVPDPOY]

if cp0 loses again....lol if he blames sterling for his downfall this playoffs...

with or without sterling, a choke artists is a choke artists

[mercos]

The Clippers only chance is to completely dominate the front court match ups. They are not going to stop or probably even slow down Westbrook and Durant, so they just have to out score them. I'm not sure they can do that 4 times in 7 games.

[ElNono]

Giving this a little more thought, I think Doc will probably let Durant and WB get theirs... that would roughly be around 70ppg...

If they can run their offense well and consistently hit the 100pts mark, they would basically need to make sure Ibaka is well controlled (which I think they can do with DJ), and stay on the 3 point shooters (Butler/Fish/Reggie). Reggie is the only other OKC guy that can actually penetrate, but he's not near as good as KD or WB...

For this to work, they would really need to be good on offense, keep a fast pace, and make sure they don't put OKC on the bonus early. If you keep on sending OKC to the line, you slow down the pace, and it's easier for the "lesser" players to score off freebies.

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Doc's strategy will be the same as it is each series, imo... which is just yell at the refs and give motivational speeches, tbh...

[Clipper Nation]

Doc's strategy will be the same as it is each series, imo... which is just yell at the refs and give motivational speeches, tbh...

:lol Yelling at the refs might actually be helpful this series.... no way he just allows his team to get fucked over by the refs without calling them on it, tbh....

One of the most recent times we've played them, he said something like "Durant doesn't need the help" (referring to his outrageous amount of foodstamps, of course) :lol

[Venti Quattro]

Well whining about the referees didn't work, Tom.