Theories on why the Clippers have become such a tough matchup?

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Originally Posted by HarlemHeat37

Blake is the best PF in the NBA and Paul is the best PG of my generation(pre-Curry), that's enough to make it tough on any team, tbh..

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Good thing LMA happens to be Blake's nemesis & can go at him like Tim used to go at Amare on the block :toast. Let's just hope LMA doesn't have to face Z-Bo in the playoffs:lol.

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Originally Posted by Nathan89

Griffin seems to be able to score on anyone we throw at him and he's in the middle of their offense. This allows many bad mismatches throughout the game. Then you have Cp3 torching us. Reddick doing well or at the very least tiring out a major part of our offense while just being role playing extra benefit for theirs.

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Draymond is supposed to be the best matchup for Blake but he has had his way against him. A healthy Dwight is the only guy that can give him problems.

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Originally Posted by Kawhitstorm

Good thing LMA happens to be Blake's nemesis & can go at him like Tim used to go at Amare on the block :toast. Let's just hope LMA doesn't have to face Z-Bo in the playoffs:lol.

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the grizzlies will get squashed, they have no offense, just let trick or treat tony fill up on those 3's and you're golden

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Originally Posted by Kawhitstorm

The Spurs give up mid-range shots & Paul/Blake are the best mid-range shooters at their respective positions. Jarret Jack used to kill the Spurs b/c he was a very good mid-range shooter, same w/ David West in New Orleans.

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This.

In a nutshell, since the Spurs swept the Clippers

- Addition of Redick, who the Spurs now have to chase around DJ and Griffin's screen
- Blake Griffin's improvement - more decisive and he takes and makes that mid range jumper the Spurs were willing to give up
- CP3 being closer to Hornets CP3 rather than 2012 CP3, he was not himself tbh

Pop just shits the bed coaching-wise against them. He's been doing it a lot more lately since 2014; usually it was just RC and Phil, but now mediocre coaches such as Uncle Tom and Dwayne Casey seem to own his soul.

It also doesn't help their scrubs love to have career games against the Spurs.

The way the Clippers played tonight is unsustainable. Blake played 40 minutes, and Jordan would have played near that if they hadn't forced him out of the game by hacking. Josh Smith is a liability if you have a sound defense, and Pierce can't get away with playing the four against Diaw. The lack of bench bigs means two things. One, that the Spurs will have very little problem playing West and Diaw against them. Two, Blake's not going to last a long series -- especially if the two teams meet after the first round. He just won't have the legs to shoot all those jumpers or to explode to the rim after the first three or four matches.

They've got more true blacks.

Theory: Blake Griffin's jump shot is much better than it appears at face value.
Theory 2: Chris Paul is still a top notch PG who is as good a passer as a shooter
Theory 3: Deandre Jordan is a big motherfucker, even against big guys he's big, and he's probably the most athletic big I've ever seen outside of David.
Theory 4: Jordan being a shitty FT shooter draws Pop into the "must hack...must... hack" mentality. Usually kills our rhythm.
Theory 5: Good 3pt shooters, not great but good.
Theory 6: We have a hard time with athletic, fast teams because our 1st unit isn't either.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

The way the Clippers played tonight is unsustainable. Blake played 40 minutes...Blake's not going to last a long series -- especially if the two teams meet after the first round. He just won't have the legs to shoot all those jumpers or to explode to the rim after the first three or four matches

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41 mpg 24 ppg 46.7 FG% 13.1 rpg against us, 38.4 mpg 26.9 ppg 55 FG% 12.1 rpg against Rockets in last playoffs...it doesn't seem a real problem for him.

Two-man game with Paul at the helm is a great equalizer.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

The way the Clippers played tonight is unsustainable. Blake played 40 minutes, and Jordan would have played near that if they hadn't forced him out of the game by hacking. Josh Smith is a liability if you have a sound defense, and Pierce can't get away with playing the four against Diaw. The lack of bench bigs means two things. One, that the Spurs will have very little problem playing West and Diaw against them. Two, Blake's not going to last a long series -- especially if the two teams meet after the first round. He just won't have the legs to shoot all those jumpers or to explode to the rim after the first three or four matches.

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But didn't we think their play was unsustainable last season, too? Blake played heavy minutes, Paul was winded every fourth quarter, and their bench was thinner last season. They're just going to be a tough match up any way you look at it. It's all on LMA and Kawhi elevating their game each series with Pop needing to reassess hack a jordan.

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Originally Posted by YGWHI

41 mpg 24 ppg 46.7 FG% 13.1 rpg against us, 38.4 mpg 26.9 ppg 55 FG% 12.1 rpg against Rockets in last playoffs...it doesn't seem a real problem for him.

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He struggled down the stretch in most of the games against the Spurs. Doc completely changed the way he made his rotations to try to get him rest. But his bigs are even worse this year. Now, Diaw is just straight going to feed on Pierce, and Smith is just as bad for hacking. I think Pop is holding off on fouling Smith because he wants Rivers to get caught unaware in the playoffs.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

Smith is just as bad for hacking. I think Pop is holding off on fouling Smith because he wants Rivers to get caught unaware in the playoffs.

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More hacking? :shootme

People keep saying "The Clippers can't shoot this well forever" but the Spurs play crappier defense against the Clippers than any other team. If you gave the Sixers the open shots the Spurs give to the Clippers time and time again, the Sixers would look somewhat competent too.


Spurs are also scared to attack the rim with DeAndre there and are content being too jumpshot happy which is worrying me more and more as the season progresses. SA has to get their FT attempts up.

Cp3 blake reddick. And Pop's coaching against them

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Originally Posted by SpurPadre

But didn't we think their play was unsustainable last season, too? Blake played heavy minutes, Paul was winded every fourth quarter, and their bench was thinner last season. They're just going to be a tough match up any way you look at it. It's all on LMA and Kawhi elevating their game each series with Pop needing to reassess hack a jordan.

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People forget that Davis had stretches were he dominated the Spurs' bigs in that series. And Hawes was at least seven feet tall. The Spurs' bigs have gotten better, and the Clips' bigs have gotten worse. That's going to force hard minutes by Blake and Jordan. And again, people forget that Blake gave away at least two games because he just didn't have it in the fourth quarter.

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Originally Posted by YGWHI

More hacking? :shootme

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The Spurs totally won that last game against the Rockets last season by hacking the hell out of Smith. The difference between him and Jordan is that DeAndre won't try to force shots to make up for his bad shooting. Smith will.

Clippers are kind of like this year's Spurs. They're good at scoring in ways that most defenses don't focus on.

Because CP3 plays so damn good against us every time.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

The Spurs totally won that last game against the Rockets last season by hacking the hell out of Smith.

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Not sure if this strategy will work against the Clips...however, I'll need a lot of patience when Pop decides to constantly send both, DJ and JS to the line, in turns.

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Originally Posted by Chinook

People forget that Davis had stretches were he dominated the Spurs' bigs in that series. And Hawes was at least seven feet tall. The Spurs' bigs have gotten better, and the Clips' bigs have gotten worse. That's going to force hard minutes by Blake and Jordan. And again, people forget that Blake gave away at least two games because he just didn't have it in the fourth quarter.

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I'll concede about their bigs off the bench last year but their bench is still better than it was last season and will ultimately help spell some of their starters' minutes as the season goes on, thus meaning a fresher team heading into the playoffs. Davis nor Hawes played many minutes throughout last season. Of course, we'll likely avoid them in the first round this time around but a second round match up is very possible.

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Originally Posted by HarlemHeat37

It's all Blake and Paul, tbh..even when Jordan went out in last year's series, they didn't lose anything with Big Baby on the floor IIRC, sadly..

Kawhi and Danny can't defend Paul, and their biggest defensive weakness is fighting through screens..Clippers just run Paul through screens to negate them and cause switches, and the Spurs bigs are too slow to defend, too, whether it's Duncan/Aldridge/Splitter/Diaw..there's also Redick to defend, although that was easier with Mills on the floor tonight(since he's the quickest player on the team), which only worked because Mbah a Moute was on the court, and wouldn't have worked vs. Matt Barnes(better shooter and great cutter)..

Griffin is an even bigger matchup nightmare than Paul, as he's a great passer, and he's too quick for the Spurs' bigs, not to mention that they can't close out on his mid-range jump shot..the combination of both has become unguardable for the Spurs..

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Kawhi finally started over playing high on Pauls right side forcing him left which disrupted their pick n roll rhythm in the 4th. Even when pick was set on Kawhi on Paul's right side, it forced Paul to go way out wide.

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Originally Posted by HarlemHeat37

It's all Blake and Paul, tbh..Clippers just run Paul through screens to negate them and cause switches, and the Spurs bigs are too slow to defend, too, whether it's Duncan/Aldridge/Splitter/Diaw..

Griffin is an even bigger matchup nightmare than Paul, as he's a great passer, and he's too quick for the Spurs' bigs, not to mention that they can't close out on his mid-range jump shot..

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This

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Originally Posted by Chinook

The way the Clippers played tonight is unsustainable. Blake played 40 minutes, and Jordan would have played near that if they hadn't forced him out of the game by hacking. Josh Smith is a liability if you have a sound defense, and Pierce can't get away with playing the four against Diaw. The lack of bench bigs means two things. One, that the Spurs will have very little problem playing West and Diaw against them. Two, Blake's not going to last a long series -- especially if the two teams meet after the first round. He just won't have the legs to shoot all those jumpers or to explode to the rim after the first three or four matches.

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I think they can sustain it for the 1st round, but as we saw last year, they're going to run out of gas in the subsequent series'..

Their bench is just as bad as ever, despite adding big names..it's boom or bust for that bench, every game:lol