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

Just that shot. Not comparing both...

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Originally Posted by spurraider21

the clips are a team where their individual players don't seem to be affected too much by leonard's defense, so that takes away one of our usual trump cards

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This is a good point actually.

Kawhi cant guard Blake. And he is 50/50 on paul.

Kawhi was shooting 6/12 before 2 bricks tbh. He also had a big and 1 and carried the offense with lma before parker's 4th qtr won us the game. The criticism on him is quite reaching.

Beyond them being the fourth or fifth best team in the league for the past four plus seasons, I don't find them to be a particularly difficult match-up and suspect this is nothing more than recency bias.

Too many have read too much into the (predictable) outcome of the playoff series. The Clippers won because Parker and Splitter were not right and the Spurs were clearly on fumes from three straight deep runs; not because they were better in the grand scheme of things.

When the Spurs have been physically right for the past four plus seasons, they've been the best team in the league, in the truest sense of the word. The only teams that have been able to beat them in a playoff series are the ones that can out star them. As great as they are, a slightly past prime Paul and prime Griffin, don't quite qualify.

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Originally Posted by TD 21

Beyond them being the fourth or fifth best team in the league for the past four plus seasons, I don't find them to be a particularly difficult match-up and suspect this is nothing more than recency bias.

Too many have read too much into the (predictable) outcome of the playoff series. The Clippers won because Parker and Splitter were not right and the Spurs were clearly on fumes from three straight deep runs; not because they were better in the grand scheme of things.

When the Spurs have been physically right for the past four plus seasons, they've been the best team in the league, in the truest sense of the word. The only teams that have been able to beat them in a playoff series are the ones that can out star them. As great as they are, a slightly past prime Paul and prime Griffin, don't quite qualify.

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Im tired of the "3 straight runs" excuse. That's BS. They are pros. Anyone with a competitive bone in their body knows better than that. Parker was done, and that's okay. Spurs had a better bench, and Pop didnt utilize that. KL did not play well, and neither did green, but SA wasn't put in the best spot to win.

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Originally Posted by tholdren

Im tired of the "3 straight runs" excuse. That's BS. They are pros. Anyone with a competitive bone in their body knows better than that. Parker was done, and that's okay. Spurs had a better bench, and Pop didnt utilize that. KL did not play well, and neither did green, but SA wasn't put in the best spot to win.

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:lol As if the rest of the league isn't pros, too. They're not machines; the mileage catches up to every team eventually. In the aughts alone, it happened to the '03 Lakers, '08 Spurs, '11 Lakers and '14 Heat. Duncan and Ginobili were close to ancient before the run began and Parker, Diaw and Bonner were close to old.

This team is so good, that even in their diminished state, there were only four or five teams capable of beating them in a series. Unfortunately, they just so happened to draw one in the 1st round.

Clippers are underachieving, and they know it, but can they do something about it?

The Clippers have lots of problems. Being in denial isn't one of them.They are acutely aware they have underachieved and are no longer willing to trot out the easy excuses to soothe the sting of being only four games over .500 as Christmas approaches.

It's true that the Clippers have eight new players. It's also true that learning each other's tendencies and finding which players best fit together takes time.

Another truth: It's 28 games into the season and the breaking-in phase should be over.

"This is the point in the season where it's too late to keep saying, 'OK, well, we've got to figure it out,'" forward Blake Griffin said late Saturday after the Clippers took another Texas misstep with a 107-97 loss to the Houston Rockets that followed a defeat against theSan Antonio Spurs the previous night. "We've got to be better than this. We are better than this and we're not showing it, so we've got to figure something out."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-20151221-story.html

bump..

this team has been a pain in the ass for the past 3 years.Spurs just can't stop them..

Blake lives to eat up the Spurs. Paul is awesome against the Spurs. Their role players are like gods. Meanwhile they are mental cases, all of them, against everybody else.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Body

Blake lives to eat up the Spurs. Paul is awesome against the Spurs. Their role players are like gods. Meanwhile they are mental cases, all of them, against everybody else.

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:lol Mbah a Moute transform into Big Shot Bob every time tbh. Just incredible.

The Clips just have our number tbh.

It is has coincided with the severe decline of Parker.. Allowing Choke Paul to rest on D and then carve us up on the other end has been killing us in this matchup ever since..TP used to take some of his legs with constant attacks (something like what Westbrook does to him more physically so)

1. They have enough mid range chuckers.
2. Spurs think leaving an NBA player painfully wide open is a good idea


:lol

Because the spurs were tired

Spurs were beating them last year.

Didn't Griffin miss all 3 games vs. the Spurs, last season?

it's really Paul imo. He sets the table for their entire offense and Spurs have no answer for him, no one to make him work on D, and Pop likes using Green to guard him but they just set high screens for him above the 3pt line and he rubs him off and is such a maestro with the ball all he needs is that little screen to find someone. Really hope Spurs set their sights on CP3 in the offseason, he is still the best pure PG in the league easily

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Originally Posted by PublicOption

Because the spurs were tired

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We were the road team, on the second night of a back-to-back.

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Originally Posted by HarlemHeat37

Didn't Griffin miss all 3 games vs. the Spurs, last season?

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He played in our first game against the Spurs last year, which we lost - mainly because it was one of the rare times that LaMarsha held his own against Blake. He missed the other two, though.

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Originally Posted by Joseph Kony

it's really Paul imo. He sets the table for their entire offense and Spurs have no answer for him, no one to make him work on D, and Pop likes using Green to guard him but they just set high screens for him above the 3pt line and he rubs him off and is such a maestro with the ball all he needs is that little screen to find someone. Really hope Spurs set their sights on CP3 in the offseason, he is still the best pure PG in the league easily

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Last game may distort things a bit, but I cannot see CP3 jumping from this Clips team to this Spurs team.

Both Kawhi and Danny Green need to be defensive locks when playing the Clippers... Green, when focused is about as good of a Chris Paul defender as one can get... HE was sorely missed on that side of the ball in the last game...

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Originally Posted by sasaint

Last game may distort things a bit, but I cannot see CP3 jumping from this Clips team to this Spurs team.

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:lol Just in general, it's not a wise strategy to point to the other team's best player when they beat you and say, "we just need that guy to join our team, and we'll be fine!"

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Originally Posted by Arcadian

:lol Just in general, it's not a wise strategy to point to the other team's best player when they beat you and say, "we just need that guy to join our team, and we'll be fine!"

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:lol Delusional, too.

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Originally Posted by sasaint

Last game may distort things a bit, but I cannot see CP3 jumping from this Clips team to this Spurs team.

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disagree, tbh. The Clippers, while a "contender" for the last 5 years or so, have never really been that close. they were a game away from the WCF and still choked it away. imho their team peaked. i think depending on how the season shapes out for the Spurs, they may be able to lure him away because Paul seems like the kind of person who wants to get over the hump, and he has to know that shit ain't happening in LAC. they may look godly against the Spurs but overall they're what they always are, a solid team that COULD make the WCF but probably won't and certainly ain't a favorite to win a title. just gotta hope Paul is tired of playing with shit for brains Jordan and Blake. i don't think it's likely he leaves, he most likely stays in LAC, but if there's one team I can see him jumping to for contention, it's SA. no other team is even close to contention and CLE and GSW already have all star PGs. Spurs PG spot is a huge hole, it makes sense tbh. This is my pipedream though, admittedly. fingers crossed

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Originally Posted by Joseph Kony

disagree, tbh. The Clippers, while a "contender" for the last 5 years or so, have never really been that close. they were a game away from the WCF and still choked it away. imho their team peaked. i think depending on how the season shapes out for the Spurs, they may be able to lure him away because Paul seems like the kind of person who wants to get over the hump, and he has to know that shit ain't happening in LAC. they may look godly against the Spurs but overall they're what they always are, a solid team that COULD make the WCF but probably won't and certainly ain't a favorite to win a title. just gotta hope Paul is tired of playing with shit for brains Jordan and Blake. i don't think it's likely he leaves, he most likely stays in LAC, but if there's one team I can see him jumping to for contention, it's SA. no other team is even close to contention and CLE and GSW already have all star PGs. Spurs PG spot is a huge hole, it makes sense tbh. This is my pipedream though, admittedly. fingers crossed

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I am not talking about history, and you and I obviously have very different views about a season that has just begun. Unless the Spurs do something radically un-Spursy before next pre-season, I expect that the Clippers will be a better team with a better record this season. Paul won't jump from a better team to a lesser team. I hope your crystal ball is clearer than mine.