Clippers Fall to Rockets 104-125

You can also get to me at follow out of May. But first let's get back out to Toyota Center with your radio voice of the Clippers in Carlo Jimenez. Well, quite frankly, Carlo, I gotta say all night where the Houston Rocks shot forty three percent from three and it was much higher than that throughout most of the game. I felt like the Clippers just got ambushed a little bit, maybe a little bit outclassed.

in this one. The Rockets were able to dominate offensively, get anything they wanted on that end of the floor, and get downhill and get to the rem They didn't offensive rebound the same way they did in the Wednesday Night contest, but they beat the Clippers with their hot shooting today a season high nineteen May threes. The Clippers moved to zero to five this season when they allow opponents to make fifteen or more threes. They are six to one at him when teams make less than fifteen threes.

So that'll tell you all you need to know right now, the Clippers giving up threes and paying for it in the lost column.

that symbiotic relationship. When the Clippers aren't knocking down the shots, they can't set their defense. They can't play that elite half court defense where they are in that area when they can set their defense. But unfortunately, you got to hit shots typically to do that.

a thirty six to eight run. I believe in the final eight and a half minutes of that second excuse me, thirty five to sixteen run in the final eight twenty eight of the second thirty five to fifteen, and that really did the Clippers in. And I don't think Clippers ever bounced back after bringing it to a one point game. This is a team that looked tired today and rightfully so. I mean, eight nights, five different cities, four different games

is an exhausting stretch. Nonetheless, despite it not being technically that long of a road trip, the Clippers only had one home game, which, as we all know in the NBA, feels like a road game when you only have the one home game. So for this Clipper team opportunity to bounce back, you get Sacramento on a rent, or you get Utah, a team that's only won three games, sitting towards the bottom of the West on a rest advantage.

But for the Clippers, got to get back your roots, and that was spreading the ball around, getting Norman pound of eats the Zubats involved early finding success with them, and then the question becomes how deep do you want to go? Because clearly Kobe Brown and Jordan Miller, who played against starters today, Fred Vanvlee was out there the entire time. Al Fred shan Gun was out there, Dylan Brooks was out there, played well, and Tyler really has to figure out a is he gonna rotate twelve? Is

he gonna just play the hot hand? Is he gonna play matchups? I don't know. I don't know if it's gonna change too much in terms of results at him. That's starting group stolls a lot on their shoulders. They were on minus twelve today after being a plus fifteen on a Wednesday. But you feel like the Clippers can bring more youth off the bench. Like you mentioned Nikovitoomo only getting four minutes in this one. The lineup is not so little, Finn. Did we learn that? Especially today?

The clippers achilles heel throughout this ten year with Kawhi Leonard has been young athletic teams and the Clippers are kind of built to be the achilles heel of this Clipper, of this or the Rockets are built to be the achilles heel of this Clipper team, and they flex that muscle today.

I wonder if that's gonna happen with Jordan Miller at some point. Kevin Porter Junior, though, played I thought one of his better games so far this season, fifteen points in a fishing fifteen points, five of ten shooting, knockdown three to three pointers back in Houston. So who is out of the lineup? Who gets minutes taken away from them to extend some minutes now with Jordan Miller, these are the tough decisions that coach lou is going to

have to make. I think Nicholas Batoum could be one of those guys, just because you know he's an old bet that is going to root for the young guys as they're getting minutes, and he'll help coach them up as well. And this is not somebody that's going to make a stink if he's on the bench for a couple of weeks and maybe he can regain some of that I don't know pop to his game because it hasn't been there, maybe over the last week or so when he played heavy minutes obviously for Team France in

the Olympics. We talked about that a little bit earlier as well, Well, I just wonder how does a guy and get a little bit more running in this rotation when they are really deep ball club Also, so it's a tough balance. It's a tough situation for coach Lou to have to figure out, well, all of a sudden, we're gonna have all these new lineups, what thirteen games

in now. It's not easy, But I think they got the right guy, the chiropractor, the adjuster out there in coach lu to try to figure these things out.

he played him off the line the entire way. The Clippers maybe need him to get that off his back and then come back in and be aggressive. So it's an odd time for this Clipper team. You feel like they're trying to still feel things out. This three game road trip, though, you'll learn that you gotta guard the three ball because the Rockets burned them twice and okay, see burn them from downtown. The Clippers have to be better defensively from outside the arc. They have to rebound,

they have to get back on the defensive end. They got opportunities to learn. You finally get to sleep in the same bed for a couple nights in a row, and we'll see if that re energizes this group. I'm feeling good of at the game against Utah. You get it back to back with Golden State and then see Orlando. Not gonna be easy, but for a team that's trying to find their mojo, three very very good teams to go up again.

record to break. Ray Allen being second old time when it comes to three point shots made in NBA history, you know that could be weighing on him a little bit. But Norman Pal, they're trying to keep him from going right. The game plan is out there against him, and the Houston Rockets are elite defensively, so it was a bad matchup. Maybe wrong place, wrong time, as the Houston Rockets are really thriving and starting to figure things out. They're nine to four now on this young season, and I think

they're turning a lot ahead. So tip your cap to them. Clippers got a regroup. They'll be coming back to take on the Utah Jazz. That'll be backing into a dome on Sunday night. Tip time will be at six pm. We'll have your pregame show starting at five. Carlo Jimenez, safe travels back to Los Angeles, my friend. We will talk to you on Sunday.

from the outside. They caught fired the last couple of games against the Clippers from distance, who only shot ten to forty or Los Angeles Clippers from three when they came into the series, a top three point shooting team, a top three to three point shooting team, I should say in the league. So things swung the other way there.

If you want to take solace to the fact that, hey, the Clippers had fifty one board to forty eight for the Houston Rockets, I would also say, yeah, they had four more offensive rebounds, probably because they missed so many shots out there. So they still had fifteen turnovers in the ballgame, far too many. Ten of those came in the first half. Too sloppy with it, and as Carlo pointed out, Houston went on that thirty five to fifteen run in the last eight minutes of the second quarter.

Clippers made a little bit of a push as they were down twenty at the half. Early in the third, they got it to within twelve. Houston called a timeout and the Rockets just poured it on from their great adjustments by them, and this Clippers team with multiple starters having off nights, and they've had a couple of them. Now I'm looking at Aviatsa Zubots not nearly as aggressive. Didn't like the body language out there. Only got up seven shots, one less than he got up on Wednesday.

Norn Powell three of eleven. He was struggling in both games against the Houston Rockets. Chris Dunn six of thirteen, but just one of seven from the outside, and then Derek Jones Jr. Uncharacteristically bad ozero of seven game, his worst shooting game so far as a Clipper, to say the least. Clippers lose one twenty five to one oh four in Houston to the Rockets. Their next game coming up against the Utah Jazz. That'll be on Sunday night.

Back get into it Dome. More on that coming up right here on the Los Angeles Clippers Audio Network.

ten free throws in ten minutes. They can't guard them. They can't defend without fouling against Jordan Miller. No can defend. He had eleven points in his ten minutes. That's the bright spot. I thought KPJ was better, But a lot of poor performances in this one from the starters the vets. They did look a little bit gassed. There are some stats out there that will tell you the Clippers have

had the toughest schedule so far in the league. But Houston Rockets are also a very good ball club, and I thought imposed their will, physicality, athleticism, and three point shooting season high nineteen Maine threes for the Houston Rockets. Some of that has just shot variants. Some of that's bad defense. But if you're looking for a number. In this game, they hit nineteen threes on forty four attempts.

That's forty three percent from the outside. The Clippers on forty attempts hit just ten of them, that is twenty five percent from three. Sometimes it's that simple. Clippers lose one twenty five to one four in a make or Miss league in Houston against the Rockets. Coming up in LA, we'll have Clippers stock eight six, six ninety seven two five seventy. But outside of Los Angeles, we are leaving you until Sunday night, backet into it Dome for the front end of a back to back Clippers taking on

the Utah Jazz. Tip off is that six pregame at five. I'm at a mosland outside of LA. Talk to you on Sunday in LA. It's Clippers Talk next.

the Rockets for the second straight game. This was an in season tournament game, if you're into that sort of thing, and quite frankly, the Clippers weren't nearly good enough from the get go. They were down double digits in the first quarter, They got down big at the half by twenty. They made a slight push earlier than the third had

it to within twelve, but ultimately they were down nineteen. Still, they only shaved it down by one point heading into the fourth quarter, and that's when coach Lou went to the backups. They also made a slight push. Well, they

get to sixteen fourteen points. I think, so this gets interesting now Clipper Nation, because when they were six and four and I was saying, well, I feel like they're overachieving if anything, and I feel like they're a five hundred team without Kawhi Leonard, those were my expectations coming into this season. What were yours? Because your level of

disappointment is directly tied to your expectations. If you were in the same headspace that I was thinking that without Kawhi, if they can just hang around five hundred, that's success. That's the Clippers in a good spot. They're six and seven and the Houston Rockets are good. I don't know what some people thought they were getting into against this

Houston Rockets team. When I previewed this game or this two game mini series coming up, I said, the Rockets are good guys, one of the top defenses, one of the top rebounding teams. Somebody said, for being honest, the Clippers should beat this team. What why? The Rockets had the better record at that time, and they proved to be a better team in both games. They're more talented and guess what turned around? And I was worried about this when I talked about it in the preview. They're

three point shooting. They went from being a team that was shooting thirty one percent from the outside heading into these two games to shooting well over forty percent after these two games. In fact, tonight they went for a uh season high nineteen made threes against the Clippers. Some of that's just really hot shooting. And guess who cooled off at the same time to compound things, the Clippers in Norman Powell, that's a recipe for disaster. How do

you lose a game like this by twenty one? Well, one team goes nineteen to forty four from three, the other goes ten to forty from three. One team was top three in three point shooting heading into this two game series, the Clippers. The other team was bottom three and three point shooting heading into this series. Guess what happened? Things flipped, love of averages, fluky shooting, whatever you wan say.

The Rockets looked like the Clippers for those five games where they went four and one, and nobody was hotter from the outside as during that stretch they shot forty eight percent from three. That's how the Rockets looked in these two games. I'm not surprised by any of this.

I'm well aware of their talent level. Without Kawhi Leonard, it is going to be a struggle at times offensively, especially if Norman Palell is out there after the hot streak that he was on going three for eleven and it looked worse than that, and the Rockets had all the defenders in the world to throw at him, and he was trying to play the foulbait game and it wasn't working. Got into it with the referees. That didn't help.

Norm's got to play through that. But teams have the scouting report now, just like we all know, every team knows Norm likes to go right. You stop him from going right, it eliminates a lot of his game. That's the difference. When you're a starter and all of a sudden, you're getting heavy minutes and you're going up against the other team's first unit, you get scouted harder and you're going up against better players, and the Rockets have a lot of them. They are deep, they are well coached,

they are physical. I set all that heading into the series and now they're nine to four and the Clippers are six and seven, So are you panicking or you kind of understand? Yeah, without Kawhi, things are going to be tough and you just can't. Hey, if you're a fan and you want to ride the wave of emotions all the time and you know, treat every game like

it's the Super Bowl, I get it. But I would preach some patients because the Clippers are at a talent disadvantage against most teams like the Rockets, and they didn't play well. And some of that is Houston and their defense and they're rebounding, and some of that is just the Clippers of each a Zubots being very passive, them trying to get him involved sporadically. And I'm putting a lot of this though. On a viza Zoobots into night's ball game. You take eight shots Wednesday, and you take

even less tonight. He only gets to seven. I know he didn't play in the fourth quarter. I don't think he did on Wednesday either. So Big Zoo has to be better period and more consistent. He was not good enough for the last two games. And if Big Zoo isn't playing well, you're probably gonna lose. Him having a big game doesn't guarantee a victory, but him having a game like this probably guarantees a defeat. That's how I see it with the Vita zoobots. And while we have

a moment, let's pause ten seconds for station identification. Here in Los Angeles Clippers Audio Network at M five seven ELI Sports.

a cup game. What else is at stake? They're falling behind them in the standings, which means, if you've been paying attention and listening to me, there's this whole pickswap thing with the OKC Thunder. They're gonna take whoever has the better pick, meaning whoever is the worst team this season between the Clippers and Houston Rockets, And right now the worst team is the Clippers, which means they could lose another first round pick to OKC. So two significant losses.

There were some bright spots, though, we'll talk about them next. Right here on AM five to seventy LA Sports.

of the way. It happened. He got that one, one of his two makes. But if you're in here on the chat on the YouTube side at Clippers Talk or listening on a five to seventy LA Sports and want to get on eight six six ninety seven two five seventy eight six six ninety seven two five seventy saying the coaching staff ran the exact same game plan that got them blown out last time. It just isn't true. Some of this is on guys just not making simple entry passes. Some of it is on a beast of

Zubos not being nearly aggressive enough. Did you watch James Harden tell him go back your man down? What are you waiting for? Go at him? Zubots was being far too passive. And this is the most disappointed I've been in him so far this season. So a lot of you guys want to talk about blaming coach lou right now or blaming one player. There's a lot of things you can blame for this. If you want to oversimplify things and say it's just this or that, come on,

first of all, start with this. The Rockets hit nineteen threes after they had fifteen on Wednesday. They woke up from distance. Law of averages went against the Clippers favor. They were a bottom three three point shooting team until the last two games. I knew they weren't that bad. I knew guys would wake up at some point, and they did against the Clippers. Some of that is outside of their control. People will say, oh, defense has to

be better. There is not much you can do against some of the hot shooting in today's league defensively, especially on the perimeter. It can be pick your poison sometimes, So everybody wanted to blame someone and just lash out or make someone the scapegoat or panic. As Frankie Boy nine says on the YouTube side, as I'm reading some of the comments here, there are a lot of moving parts when it comes to these Clippers' losses and things to look at, but start with this. Houston's good. They're

better in the Clippers significantly right now, all right. I figured they would be coming into the season if the Clippers don't have Kawhi, and there's still without him, and we learned on Wednesday that coach Lou doesn't know if he'll be back. E'ven practicing this month. So I really don't understand how some people can just be Like clips Gang TV says, it takes a lot of planning and effort to keep losing consistently ridiculously time to take a

closer look at the coach piece. Go Clippers consistently ridiculously. See they've had thirteen straight winning seasons. Coach Lou has been here for the last five seasons. How did they lose ridiculously? Does that mean anything? How'd they lose ridiculously? I'd love to know if somebody could explain that. Some people were blaming Sam Sanatorium who almost got muted earlier here in the chat. Yeah, there was some ridiculous hot

shooting by Houston. I don't know what coach Lou's supposed to do about that, especially while his team's missing everything, and Chris Dunn missed his first five to three pointers and they were wide open. They were giving him the Draymond Green treatment. They said, we're gonna shrink the floor, play off for Chris Dunn and dare him to shoot. Well, he went one of seven from three was good for

two when I think five of six. There had some bullyball moments, some tough buckets, one on Schngoon at the basket Tyleru. For people who don't understand coaching, it's not easy, or not as easy as just start benching all these guys. Thirteen games into the season. He's getting a look at some guys. He's given an opportunity some guys. Maybe we'll see Jordan Miller get in earlier in the fourth quarter,

coming up this weekend or coming up on Sunday. But there's a locker room that you have to manage and personalities and egos, and it's not fantasy basketball. I agree with this leeve Ivan saying, Harden and Norm gotta take it easy on the foulbating. They're not getting the calls, No, they're not. Norm was getting into it with the refs and the frustration was boiling over, and I rolled my eyes at some of the faul betting he was doing. It's not gonna happen. So I think there's blame to

go around. You can't have Norman Powell and a Visa Zubats combine to play this poorly in a game and expect to win when the Clippers are already at an offensive deficiency. When it comes to talent out there, Norman Pou and a Visa Zubats, guys, I can't believe I'm reading this. They combined to go five for eighteen. I don't know what's worse, only making five shots and only taking eighteen only combining to score fourteen points. What are we talking about? All right, let's hear from coach Lou.

This is him talking to La Murray of the Athletic I had law on the pregame show. Here was coach Lou post game after his squad lost one twenty five to one oh four in Houston to the Rockets.

the break, I think Jordan Miller is him. I think I think he's a guy that can thrive at this level because everything he has done in the G League, the preseason, the Summer league, whenever he has gotten minutes against real NBA players, He's doing the exact same stuff. He buoyed his way to get ten free throws where guys just couldn't guard him. I mean, just ridiculous stuff from Jordan Miller. He did it to Tarry Easton, guys one of the better defenders in the league who also

had seventeen points. Ian Thompson, T and T Factory doing work again. Tarry Easton is good. Jordan Miller in the fourth quarter, well, he was playing some bully ball out there. He was on his bully stuff against Tarry Yeaston. I couldn't believe what I was seeing this game to the line over and over again because a legit NBA player and one of the better young defenders out there didn't know what to do with him. That is encouraging, really encouraging. He also had to put back on his own miss.

I think he's got to start playing. I mean I wanted at Game one. If you listen to me, I've been talking about Jordan Miller since before the season started. Go to ad fall out of May I post the receipts there. I said, in a season like this where you're not a contender unless Kawhi can stay healthy, you have a guy who's about to turn twenty five, How on earth can you not try start to develop him. The reason you draft a guy who was twenty three when they got him last year is to hopefully get

him going sooner than later. The reason you take a guy that old in the draft is so he can contribute sooner. Jordan Miller looks like he's ready, so you might have the best of both worlds. Finally, a player that can not only help you win but develop while doing so. That's the sweet spot, the Goldilocks situation, and the Clippers might have that with Jordan Miller. It is Miller time. As everyone's saying here in the chat, trust

me on this. Jordan Miller is a bucket. If he's not getting a layup on you, it probably means it's because he's in the free throw line and you had to foul him. He's stronger than he looks. He has that deceleration at the bucket similar to I know Sga a little bit. It's just that side step footwork, or he throws the defense off. He is so impressive, and he did it again in this game. Well, he only made one shot. It's because they kept having to foul him.

They kept having a foul him over and over again. Got eleven points in ten minutes, ten free throws attempted in ten minutes. This is not because the Houston Rockets were playing hack of Jordan Miller. They didn't want to foul. They wanted to run the clock. They wanted the game to be over. They're up big, and they couldn't. They couldn't stay in front of them. He gets you off balance with each and every dribble and step. I want to see him get a consistent look over a ten

game stretch. And if that means Niko Batum, who only played four minutes in this one, has to sit and rest a little bit, I'm not worried about that because Batoom stays ready. I don't worry about Nico having to catch a rhythm the next time you needed to pull the lever and bring him into a ballgame because he's been out for some time. Because you're giving Jordan Miller a look, I certainly don't worry about him getting upset

about it. He's a good vet. He's gonna coach him up, and he just played a ton of minutes for France in the Olympics. I think he led them in minutes. He's about to turn thirty six, so gipp but two, maybe a little bit of rest for a couple of weeks where he doesn't play much, and how about we see Jordan Miller. People say, well, who are you taking out? Amir has been too good? He has been andyn't have a great game, but I thought he was solid even in this one, and he has been more than solid

so far. In the thirteen games this season. Ken Porter Junior had fifteen points, five to ten shooting, hit three three pointers back in Houston, one of his better games, if not his best game of the season. He had a defensive play where he created a turnover on the Houston Rockets and Jeff Van Gundy was cheering him on His defense has been I don't know how positive. So you can't take him out. So who's it going to be? I think Nico, and I don't think that would be

a problem for him. Of course, he's a competitor. It's not a long term thing. They're going to need Batom. But if you're getting Mobamba back and he's taken Kay's minutes and you have a more traditional even though he can shoot a three ball, but somebody with a little bit more seasoning as the backup center, you might not need Nico anymore to play small ball five as much. Therefore, it makes sense to me that Jordan Miller gets into

the rotation consistently to see what you have. And no, I don't want to see this stuff from ageb that says Batooma is a bum. Now he's far from that. He said like two bad games. He rarely ever has a bad game. They're not going to have to go as because Bamba's going to be playing soon. Guys, he just played in the G League. I think he might be back Sunday or Monday. And therefore you got him as your backup five. You don't need Nico for that. And what about Jordan Miller get in some minutes. I

think it's time we'll take a quick time out. We'll come back. Eight six six nine eight seven two five seventy eight sixty six nine eight seven two five seventy is the phone number I'm out of Asland after the Clippers fall in Houston one twenty five to one oh four, and I'm hoping this is just the start to tip of the iceberg. When it comes to Jordan Miller and playing time ten minutes, eleven points, got up ten free throws. He's got it. You can see it out there. It's

all translating. He's an NBA player. I'm Autam Mosland and you're listening to five to seven EL Sports.

about it with Carlo Jimenez. But Clippers got down by twenty at the half. It was closer than that to start. They were down by eight after the first quarter, but that second quarter got away from them and the Houston Rockets went was this sixteen to two run. At one point, Clippers couldn't get stops, but I'm telling you they couldn't get buckets. It's their offense killing their defense, and with so many guys having off nights concurrently, it's gonna be

a bad time. It's gonna be hard. You can't have Viatza zu Bots and Norman Powell play like that and expect to win. One of them had to have a big game. Instead, they both went the other direction. Again. Harden at least was at fifty percent. It's only the second game this season where he has shot fifty percent seven to fourteen, three of nine from three, one shy of passing Ray Allen for the second most threes made in NBA history. But that second quarter was really disappointing

because I thought there were some good signs. The Clippers had it thirty one to thirty. After Kevin Porter's junior made a three pointer, the Rockets call timeout, and this was a consistent theme. Clippers make a run, Rockets call timeout, counter, come out and go on and run themselves. And after it was thirty one to thirty, let me see how much time it took for the Clippers to get down as much as they were in the first half a twenty seven mark. It's thirty one to thirty. Clippers have

it to within one. Rockets take a timeout, So how long does it take? What less than four minutes for them to get up? By sixteen for them to get up by nineteen, it was about five minutes. Five minutes later there are by nineteen. It's just brutal. Clippers couldn't get anything to go. Chris Dunnan was missing threes, James Harden, Derek Jones Junior. Of course he had a miss night. I mean, they had some really good looks. They were giving Chris Dunn those open looks and he could do

nothing with it. I still felt like, you know, he was probably one of the better players tonight for the Clippers. He had a crazy steal and score. He was playing hard because he only knows one way to play. But the Clippers ten to forty from three. They went into this series against Houston, the hottest team in the league from three, and they come out of it ice cold, and instead it's like rogue taking your powers. Houston becomes the team that now has the three point shooting going

in their favor. I don't know if somebody got a gray streak in their hair or anything like that, but yeah, they absorbed the Clippers three point shooting powers, and now they have it. Clippers gotta get it back. Another poor team from three to another, another poor team over. We're all actually not that Houston is. But Clippers will see a struggling Utah Jazz team Sunday night. Backing into it home.

We'll take a quick time out here after the Clippers lose one twenty five to one oh four in Houston to the Rockets. I'm at a Mosland and you're listening to AM five seventy LA Sports.

being a little bit delusional and mean spirited. Some of you are just realizing that, oh, maybe they're not a championship team this season without Kawhi Leonard, I don't know. Somebody told me they could contend without Kawhi, or they could be the sixth seed or the fifth seed without Kawhi. They can't, guys, they can't. The West is too good. Case in point. The Rockets are much better this season. I thought this would happen. They were primed to make

this leap. They're making it. Unfortunately, right now it's happening at the Clippers expense. Everybody is going to start turning in their heads and saying, hey, the Rockets are nine to four, they're making a push. They have one of the best defenses, and they're one of the best rebounding teams in the league. That is a disastrous recipe, especially for the Clippers. They're young, a ton of athleticism. They

can play with pace if they feel like it. I see this from Law Murray post game talking about Coach Lou. This is encouraging. Coach Lou mentioned that Jordan Miller's ability to draw fouls is something the team may need to look at. When Law asked him about guys getting more of a chance to play earlier, so he also mentioned bones in his pace, or maybe even law did, and

Kobe at the five. I wouldn't mind seeing Kobe at the five a little bit, like we've seen it some I would shake things up just a little bit, not overreact too much, but find a way to get Jordan Miller some minutes consistently. It's that simple. Jordan Miller is that good? We think the only way to find out

is if he gets consistent minutes. But as I mentioned last segment, those runs after timeouts by the Houston Rockets where they go from being up one to up nineteen in about five minutes in the second quarter, and then in the third quarter, the same thing happened again. Slippers didn't have it to within one because they were down twenty at the half, but they had it to within twelve. I want to say it was it's seventy to fifty eight. After James Harden had that step back at the free

throw line time out. What happens next? This is the eight to Zho three mark. Let's see how long does it take? How long was this run by the Houston Rockets.

They hit a Dylan Brooks three right out of the timeout Jalen Green gets a dunk, Fred Van Vleek gets an easy layup, Jabari Smith Junior gets a tip shot, and they're down by twenty one within the span of about three minutes after they had it down to twelve and there was some life out there, and it goes up to twenty one in about minutes because the Clippers can't score. Norre and Powell missed a three point during

that run. Dereck Jones Junior off night for him, beats the Zubats missed a really bad hook shot that was well off this offense. I don't know what you guys expected from it, but this is about what I expected from it. Coming into this year, they were going to have nights like this where it looks ugly, where they go into deep funks and droughts that they can't get out of and their defense is not not good enough to keep them in ball games because eventually your defense

will break. I've been saying this for a while. This has been my concern heading into the season. Early in the season, even when they were two and one, I was talking about Harden being overextended when they were two and one, same thing when they were six and four.

I've never gotten too high. I'm not getting too low now though either I knew what I was looking at with this team, a team that at best is going to hang around five hundred without Kawhi Leonard at best and at their worst, You're going to see Knights like this against good teams, quality competition, and teams that are figuring it out right now and being molded like the

Houston Rockets. They're having a moment. They're going to take down some of the upper echelon teams in the Western Conference coming up, and everybody's gonna say, oh, the Rockets are a problem. Now, Houston, we have a problem. You're going to be seeing that graphic everywhere. It's going to be a national narrative very soon. How good this Houston Rockets team is? I promise you so. Are they terrible losses? No, Houston's a better team than the Clippers, but they also

weren't very competitive in these two ballgame against them. They also just didn't show up in some ways. Zoo's better in this norm is better than this. You give Rockets. There's Houston Rockets some credit, but the Clippers can still play a lot better in this and they still see them two more times this season. So when you talk about that pick, that pick swap that Okac has, they're taking it from whoever has the higher draft pick, meaning the one closer to the bottom of the draft. It's

very confusing verbiage. The one that's closer to the number one pick. They're taking that pick away from either Houston or you're Los Angeles Clippers. That's what Okase is doing. Houston's is top ten protected. I don't think that's gonna be an issue. They're not gonna fall into the top ten. They're good guys. The Clippers. They gotta find a way win Sunday against Utah and then I believe they're taking on the Golden State Warriors on Monday night. That is

a huge back to back. But came and think about the Golden State Warriors right now. Win against Utah. That's a game you can't lose. The Utah Jazz are struggling. It's another game like they saw against Portland, the game they should have won. It's a game like against the Toronto Raptors that you have to win. And the Clippers still only want to buy two. It's just a must if you want any chance of being six through ten in the West and hanging around until Kawhi gets back

and who knows when that is. Clippers lose tonight once twenty five to one zero four in Houston to the Rockets. We'll get back after it on Sunday night at into a Dome. Tip time against the Utah Jazz is at six, your pregame show starting at five. Before we get out of here, I do want to thank the Clippers organization, Ralph Lawler, Brian Seeman, No what eago? Carlojmenez on the call, big brother Jake Corner, our head engineer Katie Newton, are Purdue hell sir here in the bank? Thanks to the

chat some of y'all. We'll do some Clippers Talk after dark coming up in a little bit of course. Outside of the chat and the YouTube Clippers Talk, we'll be back here on a seventy LA Sports Sunday night.