Clippers mute the Jazz 130-110

It wasn't the most impressive victory. I do have some concerns, but it was a must win and they play their best when it was required. That's not nothing. Does this Clippers team need to improve? Yeah? Do they need three days off more than anything? Yes? I expect them to be much better. Not look this old in this slow like we've seen the last four games or so. On Wednesday against Memphis, That's what I'm looking towards tonight. They got down early thanks to the Jazz starting eat of

eleven from three. Jordan Clarkson, I mean, hitting his first three threes a thirty footer. We know who he is, Clippers serial killer of the next Netflix True Crime is the way he does like he walks into a Clippers game with a heat check. Jordan Clarkson is just unbelievable against this team. Been doing it for years. Didn't play yesterday, you know he'd be fresh. Look and his chops looking at this Clippers team like they were food. This was red meat for them. It was great to start. This

ballgame eventually cooled off, as did the Utah Jazz. They started eat of eleven from three. As I mentioned, they finished three for their last eighteen. Meanwhile, the Clippers saved their best for last five to five in the fourth quarter from the outside when they had to have it, it was there, and I think the real turning point was the end of that third quarter where James Harden had a three in and won the big DJ lob

from a mere coffee. That was big. It got them a little bit of separation, but the Jazz weren't exactly going away. They were still battling in the fourth quarter. And Kawhi Leonard has been struggling for the fourth straight game. Now he's also had his minutes increase happen, which has been correlating with this. So I want to say that's

the connection. We don't need to make these long reaching conclusions that, oh, Kawhi is wash now, because I didn't hear anybody saying that the first nine games of the season, or he's playing just twenty minutes, then just twenty four, then twenty eight. But now he's over thirty, not just in age, he's thirty three, but over thirty minutes. He's looked gassed the last four and it compounds by the fact that they aren't getting two days off or about to get three days off. But he's played the last

nine Clippers games. It's a lot for a guy first returning from injury. So I was talking with Utah Jazz radio analyst Ron Boone, former player. He thinks he just looks lethargic out there, is tired. It's only thirteen games. I was asking you know, someone who's been there and done it. That's what he thinks it is, that's what he sees out there. I don't see a hitch in his gait. I don't see a guy who's glitchy out

there with his movement. It looks fluid. It just looks slower, slower than it did the first five to eight games when he first came back, really to nine games. That game where he had twenty seven against San Antonio, he looked awesome, and I said, at that point, I'm confident he can get back to the version of player he was last season. He didn't have structural damage. Guys he has swelling. There's a difference. He's still out of surgery.

We don't know the details about that. But what I need to see is after three days off, Kawhi Leonard and this team in general, look fresh, look like they have pop out there, look like they can lock down anyone defensively, because the last se been games coming into this one, they've been nineteenth on that end, and teams have been shooting once't you know, thirty nine percent from three the last seven games. Tonight, Utah Jazz shoot thirty

nine point five percent from three. Against the Clippers start off much hotter than that. But if you're looking for the issue and why defensively they haven't been as good, is that teams have been knocking down threes. You can say it's shooting variants, you can say it's shooting luck. The Clippers on the season, opponents are shooting around thirty four percent from the outside, top three in the league. That's been a big part of why they've been so

good defensively. So if they're slippage on the defensive end, it might be because, yeah, teams are hitting threes against them. Now, Now, I've always said I think there's a cumulative effect that happens to teams playing the Clippers because their defense has been so good and physical, it takes something out of their legs. And even when guys have wide open shots, they've been missing against them. But it's possible it's just been some good fortune on their side. But I don't know.

We're talking almost half a season of them being a top defensive team until just recently, and the one thing that stands out is opponents three point shooting. It's been much better against them. The game started that way, and the Jazz still ended up at thirty nine percent. That's something I'm watching our rotations as crisp as they are, or if they are bringing the same level of intensity to Clippers. I don't know that to be a factor

right now. I'm not seeing enough closeouts, enough sound rotations, and five guys on a string. I think it's tired legs. I think it's them having that five and seven stretch and that six games, nine nights stretch after the schedule adjustment with the fires here in southern California. That has a residual effect, and I think the Clippers are dealing with that. I think Kauhai specifically has been dealing with

some of this. When James Harden had to have it, he could drive, go left, get layups, get in ones, and was really good in the second half shooting wise. After starting. I want to say he started two of eleven or two of twelve in this ball game. He finished with twenty six point maybe twenty three points in a season high seventeen assists for Harden, seven of eighteen shooting. But I think there was an easier path to victory for this Clippers team. Just give it to Big Zoo

and get out of the way. I don't know if that's going to help him know in future games, And be honest, could win that way, but you have to vary your offense. Eventually, he had matchup advantages tonight. The Utah Jazz are down. Guys. They won twelve games this season. They're on a back to back. That's why allow those guys are out. But as easy it would be to maybe get Zoo a forty twenty game, I don't know

if you learn anything. He was great. He had twenty six and fifteen on thirteen of sixteen shooting, and when they had to have it after a timeout, they'd just lob it over the defense to it beats the Zoo bots for easy buckets. Went in doubt, find big Zoo to carry us through. It's good to see, but I need to see Kawhi get it going. James Harden start

faster with his offense. No warm Powell was still good tonight, twenty six points on eighteen shots, and he also put his head down and got to the basket he needed to. And Mere Coffee was great off the bench, I mean great timely threes five of eight from the outside for his seventeen points. But I know this isn't satisfying enough to Cliper Nation. They need to see it against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, and then they got to go to Utah, so back to back before the All Star Break.

Memphis one of the best teams in the Western Conference. Clipper's got one of their best victories this season against them without Kawhi in Memphis. They're not gonna forget about that. But I'm looking to see Kawhi with more pop out there after three days off. I need twenty plus points from him because this team goes as far as Kawhi Leonard takes them, and if he's not right or not the same player as he was last season, we got problems.

Not pushing the panic button, I'm not sounding the alarms, I am saying, I'm monitoring the situation after the last four games. I think it's tired legs, lactic acid build up. I think it's a guy who's only played thirteen games so far this season and has been playing about every other day lately while getting his minutes extended. While his minutes have been rising, his energy, he's looked drained. Does that make sense anyone? It seems logical. Nobody was saying

he was washed after the first nine games. The last fours minutes have gone up. As he's been playing more games every other day, he's looked more tired out there. He's looked slower. So I'm hoping that's it. We'll take a quick time out. We'll come back. Get to your phone calls eight sixty six ninety seven two five seventy eight sixty six ninety seven two five seventy. I'm out of Maasland. You're listening to Clippers Stock here on five seventy LA Sports. Okrahams throws it off.

Leonard and how he's looked. And I just did a show on this the other day, In fact, I think it was yesterday. The days just string together for me right now, because we are one hundred and twenty six days straight here on Clippers Talk, giving you new content every day, regardless if there was an actual Clippers game or not. We haven't stopped. October fourth was the last day we have not had a show here if you're following at Clippers Talk on the YouTube side. So yesterday, yes,

we had Eric Pinkason. We talked salary cap and the Clipper situation this summer and after the moves and the trades and how much money they'd have to spend on Ben Simmons. It looks like that's happening. As reported by law Murray, Ben Simmons looks to be a Clipper, maybe as soon as Monday and he clears waivers. But I've been monitoring Kawhi. I've been monitoring Kawhi Leonard the last three games heading into this one, so it's been four games of his thirteen so far that I've been like, hmm,

is he tired or does he not have it. Is he not stepping on the gas and pushing things as much as he could, or is he stepping on the gas and there's just nothing left in the tank. I think what we're seeing right now is a guy who has played more minutes since the most minutes he's played since what March, since the knee swelling started, and this is a part of the ramp up process as he has to get his wind now that well. Tonight, for instance, I think he was at thirty two minutes thirty one

and a little bit of change. Last game he was almost at thirty four. I think is the games have been more consistent and his minutes have fluctuated. It's hurt his wind and his body has to to it. And that's all we're seeing, but it's worth monitoring. He's had ten turnovers over the last two games. That is very

unlike Kawhi. Leonard and I chronicled every play from this game tonight in my notes, every Kawhi play, whether it was a make or a miss, and tomorrow I'm gonna go through that because pregame, I'm gonna play some sound for you tomorrow here on Clippers Talk, as I tease this out because I asked coach Lou Pregame about how he's viewing Kawhi right now, if he looks a little bit tired and if he's progressing at the rate he

was expecting. I'll bring that answer to you tomorrow. But it is a subplot to everything going on right now, because ultimately, if Kawhi isn't the same, yeah, they're not a competitor in the Western Conference. He's their best player. Need him to be Kawhi Leonard. They need the same version of Kawhi they had last season when he had the most efficient, most impressive stretch of his career where for two months he shot fifty seven fifty one to

ninety two splits. Shooting splits. That's that's the Kauhi. You have to have to be a top five player to contend in the Western Conference, and they haven't had anything close to that yet, but especially the last four games as the minutes have gone up. Where you look at it tonight, just ten points, ten points and thirty one minutes on four of nine shooting, I think the more

alarming numbers he only got up nine shots. There were times he was not even looking for the basketball in the third quarter early on now they were for each beats zoubots. But I don't know if he touched the basketball the first four minutes of the third quarter coming out of the half, and he wasn't asking for it after he just got rest, and he still looked tired out there. The way he is running around ragged defensively at times, I hope people have taken note of him being,

you know, out of position. I've seen it too. I've also seen him make up for others mistakes, and so it looks like, oh, that's on Kauahi when it wasn't. But I'm telling you nine shots in thirty one minutes, like he's gonna have to get up to nineteen shots consistently to be the number one in your go to guy again on a team that is competing in the Western Conference. Last game out against Indiana on Thursday night, he took sixteen shots. He only made seven of them.

He was three or six from the outs. He had nineteen points, but five turnovers just like tonight, and sloppy turnovers, spinning into a double team having it ripped he did. I think the very next possession down on the second half, I think that was in the fourth quarter, spun into the double team and then kicked it out to a mirror for a far side of corner three. But I am I'm watching every possession with Kawhi right now because

here's the problem. It would be one thing if he was in a rut after he had already dropped a couple thirty point games, and we said, Okay, he's back, he's good, We're secure with it. He's the same Kauhi, and now he's just going through a shooting slump, whatever it happens. But he hasn't got all the way there yet. He hasn't really stepped on the gas. He's had twenty

seven points, and he looked really good against Antonio. In his first nine games, I think everybody was satisfied and we're saying, damn, he's ahead of his asual of anything. And now the last four where he hasn't looked great and he is shooting just thirty eight percent from the field. I believe he is shooting thirty eight percent from three over that time, but he's only getting fifteen points per

game and the minutes are around twenty eight. But he played twenty seven minutes against Toronto twenty two against the Lakers in that blowout, thirty three against Indiana, thirty one a night against Utah. There is a direct correlation between his minutes going up and him looking more tired. There's a direct correlation between more games being played by Kawhi almost every other day. He's played their last nine games.

I believe Carlo Amen has said so. He plays the game against Washington on January twenty third, he plays the game January twenty fifth against Milwaukee, January twenty seventh against Phoenix, the twenty ninth against San Antonio, the thirty first against Charlotte, and now the second of February, the fourth, the sixth, the eighth. He's been playing every other day, literally every other day, for the last nine games. Couldn't it be as simple as that, while the minutes have been going up,

he's been playing every other day. Couldn't that account for why he looks tired out there? Do we have to say, oh, he's washed now after we all said, man, he looks prett damn good, he looks great. I'm not willing to make any leaps to the W word, the wash. I'm I'm not gonna do it yet, because I've seen this too many times with Kawhi where he starts the season slowly and then flips the switch. Everyone was thinking he was washed last season at the beginning, they were I

pulled the tweets. You know, I got their seats here. I put it up at follow out of May. You can check it. I just did this the other day the show that Look, there is going to be a time whereas Kawhi gets older and he comes back from these injuries and he's not gonna look the same there. That is going to happen at some point, happens to everybody. It's gonna happen to Kawhi, Lebron James at some point

isn't gonna be the same. Is it happening right now at thirty three, coming off an injury where there was no structural damage. I'm not gonna say that yet because we just have a body of work from less than a year ago of him looking fantastic. I'm not gonna do it. But if you're wondering why I'm talking about Kawai so much in a game the Clippers won by twenty, it's because he isn't look good the last four games and for them to get to where they want to

get to he's got to be himself. He's got to be a star, he's got to be an All NBA player. So there's bigger things to me in a twenty point victory then them winning one thirty to one ten over the Jazz. I'm watching, Kawhi. I always am Angels in the outfield. We're always watching. We'll take a quick time out. Hopefully you're watching at Clippers talk on the YouTube side eight six six nine seven two five seventy. I promise we'll get to your phone calls coming up here. I'm sorry, Steve, JP, Mike.

We will get to you guys coming up next. I'm out of Milesland, live from into a Dome. After the Clippers win one thirty to one ten over the Utah Jazz, they break their three game losing streak and now they have three days off. You're listening to a five seventy LA Sports throws it up the window finishes in the fowl.

all the time too. I just did a show where I went through his game logs from past times coming back from injuries. Was looking at minutes how long it takes him to ramp up. Last year he had a training camp and he looked slow coming out of the gates in the regular season, and then in his hit his second win, hit the NOSS and Kawhi took over and was the best version of himself offensively ever in the regular season he was I'm thinking this is a

wind issue. I'm not discounting the fact that swelling in your knee isn't bad. I am saying that connected with structural damage would be way, way worse. To this guy Toby in the chat, Kawhi's gotta put together a string of twenty five point games where he looks uber efficient and can't miss in the mid range. At first, it looked like that his first few games back, he was

moving really well and everything just looked automatic. That first game against the Lakers, for instance, J. J. Reddick came out afterwards and said, Kawhi just doesn't miss, Like it doesn't matter what you do. He gets to a spot and he just doesn't miss. And he was talking about from that game. He just wasn't even aggressive tonight, and that looked to me like a guy who was tired deferring to others and not even looking for the basketball.

Early in the third quarter, I don't know if he touched the ball, like the first four minutes in their half court set the start of the second half. Let's go to Mike and La. Mike quickly, you got thirty seconds here on Clippers stock without a mass and him.

update on him. But they also brought in Bogee and he's gonna be available on Wednesday. It sounds like you talked with the media post game bo Don Bogdanovic. So you didn't pick up, you know, the perfect backup center or the perfect backup ball handler, but you got somebody that can do both a little bit in Ben Simmons. According to reports, nothing's official, and ask the Lakers and Charlotte Hornets how that can go when nothing's official yet. I think he can clear waivers on Monday and then

he could be a Clipper. But I really like to pick up because it gives you more options to how you can play out there, and one way coach lou loves to play as small We know that small ball of Ben Simmons at the five passing. I was talking about this earlier and Russ Stans got upset, and it's what always happens, because you can criticize anybody on this Clippers team over the last well the seven years that I've been here, I could criticize anybody, and I have.

But if you criticize Russ, then it's like in a front to mankind or something, or to Russ like, they will burn it down. They will try to bully you and call you names and do everything in the book, even though I'm just being trying to be fair with analysis of how I see it, just like I will with anyone else. But you know, other guys don't have

a hive. There's no a mere coffee hive. When I criticized him for how he played in the playoffs last year against Dallas, he struggled, you do against Russ, They're on you like piranhas. So I was talking about how he's different Ben Simmons than Russ, even though neither guy is a good shooter. Russ would still try to shoot and probably take shots he shouldn't. Ben Simmons just won't.

If anything, he will turn down shots, which sometimes is bad if he's overpassing or being so unselfish to the point he's got a layup or a dunk or an easy look, he doesn't take it. That's not good either, But I will take that because the difference is he's the five. You can hide a non shooter playing the five much easier than you can hide a non shooter who's a guard. In Russ, there's a huge difference between

those two guys. So I'm excited about it. I think coach lou if Abay can figure it out with Ben Simmons and Tim. Let's go JP and los JP. You're on clippersop with out of Mason h JP.

to Clippers hockey on the M five seventy. LA Sports throws it up.

on against really good teams. The Jazz are not just a bad team. They were missing a lot of their best players tonight, marking in John Collins calling Sexton. They did have a Clipper serial killer in Jordan Clarkson. He had fourteen points in the first quarter. He would eventually cool off, but at the half James Harden was two of nine. He would end up going in the second half of this ball game. This aw five of nine.

You'll take it, big and ones fout on a three pointer as usual, and he had seventeen assists to five turnovers. He had some It's not that he had a bad game. I would say he had a bad scoring game early on, because the assists were there all game long. I want to say he had six assists in the opening quarter. Harden was diming out there. He had eight assists in the opening quarter. My goodness. A lot of the conversation, though, has been centered around Kawhi Leonard, how he looks so far,

and yes, I'm watching. We do a player to watch the pregame show every game, and that rotates on who you choose. When tonight I had Drew Eubanks, who unfortunately got banged up after looking pretty good out there. He was two of two or four points in six minutes, but rolled n Ankel. Don't have an update to you. Don't have an update for you on that. But I'm

always watching Kawhi Leonard in his movement. So he was asked postgame if he thinks about not stepping on his teammate's toes as he works his way back, because he was noticeably deferring and not even asking for the basketball coming out of the second half. He said, quote, no, not at all. No, I don't feel no way about stepping on anybody's toes. It's not like with a number one seed or something. Yeah, that's fair, because what I've been saying about Kawhi is when people say, oh, he's

gonna make them worse, he's gonna hurt them. I've always been saying, guys, how exactly is he gonna hurt them? On offense, they're like a bottom five offense the twenty second coming into this game. But with Kawhi on the court, they have played I know some of you aren't gonna believe this because he hasn't looked great the last four games, but with Kawhi on the court coming into this game, so his first twelve games, they have an offensive rating of one nineteen that would be second best in the

league to the Cleveland Cavaliers. That's basically a top three offense when he's on the court coming into this game. Now might go down a little bit, might go down to one to eighteen after this game, or one to nineteen point one or something, but they have been not just much better, like ten points better per one hundred possessions on offense with him on the court so far. They've also been better defensively, where they've had a defensive rating of one to oh six coming into this game.

With Kawhi Leonard on the court, that's better than their one to eight rating, which is second on the season. So for as much as people are panicking, you look into the numbers. Yes, Kawhi is only helping because they started off pretty poor on the offensive end of this season. Again, what he's been on the court coming into this game.

They have an offensive rady of one nineteen. That's the top three offense, and they're starting five has been extraordinarily good with him next to DJ that was over I think one hundred minutes best starting five in the league. Let's pump the brakes a little bit. I have my concerns. I'm monitoring the situation. I think he's just gassed and tired. He's literally been playing every other day over the last nine games, and it looks like he's gassed out there.

And what's the most logical answer. He's been playing more. He just came back. The minutes have been going up, and he's been playing every other day. That's likely all it is, especially when you can consent. He looked really good with more pop early on. He looked pressure his first few games. All Right, we'll analyze it more tomorrow on Clippers Talk. I'll be with you around noon before the Super Bowl. We'll hear from Kawhi and we'll have other postgame sound and also my question of coach Lue

pregame about his his win. But before we get out of here, I do want to thank the Clippers organization, Ralpha oul O'Brian Seaman, Noah Igo, Carlo Jimenez on the call, big brother, Jake Warner, our head engineer. Here it into a Dome and back in the bank, producer Daniel West and Blake for doing stats and I appreciate you. I'mna Oslon. We'll talk to you back here. Clippers Memphis Grizzlies from into a Dome Wednesday. Yeah, we got three days off, pregame of six thirty. Talk to you then.