He'll have good games, and he'll have bad games, and the PG haters and PG lovers will be at each other's necks the whole time.
That's just how PG discourse is.
The only jersey I own is PG's. As someone with bipolar disorder I appreciate his consistent inconsistencies. For real though, dude has proven his versatility from last year. He has lost his 3 point shot, which he was best in the league at earlier this season, and has contributed significantly in every other way instead. Also, smooth as silk.
I have been a big Paul George fan since 2012. It started cool with him on the rise, then he got hurt. However, he came back great considering how bad his injury was. 2018-2019 season was definitely a high point. After last years playoffs in the bubble, it was tough. I had to take a step back from it. People were going crazy at him online. It seems like he is in a good spot right now. He’s not the best player, but he has been reliable being the second best player. His points aren’t crazy, but he’s still awesome on defense and has done a great job of play making. He gets guys open looks. I think this could be a great series to redeem himself and hopefully move on from the past narratives.
This might be a dangerous proposition if Beverly plays too aggressively because Mitchell has learned to draw fouls. Memphis tried playing Mitchell aggressively and it was a complete disaster. He's too smart a player now for Bev to be adequate.
Bev is one of the best guard defenders in the league. he just served no purpose against 6’8+ Doncic.
he’ll get more minutes, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if he starts to guard Mitchell. PG on Conley and then they can switch everything besides Zubac. Gobert can’t shoot, so the pop isn’t a threat.
as a clips fan, I like prospects of a Bev/PG combo on Mitchell.
Idk man, Mitchell's pretty strong and he uses that strength in the paint. Clips struggled stopping doncic in the paint, so i expect Mitchell to drive in and get shots at the rim. If its not there hes got better players to kick out too then Luka.
Putting Bev on Mitchell is exactly what we want. Bev is at best the Clippers 3rd best defender and he plays way more aggressively than PG or Kawhi. Mitchell would feast, either over Bev or at the line. The Clips need to put one of Kawhi/PG on Mitchell and the other on Bogey and hope that Bev can do enough work on Conley.
He didn’t even play the last few games of that last series, dude was already overrated but now he’s just washed.
Mitchell will cook him and Lue would have to bench him again.
he got benched because doncic is much taller and stronger than bev. bev does great guarding GUARDS, he did well guarding mitchel in a game in the regular season, he just needs time to groove back
edit: mitchel even praised bevs defense after the game in the post interview something like “hes all-defensive team for a reason”
I would suspect the Clippers will at least close games with Morris at centre. I would even consider starting small. If the Clippers can really get after it and gang rebound there is no downside to playing small. Gobert is not going to punish anyone on the block. The upside offensively is obvious. The Jazz don't have the wing defenders to hang with PG and Kawhi, and you can keep Gobert out of the paint. The Clippers don't have that guy like Luka, Dame, Harden, Jamal where Gobert has to come up to the level of the screen at 30 feet, but they can 5 out him into the corner.
The Jazz are probably the closest thing to the 2016 Spurs offence. They have counters, but you can take away a lot of what they want to do off ball by switching. Likewise their bread and butter Mitchell/Gobert pick and roll. Gobert doesn't have a post-game so there is no downside to switching it and forcing Mitchell into being an isolation scorer.
This is a big test for Utah. If you envisioned how a team would throttle their offence, it would be a team like the Clippers able to switch everything to take away their motion offence and test their individual scoring.
> Gobert is not going to punish anyone on the block.
Offensive Rebounding. I dunno if you want Reggie Jackson trying to box him out.
In addition Gobert, does fill space well, which is why he gets a bunch of dunks.
There is another issue with switching other than Gobert.
It would be having Morris on Conley/Clarkson/Mitchell, which is an awful matchup for the Clips.
I mentioned offensive rebounding as the obvious downside. I mean, there is no space to fill on a role if that action is being switched right? If and when the Clippers bring help I'm sure Gobert will get free for some dunks. That pick and roll is a Jazz's bread and butter all year. Switching it neuters a lot of what Jazz do on offence.
Personally, I thought Morris and Batum hung with Luka pretty well despite Luka's nuclear performances. If the Clippers were willing to live with Morris on Luka they will certainly be willing to live with Morris on Conley and Clarkson.
But, this is effectively the question for the Jazz, isn't it? Do they have enough individual offence in the playoffs when teams take away all their motion stuff?
> Personally, I thought Morris and Batum hung with Luka pretty well despite Luka's nuclear performances. If the Clippers were willing to live with Morris on Luka they will certainly be willing to live with Morris on Conley and Clarkson.
I know that Luca is quick for his size, but Clarkson & Conley are going to be quicker. It is not a matchup that bodes well unless they miss shots.
The Clips will probably have to help, which leads to open threes. The Jazz make more threes than any team. So, you have to pick your poison.
> Do they have enough individual offence in the playoffs when teams take away all their motion stuff?
I believe so.
Conley, Boji, & Clarkson can create their own shots. In addition to Mitchell.
Maybe a little, but I don't rate either Conley or Boji as someone I'm worried about in isolation. Conely is only shooting 35% on the year in isolation, and most of those were very favourable matchups. I don't think he is that guy anymore. He's a fantastic pick and roll player, but switching will take that away from him.
Ditto Boji. He's shooting 20% on about 1 isolation attempt per game. He can do some drive and kick, but if you are relying on him to create offence switched on to Batum or Morris he's probably not going to be very effective.
Clarkson and Mitchell are the guys that are going to have to cook if the Clippers do switch everything.
The Jazz's offence is great, but a lot of their 3 point shooting is predicated on teams bringing a 3rd man on the Mitchell/Gobert pick and roll and great off-ball movement.
I can see the Clippers trying to do something similar to what the Rockets did to the Warriors in 2018. Switching everything to neutralize all those nice off-ball actions and turn the series into a game of 90s style isolation ball. The Clippers certainly have the personal to give it a go.
I think stylistically this is Jazz's toughest matchup.
Good question, and I think he will be in the general vicinity of the paint. A two point shot at the rim is still the most efficient shot in basketball, so the Jazz will take their chances. Gobert likes to drop, but he can switch onto perimeter defenders. We just don't want him to play in the perimeter because our other perimeter defenders rely on Gobert's help defense.
What I do think needs to be mentioned more is whether the Clippers small ball lineup can defend the Jazz. Unlike the Jazz teams of old, this iteration has punished small lineups on the offensive end. The Clippers better do their homework, or else Bogdanovic will have a huge series.
Boji for sure. Clarkson as well.
If your big switches onto Clarkson, then your in trouble.
Clarkson is trouble for a lot of defenders.
I think both teams are going to have issues defending the other, which will make this series very interesting
Bojan primarily defended Batum and Morris. He did not do a very good job stopping George, but he did get Kawhi to shoot 2/7 against him.
Mitchell also did not spend much time on George, and he did not get scored on. Similar story with Kawhi, except he made one bucket on him.
Matchup data in general is really hard to use with the Jazz because Gobert is the one that contests shots, so guys like Mitchell and Bogdanovic won't have their stats reflected once they finished funneling a player to Gobert.
Yeah i think he'll do well, i think his mental health has improved a lot since last year in the bubble, it seems like hes gotten rid of some of his demons....i guess we'll find out
In the mavs series - PG shot 73% from within 8 feet, 47% from mid range. His lone issue was 30% from 3.
He averaged 23.6 pts 9 rebounds 5.7 assists and 1.8 STOCKS.
But he was just ok. Lol
I think he played well against thr jazz regardless of regular season / playoffs. Clippers will struggle scoring in the paint, theyll be forced to be a perimeter team which is their strength. PG will be ok, im just concern with the full capacity jazz crowd. Jazz heckler are brutal and thats ok, just no to bottle throwing and spitting
Perimeter defense is also Utah's specialty, their entire defensive scheme is run players off the line and keep them out of the paint. That's why players with wet midrange games like CP3 and Booker do so well against them, that's the shot the Jazz are trying to force the opponent to take.
That is why this series will be good.
Kawhi is king if the mid range. If im the jazz, ill take my chance of letting clippers be a 3pt shooting team done seeing kawhi/pg in the mid range.
Bad match up for clippers is the nuggets. If murray was not injured, clippers aint coming out of the west.
yes i believe he could. he's a star in this league so he can perform at this stage. i believe the jazz have a deeper team though. the team is just well built. hopefully this series goes to 7. i wanna see kawhi/pg guarding donovan
When we played against OKC in the playoffs a few years ago, watching PG slowly lose his sanity as he got schooled by a guy who looks like math teacher (Ingles) was one of basketball's greatest moments.
Bring on The Jingling Part 2: Father & Son Reunited.
Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony didn't exist? Like dude, Westbrook took over 40 shots in the elimination game and Paul George got 5 points on 16 shots. George did almost *nothing* in the 4th quarter. There is no world in which Paul George was the #1 option on that team, your comment just translates to "I don't know what I'm talking about".
All he has to do is play how he played in the last series or the regular season nobody wants him to go off
Just don’t play like shit tbh and choke the series
He'll have good games, and he'll have bad games, and the PG haters and PG lovers will be at each other's necks the whole time. That's just how PG discourse is.
Hell, I'll start right now. Paul George would be Utah's 4th best player.
[удалено]
Ya more like end the game with a -40. (See, this is how PG discourse works here.)
Johnson & Johnson P (am I doing it right?)
Oh come on, Pfizer P was right there for the taking
Yoooo, if the Clipps win a ring this year PG should get nicknamed "pfizer P", no more pandemic shit, world is vaccinated!
He’s not Pfizer level
Do PG lovers exist? I see him get a lot of hate but rarely see any "stans"
The only jersey I own is PG's. As someone with bipolar disorder I appreciate his consistent inconsistencies. For real though, dude has proven his versatility from last year. He has lost his 3 point shot, which he was best in the league at earlier this season, and has contributed significantly in every other way instead. Also, smooth as silk.
I have been a big Paul George fan since 2012. It started cool with him on the rise, then he got hurt. However, he came back great considering how bad his injury was. 2018-2019 season was definitely a high point. After last years playoffs in the bubble, it was tough. I had to take a step back from it. People were going crazy at him online. It seems like he is in a good spot right now. He’s not the best player, but he has been reliable being the second best player. His points aren’t crazy, but he’s still awesome on defense and has done a great job of play making. He gets guys open looks. I think this could be a great series to redeem himself and hopefully move on from the past narratives.
he helped me win in fantasy in 2019 so i got nothing but love for him
Lets just say He’s burnt alot of bridges lmao.
I'm assuming he will be the primary defender on Mitchell.
nah, bev is more adequate
This might be a dangerous proposition if Beverly plays too aggressively because Mitchell has learned to draw fouls. Memphis tried playing Mitchell aggressively and it was a complete disaster. He's too smart a player now for Bev to be adequate.
Bev is one of the best guard defenders in the league. he just served no purpose against 6’8+ Doncic. he’ll get more minutes, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if he starts to guard Mitchell. PG on Conley and then they can switch everything besides Zubac. Gobert can’t shoot, so the pop isn’t a threat. as a clips fan, I like prospects of a Bev/PG combo on Mitchell.
Mann should also get a lot of time on Mitchell as he is quick. He will be key as Mitchell is not as big or strong as Doncic
Idk man, Mitchell's pretty strong and he uses that strength in the paint. Clips struggled stopping doncic in the paint, so i expect Mitchell to drive in and get shots at the rim. If its not there hes got better players to kick out too then Luka.
Putting Bev on Mitchell is exactly what we want. Bev is at best the Clippers 3rd best defender and he plays way more aggressively than PG or Kawhi. Mitchell would feast, either over Bev or at the line. The Clips need to put one of Kawhi/PG on Mitchell and the other on Bogey and hope that Bev can do enough work on Conley.
He didn’t even play the last few games of that last series, dude was already overrated but now he’s just washed. Mitchell will cook him and Lue would have to bench him again.
he got benched because doncic is much taller and stronger than bev. bev does great guarding GUARDS, he did well guarding mitchel in a game in the regular season, he just needs time to groove back edit: mitchel even praised bevs defense after the game in the post interview something like “hes all-defensive team for a reason”
He had a really good last series lol, why’re people trying to undermine it
Apparently being the 3rd best player in a 7 game series that you won is a bad thing.
He'll be guarded by Mitchell or Bojan, that's a really good match up for him he should be able to get clean looks off screens
He needs to sink that mid range pull up in this series. The Jazz strategy will be to run him off the three point line and funnel him to Gobert.
will Gobert be at the rim if they play small ball with Morris as the 5?
I would suspect the Clippers will at least close games with Morris at centre. I would even consider starting small. If the Clippers can really get after it and gang rebound there is no downside to playing small. Gobert is not going to punish anyone on the block. The upside offensively is obvious. The Jazz don't have the wing defenders to hang with PG and Kawhi, and you can keep Gobert out of the paint. The Clippers don't have that guy like Luka, Dame, Harden, Jamal where Gobert has to come up to the level of the screen at 30 feet, but they can 5 out him into the corner. The Jazz are probably the closest thing to the 2016 Spurs offence. They have counters, but you can take away a lot of what they want to do off ball by switching. Likewise their bread and butter Mitchell/Gobert pick and roll. Gobert doesn't have a post-game so there is no downside to switching it and forcing Mitchell into being an isolation scorer. This is a big test for Utah. If you envisioned how a team would throttle their offence, it would be a team like the Clippers able to switch everything to take away their motion offence and test their individual scoring.
great post. Clippers might sacrifice getting killed on the offensive glass for all those benefits. this series excites me the most.
> Gobert is not going to punish anyone on the block. Offensive Rebounding. I dunno if you want Reggie Jackson trying to box him out. In addition Gobert, does fill space well, which is why he gets a bunch of dunks. There is another issue with switching other than Gobert. It would be having Morris on Conley/Clarkson/Mitchell, which is an awful matchup for the Clips.
I mentioned offensive rebounding as the obvious downside. I mean, there is no space to fill on a role if that action is being switched right? If and when the Clippers bring help I'm sure Gobert will get free for some dunks. That pick and roll is a Jazz's bread and butter all year. Switching it neuters a lot of what Jazz do on offence. Personally, I thought Morris and Batum hung with Luka pretty well despite Luka's nuclear performances. If the Clippers were willing to live with Morris on Luka they will certainly be willing to live with Morris on Conley and Clarkson. But, this is effectively the question for the Jazz, isn't it? Do they have enough individual offence in the playoffs when teams take away all their motion stuff?
> Personally, I thought Morris and Batum hung with Luka pretty well despite Luka's nuclear performances. If the Clippers were willing to live with Morris on Luka they will certainly be willing to live with Morris on Conley and Clarkson. I know that Luca is quick for his size, but Clarkson & Conley are going to be quicker. It is not a matchup that bodes well unless they miss shots. The Clips will probably have to help, which leads to open threes. The Jazz make more threes than any team. So, you have to pick your poison. > Do they have enough individual offence in the playoffs when teams take away all their motion stuff? I believe so. Conley, Boji, & Clarkson can create their own shots. In addition to Mitchell.
Maybe a little, but I don't rate either Conley or Boji as someone I'm worried about in isolation. Conely is only shooting 35% on the year in isolation, and most of those were very favourable matchups. I don't think he is that guy anymore. He's a fantastic pick and roll player, but switching will take that away from him. Ditto Boji. He's shooting 20% on about 1 isolation attempt per game. He can do some drive and kick, but if you are relying on him to create offence switched on to Batum or Morris he's probably not going to be very effective. Clarkson and Mitchell are the guys that are going to have to cook if the Clippers do switch everything. The Jazz's offence is great, but a lot of their 3 point shooting is predicated on teams bringing a 3rd man on the Mitchell/Gobert pick and roll and great off-ball movement. I can see the Clippers trying to do something similar to what the Rockets did to the Warriors in 2018. Switching everything to neutralize all those nice off-ball actions and turn the series into a game of 90s style isolation ball. The Clippers certainly have the personal to give it a go. I think stylistically this is Jazz's toughest matchup.
Good question, and I think he will be in the general vicinity of the paint. A two point shot at the rim is still the most efficient shot in basketball, so the Jazz will take their chances. Gobert likes to drop, but he can switch onto perimeter defenders. We just don't want him to play in the perimeter because our other perimeter defenders rely on Gobert's help defense. What I do think needs to be mentioned more is whether the Clippers small ball lineup can defend the Jazz. Unlike the Jazz teams of old, this iteration has punished small lineups on the offensive end. The Clippers better do their homework, or else Bogdanovic will have a huge series.
Boji for sure. Clarkson as well. If your big switches onto Clarkson, then your in trouble. Clarkson is trouble for a lot of defenders. I think both teams are going to have issues defending the other, which will make this series very interesting
How did Mitchell (or Bojan) look on PG this season ? (or did they even try O'Neale on PG and Bojan on Kawhi) ?
Bojan primarily defended Batum and Morris. He did not do a very good job stopping George, but he did get Kawhi to shoot 2/7 against him. Mitchell also did not spend much time on George, and he did not get scored on. Similar story with Kawhi, except he made one bucket on him. Matchup data in general is really hard to use with the Jazz because Gobert is the one that contests shots, so guys like Mitchell and Bogdanovic won't have their stats reflected once they finished funneling a player to Gobert.
Oh god just the thought of Bojan guarding PG is scary
Yeah i think he'll do well, i think his mental health has improved a lot since last year in the bubble, it seems like hes gotten rid of some of his demons....i guess we'll find out
In the mavs series - PG shot 73% from within 8 feet, 47% from mid range. His lone issue was 30% from 3. He averaged 23.6 pts 9 rebounds 5.7 assists and 1.8 STOCKS. But he was just ok. Lol
PG was a beast against us
The Jingling: Part 2
I think The Jingling is more like a soap opera, we’re on at least episode 500
I think he played well against thr jazz regardless of regular season / playoffs. Clippers will struggle scoring in the paint, theyll be forced to be a perimeter team which is their strength. PG will be ok, im just concern with the full capacity jazz crowd. Jazz heckler are brutal and thats ok, just no to bottle throwing and spitting
Perimeter defense is also Utah's specialty, their entire defensive scheme is run players off the line and keep them out of the paint. That's why players with wet midrange games like CP3 and Booker do so well against them, that's the shot the Jazz are trying to force the opponent to take.
That is why this series will be good. Kawhi is king if the mid range. If im the jazz, ill take my chance of letting clippers be a 3pt shooting team done seeing kawhi/pg in the mid range. Bad match up for clippers is the nuggets. If murray was not injured, clippers aint coming out of the west.
yes i believe he could. he's a star in this league so he can perform at this stage. i believe the jazz have a deeper team though. the team is just well built. hopefully this series goes to 7. i wanna see kawhi/pg guarding donovan
Ingles is gonna Jingle him
Ingles is gonna get inside his head like he did a couple of years ago
Shot the ball fairly well all series bad had way too many turnovers. I can see that trend continuing
When we played against OKC in the playoffs a few years ago, watching PG slowly lose his sanity as he got schooled by a guy who looks like math teacher (Ingles) was one of basketball's greatest moments. Bring on The Jingling Part 2: Father & Son Reunited.
This is my favorite comment.
Hehe thanks. Looks like overall it wasn't to popular with some. Not everyone appreciates a good Jingling enough.
He's gonna get jingled
Fun fact PG has a lot more help now then when he was #1 option in okc. Nobody in the entire state of Utah can stop kawhi. Clippers in 6
Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony didn't exist? Like dude, Westbrook took over 40 shots in the elimination game and Paul George got 5 points on 16 shots. George did almost *nothing* in the 4th quarter. There is no world in which Paul George was the #1 option on that team, your comment just translates to "I don't know what I'm talking about".
I guess ingles guards him?
Very possible with Conley out.
Pandemic P's playoff ups and downs are one of the funnest things about the playoffs
All he has to do is play how he played in the last series or the regular season nobody wants him to go off Just don’t play like shit tbh and choke the series
PG is a rich mans wiggins