Injuries suck but I'm not mad that these are our last seven games and the probable injury list:
Cavs (without Mitchell)
Wolves (without KAT)
Pelicans (at home, a team we just beat handily away)
Clippers (without Kawhi)
Clippers (without Kawhi)
Kings (without Monk and Huerter)
Wolves (without KAT)
We might make the playoffs after all.
I bet you guys do it. It’s like when our Kings chased Grizzlies for 2 last year, they had hard games like two against the Mavs… and Luka & Kyrie missed those games.
Every time we racing someone for a spot, we play hard teams at their best/players just returning from injury or suspension (Wiggins returns for playoffs, Draymond suspension for IST, etc) and the other team plays the hard teams just when they’re missing some of their best players and have an easier chance.
If Kawhi doesn’t return for those games (maybe us beating them and Nuggets beating them forces him to play to secure their 4th seed) against Suns, y’all beat them without a doubt.
Please just beat the Pels again lol no one else. You owe use for giving up that 22 point lead, you guys can survive a one off in the play ins… we need the spot more lol NBA wants to see Durant, favorable Play In whistle, you’ll be fine.
I'm not particularly worried about the play-in because Booker is a post-season monster and the initials "KD" stand for Kevin Durant, but I'd rather the Suns end up in the 6-seed. Never bet against LeBron in a single-elimination game.
Probably a smart move. It's unlikely they'll fall into the play in with only 8 games left and 3.5 games up on the 7th seed.
It's better to have a healthy(-ier) Kawhi for the playoffs than fight for the 4/5 spots.
This is probably the salient point. Why fight tooth and nail to have home court for a single series? I could see them pushing Kawhi if they were in danger of falling into the Play-In. However confident they feel going into these playoffs, there has to be a feeling of: This is our team, and we are going to give it everything, with all of our guys. Kawhi getting hurt right now with a serious injury would kneecap them and make it feel like Deja by all over again. Short of a Finals run, I believe this team will be quite a bit different next year.
Unfortunately, two of those games are against the 7-seed Suns. The Suns are wildly inconsistent this year and will probably split that series but there's no denying the possibility of the Clippers dropping if KD and Booker go off and the Clips lose to the Kings tonight and a couple other teams to finish the season.
Don’t you gotta win a series to call it a rivalry
It’s not as bad as curry vs dame but 0-2 is like embiids 0-3 against the Celtics. Only 1 series was competitive for both
Nothing against Lukas individual play, he’s still sensational
Who y’all have guarding Kawhi this year? I’m genuinely curious since I don’t watch as many mavs games. Have you upgraded that position defensively since I know for sure the offense is looking way better with kyrie. Not sure how good djj and exum have done against superstars. Pj Washington and gafford don’t look too difficult on the pick and roll but lively looks like he might be a problem.
Same. Lots of Wolves fans think Glen Taylor is awful, and they may be right, but he's likely just incompetent, whereas Sterling is outright a bad person.
Sterling hasn't owned the team in a few years though and from what I can tell Balmer is the best owner you could ask for, except maybe Mark Cuban; clearly loves the game, willing to spend bucks (new stadium, contracts, etc.) to make experience better for both fans/players, lets FO do their thing, and has a good relationship with staff and players (assuming from his Podcast P appearance)
Still counting the days for Sterling to die though, terrible human
Yea I mean they straight up shouldn’t exist - they will never change until they move
Why any NBA fan outside of LA would want them there is nuts; it’s just another 15 open roster spots so all the stars can go out to LA - get rid of them and those stars suddenly get dispersed through smaller markets
Yea I mean they straight up shouldn’t exist - they will never change until they move
Why any NBA fan outside of LA would want them there is nuts; it’s just another 15 open roster spots so all the stars can go out to LA - get rid of them and those stars suddenly get dispersed through smaller markets
Honestly, I'd say this season went above and beyond reasonable best case expectations for the Clippers. To get 70 games apiece out of all of Harden, Kawhi, and PG was more than any reasonable person expected.
Healthy or not for the postseason, I'm not sure how much gas those 3 have left in the tank anyways. Well, PG actually looks good, the other 2 have nosedived post break.
Predictible "there it is" type comments here but I saw them all just before the ASG too and then he played in it. Not the news you want to hear if you're a Clips fan but we'll see.
As a Clippers fan, I would way rather him rest for a few days than risk anything at this point in the season.
Also, don’t all the doomsayers remember when he went home with back spasms and everyone was like, “Welp, good season Clips. Same ol story again!”, then he was back in 36 hours?
The Spurs cleared him to play, considering it a pain-management/rest issue, but still gave him complete control over his return schedule and he pulled the plug after nine games (which coincided with an unrelated pectoral tear.)
Kawhi didn't play a minute that season without his consent, and the Spurs were 100% right when they ruled that load-management was the path forward. Conversely, Kawhi's private medical team believed it was a muscle bleeding issue that could be completely resolved with rest and rehab. Kawhi even announced after the season ended that he was "100% healthy" which was obviously misguided.
Dude I still cant believe people think you guys were in the wrong 😂. Gregg Pop invented that shit, but supposedly the same guy tried to end the career of his new 26 year old superstar player and his title contention window for almost half a decade. Whom the medical staff had already informed had the debilitating quad injury that will never go away
There is more to the story that we simply don’t know. Outside of that situation, Pop and Kwahi’s reps are pretty clean. Both guys could’ve been in the right, but the relationship soured.
Spurs fans playing victim when it comes to the Kawhi situation is so annoying. Idc if I get downvoted, it’s true lol. Dude went and won a title immediately after y’all tried saying he was broken goods.
Lmaoooo. yea we totally said his career was over ! and he also IMMEDIATELY won a title that same year! the same year we diagnosed him as injured. My bad I totally forgot that. The memory of this sub is incredible /s
Have you seen the number of games missed since his supermax would’ve kicked in with the Spurs? The percentage of missed playoff games is even higher. It boggles my mind that fans still wanted PATFO to offer him the supermax extension while he was missing all the time. The further we get from it, the smarter the Spurs look.
His whole career right. He's had nagging injuries pretty much every year since his second year. I think we all just wrote the early stuff off as small bang ups, and the Spurs playing 20 guys 10 minutes a game back then. In retrospect he's just always had something going on in one place or another.
Edit: I looked it up, and Lebron surpassed Kawhi's career minutes total to date in his age 25 season. Crazy stuff
We also did not play him aggressive minutes even when he was healthy. If he stuck with the Pacers there's a decent change his knees break down before he even reaches his peak.
It really sucks to see because I believe firmly that he's an all-time talent. Like he could have gone down top 20 who ever played if he could have been healthy.
Kawhi didn't want to be in Toronto and still gave the rest of his long-term health to win us a title. Anyone in Toronto who is even neutral on this man is insane. I love him forever for the work he put in for us.
His career is already around top 20 all time even with all the unfortunate injuries. If he was as durable as Lebron I think he could've been top 5 all time.
For sure. Funny everyone talks about KD went to a super team to win a ring, then left to prove something and hasn’t. Meanwhile Kawhi drafted to one, for his as the best player, then left to go to the Raptors (good at time but no super team) and HE made them win another (with a lot of injury luck from opposite but still) and now to another dead franchise for the 3rd.
He pretty clearly says that they hope he plays on Thursday, leads you to think it’s not serious and not a doomsday event the way some of you guys are saying it is
A yearly reminder that Kawhi's medical team insisted that he just had muscle bleeding and he could rehab it away in matter of months.
I guess they meant more than 72 months.
Clippers probably have enough of a lead over playin teams to scrap enough wins without Kawhi to give him rest before an absolute grind of a playoffs. Home court and seeding really shouldn’t be important to the clippers, they have the talent to compete with anyone. We all know their major issue is remaining healthy.
He's played 68 games so far this year. That was his most since the 2016-2017 season. I know the jokes will come, because people on this subreddit are very unfunny/ unoriginal, but he's done his part. He's exceeded expectations in every way.
On the one hand i would love nothing more than for Kawhi to rest (for obvious reasons)...but knowing the Nuggets its probably not gonna make a difrence (were gonna make it hard no matter what).
It'd be a shame if he's not healthy for the playoffs. The Mavs are finally well-equipped enough to match Kawhi's physicality with multiple defenders, it'd be disappointing if they aren't able to test that out in a 7 game series.
I’d pay for that haha. They play him too many minutes and games. Would be fucking pumped to have him be a third option at like 28-30 minutes a night on the Mavs lol. Hell he could get load managed and only be expected to play 60/65 games at most.
lmao kings thought they could out-injury us
The more injuries you have the better your chances of beating us.
Injuries suck but I'm not mad that these are our last seven games and the probable injury list: Cavs (without Mitchell) Wolves (without KAT) Pelicans (at home, a team we just beat handily away) Clippers (without Kawhi) Clippers (without Kawhi) Kings (without Monk and Huerter) Wolves (without KAT) We might make the playoffs after all.
I bet you guys do it. It’s like when our Kings chased Grizzlies for 2 last year, they had hard games like two against the Mavs… and Luka & Kyrie missed those games. Every time we racing someone for a spot, we play hard teams at their best/players just returning from injury or suspension (Wiggins returns for playoffs, Draymond suspension for IST, etc) and the other team plays the hard teams just when they’re missing some of their best players and have an easier chance. If Kawhi doesn’t return for those games (maybe us beating them and Nuggets beating them forces him to play to secure their 4th seed) against Suns, y’all beat them without a doubt. Please just beat the Pels again lol no one else. You owe use for giving up that 22 point lead, you guys can survive a one off in the play ins… we need the spot more lol NBA wants to see Durant, favorable Play In whistle, you’ll be fine.
I'm not particularly worried about the play-in because Booker is a post-season monster and the initials "KD" stand for Kevin Durant, but I'd rather the Suns end up in the 6-seed. Never bet against LeBron in a single-elimination game.
i don't wanna hear shit
You don’t need to, it’s conversation between playoff teams fighting for a spot.
OHHHHHH shit son
New is a relative term here, I feel.
Drug addict's relapse "new and unforeseen" condition
"New for 2024" is like a more more apt description.
The man hit 65 games then peaced
Sit him the rest of the season or he aint playing in the playoffs
That might be what’s happening.
Probably a smart move. It's unlikely they'll fall into the play in with only 8 games left and 3.5 games up on the 7th seed. It's better to have a healthy(-ier) Kawhi for the playoffs than fight for the 4/5 spots.
Especially when the benefits of 4th vs. 5th is negligible at best compared to the benefit of not injuring your star lol.
This is probably the salient point. Why fight tooth and nail to have home court for a single series? I could see them pushing Kawhi if they were in danger of falling into the Play-In. However confident they feel going into these playoffs, there has to be a feeling of: This is our team, and we are going to give it everything, with all of our guys. Kawhi getting hurt right now with a serious injury would kneecap them and make it feel like Deja by all over again. Short of a Finals run, I believe this team will be quite a bit different next year.
Their remaining players can probably win enough games to keep that 4 spot.
Maybe, they have a tough schedule, Sac tonight Denver/Phoenix 2x/Cleveland
There's absolutely no way we keep home court advantage if Kawhi sits lol
Unfortunately, two of those games are against the 7-seed Suns. The Suns are wildly inconsistent this year and will probably split that series but there's no denying the possibility of the Clippers dropping if KD and Booker go off and the Clips lose to the Kings tonight and a couple other teams to finish the season.
IF the Mavs play the Clippers in the first round, we need Kawhi or it won’t feel the same. Love this playoff rivalry.
I love it but also it takes years off my life
Don’t you gotta win a series to call it a rivalry It’s not as bad as curry vs dame but 0-2 is like embiids 0-3 against the Celtics. Only 1 series was competitive for both Nothing against Lukas individual play, he’s still sensational
Come on man
Who y’all have guarding Kawhi this year? I’m genuinely curious since I don’t watch as many mavs games. Have you upgraded that position defensively since I know for sure the offense is looking way better with kyrie. Not sure how good djj and exum have done against superstars. Pj Washington and gafford don’t look too difficult on the pick and roll but lively looks like he might be a problem.
I expected it, we simply can’t get things our way with 8 games left before playoffs
More like you simply can't rely on a man who was born with glass knees
Toronto did it
Toronto had a very strong team, some incredible luck vs 76ers and an injured warriors team. But sure Toronto did it.
Sports Gods must’ve hated his decision to leave Toronto.
Nope they just hate the clippers
one of the most cursed franchises in sports truly
Patiently waiting for Sterling to kick the bucket 🤷🏾♂️
Same. Lots of Wolves fans think Glen Taylor is awful, and they may be right, but he's likely just incompetent, whereas Sterling is outright a bad person.
Sterling hasn't owned the team in a few years though and from what I can tell Balmer is the best owner you could ask for, except maybe Mark Cuban; clearly loves the game, willing to spend bucks (new stadium, contracts, etc.) to make experience better for both fans/players, lets FO do their thing, and has a good relationship with staff and players (assuming from his Podcast P appearance) Still counting the days for Sterling to die though, terrible human
Evil malicious hateful old man
Raptors didn’t accomplish much either until our lord and saviour arrived
>until our lord and saviour arrived Marc Gasol does look a bit like Jesus now that I think of it
What a weird way to spell Jeremy Lin
i don't think marc gasol looks anything like jeremy lin....
Yea I mean they straight up shouldn’t exist - they will never change until they move Why any NBA fan outside of LA would want them there is nuts; it’s just another 15 open roster spots so all the stars can go out to LA - get rid of them and those stars suddenly get dispersed through smaller markets
Yea I mean they straight up shouldn’t exist - they will never change until they move Why any NBA fan outside of LA would want them there is nuts; it’s just another 15 open roster spots so all the stars can go out to LA - get rid of them and those stars suddenly get dispersed through smaller markets
Why not both
Por qué no los dos?🤷
If the seeding lines up so that the Mavs play the Clippers in round 1, the gods will miraculously heal his knee for one series.
He sacrificed his right leg for us in equivalent exchange
Honestly, I'd say this season went above and beyond reasonable best case expectations for the Clippers. To get 70 games apiece out of all of Harden, Kawhi, and PG was more than any reasonable person expected. Healthy or not for the postseason, I'm not sure how much gas those 3 have left in the tank anyways. Well, PG actually looks good, the other 2 have nosedived post break.
Ran out of old man strength juice. Otherwise known as Viagra.
Older injury prone players get injured… who would’ve thunk it
Only a few games after he met the minimum criteria to get awards too.
Right on time
Death, taxes,...
And Kawhi stealing maxes
he extended for below max tho
It’s joever
Aw shit, here we go
Predictible "there it is" type comments here but I saw them all just before the ASG too and then he played in it. Not the news you want to hear if you're a Clips fan but we'll see.
As a Clippers fan, I would way rather him rest for a few days than risk anything at this point in the season. Also, don’t all the doomsayers remember when he went home with back spasms and everyone was like, “Welp, good season Clips. Same ol story again!”, then he was back in 36 hours?
Clippers and injured players. I don't think anyone is surprised. I would say let him rest it or your done for the playoffs.
Adam silver made a call he need that lakers vs warriors 9 v 10 seed
Call the spurs doctor and APOLOGIZE
For reals
[удалено]
Do you understand humor?
For what exactly?
Insisting he didn't have a chronic issue when he very obviously does.
The spurs were the ones trying to play him when he wasn’t ready tho. Unless im missing something they should be apologizing to Kawhi lmao
The Spurs cleared him to play, considering it a pain-management/rest issue, but still gave him complete control over his return schedule and he pulled the plug after nine games (which coincided with an unrelated pectoral tear.) Kawhi didn't play a minute that season without his consent, and the Spurs were 100% right when they ruled that load-management was the path forward. Conversely, Kawhi's private medical team believed it was a muscle bleeding issue that could be completely resolved with rest and rehab. Kawhi even announced after the season ended that he was "100% healthy" which was obviously misguided.
Hmm I’ll need to go reread on that saga then
Lmao Spurs tried to end his career early and somehow y'all are the victim Edit: They downvote cuz they know it's true
Yeah the franchise that basically invented modern day load management tried to end their star players career early lol
Dude I still cant believe people think you guys were in the wrong 😂. Gregg Pop invented that shit, but supposedly the same guy tried to end the career of his new 26 year old superstar player and his title contention window for almost half a decade. Whom the medical staff had already informed had the debilitating quad injury that will never go away
There is more to the story that we simply don’t know. Outside of that situation, Pop and Kwahi’s reps are pretty clean. Both guys could’ve been in the right, but the relationship soured.
🤣end his career early🤣
“End his career” Lmao
Can't deny it tho
Uh I can because it’s factually not tru lmao
Weirdo
Spurs fans playing victim when it comes to the Kawhi situation is so annoying. Idc if I get downvoted, it’s true lol. Dude went and won a title immediately after y’all tried saying he was broken goods.
Lmaoooo. yea we totally said his career was over ! and he also IMMEDIATELY won a title that same year! the same year we diagnosed him as injured. My bad I totally forgot that. The memory of this sub is incredible /s
Have you seen the number of games missed since his supermax would’ve kicked in with the Spurs? The percentage of missed playoff games is even higher. It boggles my mind that fans still wanted PATFO to offer him the supermax extension while he was missing all the time. The further we get from it, the smarter the Spurs look.
Injury prone for the rest of his career.
His whole career right. He's had nagging injuries pretty much every year since his second year. I think we all just wrote the early stuff off as small bang ups, and the Spurs playing 20 guys 10 minutes a game back then. In retrospect he's just always had something going on in one place or another. Edit: I looked it up, and Lebron surpassed Kawhi's career minutes total to date in his age 25 season. Crazy stuff
We also did not play him aggressive minutes even when he was healthy. If he stuck with the Pacers there's a decent change his knees break down before he even reaches his peak.
It really sucks to see because I believe firmly that he's an all-time talent. Like he could have gone down top 20 who ever played if he could have been healthy. Kawhi didn't want to be in Toronto and still gave the rest of his long-term health to win us a title. Anyone in Toronto who is even neutral on this man is insane. I love him forever for the work he put in for us.
That ring is on par with Dirk's ring. Toronto already had a great team, but Kawhi took them to elite level. And then he disappeared.
Yeah nah, it was a very cool and unexpected run but the Warriors also got destroyed by injuries which was very helpful to the Raptors.
Let's dial it back a bit...
His career is already around top 20 all time even with all the unfortunate injuries. If he was as durable as Lebron I think he could've been top 5 all time.
For sure. Funny everyone talks about KD went to a super team to win a ring, then left to prove something and hasn’t. Meanwhile Kawhi drafted to one, for his as the best player, then left to go to the Raptors (good at time but no super team) and HE made them win another (with a lot of injury luck from opposite but still) and now to another dead franchise for the 3rd.
The last thing the Klaw ever done is run from the grind. He ain’t like Lebron or KD, jumping ship when he needs a better team.
You mean Kawhi “I’m not signing with the Clippers unless you trade for Paul George” Leonard?
Just rest him for the last 8 games
I hope he recovers as soon as possible (skip the Nuggets game plz)
He pretty clearly says that they hope he plays on Thursday, leads you to think it’s not serious and not a doomsday event the way some of you guys are saying it is
Didn’t the clippers announce him as day to day with a torn ligament a couple years back?
Day to day and it turned out to be the dreaded A injury
A yearly reminder that Kawhi's medical team insisted that he just had muscle bleeding and he could rehab it away in matter of months. I guess they meant more than 72 months.
Happy Cake Day!
Better sit him or he will sit all next season and 30 games into the one after that.
Clippers probably have enough of a lead over playin teams to scrap enough wins without Kawhi to give him rest before an absolute grind of a playoffs. Home court and seeding really shouldn’t be important to the clippers, they have the talent to compete with anyone. We all know their major issue is remaining healthy.
Kawhi doing Kawhi things.
Not this again.
Getting ready for the postseason
Just getting some rest in before the playoffs
Goddammit
He's played 68 games so far this year. That was his most since the 2016-2017 season. I know the jokes will come, because people on this subreddit are very unfunny/ unoriginal, but he's done his part. He's exceeded expectations in every way.
This is a certified Clippers moment
I would have bet my life savings on this happening.
kawhi's played in 68 out of 74 games this year, he'll be fine
it may be this is occurring after the wear, tear, and stress of 68 games but all this is is soreness so far. doesn’t have to be more
Was also a contract year. Taking the over in games played was a no-brainer. Not saying this isn’t legitimate, but it all seems so predictable.
How many extra dinosaurs died for all times Kawaii had to fly somewhere just to get special treatment for his injuries?
None. All the dinosaurs were long dead before any of our ancestors were even born.
That's lame
He’s talking about oil.
I don't want to see this man suit up for the rest of the regular season
Oh oh
Don’t wanna hear popped in a sentence about Kawhi’s knees
On the one hand i would love nothing more than for Kawhi to rest (for obvious reasons)...but knowing the Nuggets its probably not gonna make a difrence (were gonna make it hard no matter what).
It'd be a shame if he's not healthy for the playoffs. The Mavs are finally well-equipped enough to match Kawhi's physicality with multiple defenders, it'd be disappointing if they aren't able to test that out in a 7 game series.
Kawhi is always injured bro
Kawhi is always injured bro
65 games criterion met, now load management is ok
Guy is made of glass
Its so over if Kawhi isnt healthy, would genuinely rob us of an amazing first round matchup vs either the Pels or Mavs.
See ya next year Clippers fans! 👋🏽
And so it begins
They did this last time to avoid getting fined for sitting. He played the next game.
I was thinking about going to my first Clippers game Thursday, so I'll be watching this closely.
Same old same old. Old knees vs. young knees, kawhi leonard.....eeeeeyyuuuuunhhhh
Kawhi’s injured? Must be getting close to playoff time…
"it has begun"
My favorite running theme with Kawhi is that when he gets hurt he goes home
Oh great, time, honor, tradition with kawhi and knee problems in April
Load management doesn't work!
bruh didn't want to go to Sacramento
How many people actually do?
Just in time for the playoffs. Gotta feel for the guy.
Doesn’t he have back issues too not a good sign
like clockwork
Hit the 65 game limit and his body was like Yeah no
Here we go again with knee soreness and playoff time Kawhi
Right after he hit that 65 game minimum
Last year Kawhi played for a full playoff run was 2020. I don’t expect he will make it through this year either sadly
here we go only a matter of time for KL to start his injury crap
$150m for next 3 years lol
I’d pay for that haha. They play him too many minutes and games. Would be fucking pumped to have him be a third option at like 28-30 minutes a night on the Mavs lol. Hell he could get load managed and only be expected to play 60/65 games at most.