Kah Why Load Management Continues - will sit out game 4

They want him super fresh for game 5 

packersbackers, do you expect the Clippers to fight just as hard in Game 4 as they did in Game 3? Or is not having Kawhi Leonard around for a second straight game in the middle of a series too much of a psychological blow? 

Clippers had that game , Powell had his career game , Westbrook had 28, wholenteam stepped up n made shots and still lost.  Ur right the mindset of clippers will be like come on kawai we need you.  

I dont see Powell having another career game . Bones played real good. But he aint doing thst again. Mann hasn't showed up yet cause Lue  doesn't even play him. He will bebthe x factor in Sunday. But suns got this .  Id just parlay the ml w something else for the safer bet.

@MrBator

The Clippers are who we thought they are,,,and we let em off the hook 

This franchise is the definition of ineptitude and ranks up there with the Washington Generals as professional sidekicks within their industry.

If Baumer the owner had any testicular fortitude, he would be wise to consider being a trailblazer and sue Leonard for breech of contract, and take the NBA head on regarding the insanity of what load management has become...I have very little doubt the other owners would have his back in this theoretical scenario.

The precedent set here by Kawhi's team to have him not play in game 3 is worthy of a lifetime ban in the sport as is goes against everything athletes, coaches, trainers, executives, etc stand for,,,which is making the playoffs to have a chance at a title run. 

I can't even imagine what the other guys on the team must be saying to each other privately about this traitor.

They played their hearts out in game 3 out of spite towards his load management bs,,,whatever spirit and fight they had in them was left on the court in game 3,,,I fully expect them to lose by DD in the next two games...partly due to them just knowing psychologically that this entire thing is bs, but also Phoenix sees the opportunity for two quick wins to rest and prepare for the next round.

In the end,,,I know your hatred for the Suns, however what a gift wrapped present for them to have drawn the Clippers in rd 1 only to have this bizarre scenario play out with Leonard pulling a "Lamar Jackson" and choosing to abandon the team for his own personal reasons in the most crucial time of the year.

I would look to cut Leonard immediately after they lose this series and set the bar and put the league on notice that load management is no longer acceptable, and if players don't play a minimum number of games per season, they will not get fully paid, with the exception of true medically confirmed injuries.

If something is not done about this, the league will truly be fucked moving forward due to their ties now with sports betting, and there will be a public revolt among all serious sports cappers, casual bettors, and the league overall will suffer financially when their bottom line is affected due to the public simply not trusting their product anymore.

I've said this for years now, the only real way to bet this league in today's era of player availability uncertainty is to only bet ingame live wagers after 1Q or HT.

Class is dismissed 

@packersbackers

 Terrific thread and info guys. Was going to go Clippers, and maybe they still do something, but it’s now a no play for me

Interesting  

They really didn't. The Suns opened the 3rd quarter by quickly stretching their 3-point halftime lead to 9 points, and they pretty much maintained an 8 to 13 point lead throughout the second half until there was 2 minutes to go. Devin Booker converted a 3-point play with 42 seconds left that gave the Suns a 125-116 lead. The only drama towards the end was over the pointspread, which the Clippers covered thanks to Norman Powell's one-handed 4-point play which immediately followed that 3-point play by Booker.

The Clippers are telling us that Leonard aggravated a knee sprain in Game 1 but played through it in Game 2. After that, though, the "symptons worsened" according to the Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank. So is that true? Well, it doesn't really matter, I guess, if the medical staff and upper management are backing Leonard up on this. Kawhi Leonard really is the poster boy for load management. I'd be so tired of him by now if I was a Clippers fan.

Load management is no longer acceptable to us, the fans and bettors, but to the franchises themselves they're all for it. They've decided that preserving the bodies of the athletes comes first, and it comes at the expense of the regular season won-loss record and it comes at the expense of paying fans. The NBA has decided that those tradeoffs are worth it.

I'm thinking that the Clippers will again come to play today. Why give up when you have a roster full of capable NBA players and the other team is riding three of their starters to exhaustion? Durant, Paul, and Booker played 42, 41, and 45 minutes respectively on Thursday night, and that was on top of playing similarly heavy minutes in the two games in Phoenix. Chris Paul will have nothing today. This game will tip-off just 38 hours after Game 3 ended.

I don't like load management either, but there isn't going to be any public revolt. The apathetic American public will just accept lower standards like they usually do and continue filling pro sports arenas.

What they should do is shorten the season to 60 games but keep the same duration of the season, thus spreading out the games more, eliminating back to backs, and figure out a better home/road split based on average travel distance. 

They would have to increase ticket prices and the end consumer will end up footing the added costs,,,this way the owners will make the same profits.

I predict that is going to be the new narrative once the overall public starts demanding accountability of injury reports by a specific cut off time on game day.

Chris Paul shouldn't be shooting anything up but layups anyways you little coke sniffer.. He needs to concentrate on setting up good plays

Not happening in this lifetime. And us bettors wouldn't like that, either. Most sports bettors want action every day, and a large menu, too, thank you very much, lol.

what are your thoughts on the other games or do you only have Clippers today?

I haven't bet anything yet, but I will post when I do.

The more sensible view, imo, is to look at it from the SUNS vantage point, will the SUNS bring it?

Love him or hate him (mostly the latter), RW always brings it, every game, you have guys with the spotlight opportunity that will bring it with the league and world watching. The problem for the clippers: really soft bigs (fairly useless frontcourt). When opposing teams penetrate and kick, interior forces help and so teams get easier looks on the perimeter. Zu gets beat up, Plumlee is Plumlee, and MM is hardly used by Lue(same for RoCo) for inexplicable reasons. 

But the key here is the SUNS. They traded away their depth and are strictly dual alpha reliant. Yes, the likely scenario is KD/DB scoring at will, but this team is also very soft and lacks chemistry which has been evident for a long time, a situation offset and masked by Durant's amazing offensive abilities. 

Not touching this as I have zero trust in Lue and his 5 guard rotations, but another backdoor is very possible depending on the Sun's mindset. 

Good luck 

I'm not involved in the game.

Is his contact not guaranteed?  So cutting him does what?  I am not a fan of him at all but hard to imagine he isn’t actually hurt here.

@benhogan76

Peace of mind, certainty, team unity, etc,,,removal of a malignant tumor,,,send a message to others moving forward.

I know it'll never happen, but this would be the time to do it if ever

Durant (45), Paul (38), and Booker (41) all played heavy minutes for the 4th straight game and they looked good doing it. I'm impressed by Chris Paul's effort today. He got off to a slow start but then hurt the Clippers over and over and over. His turnaround baseline prayer to make it 109-96 was awesome. What a shot.

Load management does not appear to be working for the Clippers. The two highest paid players on the team that load manage during regular season have not been available for last 3 playoff appearances. Kawhi missed an entire season and other two years lost to injury early in playoff series essentially ending seasons. There is no "science" behind load management. In fact, the Clippers annual fate seems to show it doesn't work. 

I think it became popular with Spurs later runs but people forget Duncan was almost 40 years old when he was getting load managed (no longer in his prime).