Is Clippers Vs. Mavs the Most Important First-Round Series? | The Bill Simmons Podcast 

If I get a cat I’m naming it Paul George now 😂😂😂

I love Kawhi and Luka. Wanted to see them in the west finals. This is brutal for the 1st round

As a Mavs fan no I wouldn't rather just be blown out. We gained a ton of momentum and confidence it doesn't matter how big we go down we can fight back. Great game you can't go down 31 and kidd had a few coaching decisions. Fun game either way.

Even if the mavs lose to the clippers in the first round I still like their chances going forward. If Luka was healthy, I am sure the would have won in 5 against a pretty good Clippers team with a good head coach. The main guys beside Kyrie are 26 and younger. They have the 2025 & 2031 first round picks, young prospects (Omax, Hardy, Green) and an expiring contract (Hardaway) to trade. Everybody is on a reasonable longterm teamfriendly contract. Very tradeable. Mavs are flexible going forward. This season Luka made a step forward closer to MVP, Kyrie played the best basketball in a couple of years, Lively and Gafford are a great center rotation, PJ has already proven he can be a starter. Their bench is good (Exum, Green, Kleber, Lively). Compared to a year ago I really like their trajectory.

Bill, did you forget that Harden just dropped 40 on your Celtics twice in last year's playoff series?

Bill forgot harden had couple great games against Boston? That was last year

Literally all Kidd had to do was put Kleber on the bench and they would've won. Salute to Harden but the dude had like 4 uncontested floaters down the stretch and Dallas didn't adjust at all

I think Clippers have found their formula: Play without Kawhi. Slow a bit down Luka with their defense scheme and whatever happens, happens.

proud of everybody who stayed to see that comeback even if it wasn't consummated in the end

I could see this series being called one of the most important.

Glad Bill shouted out that Mavs crowd. That place is BONKERS in the playoffs.

18:00 absolutely the pressure is on the Clippers after this season. They also have no draft picks for years, and their stars are much older. Dallas’s guys are hella young.

the clippers are getting into luka's head. mann is playing him very very physically and its annoying him. Luka gotta grow up and get in better shape physicaly and mentally

I feel like this is the new Kawhi….sadly, breaks my heart.

James Harden has a true shooting percentage of 73.1 in the 2024 playoffs (1st in NBA among players with 11.1 or more points per game)

Clippers bench depth is not only very respectable but the whole team plays as a unit which allows them to play without Kawaii. Coffey is a good scorer and shooter, Boston Jr is young but crafty and can score in many ways, Powell is downright amazing all around, even guys like Theis and Moon can come in and play important roles

This game should be yet ANOTHER reminder to teams, don't take any nights off in the playoffs. There's so much variance in the modern nba...anyone can beat anyone on a given night if the 3s are falling. Personally not a fan of where we are, but at least in a seven game series you can smooth out the chance factor ...somewhat....

Luka floppin around like he’s Embid lolol guys never gonna play 1 game in the Finals😭😭😭

As a Mavs fan, I rather lost like this than by 20. That take is awful

That Paul George cat comparison is hilarious 😂😂

Well, get ready for Harden to lay eggs the rest of the series now that the stakes are high.

watched this game as a Mavs fan disappointed with a loss after that comeback but damn I loved the fight and I think that transfered to the game five win

Harden did this for 2 games against Boston just last year! Did Bill forget about those lol He hasn't been able to do it late in series but any one game you never know

Luka has been cooking Mann for almost five years now. All of the sudden Mann gain the abilities to stop Luka? Yea please. The man is hurt. He’s not even driving to the hole the same

It's not rocket science guys, your surprised James harden is scoring on kyrie irving luka doncic and pj washington it's straight up disrespectful to think they can guard him iso or in the pnr

You can see how mann defends luka is different vs any defender in the league. Mann defends him horizontally and he knows that luka have a long delay in his shot so mann uses that time to close the horizontal space and he does like a fake swipe. Vs other guys they play luka vertically which gets them out of position.

I didn't watch all of 2018 season but Game 3 is the worst I've ever seen Kawhi. I'm not sure how they are saying 60%. Game 2 was maybe 50-60%. Game 3 was like 15-20% max. :(

Bruh. Imagine if we got a healthy kawhi instead of coffey. Sigh.

The headline is this is Lukas worst playoff series and the Mavs are tied.

If kawhi’s healthy the clippers win in 5

Simmons one of them kyrie haters lmfao

Solo album Rusilo is a gem

Harden literally did this in the playoffs last year it shouldn't be shocking

Harden the worst playoff performer in the top 50 players of all time is hilarious, these guys have zero 0️⃣ clue man 😭😭😭😭😭

PG’s corner 3 with flight 55 draped all over him was the game decider!

Coach Ryen and Ast. coach Bill will have HS students drive and kick to the 3 every play 🤣

great game!

Luka is such a defensive liability. What happened in game 3 was great team defense to protect Luka. Game 4, Luka was playing Olé defense, and no one to contest Harden after he drove by Luka’s statue!

Doesn't Russillo know that Cuban is no longer the Mavericks majority owner? Joaquin Phoenix's twin sold the team for a cool $3.5B, 10 times what he paid for originally. "If you're Cuban and Dallas doesn't get through this...?" Huh? Cuban doesn't make the major decisions anymore.

They want to Mavs to win SOOO badly lmao

I think loss in this series hurt Clippers more. I don't know why Simmons picked Dallas. Dallas can just readjust, Clippers almost have nowhere to go.

22:54 pushing the ball up gets you a lot of unnecessary turnovers.

Now, @Russillo and Bill are saying what about the Series if Kwahi was healthy. The Mavericks yadda

The team as a whole for clippers is a way better team than the mavs even w/o Kawhi!! After game 1 I kept telling everyone they can win series w/o him. The numbers and rankings in all categories all season long are in clippers favor!! This is the reason they got harden bc they knew there was a good chance that Kawhi would get injured. The clippers knew this from the beginning . Why you think the clippers figured it out w/o Kawhi that quick. That 7-2 stretch at the end beating good teams was the proof in the pudding. Think about it for a sec if the clippers are that bad as a team and chokers as people say then why are the clipping on all cylinders!! Mavs are overrated!! They beat no one and SOS was soft!! Just saying!!

Paul George NEEDS to get more aggressive in the 2nd half, great game for him, but he stopped looking for his shot and just started standing in the corner watching the Mavs chip away at the lead

Harden playoffs woes have been greatly exaggerated

I'm waiting for the game where Luka and Kyrie are both hot from the start of the game. It's seems like it's due.

What happened to Simmons idol, Daniel Gafford??

Khawi isn't Bubble Kwahi anymore

That George corner bs 3 will haunt me if we lose this series. That was so stupid

Luka goes 29-10-10 and its shit on. A 30 point triple double ho hum

10:19 you can also ask what happens if Harden takes as many shots as Luka :s all the talk about Harden but we've seen how good he can be...

“Somehow”? He’s been fouled 3 times on that same knee by the Clippers. Then you add Westbrick hitting him in the head after the whistle and jerking him around by his shooting arm on an ejection tech….gee, I wonder why he’s gimpy.

Paul George is so complicated. He has the talent to be an all time great, but he refuses to play like one consistently.

They seemed to forget this is the first time in 4 playoff runs that Luka hasn’t been dominant.

Bill doesn’t like to talk about the Knicks when things go well for them

If Mavs win will ppl still create excuses for Russ, Harden and PG?

Mavs aren’t in same position as suns and clippers. Clippers are all old . Mavs don’t have picks but they have luka, Gafford, lively, green, pj Washington who are all under 25 and have no playoff experience. So they’ll get better. Bill you not watch game 2 luka took the game completely over.

If kawhi was healthy clippers was sweeping

clippers and harden particularly can play well and their choke genes dont get activated because they see that luka is "weak", playing trash. if luka would be luka, they'd choke. but luka isn't

I don't think bill and ryen understand how SMART harden is...his BASKETBALL IQ enables him to remain effective...I don't expect them to understand that, though...they aren't as good at breaking down plays...like a JJ Redick

Dallas bigs need to be bit better, as does Luka’s knee or Clips will move on.

PG3 to the lakers. Make it happen. Thats a championship caliber team, and he gets to stay in LA.

Important except whoever wins gets rolled by OKC.

Bill changes his opinion on kyrie every few business days one day kyries done nothing for years next he expected an amazing performance from him lol

Clippers have home court .

Bottom line is Clippers shot 63% from 3 and they probably won't do that again

Ummm..... Kyrie has played 3 games in a first round matchup against a #4 seed. I don't know know about you, by my standards for being called a "really impactful playoff player" are a little bit higher than that.

the discussion around 18:40 is dumb. no way you feel worse with a young team fighting the clippers and losing than vice versa. no way

as great as kyrie played, man he had alot of costly turnovers

Joel is operating on half a knee and face, and we're spending actual time on Luka being "gimpy" lol. You all are a big joke

Clippers and Mavs seems like the most physical teams in the playoffs. This series should have been WCF. This is 80/90's basketball with the skill of the current NBA.

how is bill gonna claim the mavs are in worse shape if they lose because of assets? has he looked at the clippers future assets lately? dude is such a jabroni

You won’t a greater ‘heads up their own asses’ duo than this pod

It is funny giving a ton of credit to SGA for beating up a Pelicans team without Zion and BI just coming back from injury. Luka has done far more in the playoffs than SGA and Bill loves to talk out of his ass. Ryen gives him those looks but he has to call him out when he says dumb shit.

That was a lil cheap shit at Gil.🤔 I wonder y

22:29 it has to do with jokic not being quick. doesn't make sense to compare that to rondo

im so glad everyone was able to see jason kidd is the worst coach in the league on national television

Harden does not have one of the worst playoff resumes....the media loves to trash harden for no reason

your son might own the clippers by the time they win a chip

Luka flexing like an idiot when he was having a bad game set harden and PG off, they saw that as the ultimate disrespect

Gilbert Arenas....Bill?? 😅 Jesus christ.

The harden playoff woes are extremely exaggerated

Clippers 90% winning in game 5. With Luka injured, Mavs no chance. Only idiots will bet for the Mavs.

Kawhi retire

Mavs are winning the next 2 games

Both of yaw make so many excuses for Mavs being trash clips in 7

Two phonies

Luka is clearly hurt.

Lol no. Joker kicks the ball up the court so his doughy ass dont need to run.

Bill Simmons you know nothing about basketball 😂 pg has dropped 20+ in 21 of his last 22 playoff games

Prime arenas was way better than Paul George his knees were just cooked