SB Nation User Blog: Steve Perrin

Houston 108 - Clippers 99 - If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

Steve Perrin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:39:33 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

The Clippers held the Rockets' two leading scorers, Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza, who average 17 points each, to 7 points apiece, on combined 4 for 19 shooting. They also limited the Rockets to 5 for 18 from three, including 1 for their last 10 - three point shooting being a key to the Rockets win over the Clippers earlier this month. So you'd think this game might have gone LA's way. You'd think.

Instead, every other Rocket player picked up the slack, first and foremost Carl Landry. Playing just a couple days after major oral surgery to repair the damage done by Dirk Nowitzki's elbow, Landry scored 27 points on 7 for 10 shooting and 13 of 15 free throws. The Clippers hung around in the second half, and cut the lead to two in the fourth quarter. But they never led after the last minute of the first quarter, and the Rockets prevaild 108 to 99.

I actually spent all day today at Disneyland with the family. I watched the game on the DVR about midnight after getting home, and so it's pretty late as I work on this recap. Which is my way of saying, lower your expectations. I don't know why the Clippers couldn't stop - couldn't come close to stopping, really - Landry, Luis Scola, or David Andersen, who combined to shoot 19 for 27. Someone commented on the preview today that the Rockets are the anti-Clippers. The Clippers have tons of talent on paper, but seem to underachieve on the floor. The Rockets are the opposite. When the Clippers need a player to step up, it almost never happens. The Rockets are the opposite. When the Clippers need a bucket, they get a turnover. When the Rockets need a play - they get a play. They are the anti-Clippers.

Case in point - the Rockets are an undersized team, and as such they are 27th in the league in blocked shots. With the Clippers still clinging to a faint hope in this game, down six with the ball with a minute to go, Ariza blocked Eric Gordon's layup. Still down six seconds later, Scola blocked Baron Davis' layup. The Rockets, the fourth worst shot blocking team in the league, got three blocked shots in the final minute of the game. Why? Because they needed them.

By contrast, when the Clippers got the lead down to 2 at 91-89 early in the fourth quarter, and had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, they really needed a bucket. But when Baron dished out of the lane to the corner to Rasual Butler deep in the shot clock, Butler decided to pass up the three ball, and instead earned a shot clock violation. The next trip down, Craig Smith took a nice pass from Kaman and instead of going straight up with it, he decided to loop under the basket, and instead stepped out of bounds. The next trip Gordon missed a fast break layup (he reacted as if he was fouled). The next trip Butler missed a three. The next trip, Kaman turned the ball over. By the end of this sequence, the Clippers had on five key possessions turned the ball over three times, missed on layup, and missed one three. And suddenly instead of being down 2, they were down 10. Game over.

The Clippers squandered a career high 29 points from Chris Kaman and a 50% shooting night for the team. But Eric Gordon struggled, and with Houston scoring 65 points in the first half and 108 in the game, LA needed Gordon to shoot better than 6 for 17 in a shootout.

Last thing - it's pretty clear that fouls were a factor in this game. The Clippers were not getting a lot of whistles from the refs, something that did not go unnoticed by MDsr and Kaman, who each picked up technical fouls arguing non-calls (and for what it's worth, they were both bad calls - Kaman was definitely fouled each time). Houston took 17 more free throws in the game, and made 11 of them. That was more than enough to get them over the top.

Clippers at Houston - Open Thread

Steve Perrin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:38:57 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	vs.
12-15		16-11
Toyota Center
December 22nd, 2009, 5:30 PM
Prime Ticket, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis	PG	Aaron Brooks
Eric Gordon	SG	Shane Battier
Al Thornton	SF	Trevor Ariza
Marcus Camby	PF	Luis Scola
Chris Kaman	C	Chuck Hayes

The Back Story:

December 2nd in LA - Houston 102 - Clippers 85 - Recap Box Score

Clippers at Houston - Game Preview

Steve Perrin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:55:12 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	vs.
12-15		16-11
Toyota Center
December 22nd, 2009, 5:30 PM
Prime Ticket, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis	PG	Aaron Brooks
Eric Gordon	SG	Shane Battier
Al Thornton	SF	Trevor Ariza
Marcus Camby	PF	Luis Scola
Chris Kaman	C	Chuck Hayes

The Back Story:

December 2nd in LA - Houston 102 - Clippers 85 - Recap Box Score

The Big Picture:

The Clippers are now 2 and 2 on the first four games of their six game road trip. They've alternated wins and losses thus far, so since they lost in San Antonio last night, they're due for a win in Houston, right? On paper, this appears to be the most winnable of these last three wins. Then again, on paper, the Rockets shouldn't have a better record than the Spurs, but they do. Ignoring what happens in the alternate basketball dimension that is the AT&T Center, the Clippers have played well offensively on this trip. But if they're going to beat the Rockets in Houston, they'll have to do it with defense. When they played Houston in LA, the Rockets put on a three point shooting display, making 12 of 23 compared to 1 of 14 for LAC. That's a bit of a difference. Of course, the Clippers didn't have Eric Gordon in that game, and Rasual Butler was mired in a slump that he appears to have busted out of, so they should at least be capable of making a few threes in this one. Whether they can defend the Rockets remains to be seen. It would also be nice to see Chris Kaman, who has played really well in his last six games can redeem himself for a 5 for 16, 5 rebound, 4 turnover game in the first meeting. The bottom line is - without Gordon and with Kaman causing more harm than good, the Clippers aren't going to beat anybody, whether they make 12 threes or not. If Gordon and Kaman play well in this one, it should at least be competitive. I hope that the Clippers feel they have something to prove after being blown out by the Rockets in LA, and being blown out in San Antonio last night. The only good news about last night's blowout loss is that all the starters took the fourth quarter off, which will help on the second game of a back to back.

The Antagonist:

I thought the Rockets were overachieving when the teams met at the beginning of December and Houston was 9-8 at the time. I'm at a loss for what's happening now that they're 16-11. I mean, this has always been a league predicated on pure, unadulterated talent. Princeton running backcuts and beating UCLA in the NCAA tournament, Valparaiso making threes and beating xxxx, George Washington - that's all well and good in college hoops. In fact, it's great. I love it. I root for the Clippers, so of course I love an underdog story. But in the NBA, talent wins. And the Rockets don't seem to have enough talent to be 16-11. In a league of superstar power, there's nary a star, let alone a super one, on their active roster (ignoring Tracy McGrady, who is back on the court, but severely limited in his minutes right now). Part of me would love to believe in the Rockets - I'd love for team play and hard work to be enough, as it would give more of the underdog teams a chance. But at the same time, it makes the failings of the Clippers over the years that much more painful. It's easier to rationalize all the losing if the team has simply not had elite level talent. "We'll get them next year! We'll win the lottery and we'll have enough talent then!" But if you could be winning simply by identifying the right pieces in the second round and getting them to play hard? Well, that's a bitter realization. And frankly, I'm not ready to accept it quite yet. So part of me wants the Rockets to continue to do well; and another part of me believes (wants to believe?) that they're eventually going to come back down to earth. By the way, may be missing two key reserves in this game. Chase Budinger is out with a sprained ankle. Meanwhile, Carl Landry recently had oral surgery after losing five (FIVE!) teeth in a gruesome meeting with Dirk Nowitzki's elbow on Friday. Incredibly, Landry says he'll play tonight.

The Subplots:

Landry. Last game, Luis Scola has a cut over his eye, and everyone said he'd be out against the Clippers, but he played and played well. Landry was back at Rockets practice on Monday, and I have to figure he's going to play. After all, this is the guy who was shot in the leg last season and barely missed any time. The dude is tough. If you haven't seen the video of the collision with Dirk, check it out. The most amazing part to me is Landry's reaction. Bear in mind, he just lost five teeth. He heads over to the Rockets bench and calmly signals that he needs to come out of the game, as if to say "Excuse me, Mr. Adelman, sir, you might consider placing a substitute in the game for me as I am losing a lot of blood at the moment." When he gets to the bench, he starts spitting teeth and blood into Keith Jones' towel. Unbelievable how tough this guy is. He'll probably destroy the Clippers tonight.
McGrady. The Rockets finally activated TMac when Trevor Ariza was suspended a week ago for the Rockets game against Detroit. He's on severely restricted minutes right now - he's played fewer than 8 in each of his four games back. Will Adelman be tempted to dial that up some with Budinger out?
Steal a road game. If the Clippers are going to keep their slim playoff hopes alive even until Blake Griffin's return, they're going to have to beat some good teams. If they lose tonight in Houston and Christmas Day in Phoenix, they'll drop five games below .500, as low as they've been this season. It's pretty important to get one of these, and this one seems like the easier of the two.
Just enough to win. How are the Rockets getting it done this year? Are they an offensive team, or a defensive team? The answer is, a little bit of both. League wide, teams score 106.6 points per 100 possessions. The Rockets score a little more than that on offense (107.7, 16th best out of 30 NBA teams) and give up a little less than that on defense (105.9, 15th in the league). Lacking a lot of guys who can create shots, they play at a fast pace, and look for shots in transition. They love to shot transition threes, so it will be important for the Clippers to find their shooters right away.
Rebounding. The Rockets aren't a great shooting club, yet they're above average in offensive efficiency. One big reason is because they get a lot of extra shots. They're the fourth best offensive rebounding team in the league. One key will be keeping them off the offensive glass.
Kaman and Baron size advantages. In the first game, we expected both Chris Kaman and Baron Davis to exploit their size advantages in the post against significantly smaller defenders in Chuck Hayes and Aaron Brooks. It didn't happen. In Kaman's case, because Hayes is just crazy strong and wouldn't let him go where he wanted to. In Baron's case, because the Clippers just didn't go to him in the post. They went to it against Tony Parker last night, so I assume they'll go to it tonight. As for Kaman, he's longer and quicker than Hayes. He may need to face him up, and he could have a big night if the jump shot is on.
Defending the three. The Rockets are third in the NBA in three point attempts. The Clippers are 6th best in defensive three point percentage. Of course, those facts were more or less the same in the last meeting and the Rockets made 12 of 23. But Houston has trouble winning without making threes. The Rockets are 11 and 4 if they make 8 or more threes in a game - 5 and 7 if they make fewer than 8.
Speaking of threes. I've already mentioned that the Rockets made 12 threes to the Clippers 1 in the first meeting. 12 is tied for the season high for the Rockets - 1 is the season low for the Clippers. Odds are, that won't repeat itself, right?
Ariza. Trevor Ariza continues to shoot under 40% from the field on the season. In fact, Houston's top two scorers, Brooks (43%) and Ariza (39%) are inefficient. How are these guys 16 and 11 again?
Movie Quote:

If you wanna know how to build a rocket to fly a man into outer space, don't come to me. If you need somebody to perform a delicate brain operation, I'm not your man. However if you have any questions what so ever on the quality of a good pair of pants, look no further!

North's Dad, North (1994). I include this quote not because North was a good movie, but because it was a bad movie. Director Rob Reiner had a perfect game going when he directed North in 1994. Spinal Tap, Sure Thing, Stand By Me, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men. He couldn't miss. And then came North. Reiner's movies have been hit and miss since.
Get the Rockets perspective at The Dream Shake.

Livingston Keeps Moving Forward Without Looking Back -- NBA FanHouse

Steve Perrin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:49:13 -0000

Livingston Keeps Moving Forward Without Looking Back -- NBA FanHouse

Livingston is starting to get some burn in OKC. Chris Tomasson caught up with him last week.

San Antonio 103 - Clippers 87 - A Feeling of Inevitability

Steve Perrin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:10:34 -0000

More photos » by Jennifer Whitney - AP

Browse more photos »

Here's all you need to know about the games between the Clippers and San Antonio this season. In two meetings, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker have yet to play in the fourth quarter. Manu Ginobili did play eight and a half minutes in this one after taking the fourth off in LA - presumably Manu was feeling a little rusty and wanted to get in a little extra work.

But let's face it, there's a feeling of inevitability in games between the Clippers and the Spurs. One gets the impression that any five guys wearing Spurs uniforms could square off against any five guys wearing Clippers uniforms and win handily. I mean, when was the last time Theo Ratliff made a jump shot? It doesn't matter, if he's wearing sliver and black and the other team is wearing red, white and blue, that shot is going in.

It hardly seems worthwhile analyzing this game. It was San Antonio versus the Clippers. San Antonio won. What more do you need to know?

In fact, the Clippers were specifically done in by harrowing stretches at the end of the first quarter and the third quarter. A 21 to 4 run at the end of the first, and a similar 17 to 4 run late in the third was a cumulative plus 30 for the Spurs, and they more or less coasted during the rest of the game. During those runs, it seemed as if the Clippers simply could not make shots - and the Spurs couldn't miss.

The first quarter disaster started when MDsr gave Chris Kaman his semi-customary early rest and brought in DeAndre Jordan. DJ had not appeared in a game since the last time the Clippers played the Spurs eight days ago, and had spent most of the time in between on the inactive list. He was not hurt - presumably MDsr just felt like he wasn't contributing. He got the early call tonight, and made an immediate impact with an offensive rebound less than a minute after checking in. Great start! It was all downhill from there. He proceeded to travel after his rebound, and each of the next three times he touched the ball something very, very negative resulted for the Clippers. Here is the Clippers side of the play-by-play for the less than two minute stretch from the point Jordan got that offensive board until he was replaced by Brian Skinner:

02:38 Jordan Rebound (Off:1 Def:0)
02:38 Jordan Turnover : Traveling (1 TO)
01:56 Thornton Jump Shot: Missed
01:31 Jordan Layup Shot: Missed
01:31 Jordan Foul : Loose Ball (1 PF)
01:08 Camby Rebound (Off:1 Def:2)
00:56.8 Jordan Layup Shot: Missed Block: Ginobili (1 BLK)
00:43.9 Jordan Rebound (Off:1 Def:1)
00:43.8 Jordan Turnover : Step Out of Bounds Turnover (2 TO)
00:43.8 Jordan Substitution replaced by Skinner

115 seconds of basketball. Only one Clipper other than Jordan took a shot. Only one Clipper other than Jordan recorded a rebound (mostly because the Spurs were making every shot they took, so there were no rebounds). 115 seconds, 0 for 2 with one of those shots blocked, two turnovers, one foul. The Clippers were down one when he entered the game - they were down nine when he left, and down 13 by the end of the quarter.

This is not to blame DeAndre of course. He was terrible to be certain, and it's fascinating how he could look so good in practice and summer league and pre-season, dominating against guys who are after all still NBA players, yet look so completely lost in actual NBA action. But the simple fact is, in a Spurs-Clippers game, that run happens. If it's not DeAndre single-handedly facilitating it, it's somebody else. But the run happens, as it has for 14 consecutive games overall, and for 8 seasons worth of games in the SBC/AT&T Center.

There are other examples of the exercise in absurdity that is Clippers versus Spurs. Eric Gordon made zero two point baskets in almost 34 minutes of play. Marcus Camby, who had been averaging 17 rebounds in the last four games, had 4 rebounds in 24 minutes. The Spurs took 26 free throws to the Clippers 15, despite the fact that the Clippers committed only one more foul (that one's hard to figure, but almost every Clipper foul was in the act of shooting).

Unfortunately, the Clippers wasted a strong effort from Chris Kaman who went for 23 points and 15 rebounds in fewer than 32 minutes of play. Rasual Butler also played pretty well, but that's pretty much the entirety of the bright side list.

But of course it was all inevitable. Just head on down to Houston and see what you can do against the Rockets.

Clippers at San Antonio - Open Thread

Steve Perrin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:54:42 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	vs
12-14		14-10
AT&T Center
December 21st, 2009, 5:30 PM
Prime Ticket, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis	PG	Tony Parker
Eric Gordon	SG	Keith Bogans
Al Thornton	SF	Richard Jefferson
Marcus Camby	PF	Tim Duncan
Chris Kaman	C	Antonio McDyess

The Back Story:

December 15 in Los Angeles - San Antonio 115, Clippers 90 - Recap Box Score

Clippers vs.San Antonio - Game Preview

Steve Perrin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:36:23 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Browse more photos »

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	vs
12-14		14-10
AT&T Center
December 21st, 2009, 5:30 PM
Prime Ticket, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis	PG	Tony Parker
Eric Gordon	SG	Keith Bogans
Al Thornton	SF	Richard Jefferson
Marcus Camby	PF	Tim Duncan
Chris Kaman	C	Antonio McDyess

The Back Story:

December 15 in Los Angeles - San Antonio 115, Clippers 90 - Recap Box Score

The Big Picture:

The Clippers opened the season 0-4. After 13 games, they fell five games below .500 at 4-9. Since then, they've hovered somewhere below .500, having won 8 of their last 13, thanks in large part to a friendly schedule. Well, that schedule gets decidedly hostile starting today. Sixteen of their last 22 opponents have a losing record, and two more games came against the currently .500 Thunder. That means only four teams have had winning records. Unfortunately for them, that imbalance is going to correct itself over the rest of the season. The next five games, and eight of the next nine, are against teams over .500. If the Clippers play like they have in the first half of the last couple of games, then they could be fine. If they play like they have in the second half, they'll be annihilated. It starts off with a bang, against a team that handed the Clippers a 25 point loss in LA eight days ago, in a building where LA has never won. Of the Clippers' top six players, almost all of them are playing well right now. Marcus Camby is on a rebounding tear, averaging 17 over the last 4 games. Chris Kaman is shooting well and scoring again over the last five games, looking more like the guy who began the season. Baron Davis has averaged over 10 assists over the last four. Rasual Butler has had his strongest string of games of the season by far. Al Thornton has been playing well for awhile now, and was clutch at the end of the Philadelphia game. And although he has struggled handling the ball the last couple of games, Eric Gordon remains the Clippers' most consistent performer - even when he's a little disappointing, he's still solid on defense and efficient on offense. Beyond those six, it's anyone's guess what is going to happen. Craig Smith got his first DNP of the season on Saturday. DeAndre Jordan spent a few days on the inactive list. Sebastian Telfair has been vey quiet recently. With so little production coming from the bench, Coach has given a longer look to Mardy Collins the last few games - expect him to get minutes against the Spurs tonight as well to defend Ginobili. The top six will have to play well tonight for the Clippers to have any chance of getting their first ever win in the AT&T Center - but they'll need some help from some one else as well.

The Antagonist:

The Spurs have won five of their last six and are now in the eighth position in the Western Conference - but of course this is still not where they are accustomed to being. Expectations were higher than usual for San Antonio entering the season, with the high-profile acquisition of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess. But both have been somewhat disappointing, and the Spurs have simply not played like themselves. Their road record is poor (3-6) and their record against teams .500 or better is even worse (2-9). Of course, this game is in San Antonio and the Clippers are below .500, so neither of those facts really help LA in this one. We tend to think of the Spurs as unchanging, but in fact they have three brand new starters this season, plus rookie DaJuan Blair off the bench in the rotation, so they've had a bit of turnover and perhaps they're still getting used to each other. Of course, while the record isn't very Spurs-like so far, that didn't seem to matter 8 days ago when San Antonio destroyed the Clippers in LA. Of course, sometimes it comes down to shooting, and the Spurs couldn't miss in that game. Hopefully they won't be quite so hot in this one.

The Subplots:

The last game. The meeting in LA was strange. The Clippers had a 10-0 run in the final minutes of the first half to cut a 20 point deficit in half. Then they played well for stretches of the third, and looked like they'd cut further into the lead. But the Spurs reserves dominated the Clipper backups at the beginning of the fourth, and Duncan, Parker and Ginobili got the rest of the night off. It's one thing to lose to the all star Spurs - but can we please not lose to George Hill and DaJuan Blair again?
Bonner out. At least Matt Bonner won't be around to drop threes on the Clippers. He broke his hand in the game on Saturday and will be out four weeks. Michael Finley has also been out, though I don't know a status on him.
Clippers on the road. One thing that must be stated about the Clippers so far this season: since they don't have any home court advantage, they don't really have an away court disadvantage. The Clippers' road record of 5-6 is better than Utah's (5-7) and comparable to those of Portland (7-8), Denver (7-8) and Phoenix (8-9). They've also suffered by far their two worst defeats at home, 28 points to New Orleans and 25 to these Spurs. So there's reason to believe they can be more competitive on the road. Unfortunately, there's also reason to believe that the Spurs will play better in Texas, not to mention the fact that a little better won't help much - the Clippers are going to have to play much better to win this game.
Ugly losing streaks. The last time the Clippers won in San Antonio was almost eight years ago, January 2002. In October of that year, the AT&T Center opened as the new home of the Spurs, and the Clippers have never won there - 13 consecutive losses. In addition to the road losing streak, the Spurs have won the last 13 overall against the Clippers. Talk about unlucky 13.
At least the weather is better. After playing in frigid Minnesota, and then heading straight into the teeth of a blizzard in Philadelphia, the Clippers (assuming their flight got to leave) are getting back to warmer climes. The high in San Antonio today should be near 70.
TV Quote:

The only person more self-centred than me is Carlos, he's so self-centred he doesn't even know how self-centred I am.

Gabrielle, Desperate Housewives - This was bound to happen. I'm out of 'spurs' quotes, so we're reduced to a quote from Madame Tony Parker.
Get the Spurs perspective at Pounding the Rock.

Clippers 112 - Philadelphia 107 - Overtime - Improbable

Steve Perrin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:01:00 -0000

More photos » by H. Rumph Jr - AP

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As the game was nearing it's final conclusion, Ralph Lawler said "What looked like it was going to be an improbable loss turns into an improbable win." He's probably right. The Clippers came uncomfortably close to losing a game in which they had a big first half lead for the second consecutive night. How close? Try less than a tenth of a second close.

Andre Iguodala's jump shot at the buzzer was originally ruled the game winner. MDsr and several Clipper players headed to the locker room, and Milph were lamenting the heartbreaking loss, originally believing that the standard review of any buzzer-beater was a mere formality. As it happens, the refs ruled that the ball was still touching Iggy's fingers as time expired, nullifying the basket and sending the game into overtime. It seems like every season there are several of these "so close you can't even tell with a replay what the right call is" shots. This one was so close, that from some angles I think it was gone in time, and from other angles I think it was not.

I would say that the Clippers caught a huge break there, and of course they did. But don't lose sight of how lucky the shot was in the first place. As Iguodala was making his move, Eric Gordon knocked the ball free. The ball was loose with 2 seconds showing on the clock, so the idea that Iguodala was able to regain possession, turn and drain a long jumper in time was unlikely in the extreme.

I will say this about the NBA's replay review process - they don't get hung up in NFL-style "indisputable visual evidence" and "ruling on the field stands" crap. They make the call to the best of their ability based on the replay, end of story. How many times have you seen a call stand in the NFL, when you're pretty certain it should have been reversed? More to the point, a lot of NFL calls would be left unchanged, regardless of what was called on the field. The replays aren't always as conclusive as you want them to be, and the NFL's rule is when in doubt, don't change the call. But if you've already stopped the game, why not get the call right, regardless of what they said in real time? If they applied the NFL's standards in this game, the shot is good and Philly wins. Lucky for us, they don't do it that way in the NBA.

I'm not going to get into a lot about the tale of two halves tonight. Suffice it to say that, in this game, it seemed much more about the Sixers than about the Clippers, at least to me. I didn't think the Clippers looked like an offensive juggernaut in the first half - what I saw was terrible Philadelphia defense. One pump fake and a drive to the basket seemed to be all it took for the Clippers to get layups the entire first half. That wasn't there in the second half (nor of course should it have been there in the first). So yeah, a 60 point half followed by a 39 point half seems like a big problem - but it seemed to me that the 60 was the real outlier.

You could feel the lead slipping away during one segment in the third. Baron Davis thought he was fouled on one end, and as he was chirping at the ref, his man got into the lane and threw an alley-oop to Iguodala that energized the sparse crowd and the Sixers team. Baron compounded his mistake of not getting back on defense by picking up a technical foul. Then, when a Thornton dunk was taken away because of a shot clock violation, the Sixers made a rare three. Just like that, in two possessions and about 30 seconds, the Clippers 12 point lead was cut in half.

With Chris Kaman out of the game at the end of regulation after picking up his sixth foul, the Clippers went to Al Thornton on consecutive crucial possessions in the final minute. Going against a terrific defender in Iguodala, Thornton delivered two game tying buckets. I don't like the Clippers' tendency to go exclusively to isos in the final minutes of close games, but Thornton delivered tonight.

In addition to Thornton's final minute heroics, the Clippers got terrific games from several players. They had six players in double figures, and three 20-10 games - albeit three different combinations of 20 and 10. Baron Davis had 20 points and 13 assists - the third game in the last four he's had 12 or more; Chris Kaman had 24 points and 11 rebounds - his fourth consecutive 20 point game; and Marcus Camby had 11 points and a season-high 22 rebounds. Camby's now fourth in the NBA in rebuonding, and closing in on the guys ahead of him. He's also fourth in blocked shots. Rasual Butler and Eric Gordon also had solid games.

A few other random thoughts on this game:

Who is Marreese Speights? Speights had a career high 28 points, and appears to be an absolute beast, particularly if he can really make those shots and it wasn't just a fluke. He's got size, athleticism and a terrific jump shot and appears to be on his way to real stardom. The amazing thing is that Philadelphia has some great young pieces like Speights and Thaddeus Young - but with the contracts and Brand and Dalembert and Iguodala around, they have no flexibility to shape the roster right now.
Speights is 22, but he made a veteran move a couple of times. Facing the basket, if the defender has his hands out, twice he swept his arms through the defender to start his shot, drawing a two shot foul. In fact, the foul he drew on Kaman was his sixth, so that was a doubly important play. I say it's a veteran move, but it goes beyond that - there are very few players in the league who make that play consistently, one of them being Kobe Bryant. I don't like the play - given all the contact refs allow near the basket, I find it strange that they would award two free throws on what is essentially a gimmick move, since these 'shooters' aren't really shooting at all, but rather specifically hunting for a foul call. But as long as referees fall for it, it's a very effective technique. And I sure don't know any other 22 year olds who do it.
Former Clipper Elton Brand looked good on offense. His mid range game was very much on tonight, especially in the third quarter. But he's physically not the same player he was. Three rebounds in 35 minutes is just not something that ever used to happen with him.
The lane violation called on Al Thornton in the fourth quarter was flat wrong, and wasn't even particularly close to right. I'm always amazed when a ref decides to make a call you almost never see, and then they get it wrong. I mean, this guy went out of his way to get the call completely wrong. Obviously, that point could have proven pretty significant in a game that went into overtime.
As if to taunt Clipper fans, the Sixers had two players in this game back from injury AHEAD of schedule. Speights suffered a partial tear of his MCL and was supposed to be out for six to eight weeks - he was back in less than five. Lou Williams got his jaw broken November 24th and was supposed to be out eight weeks. He played tonight after fewer than four weeks out. These guys were playing weeks after the season had started, had recoveries estimated to be about the same if not longer than Griffin's, and their back while Blake still sits. What the heck?

The road trip gets decidedly more difficult now as the Clippers head to Texas. First stop is Monday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, where they have never won. It's nice to get a close win, but as tough as this was, you can be pretty sure it will be a lot tougher on Monday.

Clippers at Philadelphia - Open Thread

Steve Perrin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:44:44 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	vs.
11-14		7-19
Wachovia Center
December 19th, 2009, 4:30 PM
FSN West, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis	PG	Jrue Holiday
Eric Gordon	SG	Willie Green
Al Thornton	SF	Andre Iguodala
Marcus Camby	PF	Thaddeus Young
Chris Kaman	C	Samuel Dalembert

The Back Story:

First meeting of the season. The Sixers swept the season series last year.

Clippers at Philadelphia - Game Preview

Steve Perrin — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:17:57 -0000

by Charles Krupa - AP

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2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
	vs.
11-14		7-19
Wachovia Center
December 19th, 2009, 4:30 PM
FSN West, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis	PG	Jrue Holiday
Eric Gordon	SG	Willie Green
Al Thornton	SF	Andre Iguodala
Marcus Camby	PF	Thaddeus Young
Chris Kaman	C	Samuel Dalembert

The Back Story:

First meeting of the season. The Sixers swept the season series last year.

The Big Picture:

The Clippers plan of reaching .500 in Philadelphia today looked pretty strong at half time in New York last night. But a terrible second half showing against the Knicks leaves them at 1-1 on the easy part of their road trip. Eric Gordon had an uncharacteristically weak game in New York, and the team didn't have a clue how to defend the pick and roll in the second half (which is strange, since they did a good job in the first half). There's not a lot to say about the team going into this game. They have to play two complete halves of basketball, particularly on defense. One half isn't going to do it. I do expect Eric Gordon to play well after struggling last night. He won't play that poorly twice in a row. Chris Kaman has scored 20 points or more in three consecutive games.

The Antagonist:

Last night in Boston, the team with the best record in the NBA over the last 2 weeks (the Celtics at 11-0) met the team with the worst record in the NBA over the last 10 games (the Sixers at 1-13) - and the Sixers won. So go figure. Flukey wins in Boston notwithstanding, the Sixers have really struggled this season. The last few seasons, when they were seemingly overachieving based on the limited talent they had, the Sixers were winning with a helter-skelter style that forced a lot of turnovers and their defense led to offense. So although they had a terrible time scoring in the half court offense, they still made the playoffs based on their defense, forcing turnovers, and gettting easy baskets. In the 07-08 season, Philly ranked 8th in defensive efficiency. This season they are 28th, ahead of only Memphis and Toronto. Their regression on defense has left them with no real identity, as evidenced by the fact that they've recently benched their highest paid player and signed a former MVP who has failed spectacularly with his last two teams. The Sixers have also been hit by injuries. Elton Brand of course missed most of his first season in Philadelphia with a shoulder injury, and he may simply be physically diminished after two consecutive significant injuries (he missed most of his last season with the Clippers with a ruptured achilles of course). This season, Marreese Speights started off great before getting hurt, though he has returned in the last two games. Then Lou Williams broke his jaw - he's getting close to returning and there's an outside chance he could play tonight. But even if the Sixers get back to full health, the bigger question will remain. What kind of team are they?

The Subplots:

Check your DVRs. This game, like last night's in New York, is actually on Fox Sports West, not Prime Ticket like most of the Clippers' games. My season pass is only on Prime Ticket, since the name of the show is "NBA Basketball" and I don't want 80 Lakers game clogging up my disk. So consequently, I missed the first quarter last night before I noticed it wasn't recording. Lucky me - I missed the good part.
A very expensive backup. Elton Brand left the Clippers abruptly 17 months ago after allegedly reaching a verbal agreement to re-sign in LA. Whether it's karma or simply injuries and time, he's been a shell of his former self. In LA, he was a perennial leader in PER, and one of the very small number of players in the league who consistently averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. But in his first season as a Sixer, he averaged fewer than 14 points per game, and shot a career low 44.7%. He has been about the same this season, and was taken out of the starting lineup about a week ago. He's a might peeved about it, as Jerry Crowe noted in the LA Times yesterday. "It's like, no disrespect, but Mikki Moore gets to start, and I don't?" No disrespect, Mikki. The Sixers owe Brand about $66M through the summer of 2013. Ouch. Brand did hit a game winner against the Clippers in their only meeting last season, and he also hit the game winner against the Celtics last night.
The coaching carousel. It's clear to me that the Clippers should have gotten a new coach last season, or at the latest this off-season. What's less clear is whom they should have hired. Eddie Jordan would have certainly been on my short list. Instead, Jordan went to Philadelphia, where he has been a disaster so far. The team has gotten much worse defensively, and are off to a terrible start after making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. This just illustrates how hard it is to find the right coach. The two new hires that are having the most success this season are Paul Westphal and Alvin Gentry. I would not have considered either of them for a second. Shows what I know, I guess.
UCLA point guards. It seems like they're all over the league right now. In fact, there are several sets who played together in the same Bruins backcourt. Baron Davis played with Earl Watson, Russell Westbrook played with Darren Collison, and then Collison played with Jrue Holiday. Jrue has recently been inserted into the starting lineup for the Sixers with the injuries to Lou Williams and Allen Iverson. He had his best game as a pro last Sunday against the Warriors, with 15 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds. Baron will try to school the younger Bruin tonight - at 19, Holiday is the youngest player in the NBA, turning 19 in June just in time for the NBA draft. He is the only player in the NBA born in the 90s.
Back to backs. Both teams played last night in other cities, the Clippers in New York and the Sixers in Boston, so neither team has a rest advantage. (Interestingly, the Clippers decided to take the train from New York to Philly - how European.) The results of course couldn't be more different, the Sixers getting a huge come from behind win at the last second, the Clippers losing a 20 point lead and missing a chance to win in the final seconds. Will the Sixers still be riding that emotional high? Or will they let down after securing that unlikely win?
Al Thornton vs. Thaddeus Young. When Brand left, I made the observation that if he was leaving to win, it was a dubious decision since the Clippers looked to be better at three of the four positions around him. (At the time, I was giving shooting guard to the Sixers with Iguodala, but I had no idea how good Eric Gordon was at that point, so Gordon will have that matchup soon as well.) But Thornton and Young are an interesting comparison, partly because they came out of the same draft, at numbers 12 and 14 respectively. The other thing is that Young was a very young rookie at 19, while Thornton was a very old rookie at almost 24. Young is more of a tweener - he's now back to playing power forward with Brand relegated to the bench. But whereas Young is the kid, the improvement you might have expected from the now 21 year old just hasn't been there. On a per minute basis, his scoring is down, his rebounding is down, his shooting percentage is down and his turnovers are up. So whereas I would have said that Al Thornton was the high volume, low efficiency player before, the opposite is true this year. Thornton shoots a higher percentage, takes fewer shots per minute, and turns the ball over less. He's even outrebounding Young this season. They won't match up against each other at the start since Young will be at the four and Thornton at the three, but they'll square off at some point in this game.
Philly guys. Both Rasual Butler and Mardy Collins are from Philadelphia, And I mean through and through. They were born there, played high school ball there, and played college ball there, at Temple and LaSalle respectively. The Clippers always seem to have a few Philly guys around.
Allen Iverson. What is there to say about him that we haven't covered at some point? He hasn't played the last couple of games because of knee issues - he's had his knee drained twice in the last week. He may or may not play tonight. When the Clippers played Memphis back at the beginning of the season, that was the day that Iverson went AWOL from the Grizzlies, and he never played for them again. So this is another chance for AI to play against one of his more reluctant suitors this summer. By the way, if he does play, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he goes off.
The Final Quarter is all that matters. It has now been 11 consecutive Clippers games in which the team that won the fourth quarter won the game (of course it was tied after three in New York, so that one was pretty obvious). So I respectfully request that the Clippers play well in the fourth quarter.
Movie Quote:

Doctor, question that's always bothered me and a lot of people: Mayflower, combined with Philadelphia - a no-brainer, right? Cause this is where the Mayflower landed. Not so. It turns out Columbus actually set foot somewhere down in the West Indies. Little known fact.

Buck Laughlin - Best in Show (2000). If you've never seen Best in Show, then this quote may be a tad confusing. It requires some context. Buck Laughlin is the color analyst at the dog show, and as played by Fred Willard, his inane banter in the style of many sports announcers is high-larious. Oh, and if you've never seen Best in Show, shame on you. Rent it now. One of the funniest movies ever.
Get the Sixers perspective at Liberty Ballers.