FULLY LOADED CLIPS

I just finished watching the post game press conference and coach Del Negro gave his political concession speech. There’s still at least one game left, and Del Negro was saying things like, “it’s all part of a learning process” and “this is the first step in building a program for years to come”. I’m enraged by his presumption that he’s even going to be around for the future. Hey Vinny, you need to coach like this game is your last, because it probably will be!

RECAP:

Much will be made about the Clippers having an amazing first quarter and surging out to a 24 point lead in the first half, but I’m still troubled by Vinny’s inability to change up his match ups and formulas against this Spurs team. Every fan in the arena and at home knew the Spurs were coming back and it was only a matter of when. Candidly, I began to get nervous when the lead shrunk under 20. 

The 3rd quarter will live and infamy and hopefully it will be shown on a projection screen on the side of coach Del Negro’s house for the next 12 months. There’s a hacky expression that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different response. If that’s the case, the 3 quarter was insane. Pitching the ball down low to Blake Griffin, who as of this date doesn’t really have an NBA low post game, and waiting for him to force a shot or run the clock out. Meanwhile, the Spurs run more back door cuts and perimeter screens than the Princeton Tigers. My question to the Clippers would be this: “Can you make a shot 1ft from the basket?” BECAUSE THE SPURS SURE AS HELL CAN!

The Spurs aren’t lucky. Memphis has bouts of luck. Minnesota was crazy lucky against the Clippers this season. Even the Lakers have a horseshoe up their asses occasionally. The Spurs know how to play basketball better than every other team. They’re old. They’re slow. They’re boring. And they’re going to win a 5th title unless some NBA coach is able to go head to head with coach Pop. Sadly, there isn’t a coach left in the entire playoffs with that ability (no, Doc Rivers is a terrible coach). 

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU KNOW COACH VDN GAVE UP?

At the end of the 4th quarter, with the Clippers having just enough time to make one more run, coach Pop shrewdly begin intentionally fouling Reggie Evans. Not once. Not Twice. THRICE. So Vinny, where were you on that one? If he admitted he was cleaning the piss out of his pants I’d feel validated, but a real coach would stand right up in his piss pants and make a damn substitution!

NOW THAT THE TEAM HAS GIVEN UP, WILL THEY GET BETTER?

I think yes and no. I think Chris Paul will be dying for his 1st championship especially because he has been injured and unable to perform at the level he’s know for. I believe Blake Griffin will get better just because he’ll get better at controlling his emotions and nerves. I truly hope Blake is a smart enough player to know he has A LOT of off-season work ahead of him and that most of it will be not be done in a weight room or treadmill. He needs to got to big man school.

The negatives I worry about are the younger guys and the role players. Randy Foye has not progressed and he wasn’t very good in the Memphis series either. At some point he needs to really contribute or possibly he shouldn’t be a piece of the future. DeAndre Jordan is signed to be a part of the future, so he really needs to step up his game and his learning curve. He’s an offensive void that has become a glaring problem in both playoff series, and he constantly has to be removed because of his confusion with defense and rebounding. DJ has been better in the less physical San Antonio series, but he’s still miles away from being a starting center on a championship team. When I look at guys like Mo Williams, Nick Young, Caron Butler, and Kenyon Martin, I really worry they don’t want to stick around and play a minor role on a team that still looks like they’re 2 years away. Mo has been a good egg all year even though he’s been fuming behind closed doors about his lack of playing time. It wouldn’t surprise me if by this time next year 6 or 7 different players are a part of this team. I do believe CP3 will try to get Chauncey to resign at least a one year deal with the Clips but a lot may have to do with the next Clipper coach.

Your team of the future looks like this:

PG: Chris Paul

SG: Chauncey Billups

SF: NONE

PF: Blake Griffin 

C: DeAndre Jordan

Bench: Eric Bledsoe, Trey Thompkins„ Travis Leslie, Nick Young? Reggie Evans

GONE: Ryan Gomes, Caron Butler, Kenyon Martin, Bobby Simmons, Mo Williams, Randy Foye, 

5 Things to Look Forward to Next Year:

5. Full 82 game schedule- The days of rest in between games should help out with fewer injuries and allow for more practice time. Sweet sweet practice time.

4. Another year older for Eric Bledsoe, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan- Players get better the longer their in the NBA. These 3 shouldn’t be any different.

3. Free Agency- With a 2nd round appearance and Blake Griffin and CP3 in place, some  quality players are going to want to be a part of this. Things might actually be on the up and up.

2. New Coach- The only reason VDN is the current coach is because the Chicago Bulls are paying half of his salary. Everyone knows owner Sterling is cheap, but with the new pressure of expectations he may have to go get a REAL coach. (Phil Jackson on line 1)

1. Playoffs 2.0!- Barring injury, this team is going to be back again and again. Consistency and optimism will keep CP3 in town and everyone wants to play in L.A. Another year older, wiser, and a more cohesive roster and the Clips will be able to take the next step towards that 1st ring. 

A few encouraging facts about contenders:

Lakers- the HAVE to reload. They’ll be totally different next year and Kobe will be a year older.

Spurs- They have to get old eventually…right?

Miami- They’re in total disarray.

Boston- Unlike the Spurs they already ARE old. It’s over Celtics.

Memphis- They’ll never go anywhere until the figure out the Z-Bo/Rudy Gay thing.

PREDICTION OF GAME 4: Spurs lose on purpose, and Clippers go down with a little pride left. Clippers WIN 110-98. Spurs will close out in 5 @ home.

as always, Go Clippers!!!

The Spurs very well might be the best team in the NBA and they might win a their 5th title this year, but there’s absolutely NO reason why the Clips should be playing and losing in this way.

Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are killing the Clippers in this series.

Yes they’re the two best players on the Clippers’ roster. Yes, they’re two of the best players on the planet. But Jesus, Blake is a no show on defense. Blake’s a no show on offense. Now Chris Paul is a turnover machine. I love both guys, but they aren’t healthy enough to contribute for real minutes in this series.

The reason the Clips are getting massacred is because of Coach Del Negro.

Every time the starters are in the game, they have only one (!) offensive play. CP3 runs a high screen and then dishes to a hobbled Blake Griffin on the low block. Blake wastes the shot clock and then misses a shot. Its a strange thing that coach VDN has to put all his bench guys in just to claw back in the game. The bench brings speed, energy, and defense on to the court. With Blake out of the game, the small bench players are forced to play a ball movement based guard-centric offense. When your offense fails while your two starting all stars are in the game, and your offense surges while the all stars are on the bench, look no further than the coach.

This team has always succeeded in spite of coach Del Negro, but now he’s faced with the best opposing coach in the NBA. Coach Pop looked up and down the line up cards and saw the biggest glaring mismatch was actually in the coaching box. Del Negro is getting played.

The Spurs were still unconscious from the field and made shots they didn’t deserve.

The refs were awful and biased during the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

CP3 was horrible and Blake was worse.

BUT NONE OF THIS TAKES AWAY FROM THE FACT THAT THE CLIPPERS ARE LOSING BECAUSE OF VINNY DEL NEGRO.

GOING FORWARD:
The Clippers play next at home for an early 12:30 game. The crowd will be crazy and the players will be eager to show the home fans that they will not go quiet into that good night. The Spurs are playing loose and confident, and they will continue to be a handful. I look for the Clippers to do a better job on the boards. I think CP3 will play better in front of the home fans (he has to right?). I don’t believe the Spurs can shoot the ball that well for a 3rd consecutive game. Yet, the Spurs have won 16 consecutive games, so what the hell do I know? Luck alone would suggest that the Spurs have to put out a clunker eventually but go ask the Utah Jazz how that worked out.

Prediction: Everytime I pick the Clippers they lose. So I’m going with another big win for the Spurs and the Clippers don’t even bother to show up.

Spurs 100 Clippers 78 (jinx jinx jinx)

Go Clippers!

As Clipper fans we all have some sort of social flaw. There is some basic mental make up that is miss wired in all our brains. What on Earth would make a person choose to do this to themselves? Sports are not fair, nor will they ever be. Some teams win, some teams lose, but they don’t take turns being high or low. The Clippers are losers. I don’t mean that in a derogatory or depressing way, but check the statistics, they LOSE (a lot).  So when Clipper fans talk themselves into some kind of optimistic frenzy it goes against all of our own rational judgment. So once again we find ourselves climbing back up on that old rugged cross, for one more go at the pain we’ve become so accustomed to.

Think I think…

What would it actually be like to win? In the now dated 90s movie Swingers, the depressed main character Mike, is cheered up by his friend by hearing, “someday you’ll actually miss your pain. You’ll miss it because you lived with it for so long.” Well damn it, I hope that’s true. Give me the problem of someday missing this pain. 

On to the Game 6 recap and Game 7 predictions:

HEROES:

-Marc Gasol, Grizzlies= he scored 23 points and added 9 rebounds. In a game featuring spotty shooting, he was one of the few bright spots for either team.

-Reggie Evans, Clippers= he continues to play great defense and make all the clutch rebounds for the Clips. Without Reggie the Clippers wouldn’t even have the opportunity to lose a game 7.

-Kenyon Martin, Clippers= K-Mart went for 10 points and played the most inspired defense of any player on the floor. When people talk about playoff experience mattering, they’re talking about Martin.

-Eric Bledsoe, Clippers= I’ll go on record as saying I don’t trust this guy with the ball in his hands. He plays at 100mph, and as a result loses control and misses a lot of lay ups. But his defensive energy is the #1 reason the Clippers were in this game in the final minutes. He was the MVP in the losing effort.

GOATS:

-Gilbert Arenas, Grizzlies= This guys sucks. He only played 3 minutes, scoring zero points. I just wanted a Grizzlies player on this list.

-Chris Paul, Clippers= His effort and bravery to play hurt was truly inspired, but once you step on the court, none of that matters. He didn’t do what was necessary to win and he turned the ball over twice in the final 3 minutes. I LOVE CP3, but tonight he was a mess and only taking 9 shots in unacceptable.

-Blake Griffin, Clippers= Ditto on the injury thing. My main gripe with Blake is his defense. The only thing necessary to play defense is effort, just ask Reggie Evans. Blake was leaking like a sieve out there and Vinny was forced to leave Blake on the bench even as the Clips struggled to score. Blake is also proving to be emotionally fragile when it comes to the referees. He absolutely will NOT stop bitching to the refs. His whining may actually have cost the Clippers this game because he put the officials in such a foul humor. Kudos on the clutch free throws though.

-Vinny Del Negro, Coach Clippers=Someone should have given Vinny one of the free red tee shirts all the fans got at the ticket turnstile, because he was literally a spectator. Lionel Hollins isn’t an amazing coach, but all it takes is a little adjustment and Vinny shits his pants. The Clippers shot themselves out of the game in the first half, but were still in it due to the Griz settling for outside jumpers. The minute the 2nd half started and the Griz began pounding the ball inside, Vinny basically went home.

WHAT ABOUT THE REFS?!?

-They were horrible, but I really can’t say they ruined that game. The Clippers lost that game on their own. But the refs certainly didn’t do the Clips any favors. Next question.

CAN THE CLIPPERS ACTUALLY WIN GAME 7?

The only way I see the Clippers pulling out game seven in Memphis is with a perfect storm of luck. Can we all pray that the Grizzlies spent all their enthusiasm trying to get to a game 7, but now that they achieved their goal they will come out flat believing the victory is their birthright? This is actually a possibility, albeit a small one, because of the early start time of the game on Sunday (10 Pacific). The other thing the Clips need to have happen is an absolute unconscious shooting exhibition. The gods of 3 point shooting need to smile on Foye, Young, Williams, and Butler. I’m talking an “At my signal UNLEASH HELL!” sort of onslaught. The Clippers have actually done this a few times in the regular season, and putting the Grizzlies in a deep hole would really ruin them. Memphis came back from a ten point deficit on Friday, but they just don’t have the team to work their way back from a large double digit deficit.

WILL THE CLIPPERS WIN GAME 7?

Never in my life have I wanted to be more wrong than when I write; no, they won’t. The Clippers have had their hearts torn out. They don’t have enough healthy bodies to with stand another physical bruiser of a game. The Memphis crowd is going to be insane and the Clippers offense just doesn’t seem to start fast enough to get the crowd on their heels. Too many injuries. Too many missed free throws. Too many bad calls. Too much Memphis length.

PREDICTION: GRIZZLIES 96 CLIPPERS 85

It’s just sad because if the Clippers don’t win this game the season was a failure. Sure, a loss anywhere on the way to the finals results in a failure, but this was the season meant to change the loser stigma. A first round exit isn’t going to do much convincing better players to sign with L.A. A first round exit isn’t going to do much convincing Chris Paul to sign an extension. A first round exit isn’t going to do much. Period.

GET OUT THERE AND PROVE ME WRONG CLIPPERS!!!

GO CLIPPERS!!

The Clippers have really impressed me in the last two weeks and I’ve really felt great about their recent overachieving, but last night probably ruined their chances at the 3 seed and will put more pressure on their final 3 games. The Clippers had what they wanted with CP3 handling the ball with 15 seconds to go while down by 1. The possession was a mess, and the Clippers lost. Sunrise, sunset. But now the Clippers have to absolutely beat the Hornets on Sunday night, and win at least one of two between Atlanta and New York. The “cupcake” I reference in my last post, just eliminated Houston from the playoff discussion last night. So, clearly the Clippers cannot afford to rest on their laurels with the suddenly potent Hornets coming up. 

As I said previously, the Clippers need help from the Lakers and the Grizzlies. The Lakers take on the Spurs tonight and have an early game with the Thunder on Sunday. Kobe Bryant returns tonight, and believe it or not I think that will actually hurt the Lakers. I’d like to stress, I DON’T BELIEVE  THE LAKERS ARE BETTER WITHOUT KOBE.  What I am saying is, the Lakers have gotten used to playing without Kobe and his ball stopping style of play could cause a few miscommunications and growing pains against the Spurs and possibly the Thunder. If the Lakers drop both games, it could open the door for the Clips to get back into the race for the #3 seed. 

Memphis can’t be counted on to drop any more games, but the Clippers still hold the all important tie breaker over them. Hopefully the Clippers can win at Atlanta and virtually lock up the home court advantage. Home court is going to be especially important with the lack of playoff experience on the Clippers’ roster. Analysts have made Memphis the trendy pick of the playoffs because of their size. Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay and Z-Bo all are huge players. The Grizzlies create match up problems all over the court. The one thing the analysts are not accounting for is the Clippers ability to shoot from the perimeter. The Grizz will definitely slow the game down in the playoffs and force the Clips to use the full amount of the shot clock time and time again, but if the Clippers can get out ahead of Memphis, the Grizzlies are not a dynamic scoring offense. I certainly hope Nick Young, Randy Foye, Bobby Simmons, Caron Butler, and Mo Williams realize how important their outside shooting is going to be. 

What to watch for:

1. Tonight watch the Lakers lose to San Antonio.

2. Tonight pray for the Bobcats to overcome the odds and defeat the Grizzlies.

3. Sunday root for the Clippers to finish with a win at home against the Hornets.

I’m confused. I know the Clippers must be more confused. The Clippers played an almost great game last night. They defended, the transitioned the ball, the rebounded the ball, and they didn’t play down to the depleted Suns’ level…until the 2nd half. Neil Olshey was on the foxsports tv broadcast talking about the addition of Nick Young, and he added that the Clippers should be up 15 or so going into the half so they can take the fight out of the Steve Nash-less Suns. No sooner did the words come out of Mr. Olshey’s mouth than the Suns went on a run that cut the Clips’ lead to 8 going into the half. No one was worried or should have been, with a neutered Suns team that was virtually manhandled by the Clippers in the first half.

The 2nd half was a nightmare. The Clippers had a temporary flashback to being the Clippers of old. The 2nd half Clippers were not a playoff team, the 2nd half Clippers were a lottery team tanking at home in the hopes of securing the number one pick. Chris Paul was in the game at the wrong times and resting at the wrong times. The 2nd  unit, usually known for its energy, was a disaster and was turnover prone. It’s a shame in professional sports that fans of struggling teams attack the coaches first. Last night Nate McMillan got the ax in Portland. A few days ago, Mike D’Antoni was forced to leave the Knicks. But life is life and facts are facts, coach Del Negro is now sitting on a very hot seat. The Clippers have TWO players that started in the All-star game. They have THREE former All-stars in Caron Butler, Mo Williams, and Kenyon Martin. They have the best (maybe) point guard in the game, and the most explosive power forward in the league. They have a first class shot blocker in DeAndre Jordan. They have a great  energy guy in Reggie Evans. The team has good chemistry and is unselfish. What they don’t have is a coach with a clue. It’s time for VDN to go.

The Clippers have one day off and with the current schedule, now is going to be no time for practice. Coach Del Negro is going to have to put his big boy pants on and learn to make “in game” adjustments, because the schedule is not going to provide time for coaches to be technicians. Nick Young will provide a change of pace and hopefully a boost for this team but they’ll have to weather the storm without him until Tuesday. The Clippers play Houston on Saturday and Detroit on Sunday, these games SHOULD be wins. Houston is a playoff team from the Western Conference, but in this league you need to protect your home court otherwise you stand no chance in the playoffs. Detroit is a cupcake. The Clippers have already lost several cupcake games this year, so I’m not taking it for granted. But when you have a game, say, the Suns without Grant Hill or Steve Nash, you go out get up by 25, rest your starters in the 4th, and move one to the next game. What you don’t do, is pussy-foot around and end up losing a heartbreaker while burning out all your starters. Come Sunday night, I want to be writing about how the Clippers closed the homestand with a huge blowout against Detroit while welcoming Nick Young on Tuesday at the Pacers.

Go Clippers, don’t fuck this up!

I hate to reiterate my post from yesterday, but this team cannot win without playing perfect. If the Clippers have to rely on perfection they are going to be hard pressed to get a playoff spot and are almost assuredly going to be bounced in the first round. Back in January the Clippers were wondering how they matched up with the potential playoff teams and which seed would provide them the greatest odds of advancing in the playoffs; now it seems there aren’t any good match ups and they are going to be lucky to grab the 8 seed and creep into the playoffs. 

Last night the Clippers played the way the Clippers play. They came out and promptly fell behind 6-0 as if they were unaware the game had even started. This team is great at treading water. From now to the end of the year, the Clippers are serving as the world’s greatest sparing partner for playoff teams. “Come to Staples Center, you’ll get a win, but you’ll go home bruised and battered, and ready for the playoffs!” The 3rd quarter woes returned (a la last year) in an embarrassing display of offensive ineptitude. It’s always strange to me how players can be seemingly dominant forces on one team, but completely worthless pieces of trash on another (I’m looking at you Lamar Odom in Dallas). The Clippers went out and signed this Caron Butler character thinking, he would be a consistent offensive option. No longer would Clippers fans suffer the days of hoping their best player would get hot, now we could rely on 15 points every night from this guy. Somehow Mr. Consistent has become the world’s streakiest shooter, and as of last night he’s been in a deep freeze for 2 weeks! Throw Butler in with Foye and Williams in the streaky department. Fans saw what happens when everyone gets hot on offense last week when they dropped 120 on the Spurs, but what’s sad is that it’s blind stinking luck. Coaching had nothing to do with that 120 on the Spurs. Coaching DOES have something to do with the 85 points they scored last night.

The Boston Celtics are one of the better defensive teams in the league and they’ll make you earn your points each and every night, but coaches understand (hopefully) mismatches, strengths and weaknesses. Everyone knows the Clippers guards are faster than anyone on the Celtics team, yet the Clips slowed down the half court offense and played the high post with Griffin. Everyone knows Ray Allen has to be played man to man without switches on picks because he runs a quick screen game like Reggie Miller used to, yet VDN let Blake switch onto Allen. Everyone should know in a tie game with less than 2 minutes to play, a double team is necessary to guard KG in the post, yet NONE CAME! It’s easy to sit at home and play monday morning quarterback, but this is coach Del Negro’s job! It’s my job to be ignorant of how the NBA is actually played, then go bitch about it on the internet. It’s his job to actually make adjustments, draw up plays, and win the freaking games! The team was dead tired (deservedly so) after a 6 game road trip, but there is no excuse to come home and drop back to back games to Golden State and Boston. 

Going forward I expect more of the same. Professional sports are all about adjustments. Coaches draw up a brilliant plan, then the other teams watch the tape and figure out a brilliant way to stop them. Jeremy Lin is going through those growing pains in New York right now. No one knew who Jeremy Lin was a month ago so there was no tape on him. Coaches didn’t know his tendencies or weaknesses. Now teams are exploiting those weaknesses and the Knicks are struggling. Now it’s time for the Knicks coach and Jeremy Lin to make adjustments and get them back on the winning track. Coach Del Negro and the Clippers however came out this year and said, “We’re running the high screen and roll, throwing lobs, and running isolations and there’s nothing you miserable shits can do about it!”. Strangely enough, it worked for a month and a half (probably because of the lockout). But now the word is out on the Clippers and they have to make adjustments. They’re not a deep team, but they are athletic. The need to make the game easier for the starters so they won’t be so damn tired in the 4th quarter or in the midst of this insane schedule. Easy buckets, transition lay ups, and foul shots can make life a lot easier.

It’s not too late to save this season, but it’s becoming harder to watch because they’re not trying anything different. The Clippers are and perhaps always will be the most frustrating team in professional sports. But it’s a shame guys like CP3, Blake Griffin, Caron Butler, Mo Williams, and Kenyon Martin have to lose a year of their short careers to this floundering nonsense. The Clippers are as talented as ANY team in the NBA, but a bunch of quality parts are just parts unless they have a technician that can assemble them. 

Next game is Atlanta. They’re young, fast, and jump out of the gym athletic. Sigh. Could be a long night. Expect more than 85 points in that one.

To quickly recap: The Clippers shit the bed in N.J. then turned around and one a big shootout in San Antonio finishing the road trip 3-3. 

So going into last night, the Clippers found themselves a half game out of 1st place following the big win of the Lakers over their rival Celtics. The ball was once again in the court of the Clips and once again, they pissed all over themselves. The Golden State Warriors suck. Like really, they’re not a good team. This fact is most troubling considering the way the Clippers struggle and play down to their opponents. Last night the Clippers came out of the tunnel like they had just finished playing a morning game. They were completely exhausted, unenthusiastic, and confused. After 1 quarter of play they found themselves in a 29-19 hole. 

THIS HAPPENS EVERY GAME!

I was troubled by Chris Paul’s post game interview following the big win at San Antonio on Saturday. He said, “We’re a jump shooting team, and when we get open looks we have to knock them down”. What’s most troubling is that he believes this Clipper squad is a jump shooting team. This team is NOT a jump shooting team! This is an athletic team. This team is Lob City! This team should be playing a 48 minutes of hell offense, running and gunning without abandon. The Clippers have already proven they’re not going to be world beaters on the defensive side of the ball so they can’t afford to slow the game down and settle for isolated sets and slow developing high screen and rolls. The Clippers still don’t seem to understand what it means to take an efficient shot. Good shots are taken close to the basket, from 3 point range, or from the free throw line. The Clippers have already proven that most fans in the stands could out shoot them from the charity stripe, but that’s no excuse to have Caron Butler, Mo Williams, and Blake Griffin (!) shooting 19 footers all over the place. Dunks count for the exact same amount of points as a shot with your toes on the 3pt line. 

As much as my hatred for coach Del Negro grows, I’m going to cut him a little slack on one point (and only one). Del Negro has no bench to speak of. Coach looks down the bench and he looks at his exhausted starters and he can see nothing but black holes sitting there looking back at him ready to hurt the team. This is acceptable with young teams that are rebuilding because the bench becomes a place of athletic rookies that are ignorant to NBA basketball. But the Clippers are sitting veterans that have been in this league for years, yet they hurt the team because they’re just not any good. Public enemies numbers 1 and 2 are Brian Cook and Ryan Gomes. These guys are both players that on paper should have the skills to give the Clips a decent boost off the bench in particular situations. Caron Butler has struggled mightily lately, so it would be perfect to inject the offense with Ryan Gomes mixture of size and speed. Unfortunately Gomes career died during that San Antonio game back in February and he’s been rotting ever since. Brian Cook on the other hand came into the season in a casket. Cookie is a good size player that has specialized his game to become a 3pt specialist. That would be all well and good if he could actually MAKE a 3 pointer. Cook is on pace to have one of the historically poor seasons in the NBA, but mercifully he won’t tally enough minutes for anyone to notice.

Now to the big black 7ft elephant in the room, DeAndre Jordan. I have been a staunch supporter of this guy during his entire career and I still hold out hope that someday he’s going to put it together and become one of the better Centers in the league, yet lately coach VDN can’t get him off the bench. Jordan’s defense has been bad. His offense doesn’t exist. And due to other teams realizing he may have cerebral palsy from the free throw line, he’s hacked constantly. The Clippers came into the year knowing they weren’t going to get much from DJ offensively, but the new trend of his incredible foul trouble and inability to rebound has made him Ryan Gomes-light. 

The Clippers have to play the Boston Celtics tonight with both teams playing the 2nd game of a back to back. The Celtics will be going with this line up:

Pierce, Bass, Garnett, Allen, Rondo

with bench minutes from: Dooling, Pavlovic, Pietrus, Steimsma, and Bradley

The Clippers will go with:

Griffin, Butler, Jordan, Foye, CP3

with bench minutes from:

Simmons, Williams, Evans, Bledsoe

So it’s already 10-9, who do you think will win the game?

Out coached. Out hustled. Out played.

When the Clippers took the court in Phoenix last night, they again came out with no energy and no will to win. In only the 2nd game of a 6 game road trip, the Clippers looked like an old, worn down team, with no energy to compete in the shortened schedule. This is a terrifying fact. The Clippers are a VERY young team. The Clippers should struggle with experience related problems, not energy and enthusiasm. The Suns gave the Clippers a free win last night by not even mustering a 40% FG, yet the Clippers returned the favor by only shooting 36.8% from the field. A sad truth is that without Chauncey this team is going to have a tough time finding the points to win big games. 

Last night, Blake Griffin had his worst game of the season. Blake’s shot was off (thanks president Obama), and he wasn’t finding space for his trademark dunks. So the onus to score was now on the Clippers guard play and sadly it just wasn’t there. Randy Foye is proving night in and night out that he is not a starting 2 guard in this league and the only reliable scoring outside of Blake and CP3 is Mo Williams who cannot start. Mo HAS to come off the bench other wise the 2nd unit would be functionally impotent. Caron Butler was brought in to help spread the floor and add punch to the offense from the wing, but sadly he has been awful. Streaky would be overly kind. I knew the Clippers were in trouble when Kenyon Martin became the best scoring option in the 1st half. This is a guy that shoots like most 5th grade girls.

Coach VDN is not improving. He’s shuffling his line ups, match ups, set plays, etc, but he has not made the key moves to win games. CP3’s ability to bring the Clips back and keep the game close is inadvertently giving VDN too much credit. The Clippers should have lost this game by 10. The coach’s inability to get the team prepared to play has become a dire problem and I predict it will ultimately cost the man his job. Coach’s form their reputation on some specialized skill. Mike Brown is a defensive coach. Rick Carlisle is a in game adjuster. Mike D’antoni is an offensive guy. Phil Jackson was the Lord of the triangle offense. Who the hell is Vinny Del Negro? Fans aren’t totally fed up yet, only because the Clippers’ last coach was Mike Dunleavy. A bleary-eyed coach with a confused look on his face is what Clipper Nation has become accustomed to.

So here we are heading into Houston for the 3rd game of the road trip teetering into mediocrity. Can the Clippers pull it together and salvage a good road trip propelling them to greater heights and ultimately the division title? Yes, but it’s going to take one hell of an effort, plus a little luck. The Lakers seems to have righted the ship a little bit, and I’m not surprised because they’re just the kind of team that takes care of business with the weaker teams in the league. The Clippers have Houston, Minnesota, New Jersey, and San Antonio left on this current trip. Great teams win 3 of the next 4. Good teams split and this Clippers team will struggle to beat N.J. I’m not down on the Clippers because I’m an ass (Hey, they’re my favorite team), I’m just not seeing any progress. Teams need to improve as the season goes on, and I’m detecting that the New Year’s Day Clippers could beat the March 3rd Clippers (Chauncey’s injury excluded). I want to see a boring, horrible, blowout victory for the Clippers in Houston. Now all they have to do is go out and do it.

Finally a quick word on the Clipper Darrell thing:

I’ve never liked Clipper Darrell. He’s always been a sideshow at Clipper games parading around in his two-toned suit, dancing along with the Spirit dance squad, leading his own brand of Clipper cheers. The latest controversy to demonize Clippers ownership has been there desire to strip Clipper Darrell of his “Clipper” surname. Darrell Bailey (his real name) is an Uncle Tom Green. He’s part stepping and fetching black man doing pratfalls for the white man while simultaneously being a self-promoting cringe-worthy exhibitionist. We go to the games to see the Clippers, NOT some minstrel show in a shiny suit. I can only imagine how the Clippers dancers feel to be upstaged game after game by some jackass that has half-assed his way through their routines. Although unnecessary, those girls worked very hard on their dances and do not need his fat ass showing them up. Clipper Darrell is a whore and the team has accused him as such. I’m not concerned whether he’s been trying to profit off of his name and persona, I’m ALWAYS against ownership when it comes to name protection, but I’m against his pursuit of local bullshit fame. In my mind he’s the fattest Kardashian, just another self-promoting asshole looking for a reality show. In perfect Darrell fashion he reportedly said to management, “You don’t want Clipper Darrell no more?”. Yes, Lenny you get to tend the rabbits! The grammatical mistake is almost calculated in a way that the big bad racist owner has been kicking around the nice simple black fan. Here’s my verdict:

Fuck Clipper Darrell.

Fuck Owner Donald Sterling.

Go Clippers!

See you in Houston, where’s the Tylenol?

Nuggets 112 Clippers 91

Last night, nothing went the Clippers’ way. The shooting was bad. The defense was worse. They couldn’t rebound. They couldn’t create turnovers. They couldn’t do diddly poo. But, I’m not sad. Yes, the game was terribly disappointing, but keep in mind, the Clippers just went 3-1 on a stretch that included Denver twice, the Thunder, and a trip to Utah. If you told me a week ago the Clips would come away 3-1 in that mess, I’d take it 6 days a week and twice on Sunday.

Cut to me waking up this morning only to find out: They signed Kenyon Martin! Full disclosure, I HATE Kenyon Martin. I’ve wanted to plot this guy’s death on several occasions. The mere sight of his “lips” neck tattoo makes me want to personally sterilize him, but now he’s one of my guys. He’s not a thug anymore. He’s MY thug. Many of the analysts out there are praising the Clips for making this move and providing much needed depth in the front court, but I’m not really sure how he fits in. All I know is that the Clippers just got deeper and deeper is better. He’s a 6’9 power forward that is all defense, rebounding, and thuggary. The Clippers will not officially get him for a week or so due to China’s basketball rules being slanted (see what I did there?). Hopefully, Martin will allow the Clippers more flexibility when going to a line up without Blake Griffin. Martin is not a scoring machine but next to Reggie Evans, he’s Kobe freaking Bryant. Quietly or not so quietly the Clippers are becoming the team Miami was trying to create. A group of high talent guys that actually like one another. Chauncey Billups is rumored to have personally courted Kenyon to become a Clipper. That means between Blake and DeAndre, Billups and Martin, Reggie Evans and everybody; the Clippers are becoming the superfriends. I can only look at this as a good thing. Teams that tolerate one another do NOT win championships, just ask the New York Yankees of the 2000s. Also, this move is starting to look like the beginning of a “win now” mentality in the front office. I think Neil Olshey looked at Mr. Sterling and said, “In a 66 game season, we might actually be able to steal a title.” Obviously, Kenyon Martin does not make the Clippers the rightful owners of the 2012 title, or even favorites, but the line up has become a collection of players that many people would say are championship threats if it weren’t for the Clippers’ bad karma.

I refuse to believe. I refuse to get too happy. I refuse to make predictions. But I will write one thing. I think this Kenyon move works. I think the team gels. I think the Clippers get better, tougher, perhaps slightly more technical foulie. I’m not sure they’ve got the rest of the league beat, but they certainly are scaring the shit out of them.