FULLY LOADED CLIPS

The Los Angeles Clippers won 101-97 in an overtime thriller last night. When the dust settled on last nights victory something became abundantly clear to me; to win a championship a team needs the best player in the league. I’m not suggesting that the Clippers are going to win a championship purely because of Chris Paul, but with the nature of playoff games someone, preferably an All-Star, is going to have to close the game. Last season, Dirk Nowitzki  was the best player in the league come playoff time and his team rode him all the way to their first ring. Right now, I don’t think it should even be argued that Chris Paul is the best player in the NBA playoffs. Lebron and Kobe will get their chance in the 2nd round to prove they’re the best, but without real adversity, we don’t know how great they’re really playing. 

What did we learn?

-Caron Butler is a tough sonofabitch. He came out and score double digit points in the 1st quarter…with ONE HAND. Getting anything from him in these games is going to be huge for the Clips.

-Blake Griffin is learning. Blake still can’t put together a complete game, but he scored 30 points on the largest front line in the NBA last night. His defense and rebounding leaves much to be desired, but the Clippers are a MUCH better team when he’s in the game.

-Kenyon Martin is important. K-Mart has become a shut down defender. Who the hell thought Martin was going to be one of the deciding factors in the 1st round.

-Reggie Evans IS a god. Reggie has taken it upon himself to win these games on defense and on the glass. It’s very possible that he won’t have nearly this much value in further series if the Clips should advance, but this Memphis series belongs to him.

-The refs are very confused. I’m sure this series has been difficult to officiate. There has been a foul committed every second of every play. Literally both teams starting line ups could have fouled out last night. Yet, the inconsistencies of the refs calls has begun to shape the 4th quarters. Local broadcaster, Mike Smith, commented that every 50/50 ball that went out of bounds went the way of the Grizzlies. Meanwhile the Grizzlies put the Clippers in the bonus with 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Is it possible the refs were screwing BOTH TEAMS? Going back to Memphis this makes me nervous.

-Chris Paul is the best player in the NBA. CP3 blew it at the end of regulation and he continues to make me crazy by delaying his drives until 3 seconds left on the shot clock, but he is a dominating unstoppable force in the way that all great finishers were.  Lebron James may score 35 points going into the 4th quarter, but even heat fans want the ball in Dwyane Wade’s hands when they’re going for the win. If the Clippers are to close out this series it’s completely dependent on whether or not CP3 can will them to another win.

WHAT NOW?

-The Clippers head back to Memphis needing just one more win to advance in the playoffs and face the Spurs. Memphis is decidedly angry following their latest of 3 frustrating defeats at the hands of the Clippers. I fully anticipate the Clips having major troubles winning game 5 in Memphis. The fans won’t be on their side. The refs won’t be on their side. Fate won’t be on their side. To win game 5 or any game in this series they’re really going to have to start hitting some 3 point baskets. Last night they got 2 huge 3’s from Nick Young and Mo Williams, but for the most part the team was cold from outside. 

The offensive rebounding is and will continue to be a major problem, but like most of the Clippers flaws, it can’t be fixed, but can be improved on. Vinny Del Negro needs to get Reggie and Kenyon in the game earlier because DeAndre Jordan just plain hasn’t figured out how to rebound.

Vinny Del Negro has to do a way better job. Chris Paul wasn’t just playing against the Grizzlies last night, he had to play against his coach. The entire 3rd quarter and start of the 4th was an experiment on watching a dumb coach self distruct. Vinny hasn’t drawn up an inbounds play this entire year worth running. He almost cost the team the game by calling a timeout right as Mo Williams received a pass and got fouled! Vinny’s offense is offensive. TNT’s analysts were lambasting the Clip coach last night, for his inability to run ANY plays. Charles Barkley calls it the “stall” offense. 

CAN THE CLIPPERS WIN THIS SERIES?

Well yeah, they’re up 3 games to 1. But……………………………the Clippers are going back to Memphis with too much confidence while playing an angry Memphis team. Mailing in game 5 is okay for Jordan’s Bulls, or Bird’s Celtics, but the Clippers don’t have the ability to turn in on at home and coast through the playoffs. T’would behoove them to give it their all and steal this game and series in Memphis, but I think the only way they win game 5 is if the shooters catch on fire. There are a possible 3 games left in this series and luck only favors the Clips in 1 of the 3. So should they lose game 5, they HAVE to win game 6. Plain and simple this is going to be trench warfare. Nothing will come easy and every game is going to come down to the final seconds. By goodness I hope they can close this thing out and advance.

PREDICTION?

Game 5: Bad Guys 92 Clippers 85

C’mon Clippers, prove me wrong.

Chauncey Billups is hurt, he isn’t dead! The pregame intro music for the Clippers’ starting line up might as well have been a funeral march or Mozart’s requiem. The Clippers dragged their broken bodies up and down the court at the Q last night and just waited for lowly Cleveland to put them out of their misery. After the game coach Del Negro made no excuses and said that his team wasn’t ready to play. That’s your job man! You are to make sure your team is ready to play! If they’re playing slow and sluggish, you wake them up or play guys that want to play. Last week, coach Pop in San Antonio left his entire starting line up on the bench for the 2nd half (and ensuing overtime) on the floor for a big game against Dallas. Stars like Tony Parker and Tim Duncan became energized cheerleaders and it brought the team closer together. A road game in Cleveland would be the perfect place to try to light the fire under the starters by playing the end of the bench. Also, you can avoid burning out all your starters in the middle of this 6 game roadie.

The game itself was ugly to say the least. The Cavs played better than they typically do, but by no means were they shooting the lights out. The Clippers were killed on loose balls and hustle plays. Anderson Varejao killed the Clippers down low for 15 pts and 11 boards. The Clippers now boast one of the toughest low post rosters in the NBA featuring Reggie Evans, DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin, and Kenyon Martin, yet a fuzzy haired Brazilian rolled into the paint and owned L.A’s big men last night. 

Kenyon Martin was a small bright spot. His shot was flat, and he was caught out of position routinely on offense, but his enthusiasm made up for all that. He actually WANTED to play, which is more than I can say about the rest of the team.

Randy Foye has been given the unenviable position of filling Chauncey’s shoes. Foye didn’t play well and didn’t play poorly. Randy Foye played like Randy Foye. He’s a streaky shooter that can be very effective coming off the bench but he really doesn’t add much to the floor when he’s inked in as a starter. Foye is defensively average and he doesn’t offer much in the one on one game. 

One of the storylines that’s going to get more and more play as the season goes on is, the Clippers lack of perimeter defense. The Clippers give up a TON of open 3pt shots and thus far have survived them. The Clippers were making a lot of 3’s themselves which was neutralizing their opponents, but without Chauncey they could be in trouble. Long range shot’s create long rebounds. Long rebounds result in one of two things: a transition play for the defense resulting in fast break points or a fresh 24 secs for the offense. The Clippers have been concentrating on crashing the boards and keeping their opponents from making the tip-ins and put back dunks, but they’re not boxing out deep enough to prevent the long rebound disasters. In the Clippers’ wins the box score shows all those long transition rebounds through CP3’s large rebound total. Chris Paul’s only 6ft tall, he shouldn’t be getting any rebounds.

I hate to believe this game is going to come back to haunt the Clips, but in a shortened season EVERY game counts. And given the clustered standings of the Western Conference every game will count just a little bit more. Before Cleveland, the Clippers were prepared to head undefeated on their road trip to face 1st place Philly, followed by an easy one in Charlotte and finishing with Dallas. The really looked like a team that was going to go 5-1 on the road with a possibility of stealing all 6. Now after blowing the Cleveland game, they’re 2-1, heading into a VERY difficult match up against the 76ers, followed by a Cleveland-lite game in Charlotte, and then another ball crusher in Dallas. One stupid mental lapse in Cleveland could change this road trip from 5-1 to 3-3. 

In baseball there is a saying that momentum is the name of tomorrow’s starting pitcher. But in this chaotic 66 game season, with back to back games and wild road trips, teams have to find some kind of cohesive identity. Teams MUST win games against the lesser teams. Teams MUST protect their home court. Teams must come together and create confidence heading into the playoffs. Hopefully last night was just a blip on the radar, not the beginning of the end.

Tonight the Clippers play the 2nd game of the annual 6 game Grammy awards road trip. Orlando is a talented team, with many inconsistencies and a fractured locker room. Dwight Howard is far and away the best center in the league and he could explode for a 20 and 20 night at any time. Yet, I’m not thinking about the Magic. I’m not thinking about Dwight Howard. I’m not even thinking about the Washington Massacre the other night (Clips 107 Wiz 81). I’m thinking about the playoffs. My best friend, a Lakers fan, used to torture me year after year talking about potential playoff match ups, and potential seeding results, while I just shook my head and wondered if anyone talented was entering the draft. That changed yesterday when I picked up the Sunday Times and scoured the back sports page for the current standings. My complete attitude has changed and I hope that’s what’s happened to the current Clippers roster. The arrival of Kenyon Martin may be nothing more than addition by addition, and the blowout in Washington is an expected evisceration of a bad team. But, good teams sign solid free agents, my savvy trades, and win the game they are supposed to win. My Laker fan associates have always talked about needing to go 4-2 on the road or steal one to go 5-1 while Clippers brethren have prayed to go 3-3 or even just avoided a disastrous 0-6. Here’s a scary thought, I’m starting to trust the Clippers (keep in mind it’s still the regular season; I reserve the right to panic in May).

So, the Clippers meet up with their new teammate K-Mart in Orlando to see if they can get a little bit of a road winning streak going, and ultimately it doesn’t much matter. The Clippers’ road trip has little to do with who they are now, and much more to do with where they are going. Games at Cleveland and Charlotte should keep the Clippers out of trouble, while giving them a precious couple of games to develop chemistry with their newly acquired teammate. 

All Clippers fans know about losing. Losing IS a virus. Losing breeds losing. Losing spreads like while fires and snowballs its way through the schedule until the team is left punch drunk wondering what happened. This year we’re learning about winning. Winning might be a virus. Winning breeds confidence. Confidence breeds more winning. The most impressive part of the “changing of the culture” Clippers could be the change not from the lottery to the playoffs, but from “aww shucks, nice story Clips” to real contenders. Mike Smith said on “Clippers Live” on Saturday, that this team is going to terrify whomever they get matched up with on the playoffs. He’s absolutely right, but not because they Clippers could get hot and test a good team. The Clippers are hot and they are the good team. I promise you, my dear readers, if you asked LeBron if he wanted to match up against CP3, Chauncey, Blake, K-Mart, Mo Williams, and Caron Butler in the Finals, he’d say HELL NO. The only scarlet letter left to shed from this current roster is the shit smell that comes from the Clippers past. But good news friends, the history books don’t play the games, CP3 and Blake do.

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.