FULLY LOADED CLIPS

The Clippers fought hard but ultimately fell to the their talented LA rivals last week, but quickly rebounded and won two “must win” games against the lowly Kings. Now the Clips head on the road to clear the murky waters of the playoff picture for better or worse. 

Here’s how the current standings look in the West:

1. San Antonio

2. Oklahoma City

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Memphis

6. Houston

7. Dallas

8. Denver.

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN: Phoenix and Utah

Tonight the Clippers play @ Memphis in a possible 1st round preview. Memphis is the hottest team in the West not named the Spurs. The Grizz dismantled the vaunted Thunder offense last week and they look to make life very difficult for the Clippers as they too are fighting for a homecourt advantage in the playoffs. The Clippers really need to prove their mettle this month because the Lakers appear to be resting Kobe Bryant for the near future. This is a major opportunity for the Clips to grab their first Pacific title and a 3 seed. The Clippers now sit just a half game behind the Lakeshow and even with Kobe out the Clips should assume the Lakers will vanquish the Hornets tonight. 

Unfortunately for the Clippers and everyone else in the West, their seems to be a huge talent drop off between seeds 2 to 3. The Spurs and Thunder are increasingly becoming the class of the field and the Lakers in the 3 seed look nearly as intimidating as Utah in the 10 seed. The playoffs are going to be strange to watch as all the little fish try to eat each other in the 1st round until they go up against one of the big bad fish in the 2nd. 

The tiny splash of optimism I can impart is simply this, there is no team without major flaws. Certain teams match up extremely poorly in this western bracket and it would not surprise me to see an upset or 4. The Spurs have the best coaching, but they’re truly old, and they don’t have the athleticism to play at a high pace. Lucky for them the playoffs usually slow down into half court sets, but a wise coach could out run them. The Thunder have 3 scorers…that’s it. They’re the best trio of pure point guys in the NBA, but that’s all they have. If one of them goes cold, gets hurt, or is shut down, the other two have to play out of their minds to win. Can they be stopped 4 times in a 7 game series?

The Clippers WILL make the playoffs. The got hot of late and barring anything Clipperish, we Clipper fans will receive a rare treat of seeing our favorite team compete in the post season. However, you may want to get out your religious artifacts. This team cannot play defense. We’re far enough into the season that it’s obvious, the defense will not be fixed and it has become part of this squad’s identity. Also, this team will not blow anyone out. This sucks because of the large number of minutes logged by the starters, but at least the Clips have Chris Paul who is one of the NBA’s best 4th quarter players. This team plays to the level of it’s opponents. If the Clips somehow ended up with the Suns in the playoffs it would be a bloodbath and it would last the full length of the series. Conversely, I can see the Clippers going 7 games with the Heat in the Finals. The Clippers just can’t seem to dictate to their opponents, but at least they refuse to fold against their supposed superiors.

Finally, this week’s road trip is Memphis, OKC, and Minny. Gotta take two out of three to have a chance at the Pacific crown. Remember, good teams don’t win the NBA championship, HOT teams do. Just ask Dallas.

There are games of what could’ve been, what should’ve been and what is. This game is what it is. The Clippers are an inexperienced team (save for Chauncey) and 4 quarters of boring (yet intense) playoff basketball is foreign to them. The Lakers were fully prepared to give the Clips their best shot. Kobe has been pissed off all week. Pau was complaining about not scoring. Mike Brown was starting to hear rumbles about his hiring being a mistake. The Lakeshow couldn’t survive a “home” loss to the Clippers on Wednesday night. All of that being said, the Lakers still got lucky. The Lakers shot the ball at a percentage in the 4th quarter that will be hard for them to repeat. Pau got hot. Kobe got real hot. Metta World Peace made his trademark “NOOOOO, YES!” 3pt shot in front of his nervous home crowd. Derek Fisher came back from the dead for 10 minutes or so. For one quarter, everything broke right for the Lakers.

Where do we go from here?

The Clippers have a very difficult February road schedule and they’re going to need to show that they can weather the storm. In truth, the Clippers are in a very good position to make the playoffs and will make many teams nervous in the process. The league seems to be evolving and from what I saw last night teams like the Lakers are getting left behind. The Lakers are tall slow and old. The Lakers’ Jimmy Buss appears to have pushed all of his chips to the middle of the table on the oft-injured Andrew Bynum. Early returns suggest that fast, skilled teams are the look of the future. Kobe can probably beat you in the 4th quarter if you let the Lakers stay too close, but over a 7 game series they won’t be able to out score you. The Mike Brown, defense first experiment will ultimately fail.

As for the Clippers, they NEED flight time. Chris Paul HAS to stay healthy for the remainder of the season. Coach VDN needs to try a little coaching so this team will appear to have an actual half court offense. Blake took a huge step forward last night abusing Pau and continuing to use his low post game to dictate to the defense. Mo Williams has been the most impressive Clipper of the last two weeks, but I’m concerned the Clippers offense is becoming a game of “who’s shooting it well, gets the ball.” Caron Butler had his turn of being the hot shooter last night, and Chauncey launches up 3 to 5 heat check 3’s per game. Chris Paul’s health will be the most important factor this season, because right now the team looks like 5 talented guys that don’t know what they’re supposed to do. Talent can only get you so far. Miami showed last year that without a true offense and a strong coach, the players can get lost in the 4th quarter. With the addition of a hall of fame caliber PG like Chris Paul, the team should eventually figure it out, but it’s gonna take time. The good news is, the Clippers will be a much better team in April then they are in January (if they can stay healthy).

So don’t kill yourself quite yet Clipper fan, but consider it if they lose to the Grizz tonight.