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.

Nothing cures a bad losing streak like playing shitty teams at home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy. Winning is always better than losing, but as the Wolf said, “let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks quite yet.” The Clippers have two more huge home games before heading back out on the road to visit Dallas. The Clips play a short handed Portland squad and a suddenly potent Utah team. The Blazers always play hard and the Clips know protecting their home court won’t be easy, but if coach VDN thinks he’s truly figured this coaching thing out the Clippers should win that game. The toughie should be the Utah game. Since I was a small boy the Jazz have been slow, white, and irritatingly good. This year is no different, and with the Western Conference playoff picture becoming more and more of a clusterfuck by the day, I anticipate a dog fight in this one. 

The Lakers are a boring team. The Lakers don’t even look like a particularly good team, yet there they sit in the 3rd seed for the West. The Lakers lull the NBA to sleep by beating all the bad teams and stealing a few wins against the good teams. The Lakers protect their home court and beat lower teams on the road. Everyone wouldn’t be terribly impressed with their resume, but you look up and “bam” there they are in 1st place. The Spurs have been doing this in the West for the last decade. Personally I’d rather watch the Bobcats self destruct in Charlotte than go to a Spurs game. Paint watches Tim Duncan dry. Yet, the Spurs are once again in the running to have the best record in the NBA!

Winning is new to the Clippers, but to be a great team they need to figure out how to be “boring good”. Blake needs to learn how to give 100% effort the correct way, so he isn’t burnt out down the stretch or loafing on defense. Coach VDN needs to prepare his team to blow out teams like the Kings, so he can rest his starters in the 2nd half. CP3 needs to teach the team how to run the pick and roll to get easy buckets, so they don’t have to rely on clutch jump shooting all the time. Andrew Bynum is starting to put up Blake-like numbers, and that’s not because he’s the 2nd coming of Kareem. Bynum gets 20 points every night from shots inside 1ft. Basketball is about match ups and advantages. Good players and good coaches exploit the match ups that favor themselves and hide the bad match ups if possible. 

The Clippers are better than the Trailblazers and the Jazz, but now they have to go out and prove it. There is only one month left in the season and the Clippers are going to be under pressure to squeeze out every possible win. The West is a complete nightmare, and playoff seeding is becoming less and less important, but the adage that experienced teams win in the NBA seems to be holding up. The Lakers and the Spurs look prepared for the run. The Thunder are the most talented team out there, but they’re still untested for the deep run. The rest of the West is a mess of anyone’s game. As long as the Clips have a healthy CP3, anything’s possible, but they’d be wise to win all they can from now through April.

SO THERE WAS THAT.

A word on “The Dunk”

A lot of times people get too excited about the Slam Dunk in basketball as it only counts for two points. Boring, efficient-shooting teams lulled the high flying Clippers into submission last year in route to another playoff-less season. Last night didn’t fall into that category. Sometimes dunks count for more than two points. Sometimes dunks can change the ebb and flow of a game. Sometimes dunks can change the confidence of a player. Sometimes dunks can get a player noticed. And sometimes a Blake Griffin Dunk can disturb the rotation of the earth on it’s axis. Last year when Blake set his testicles on Timofey Mosgov’s head and threw the ball through the cylinder, his career was forever changed. That dunk paved the way for the rookie of the year award, the all-star birth, and eventually a deal to jump over a Korean car during All-Star Weekend. Last night, something happened again. Around 4 minutes into the 3rd quarter CP3 sent a bounce pass to Blake as he had a full head of steam. Seconds later, Blake Griffin and Kendrick Perkins became forever linked. Perkins was widely known and respected around the league as a “tough guy” and many people have blamed the Celtics’ woes on his absence. So when Perkins pushed a airborne Blake Griffin away from the hoop, the natural reaction would be too assume two shots at the foul line and we’ll move on with life. Blake Griffin dunks don’t work that way. To borrow a horrible line from Yakov Smirnoff, “In Soviet Russia, you don’t dunk, Blake dunks you”. Again this was only one play, but the importance of this play has not fully been realized. Is this the play that gels the Clippers team to go on a serious playoff run? The Clippers have been searching for that moment that sheds the Charlie Bucket moniker of “we’re just lucky to be here.” Does Blake finally transform into the hybrid of Karl Malone and Charles Barkley we’ve been hoping for? What happens to Kendrick Perkins? Do Durant and Westbrook not trust their team to the point that they try to score 80 every night and ruin the chemistry? Who knows? We’ll find out as time goes on. Now to the games…

Lots of Billups Left in Clippers Gun: Clips 109 ShitNuggets 105

Sometimes it’s hard for television networks to find something to hype about a late game on a Sunday night in the middle of January, so they come up with some mundane  plot line about a “player’s homecoming”. I guess Chauncey Billups went to Colorado, so it was his turn to hear the fake hype. I’m not sure if the television audience bought it, or even the play by play guys, but the only guy it surely mattered to was Chauncey. Billups scored 32 points and electrified the game with his reckless, yet effective shooting. At times Chauncey can go into “fuck it” mode and just start launching shots from anywhere on the court at anytime on the shot clock; Sunday night was one of those times. Lucky for the Clippers, Billups was on fire. Billups acquired some of that can’t miss mojo that Mo Williams has been walking around with for the last week and proceeded to shoot the will out of the Denver team. This was a huge win for Los Angeles, as the have struggled on the road mightily thus far, and Denver is definitely a team they will be hearing from again. It was another nervous game that Clippers fans never felt good about until the final horn sounded, but a win is a win and Chauncey ain’t done yet.

“Welcome all my friends to the show that never ends, I’m so glad you could attend, step in side, step in side.” -Blake Griffin 

Clippers 112 Thunder 100

I truly don’t believe it would be hyperbole for me to write that this was the single best game I’ve seen the Clippers play this year. The Clippers came out firing on all cylinders, shooting hot and playing good defense, and then settled down to weather the storm. Clippers teams in the past, particularly last year, have made the big highlight reel plays and made runs to get giant 1st half leads, but they’ve never had the intestinal fortitude to hold it together. My mother (a Clips fan) always jokes that the Clippers need to have a 25 point lead going into the 4th quarter to win, because she’s so used to them pissing it away. 

This game was a GREAT game for the Clippers. It will forever be remembered as a Blake Griffin game, but it was a more important game for the rest of the team. This was the game that Caron Butler started to figure out his role and find his shooting touch. This was a game that could vault Mo Williams into winning the 6th man of the year award (he’s got my vote). This was the game that further proved Chauncey could become the perfect 2 guard for the Clippers as his career winds down. And this, THIS, was the beginning of complete CP3 dominance. I’ve made note of the Clippers record this season and been completely pleased and overwhelmed by not staring up from the bottom of the standings, yet I’ve been troubled by the lack of the “wow” factor from CP3 this year. Don’t get me wrong, he’s been brilliant, and he’s played better than any Clipper PG I’ve EVER seen, but where’s the guy some have said is one of the best PGs in HISTORY. Last night, I got to find out. 26 points, 14 assists, and 35 “Kobe” or “Jordan” plays where he wills his team through a possession. In the NBA, plays break down, shots don’t go in, momentum swings, but certain players have the salmon-like ability to swim upstream and drag their whole team with them. Last night, Durant and Westbrook were “on”, but every time the Thunder mounted a charge CP3 took it upon himself to make sure this was NOT going to become a close game. Chris Paul has already changed the culture of losing on this team to such a degree that Ralph Lawler (voice of the Clippers) claimed the game was over with 8 minutes left in the 4th. Mike Smith pleaded with Lawler that the Thunder was the best team in the Western Conference and it was a bit too early to be confident. Lawler persisted: The game was over.