FULLY LOADED CLIPS

Chris Paul is worth whatever the Hornets want him to be worth. If the Hornets called the Clips front office and demanded several more draft picks, I’d gladly give them whatever they want and I’d smile all the way. Tonight’s virtuoso performance of Chris Paul completed step 1 in the changing the culture of losing game plan. The Clippers have defeated the Lakers, Heat, Blazers, Thunder, and Nuggets this year; but tonight’s dismantling of the Jazz whom they’ve only beaten once in the last 20 years might be the official notice to the league that these are not your fathers’ (or grandfathers’) Clippers. It might be time to stop talking about who this team could be and start talking about who they are and where they’re going. To paraphrase several bad movies, “with great victories come great responsibility”. Now the Clippers have to take care of business, win at home, win against lesser opponents, and steal big games on the road. I’m done talking about if this team is or is not a playoff team. I want to look at the standings and discuss seeding and home court.

Any other year I’d be terrified of early success for the Clippers. I remember a few years ago when the opened the year with 4 straight wins before the bottom fell out. This year with the additions of CP3 and Chauncey Billups there seems to be room for cautious optimism. The biggest danger for the Clippers this year is going to be health. This team is not afraid of success. This team is ready for the big moment. This team wants to play a game 7. 

As for tonight’s game, Chris Paul was the ultimate hero. He controlled the game with his passing and closed it with his scoring.  His line of 34pts and 11 dimes is MVP worthy. Blake Griffin became a wrecking ball in the first quarter by completing five tremendous dunks, but the dunks actually had less to do with Blake’s ability to fly and more to do with CP3’s passing ability. Chris Paul is playing at such a high level that the game is actually easier for his teammates.

Obviously this was not an easy game and it was back and forth the whole way, and as it is my custom I have a few gripes. The Clips tend to come out with a very defined game plan, but once they have control of the game they devolve into heaving up 3pt shots. Coach VDN can’t keep CP3 and Blake on the floor for the whole game, but when they rest the team has to have SOME form of half court offense. The last few games have worked out with Mo Williams shooting the lights out, and Billups and Caron making clutch 3s. But some games (tonight) the Clippers aren’t going to shoot 50 percent from the outside and get 25pts from Mo. Everyone knows that Reggie Evans isn’t going to contribute anything on the offensive end, but what’s with Ryan Gomes, DJ, and Foye? Gomes and Foye were actually brought to this team last year to SCORE. These guys aren’t 20ppg guys, but they’re also NBA players so they shouldn’t shit their pants when the ball comes to them. Foye has been efficient in spots, but Gomes was actually kept out of the game the other night because he’s been such a liability lately (or as VDN calls it “match up problems”).

Negative thought: STOP GETTING KILLED IN TRANSITION!

Back to positivity. The last 6 minutes of this game are pure magic. Rarely in basketball do I get to say the words “smart play”. I actually said it twice. Once with about 20 seconds to go Chris Paul intentionally fouled Devin Harris, preventing the quick bucket or 3pt shot. Then a few seconds later, Blake took an inbounds pass and raced down the court for a lay up and a foul shot. The Clippers fans got nervous when time was running down, but the difference in this game (hopefully this year) was when the Jazz got incredibly lucky and knocked down two absolute blind heave threes, the Clippers made their free throws, stayed calm, and didn’t allow bad luck or bad karma to steal this win away. 

No rest for the weary, tomorrow is back at Staples, “The Revenge of the Nuggets”

All info redacted by SOPA and PIPA.

Chris Paul and Mo Williams redacted by injury.

Win redacted by Utah Jazz.