New Orleans 108, Clippers 100

The Clippers are a tough team to get a handle on, even this far into the season.

We’ve seen good Baron Davis (like tonight), and we’ve seen bad Baron Davis. We’ve seen stretches where the Clippers played borderline great defense (like the stretch of wins where they slowed down Kobe, Roy and Wade) and we’ve seen stretches where the Clippers played absolutely awful defense (like when they let Minnesota score 111 and win).

From a fan perspective, the Clippers have been infuriating to follow, and I choose the word infuriating for a reason. Last season the Clippers were just depressing to follow. The effort was poor, the personnel wasn’t great…it was just a depressing team to follow. This year, that’s not the case. The personnel is much improved. Maybe not playoff worthy, but talented nonetheless. The effort is almost always there. For all the Clippers issues, it’s been rare to see games where the team looked like they just didn’t care. Watch some tape from the 2008-2009 season compared to this season and you can tell the effort is lightyears better.

Through the course of the season, I’ve harped on three main reasons that I think explain why the Clippers aren’t very good.

1. Turnovers.
2. Defensive rebounding.
3. Baron Davis’ shot selection.

Then something like tonight happens and screws with my whole theory.

Tonight the Clippers turned the ball over only eight times all game. They kept Okafor and West off the offensive glass and only gave up six offensive rebounds to the Hornets. Baron Davis shot 14 times, but only took three of his attempts outside of the paint.

As far as my list goes, you really couldn’t ask for a more perfect game. Yet the Clippers still lost.

There’s a stretch in the fourth quarter that dooms the Clippers’ chances. Ironically enough, it starts with two Chris Kaman free throws. Kaman’s been in a slump, but it’s not hard to figure out why: He’s shot just three free throw attempts in his last five games. That’s 139 minutes of playing time for Kaman, a 7-footer mind you, and just three free throw attempts. I don’t need to expand on the absurdity of that.

Anyhow, here’s the stretch that puts the Clippers away in the fourth quarter:

[7:28, 4thQ] The game is tied at 87 a piece. Marcus Thornton comes off a high pick at the top of the key that the Clippers get hung up on. We often harp on the bigs and their pick and roll defense, but the Clips perimeter players are some of the worst in the league at avoiding and getting through screens. Gordon gets hung up on the high pick, and Marcus Thornton turns the corner and penetrates. Baron comes off his man to stop Thornton’s penetration, and Morris Peterson is suddenly all alone in the left corner for an open three. It’s good.

[6:39, 4thQ] Tough to argue with this one. Thornton shoots a three from about 30 feet that falls in. He gets a lot of good looks on the evening, but this isn’t one of them. Still, the Hornets go up six and the Clippers call timeout.

[5:54, 4thQ] Darius Songaila receives the ball at the top of the key. Chris Kaman is standing at about the free throw line, daring Songaila to shoot. Songaila isn’t effective from NBA three-point range, so he makes the shot more manageable for himself by taking one dribble in and firing. Kaman doesn’t close out, and the shot is good.

Let’s summon Hubie Brown for this one. Okay, if I’m Chris Kaman, I have to ask myself this: Do I care if Darius Songaila tries to blow by me with the dribble and attack the rim? Because I shouldn’t. Now Songaila isn’t the best perimeter shooter, but I have to take my chances by staying up on the jumper and forcing Songaila to beat me as a playmaker.

[5:18, 4thQ] Another late closeout by the Clippers perimeter defenders, and Marcus Thornton nails a three from the wing.

And just like that, what was once a tie game turns into an 11 point defecit in less than two minutes. The Hornets shoot an insane 69 percent from the field in the second half, mostly from jumpers. If Darren Collison hits mid-range shots, it’s understandable. Because of his incredible quickness, you want to give him plenty of breathing room. But the ghost of Mo Peterson can’t hit you for 17 points.

The Hornets hit a ton of perimeter shots, but a few extra steps teamed with a little more aggression could have made those looks even tougher. In the first half, the Clippers did a better job of closing out and scrambling. The second half, not so much.

Really though, it’s tough to win when such a critical part of your offensive game plan goes ice cold like Kaman did tonight. Kaman finished 3-for-15 from the field and 0-for-12 on attempts that weren’t dunks. Quite literally, Kaman couldn’t hit a shot all night. It’s a tricky situation to be in: Do you play DeAndre Jordan instead of Kaman down the stretch, or do you ride out Kaman’s bad night in hopes he’ll start making shots? These types of decisions aren’t easy.

In a way, this Clippers season has been akin to a leaking roof. Certain holes get patched up, but a new leak always springs up. Baron plays his best game of the season, Kaman plays his worst. Eric Gordon comes back from injury, Craig Smith goes missing. And like that it goes on and on, and on and on.

Quick Thoughts

A few quick things from the Clippers 108-100 loss to the Hornets:

• The Good – I’m a little sick of speculating on what motivates Baron, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’m guessing the combination of Baron playing at home, playing against his former team, and playing against fellow UCLA Bruin Darren Collison did the trick tonight. Baron’s stats were the good kind of ridiculous: 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting, 17 assists, and only one turnover. What was the difference offensively? As usual, it was because he got into the paint and created. Baron shot only three attempts outside of the paint for the Clippers. That’s the kind of ratio needed for Baron to regularly shoot a high percentage from the field. Sadly for Baron, the great night came in a losing effort. Tonight marks the first time in Baron’s ten-year career in which his team has lost when he’s tallied at least 15 assists.

• The Bad – The Hornets shot 69 percent from the field in the second half. Seemingly every perimeter look went in, especially down the stretch. The Clippers’ defensive rotations just seemed a bit slower in the second half. Perhaps it was fatigue, as the Clippers uncharacteristically played only 8 guys, one of them being Eric Gordon who hasn’t played in ten days.

• The Ugly – Chris Kaman couldn’t buy a bucket to save his life tonight. Kaman went 3-for-15 from the field tonight, with his only makes coming from dunks. That’s right: Kaman went 0-for-12 on non-dunk attempts. Wide open jumpers, easy layups, 5-foot jump hooks, it didn’t matter. Kaman missed them all.

Game Thread: New Orleans at Clippers

Game 68

7:30p PT

Fox Sports Prime Ticket

980 AM

Tune into ESPN 710AM from 5:30p – 7:00p to hear K.A. talk Los Angeles basketball

San Antonio 118, Clippers 88

What, if anything, do the Clippers do well on the defensive end?

Perhaps it’s not fair to raise this question after the Clips got lit up for 118 points, but let’s tackle it nonetheless.

Protecting the rim
The Clippers don’t have the personnel to do it. Chris Kaman may stumble into a few blocks, but he’s not exactly a weakside presence. Drew Gooden rarely leaves his feet to defend at the rim. Craig Smith is just too short. DeAndre Jordan is regularly out of position. The roster as currently constructed just doesn’t pose a threat to teams who want to penetrate and score at the hoop.

There’s a possession at [2:55, 2ndQ] that illustrates the problem. Spurs D-League call up Malik Hairston gets the ball on the right wing and runs a pick and pop with Matt Bonner. Rasual Butler gets caught up on the screen, so Drew Gooden switches on to Hairston. It’s a mismatch, but things develop slowly enough to where the other Clippers should have time to compensate by jumping into the paint and helping. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen though, as no Clipper comes over as Hairston gets into the paint with dribble penetration. Kaman arrives about three seconds too late and considers challenging the shot, but because he’s tardy he decides instead to let Hairston score on the easy fingeroll at the rim.

Transition Defense
The Clippers transition defense is usually decent, but tonight they let the ancient Spurs total up 36 fast break points. The Clippers suffer getting back on defense for a couple of reasons. If Baron drives to the rim, the wings don’t do a good enough job of rotating back up top to cover for him. Of course, Baron isn’t innocent here either. If he penetrates and misses, most times he’ll loaf his way back up court. Drew Gooden and Craig Smith are very serviceable, but they offer a tradeoff. Either you get aggressive offensive rebounding, or you get transition defense. You can’t have both.

Most of the night the Spurs transition opportunities come off turnovers, but during the Spurs important 14-4 run to end the first quarter, they get a transition opportunity off a simple miss.

At the [2:25, 1stQ] mark Craig Smith misses a sweeping shot across the lane against Bonner. DeJuan Blair secures the rebound. For some reason or another, Mardy Collins thinks he can challenge Blair for the board, and sticks around well after Blair gets his giant paws on the ball. Craig Smith is disappointed about not getting a foul call, so he stops and stares at the ref for a bit. DeAndre Jordan does his best pylon impersonation and stares at Blair as if he’ll be the one bringing up the ball and initiating the offense for the Spurs. While the three Clippers hang around in the backcourt, the Spurs’ wings fly up court. Blair delivers an outlet pass to Keith Bogans who takes over the middle of the floor, stops at the free throw line, and dumps off a pass to the streaking Bonner. Two points.

The most frustrating part about this play is that it’s not the SSOL Suns team: It’s Keith Bogans and Matt freaking Bonner.

Perimeter Defense
The Clippers perimeter defenders looked like they were scared to close out on the Spurs shooters. Earlier in the season, you could tell Rasual Butler wasn’t hesitant to really sell out and chase people off the line. Now though, without the faith of knowing the defense behind him is strong? Not so much.

Richard Jefferson and George Hill torch the Clippers in the first half with a bunch off long, relatively uncontested twos. Are you happy with allowing these shots considering it’s the most inefficient place on the court to score from? I suppose, but it’s troubling that the looks aren’t just clean; they’re immaculate. Hill and Jefferson are going to make a lot of shots if you don’t get a hand in their face, and tonight they did just that. Richardson went eight-for-fourteen from the field for 18 points, and Hill went six-for-eight from the field for 14 points.

Rotations
Painfully slow. The Spurs obviously did a good job swinging the ball and making the defense move, but on most possessions it didn’t take much. One or two passes teamed with a little bit of penetration usually led to a wide open shot. Again, this is all about the personnel selling out and having faith in each other. Right now, it looks like no one wants to be the guy that lets “their man” score. If someone else scores though? So be it.

It’s that selfish attitude that materializes on both ends of the court that really makes the Clippers what they are right now. It’s not just one guy. It never is. If there’s anything we should learn from this season and games like this one, it’s that.

Game Thread: Clippers at San Antonio

Game 67

5:30p PT

Fox Sports Prime Ticket

980 AM

Charlotte 106, Clippers 98

Charlie Widdoes composed this recap of the Clippers’ loss in Charlotte:

Clippers fans are all too familiar with this phase of the season. Out of playoff contention for a while now, the mission inevitably shifts to building for the future. Sure, Neil Olshey and Donald Sterling talk about “winning now,” but what they really mean — or should mean — is that they want to develop a level of play and effort that can be translated into a better record next year. To fans, it adds a different dimension to viewing, for sure. As Ralph Lawler pointed out at one point in the second quarter, the Clips had “four free agents-to-be and DeAndre Jordan” on the floor, another indication that the focus has indeed shifted.

It’s no wonder the Bobcats won tonight. Not unlike Wednesday in Miami or countless games before that, the Clippers demonstrated inferior effort and execution on both ends of the floor. They turned the ball over 23 times against a disciplined and motivated team striving for a playoff berth. From the opening tip, the Clippers showed no desire to get back on defense, as evidenced by the play at (1st, 6:20) when Drew Gooden takes a lazy stroll downcourt off a Clippers’ miss. When he finally arrives, he jogs over to double Gerald Wallace, who is 17 feet from the basket posting up Travis Outlaw. Gooden is completely oblivious to the trailing Boris Diaw, who drains an uncontested 3.

It’s possible that the best defender for the Clippers tonight was the lane: Charlotte was called for six 3-second violations. It should be mentioned that the best player on the court may have been Wallace, who scored 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting, with four steals, all in the first half.  The outcome was hardly in question, but it did offer more answers to those of us looking towards the future.

Baron Davis
By virtue of his contract, Davis is unlikely to go anywhere in the next few years. Tonight’s game, though, continues to raise doubts about his ability to lead a consistently winning team. His line of 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting, with seven assists and five steals speaks to his capacity to dominate. But despite being able to get to the hoop and create for others, Davis can also singularly take his team out of the game. The Clippers again fail to protect the ball, and Baron’s four turnovers played a big role. As the point guard, it’s Baron’s job to control the flow of the offense. Baron’s five steals suggest he was strong on defense, but he never once engages in a prolonged effort from to take charge defensively.

The most troubling aspect of Davis’ game — and personality, really — is his body language. He frequently chooses to dribble backwards off high screens, and in many cases lacked purpose with his actions. His tendency to let the shot clock run down, thus limiting the quality of shot the team can get, seems chronic and hurts offensive continuity.  The play on which he gets stripped by Wallace and then eventually commits the flagrant foul that ends Wallace’s night is just one example of directionless dribbling leading to a turnover. At one point in the third he throws up his hands in frustration, causing Ralph Lawler to remark, “People who say he doesn’t care just don’t know Baron.”

I have never questioned that Baron cares, but I do wonder whether he fully grasps his potential to be the best player on the court. Baron has the unsettling propensity to make things more difficult than they need to be. I remember Sam Cassell would get into his teammates’ faces for mistakes, but he often responded by hitting elbow jumpers that led the team to victory.  With Baron, it seems like he has no problem showing emotion or jawing with the refs, but struggles to make the plays needed to win games.

Eric Gordon misses his fourth consecutive game.
Playing without Gordon leaves the Clippers at a disadvantage on both ends.  Without his strong perimeter defense, Charlotte is able to penetrate at will, which leads to layups for D.J. Augustin and Raymond Felton or easy dump-offs for layups and dunks. It’s clear that the Clippers’ bigs are slow to rotate, but the Bobcats are able to get into the lane too frequently.  On the offensive side, Gordon’s absence exposes the flaws in Rasual Butler’s game. When forced to make plays off the dribble, Butler loses most of his effectiveness, and that is apparent tonight. True to recent form, Butler hit three threes, but is unable to create for himself off the bounce, and a few of his long misses lead to transition points for Charlotte.

In regards to Gordon’s injury situation in general, I find myself wondering if it might be time to shut him down for the year. We know that he rushed back from his foot injury earlier in the year while the team was on the marathon east coast road trip and still had playoff aspirations. Dain Blanton now reports that an MRI shows cartilage irritation in Gordon’s right leg.  At the very least, you have to assume he will take his time coming back, but I could certainly see the logic in sitting him for the rest of the year if it means he will be healthier in the long term.

Clipper big men
Chris Kaman is relatively silent, especially during the second half, during which he notches his first points with 3:24 left in the fourth.  He scores 13 to go with 11 boards, but you get the feeling that, with a few more touches, he could do more damage against the Bobcats’ centers.  Craig Smith is a tough cover for Tyrus Thomas, but Smith, along with DeAndre Jordan, draws the ire of Coach Hughes for being slow on defensive rotations. Drew Gooden has a very efficient offensive night, with 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the floor.  Many of his shots come around the basket, and his activity on the boards is solid for the most part.  The fact that Charlotte gets so many layups and dunks reflects poorly on the defensive effort of the Clippers’ bigs tonight.