Game 2

FSN Prime Ticket

KSPN 710

Baron Davis indulges blogGQ in a Q & A. The questions are pretty facile, including the perfunctory circa-2003 Frankie Munoz reference, but it’s still a fun read:

You signed with the Clippers thinking that you’d be playing with Elton Brand. But then he signed with Philly.

That was definitely disappointing. But I’m gonna bring a new generation, the new movement. For a long time, you never really saw the Clippers enjoy each other. With me leading, it’s gonna be fun basketball—play hard and play to win.

Okay… But playing for the Clippers has, historically speaking, had some drawbacks. The Lakers have Jack Nicholson. The Clippers have Frankie Muniz.

We all know this is Kobe’s city and the Lakers are kings in this town. I’ve always been considered an underdog in this league, so what better team to go to than one that’s always been an underdog? 

You went to Crossroads, a progressive private school, with Kate Hudson and Zooey Deschanel. Couldn’t you look them up?

They’re Lakers fans! They’re all Lakers fans.

Any truth to the rumor that you’re making a movie with James Gandolfini?

Yes. It’s Sonny Vaccaro’s life story—about the ABCD Camp.  

Tony Soprano as Sonny Vaccaro? Really?

Watch, watch. He’s gonna kill it. 

No word yet on the casting of Sebastian Telfair.

• Ramona Shelburne gets to the bottom of Marcus Camby’s bruised heel.   Camby is doubtful for tonight’s game.
• Al Thornton lost sleep over the Clippers’ lackluster performance Wednesday night.
• Carmelo Anthony will sit out tonight’s game at Staples, as he serves out his 2-game suspension for a DUI.  His replacement?  Linas Kleiza.  The last time the Clips faced Denver, Kleiza torched them off the bench for 15 on 7-11 shooting.  Thornton will have to be quicker on the rotation tonight.
• Jeremy from Pickaxe & Roll has some solid impressions from the Nuggets’ first game Wednesday night, a loss against Utah.  Among the insights: “Iverson is clearly not fully healthy,” and the Nuggets “seem to be challenging themselves to be a better defensive team.”
• Pregame meal suggestion.  The Omakase is a stellar value.   The live ama-ebi will still be twitching on your plate.  Literally.

During his tenure as the Clippers’ head coach, Mike Dunleavy has always preferred a more controlled offense. To a large extent that’s due to his natural inclinations, but it’s also been a function of the Clips’ personnel.  There wasn’t a member of the Cassell-Mobley-Maggette/Ross-Brand-Kaman core of 2005-2006 that didn’t benefit in some fashion from a set-oriented offense — be it the two-man game of Cassell and Brand, or the iso drives for Maggette.  The Clippers short-lived success was due, in large part, to the fact that all the notables on the roster were oriented toward this style of play.  But as I mentioned in the wrapup post last night, this Clipper team is a strange amalgamation of styles.

Mike Dunleavy is probably more aware of this reality than anyone and it’s his job to sculpt the team’s attributes — whatever they are — into something coherent.  That’s a process that will take time, given the team’s lack of familiarity with one another, to say nothing of the coach’s lack of familiarity with his roster.  As a Clipper fan, watching this process will be extremely frustrating, precisely because it will demand a lot of trial-and-error.  But as a basketball fan, it will be fascinating to watch.

Keeping in mind that Marcus Camby wasn’t on the floor and that his absence is considerable, what can we glean from last night’s game?   Let’s take a look at what Dunleavy ran to start the season:

• [1st, 11:35]  The new Clippers begin their season with a spread floor, then Tim Thomas moving into position for what looks like some elbow action just in front of Baron Davis.  Baron dishes the ball to Kaman, who is at the top of the perimeter, then dives to the hole.   But when Kaman realizes that Andrew Bynum is 15 feet away from him patrolling the paint and he’s got a direct line to the hoop, Kaman wisely puts the ball on the floor and drives hard to the hole — which is what you’d want him to do.  Only problem: Bynum recovers nicely and Kobe leaves Mobley in the right corner to help.  If Kaman had peripheral vision, he’d dish it to Mobley for the uncontested wide open 3PA — but instead he leans into the double-team and gets stuffed.    This is a broken play — again, a good opportunity for Chris to take advantage of his quicks — but he ultimately fell victim to his court vision…or lack thereof.
• [1st, 11:05]  Probably not what Dunleavy has in mind, but something he’s going to have to live with unless he’s prepared to wage all-out war with his best player.  Davis comes down, crosses over, steps back, and launches a contested 25-footer against Derek Fisher.  The ball clanks off the rim out of bounds.
• [1st, 10:35] Floppy Action.  Mobley crosses underneath and pops to the far wing, while Davis delivers the ball to Thomas on the perimeter.  Thomas has always been able to drive left with proficiency, and here he handles Pau Gasol off the dribble with ease.  Radmanovic steps in to help, but TT is already at the rim.  FGM
• [1st, 10:00] This looks like the same set that started the game.  Only this time Bynum is up top to guard Kaman when Davis dishes the ball off to CK and makes his dive past a TT elbow screen.  Gasol isn’t fooled, and TT isn’t able to get any space for himself when he receives the ball up along the arc from Kaman.  It’s worth mentioning that the Lakers have defended the S/R to perfection during their first two games.  It’s impressive.   So we move into the second phase of the set.  Kaman sets a nice elbow pin-down for Baron Davis, who pops back out.  Fisher fights through it, and recovers somewhat – but Davis has already taken a hard dribble up the gut of the lane.  When the Lakers converge on him in the paint, Davis kicks it out to TT, who gets a momentary look from the arc at :10.  He passes up the shot and, instead, drives left.  Radmanovic stays with him, so TT delivers a skip pass out to Mobley at :06.  Mobley drives, almost gets stripped, regains his footing, but puts up an awful, off-balanced shot at :02.TT collects the garbage and puts it up and in.Overall, the Clippers timing and execution left a lot to be desired.
• [1st, 9:12] This is a basic post-up for Mobley off the right post against Kobe Bryant.  Bryant is far too active for Mobley to work anything meaningful, so Cat kicks it back out to Davis, who launches it from…let’s call it 26.  No good.   Did the Clips have anything else?  Other than :11 seconds, nothing.
• [1st, 8:41]  The Clippers in a 3-on-2 transition.  It goes to Thomas, who’s the trailer on the play.  His dunk draws the back of the iron, but he’s fouled.  Thomas misses both and finishes an abysmal 2-8 from the line on the night.
• [1st, 8:22] Tough to tell because KTLA is tight on Radmanovic following his 3PM as the Clips get set up, but it looks like floppy action with Thornton crossing underneath to collect the ball from Davis on the left wing.  Radmanovic — who has looked solid defensively at the outset — gives Al nothing.  Al wisely returns the ball to Davis, and reposts.  Credit Baron for being patient here.  He’s going to need Thornton this season and once Al reports against Vlad, Baron dumps it back into him.  Unfortunately, Al still has nothing against Vlad’s length.  The Lakers almost appear as if they’re in a 2-3. Whatever the case, Gasol has allowed Thomas to float up to the top of the arc unfettered.  Al finds TT, who nails the uncontested 3PA. Good recognition.

It’s such an obvious statement that I’m almost embarrassed to state it but the Clippers looked like a team that’s never played together.  In that same spirit, it’s probably premature to make a categorical assessment of their ability to win basketball games this season.  But it’s still strange to go to a Clippers game and actually know the other team better.  

One of the central challenges of the season comes into focus early on tonight: Baron Davis and Chris Kaman will need to learn how to make do as a 1-5 combination.  This isn’t easy because Chris Kaman is a much better player in set situations than he is in a free-flowing, improvisational offense.  You can’t just thread the needle to Chris; he doesn’t have that kind of peripheral awareness right now.  But that’s how Baron Davis likes to operate in the halfcourt – which is why there are more than a few people who think the stylistic contrasts between Davis and Mike Dunleavy could complicate matters. 

There are moments when that tug-of-war surfaced tonight.  The Clips fall apart in the latter minutes of the second quarter.  It’s a spurt during which the Clippers set up very little on offense.  Baron has just accelerated a couple of transitional possessions that Dunleavy would probably have preferred to shape into something more material.  Just after Derek Fisher hits a 3PA to put the Lakers up 16 with 1:44 before halftime, Dunleavy goes back to something comfortable and nourishing — he has Cat dump it into Kaman on the right block.   It works.  Kaman backs Andrew Bynum in with his right shoulder, spins, then beats Bynum to just underneath the left side of the rim.  Bynum recovers nicely, but he’s a little late and fouls Kaman, though he gets a nice swath of the leather.  

An improvisational point guard can develop chemistry with a center who needs the ball ceremoniously dropped into the post.  It’s doable.  Both Davis and Kaman are talented players and it’s a process that’ll be made easier once Marcus Camby is on the floor.  But the Davis-Kaman tandem is a dynamic that will require management.  Kaman will need to be patient.  We’ve seen him frustrated before, but tonight he is wholly consumed by that frustration.  It borders on dark. 

We’ve all been dying to know what kind of stuff the Clips would run with the new personnel.  Tomorrow, we’ll break down what the team ran when the starters took the floor — to start the game, when they returned in the 2nd, then again out of the locker room after the half.

Game 1

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