Steve Nash simply wouldn’t let the Suns falter tonight, carrying them down the stretch by answering nearly every Clippers score with a bucket of his own. The Clippers controlled this game in every sense of the word, but just couldn’t put Nash and the pesky Suns away. The fashion in which the Clippers lost was unquestionably heartbreaking, but resist the temptation to throw the baby out with the bath water. The Clippers played really well tonight, significantly better than the majority of their outings last year. Yes, chances presented themselves, particularly from the free throw line (15-27) and in the form of a few missed bunnies down the stretch, but this game felt more like Steve Nash taking over as opposed to the Clippers falling apart. Frankly, the Clippers didn’t do a whole lot wrong down the stretch – Nash was just a little bit better. Let’s take a quick glance at what went right and what went wrong tonight.
The Good
- Marcus Camby was a difference maker both offensively and defensively tonight. On defense Camby blocked shots from the weak side, dove after multiple loose balls, and disrupted passing lanes all night. His slingshot jumper from 19 was falling, and it proved useful in drawing out his man to let Baron work in the post.
- Baron Davis is still figuring out if he can trust his jumper, but his play overall tonight was outstanding. Baron’s post play began to demand double teams, and his distributing out of those coverages was top notch. There were a few moments (like the steal resulting in a three from the corner) where you could literally see Baron’s confidence growing. Defensively, Baron seemingly had his hands on everything, knocking loose a lot of balls and coming up with 5 steals on the game. Nash was perfect in the fourth quarter, but to no fault of Baron. He was in Nash’s jersey every step of the way.
- The offense has a whole hummed tonight in all facets of the game. Fans clamoring for the team to run more got their wish, as the Clippers outscored the Suns 16-2 in fast break points. The passing on the break was crisp, and the discipline by the wings in filling their lanes was outstanding. The halfcourt offense sometimes tends to stutter, but tonight Dunleavy’s post heavy game plan paid dividends, as the Clippers shot an incredible 55.8% from the field with a lot of those looks originating from the block.
The Bad
- 15 for 27 from the free throw line. It’s a tired adage, but good teams knock ‘em down. Bad teams don’t. Don’t expect this to be a reoccurring theme however – the Clippers should normally be pretty solid from the line.
- DeAndre Jordan, zero minutes. Even though Kaman and Camby both enjoyed incredible individual games, you’d ideally like to see the young center get some playing time. The concern should be minimal here, as the healthy DNP for DeAndre should be a very rare occurrence. This does mark two straight games where Dunleavy has experimented with a small lineup to lackluster results. Against the Lakers, the Baron, Ricky Davis, Thornton, Butler and Kaman lineup struggled to mesh with each other. Tonight, it was Telfair, Rush, Thornton, Butler and Smith. This particular lineup quickly lost the first quarter lead the starters built, and Rush took the brunt of it with a -8 +/- in 3 minutes.
- The Suns bench players gave the Clippers reserves and starters trouble all night long. Dragic (+9), Clark, (+11), and Dudley (+12) provided big contributions for a Suns bench that is largely considered a question mark. The depth of this Clippers team is a strength, but tonight they were outworked handily.
The end result tonight was less than desirable, but if the Clippers can sustain the level of play seen tonight they’ll win these types of games more often than not. It’s a stretch to call this a fluky win for Phoenix, but the Suns truly were outplayed for the most part and were fortunate enough to be bailed out by some Steve Nash heroics. The Clippers next shot at redemption and first win will be Friday at Utah.
45 Responses
The great thing about basketball is that you can be screaming at how horrible a shot Butler takes, but suddenly jump for joy over the tie.
That said, I remember only two times in the game, both in the third, butler hit a drive and kick three. His other points were off the dribble, trying to create for himself. Dunleavy has to find a better way to drive and kick or post and pass out to a Butler or a Gordon for the jumper.
But overall good game. Let Gordon learn how to be the closer as soon as possible. Kaman jump shot is there but I’d much rather see him aggressive to the basket. Camby/kaman may not rotate out to the three to contest a phx 3 but Blake will in 6 weeks.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 7:13 am
How can you seriously claim Baron was in Nash’s jersey every step of the way? His defense on the game winning play/shot was non-existent. His shooting was terrible once again. THREE for 19 for the season!
Steve Nash is everything Baron Davis never was and never will be – a game changer and clutch as hell. Stick Nash on the Clippers and Baron on the Suns and we win this game by 30. Easily.
Of course, not even Nash’s perfect 4th quarter should’ve been enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for the Suns. But, this is the Clippers and this team will find ever new ways to lose games they have no business losing. Choke City is alive and well!
Mind boggling.
VH Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:29 am
I disagree. Baron forced him left and out of the lane which is all we can ask for. It was the help defense that didn’t get there quick enough. With the hand check rule, pgs like steve nash are able to get by even stout defenders with relative ease, thats what the league wants.
Seth Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Wow do you have a man crush on Steve Nash? If you didn’t notice Dunleavy switched up defensive assignments in the second half. He put Gordon on Nash. Plus, that last play was a contested shot, our defense collapsed on that play and only Nash is lucky enough to make it. Baron did a good job and Kevin is right, I think his confidence is getting back up there. 12 pts, 12 assists, 5 steals. Come on man give me a break, quit hating Baron.
in LB Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Nash is a stud! But, he is older and can not give the same minutes and defense that he used to. You should have noticed that Nash did not try defending Baron, yet Baron defended Nash.
The last shot by Nash was defended well. The shot was made underehand away from 3 players and he never even looked up. If it was anyone else I would have said it was a lucky shot, but even for Nash that can not be a high percentage shot.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Heartbreaking loss last night. We had the game and blew it. I’m still not to down on it though. We still have a team that’s learning to play together and there aren’t going to be many nights where we shoot like that from the line. The effort is there right now and as long as we give that type of effort things will work out for the team.
A win in Utah would give us a nice confidence boost and maybe even a little swagger that we need.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 8:13 am
I don’t get all the optimism. That’s something you have to earn. I know it’s early and yeah we did play better than last year but I wipe my ass with moral victories. The fact is we cannot win games.
clipseshow Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:43 am
It’s early. The Cavs are 0-2 as well, and I have no doubts that they will make it into the playoffs. There are 80 more games to be played, and right now, optimism is all we have as Clipper fans.
I thought last night’s game was flawless, minus the free throw atrocity. Even Dunleavy’s substitution and playcalling was above my expectations.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 8:16 am
With the first 4 games being tough, I remember thinking 1-3 would be expected, our next 16 games we should literally go 12-4 +/- 2. I’ll take that. No need to get down until we have the first 20 in the can at which point we’ll see where we stand after our easier upfront schedule & we’ll be getting Blake back. That’s optimism, saying we cannot win games after 2 games of an 82 game regular season is negativity. Check yourself.
I say we spend the day off working on our free throws and have all of the players waiting at half-court while 1 guy goes up to shoot the free throw, like in a technical foul free throw, like we had many last night & I can recall Gordon & Davis & I believe Butler all missing.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Without Blake and without having a player like Kobe, LeBron etc., we have played extremely well.
Dunleavy still doesn’t get it. What wins the game at the end is not just by ‘team effort’.
Hope he learned something about an individual player who can take control of the game by sheer will of self driven aggression. Clippers historically disliked this kind of players. That’s why they traded Darius Miles.
I think Clippers being run by average personnels feel threatened by star players. Star players are self-absorbed, egotist and single track personalities. That’s why they are special and know how to win. If Clippers don’t learn how to embrace such players, they’ll never see the light at the end of tunnel.
That’s what missing in this team. Do we have such players in this team? You bet. But they are afraid of Dunleavy and don’t want to go against his command. Baron, Gordon, Griffin, Telfair and Thornton are such players. Given the freedom, they can play with more aggression. And aggression is the key to success in sports.
Javyg Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Darius miles are you serious?? He was fun to watch but that was it. He couldn’t shoot a jumper to save his life and had no work ethic. And get off dunleavys case he does a great job and has been positive ever since he came here. He has never given up on us in the past six years. Not one player can say the same.
gsr Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I like Dunleavy. He can be a useful Assistant Coach or Asst.GM in NBA. He lacks courage, conviction and creativity needed to win anything in sports world. He is a smart book-keeper. But has no tools necessary to win a close game.
A great coach turns an average player into an extraordinary. An average coach turns an extraordinary player into an ordinary one.
Who do you think Mr.Dunleavy is?
EXAMPLE: Last nite our 2nd unit began to demolish their 2nd unit during first few minutes of 4th. Realizing the danger, Gentry decided to go with his starters.
Dunleavy didn’t even wait for 60 seconds to do the same. Instead of leaving his 2nd units for few more minutes to test the strength level, he decided to go with his tired starting unit. Did he forget about back to back game impact on his players? Little things do matter. But he’s no Phil Jackson.
He’s a nice guy. He did great things for this team. Is that enough?
You decide.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 9:55 am
D.J. Foster, can you please make a post introducing yourself? It’s kind of strange expecting KA’s usual game breakdown and seeing someone else who seemingly came out of nowhere post one.
Newtybar Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 10:05 am
He’s been posting for awhile. He’s here to help KA post when he can’t do it
bonkrood Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 10:31 am
yea, i know he’s been doing it a while. but it’d be nice to learn a little more about the bloggers
D.J. Foster Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Hey Bonkrood – sorry for the delayed response. I’ll make sure I properly introduce myself soon – I think a great place to do that would be the live chats being held on gamedays.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 9:58 am
if you wanted a closer or an all around player the closest thing to that lately was Zach Randolph and he is gone. but agreed we need a all around main player like a kobe or lebron. if we trade 2 or 3 of the bench players for a good trouble maker like Zbo then maybe LA can shine
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Skinner, R. Davis are on top of my list for a solid trade
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 10:50 am
All in all, we should have won this game, but despite the loss, there are are a ton of things that can be taken away from this game. For example, in the first half, B. Davis was throwing up shots in usual form, but then in the second half, fans started to notice that he was becoming more shot selective and dishing the ball to Kaman. You can really tell that their was a transformation in him, and he was essentially making all the right plays. Similarly, he was getting the team fired up and making steals.
On a side note, even though B. Davis made all the right plays in the 4th quarter, those nail-biter situations are the time where B. Davis needs to take control of this team and explode, as Steve Nash demonstrated. Similarly, he needs to be the play maker in those final second situations. Whether it be him shooting the buzzer beater or dishing it off to an open player, he needs to be that guy that wins it for us. That’s what a leader does.
What’s great about this team is that we have so many quality players that anyone of them can take control of the game on any given night: i.e. Craig Smith, Marcus Camby, E. Gordon in the first two games.
If we continue to play this way, the games will start falling in our favor. Also remember, these first four match-ups are not going to be easy.
gsr Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Fully agree.
Our second unit is superior to Lakers and Suns. Dunleavy should take advantage of this bonus situation. But he’s a bald man no matter what falls on his head it simply doesn’t stick.
Chris. Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 6:51 am
our 2nd unit didn’t play superior to the suns, sorry.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 11:01 am
We need a new coach. Period.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Well the HD Primeticket broadcast was good.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Sorry but I don’t get the optimism either. In fact, I haven’t been this bummed about a loss since the Cleveland catastrophe last year.
How can you find a way to choke away a game in which you:
- shoot 55%
- get 45 points from Kaman and Camby
- have Butler chip in with 7 for 10 shooting and a huge 3 down the stretch
- hold Amare relatively in check
- have Baron dish out a dozen dimes with only 3 turnovers?
And it wasn’t even a surprise. Be honest. When the Clippers were up 96-90 with two minutes left, did anyone really believe we were going to win? Didn’t you just know we were going to find a way to screw it up?
And this was as much of a “must win” game that one can have 2 games into the season. We will be fighting with Phx for a play-off spot. Now, instead of being a half game up, we’re 1.5 games down. And don’t forget the tiebreaker.
And one last thing. The other teams’ last second plays always work – here Phx got a wide open 3 by Barbosa. Ours don’t – see EJ’s triple-clutch-awkward-hope-for-the-call-that-only-Kobe-gets foul, and EJ didn’t, three point attempt as time expired. Even Butler’s matching 3 resulted, not from a good play, but from one going absolutely nowhere. He just dribbled the clock down while everyone else stood still and then nailed a (lucky?) shot with Amare all over him. So, does Dunleavy draw up bad plays or do the players screw them up?
Ben S. Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Exactly …a couple friends were over watching the game and they were like
“why are you worried they are up with 2 minutes left…..”
and i was like “trust me….just watch this….”
and bam it happened….i was hoping i would be wrong but its so predictable…..
i think its a combination of Dunleavy fucking things up and the players just screwing it up too…
ima watch a couple more games and if the same ole thing continues …then its goodbye cable…
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I’m still wondering why Gordon didn’t get the foul call on one of his last drives to the basket. Maybe I didn’t see the play that well on TV, but it certainly felt like Gordon wasn’t getting any respect from the refs in crunch time.
SamMays Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I think you’re right. Gordon doesn’t get the respect he should get, but he seems to be earning it more and more.
On that last shot, he didn’t get fouled by Amare. They showed it in slow motion. It was a good no call and a bad play by Gordon to hold the ball for two seconds and never really make a move…
On the previous play, Nash clearly grabbed Gordon’t jersey and held him. The take down was less clear because it seemed to me that Camby set an illegal pick, pushing Nash into Gordon for the takedown…
In any event, I thought Baron was the guy we brought in to make the big play. Guess not.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I like Dunleavy’s forcing the issue with Kaman at the block all night. It was a good gameplan against the suns. He did a good job.
Baron looked very energetic covering nash all night. His jumper is shaky but get ready for a whole season of the guy we thought we were getting last year.
Gordon had a bad game, but he’ll bounce back…if he’d played like he does most nights we would’ve won that game.
acd Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
gordon had a bad game? did you watch the game? he had a GREAT game, with a horrible finish.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
The most annoying trend that irks me everytime is that WE CAN NEVER GET A STOP WHEN IT MATTERS and when we do and the other team misses we don’t get the rebound!!!
I mean cmon…that’s the most annoying thing ever
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Do or do not. There is no try.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Bottom line is, when you lead by six with two minutes, you have to win… At least you do if you want to be a playoff team.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
This team has enough fuels to win most games with Blake Griffin in the lineup.
Keep it around .450 until Blake returns.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Dunno if I really find this funny, but twiiter notmikedunleavy via 2 other twitter people found this Onioin clip on the clipper game last night:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/fatal_staples_center_collapse?utm_sour
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Here we go again running the players into the ground. Then we wonder why the players get injured. Play the fucking bench!!! The starters need to rest. Novak and DJ are just being wasted talent.
benoit benjamin's two left shoes Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Um, did you not notice that when Dunleavy put in the second unit, they got rolled? We built a nice lead in the first quarter, only to have the 2d unit give it all back and get outplayed by the likes of Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Earl Clark, and Louis Amundson (where’s ZBo to bitch-slap this guy when we need him?).
Pez Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Dunleavy wanted to win the game. I wanted them to win as well. Their best shot at winning was to continue playing Chris and Marcus, both of whom were having big games.
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
no jordan(last year it was Gordon until an injury)and only 9 minutes for Smith???????
Posted on October 29th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
There is just too much emphasis on Baron Davis. Whether he is fat or in shape. Whether his bad knee is working or not. Whether his foot hurts or not. Whether he will party with Jessica Alba or not. Baron is way overrated and Baron is way overpaid. As usual, the Clippers showed no acumen in signing Davis to the $65 million contract. Next to the Kandi man, Baron has been the biggest bust in LAC history.
Unlike Rick Fox, he is too goofy looking to have a successful transition to Hollywood.
SamMays Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Can’t help but agree. He’s also a nitwit. The best thing that could happen to us is that he’s motivated all year, does well and we move him out this summer while he’s value is recovered, because there is no way he’s going to be good for the length of his contract.
Posted on October 30th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Bring back Elgin Baylor. Elgin looked great sitting in the stands with his sweater watching the Clippers lose yet another game. I think somebody needs to tell Dunleavy that his hair is gone. It is time to shave his head instead of “slicking back” the remaining 3 hairs on his head. How would you like to be coached by a guy looking that ridiculous? Maybe Dunleavy can lure Stephon Marbury out of retirement since they are both from Brooklyn. Kaman needs to return to his Cave Man look. He just don’t cut it as a clean cut milky white guy. Prediction for 09-10 Won 10 Lost 72.
gsr Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Prediction for this season:
1. Lucas will be the head coach and Dunleavy will retain his GM position.
2. Clips will have 12-8 record before Blake returns. Post Blake record: 42-20
That gives us 54-28 advantage and #4 spot in the western conference.
3. Within few weeks, there’ll be a trade involving few prominent Clips. After that trade this Clipper team will be better and most feared team in NBA.
Ben S. Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 10:59 am
haha i like the way you think
SamMays Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Not sure where Dunleavy gets moved out in that scenario, but I’m all for your vision and I hope one of the prominent clips moved is Baron.
Posted on October 30th, 2009 at 6:43 am
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