Inside the Third Quarter Drought

Kevin (and everyone else pushing the panic button), you are right that the Clips still have a ways to go for them to truly “gel”. Every game features plenty of wasted offensive opportunities due to poor shot selection, inability to swing the ball properly, overdribbling, and taking too much time before setting the called play. Hell, sometimes we’re treated to a combination of all four. I’ve watched all four games and have scratched my heads plenty of times at some of these possesions.

What really kills me is when the Clips swing the ball to the wing, and try to force an entry pass to the low post (usually to Kaman) where the low post defender is already shading/anticipating the pass. This leads to about 5 seconds of awkward interaction between the low post and the wing players: pass… don’t pass… pass… don’t pass…. and then.. BAM.. turnover! What needs to be done is to swing the ball back to the top of the key, which would allow for a much easier entry pass – even an occasional free path to the rim if the opposing D is slow to rotate. I learned this playing pickup ball… why can’t the Clips figure this out is beyond me.

Even with all their shortcomings – you can see chemistry starting to develop between the players. Everyone is starting to understand how to play off each (especially Baron and Kaman), some players know that they need to be agressive offensively (Gordon), and a pecking order has been established in the offensive sets (Kaman 1st, Gordon 2nd, Davis 3rd, Butler 4th, and Camby 5th). Although the core of the team has been together for two years, they’re still trying to play together due to the ridiculous amount of injuries last year – so I am cautiously optimistic that with more games under their belts, the Clips will start to play as a cohesive unit and reduce the amount of turnovers that is typical of the first four games.

It is indeed frustrating to lose the first four games when three of them should have been W’s, but keep in mind that the Clips would not even be in position to challenge for a W against these teams in the previous season. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the Clips got blown out by 30+ points in their first game against the Jazz, and 40+ points in their first game against the Lakers last year. A loss is a loss, but we were competitive in all those games – which endorses the notion the team is heading in the right direction.