The first two 3-pointers in Cleveland’s record-setting first quarter, during which they drained 11 of 13 from beyond the arc, come in identical fashion:

Shaquille O’Neal has DeAndre Jordan posted up on the left block. The Clippers send help in the form of one of their guards — Eric Gordon on the first (1st, 8:05), Baron Davis on the second (1st, 7:36). Once the double-team arrives, O’Neal kicks the ball out — to Anthony Parker on the first, then to Boobie Gibson on the second. These shooters have found some open space along the arc behind the stretched Clippers’ defense. In both instances, better communication between Gordon and Davis might have given the Clippers a chance to close out more aggressively.

The Cavs drain 3s on their next five possessions:

• (1st, 6:59) LeBron James chases a loose ball all the way to the right corner. In one motion, collects the rock, turns and launches an off-balanced shot with :14 still remaining on the shot clock.
• (1st, 6:37) Gibson gets a feed in a transition from James on a draw-and-kick for a PU3IT. It’s hard to fault the Clippers’ defense on the break too much. With James driving down the gut of the court, DeAndre Jordan assume his spot in the lane, while Gordon backpedals to stay in front of James and Rasual Butler picks up J.J. Hickson, who’s running toward the rim. In motion, James snaps the pass with his right hand. It hits Gibson directly in the hands just as he steps up to the line — perfect spot and perfect timing. James’ assist numbers and unselfishness are widely (and rightly) praised. What’s less spoken of is the uncanny precision of his passes.
• (1st, 5:48) A contested 27-foot hurl by James with Butler contesting. To give you an idea, I was watching the game with a Cavs partisan who, prior to the attempt, yelled at the screen, “Don’t take that!”
• (1st, 5:30) James PU3IT from 26 feet.
• (1st, 4:48) Hickson dishes the ball over to James, who’s about 30 feet from the basket. Butler defends James precisely where he should — his front foot straddling the arc. Butler offers James enough room to shoot at 30, but plays far enough off him to challenge him off the dribble (or at least try) or close quickly on any jumper from 25-28 feet. James opts for a 30-foot attempts and it falls.

That’s 21 points on seven 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. The Cavs lead 30-11, and it gets worse from there. A few minutes later, Cleveland strings together 14 points on its five final possessions of the period — four of them resulting in 3-pointers:

• (1st, 2:26) Ricky Davis gets caught drifting in no-man’s land — a place he finds himself all too often. With plenty of room, Jawad Williams gets into the act, nailing his first shot of the game.
• (1st, 1:47) Ricky strikes again. He never follows Jamario Moon to the right corner, which sets up Moon for an easy look.
• (1st, 0:47) Al Thornton is considerably more attentive than Ricky Davis was. Moon is a 32 percent shooter from 3-point range, and Thornton gives him just enough room, but remains in close enough proximity to challenge the shot. Doesn’t matter. Moon drains the Cavs’ 10th 3-pointer of the first quarter.
• (1st, 0:05) Final possession of the quarter for Cleveland. Cavs go 1-4 flat, and James waves off any potential high screens from teammates. Faced up against Baron Davis, who confronts James in prime defensive position, James steps back from 30 feet and knocks down a bomb that ties the NBA record for most 3-pointers in a quarter.

After that outlandish 3 by James to cap off the period, the Cavs lead 46-20.  The Clippers, who enter the game the 4th-ranked defense in the League guarding the line, get absolutely blitzed. 11-for-13 is astounding and you won’t find that kind of accuracy in most shootaround settings.

It’s hard to sugarcoat this loss, but there are some positive morsels to collect from the final three quarters of a game whose degree of difficulty (at Cleveland) is arguably the highest on the schedule.

Some things to feel okay-to-good about headed to Chicago

• The Clippers put up a fight, even when they’re down 30. Although this road trip has offered some nightmarish flashbacks to last season (11.27.10 at New Jersey; first half, 11.29.10 at Minnesota), the Clippers grit their teeth on Sunday and show a lot of life, particularly coming out of the locker room to begin the second half. They tighten the perimeter defense and are far more careful deploying double-team on O’Neal, keeping a watchful eye on potential recipients of kickouts. As a result, the Clips get stops on seven consecutive possessions, allowing them to build a 12-0 run to start the half.
• The false debate in the Clippers’ camp between set and free-flowing offenses aside (more on this tomorrow at ESPN Los Angeles), both camps gets precisely what they want offensively during this stretch. The Clippers score on six of seven possessions before Cleveland calls a timeout to regroup. On each of those six scores, the Clippers use no more than 11 seconds of the shot clock. And each of the buckets occur either in transition or in early offense situations. How come?  Defensive stops (see above).
• The Clippers are now 0-6 without Chris Kaman. NBA teams should be able to compensate for injuries (see Portland, Houston), but the Clippers have a particular problem that compounds Kaman’s absence. Neither Gordon, Butler or Camby have serious post games. Only Davis and Craig Smith can do much of anything down on the block, which limits the Clippers’ options in the halfcourt. If Kaman can’t go Tuesday night against Chicago, I’d take my chances with Smith against Taj Gibson at the 4. Their rebounding rates are comparable, and Smith would give the Clips a strong one-on-one option down low to challenge the Bulls.
• Baron Davis has asserted himself in an active leadership position that’s every bit as perceptible during these losses as it was during the feel-good wins earlier in the month. Whatever reputation for disinterest he’s acquired over the course of his career, you couldn’t find any trace of that in a game where the Clips were running huge deficits of 25-30 points for long stretches. A guy with a $65 million contract doesn’t deserve wholesale praise for that, but we can acknowledge it just the same.
• Gordon won’t put Sunday’s box score in his scrapbook, but he looks appreciably better, even with the 5-for-16 line from the field. There’s an especially encouraging sequence at the beginning of the fourth quarter. In transition, he spots up on the right side just behind the arc where he gets the dish from Mardy Collins (4th, 9:54). Gordon’s 3-ball hits off the back iron, and now Cleveland has an opportunity to run out on a 2-on-1 break. Gibson races the ball up the far sideline, but Gordon has quickly backpedaled to get himself between Gibson and James, who’s filling the near lane. As Gibson brings the ball up from his dribble to sling a cross-court pass to James, Gordon stuffs him. The ball kicks off Gibson and lands out of bounce, killing what seems like an easy Cleveland break. Rather than pout after a missed shot (something we saw a bit of in Minnesota), Gordon makes up the points on the defensive end. Although he hasn’t returned to pre-toe form, Gordon looks much more like himself Sunday — in control, smarter shot selection (once he abandons that floater he went to early on a couple of occasions), energized defense (even when he’s overmatched against James 1-on-1).
• Another notch for DeAndre Jordan. Ideally, the turnover rate should come in below 20, and headed to 15 (it’s 22.9 on Sunday), but he bodies up respectably against one the game’s iconic big men. His 13 boards help the Clippers keep the rebounding battle essentially even (advantage Clippers when you consider the disparity in missed shots on the respective ends of the floor), and stays out of foul trouble. These are important games for Jordan. Though I’d prefer to have seen Smith out there against Hickson, the investment in DJ probably has some long-term value that starting Rhino wouldn’t offer.

Game 47

3p PT

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980 AM

I haven’t spent a great deal of time watching Minnesota in recent weeks, so prior to the game, I logged onto John Krolik’s Cavs the Blog to get an impression of how the Clippers might recover from the meltdown in East Rutherford Wednesday night. While the Clippers were being roundly humiliated by the Nets, Minnesota loss in Cleveland, 109-95:

Of the Cavs’ 109 points, only 25 of them came on shots outside of 10 feet.

The Cavs made 25 of their 32 shots at the rim … Basically, the Cavs got 70 of their points at the rim, and converted 78% of their opportunities at the rim.

The Timberwolves are 9-38 coming into Friday night for a lot of reasons, but few more fatal than their inability to protect the basket. That’s a weakness that the Clippers can take advantage of and, sure enough, 15 percent of the Clippers’ total wins this season have come against Minnesota. Chris Kaman’s absence (sprained ankle he suffered in the New Jersey game) makes the task to exploit the Wolves inside a little more difficult, but the Clippers’ guards, Baron Davis and Eric Gordon, should be more than capable of penetrating through the Minnesota backcourt. Al Jefferson is slow from the weak side, and the Wolves don’t have anyone among the league’s top 40 shot blockers. It’s the kind of night when Baron and EJ should combine for 20 attempts from the stripe, with some production from Al Thornton at the 4 on the kinds of post-ups he was executing successfully before New Years, and Craig Smith’s usual high-percentage diet of Nerf ball against hapless defenders down low.

The Clippers come out of the tip and do virtually nothing in the paint. They try to hit Brian Skinner on a little baseline cut, and are successful one of two times. But neither Baron nor EJ can finish at the rim on their three attempts after slicing through the Wolves’ defense. Apart from Craig Smith taking Kevin Love off the dribble one-on-one, the Clippers settle for a slew of outside jumpers — a few of them open looks (i.e. 1st, 6:19/Gordon 3PA), but there’s a great deal of settling, an epidemic that continues into the second period. The Clippers finish the half 6-for-21 outside the paint.

More than the shot selection, the same malaise that plagued the Clippers Wednesday night hangs over the first half in Minneapolis. Over his first 100-odd games in the NBA, Gordon has never given off the impression that he’s a dense or low-IQ player who lacks court awareness. But for some inexplicable reason, he races the ball upcourt off a Minnesota bucket with 24.9 seconds remaining in the first quarter, then tries to skid a cross-court pass to Thornton. The ball caroms off Kevin Love and ends up with Minnesota. Naturally, Love hits a 3-pointer with 0:02.7 remaining in the quarter.

Eric’s stroke lacks confidence from the outside right now, and even the open looks have become difficult. In the past, he’d take the ball hard to the rack in response to a slump, but Corey Brewer plays considerably further off Gordon than most defenders. At 6-foot-8, Brewer can close on a jump shooter about as quickly as any guard in the league. By positioning himself a few feet off his assignment, Brewer simultaneously induces jump shots and deters a guy like Gordon from putting the ball on the deck. Gordon still gets to the line for nine attempts, but sinks only three of them. He finishes with 17 points (6-19 FGA, 2-9 3PA, 3-9 FTA), three assists, only two rebounds, and a pair of turnovers. The Clippers need a little more from EJ Friday night, but Brewer’s length bothers him on both ends of the floor.

Even with the anemic offensive effort, the Clippers should be able to beat Minnesota with defense. Minnesota is a team slowly learning a new system without the personnel to run it effectively. This dynamic translates into an offensive efficiency rating of 97.3, ahead of only New Jersey. But just as the Clippers yielded a historically bad Nets team its most efficient offensive night of the season (110.8), they cough up 111 points in 100 possessions to Minnesota, its 3rd-most efficient performance since opening night.

There are games, usually at Staples Center, when the Clippers’ defense hums like a hive — the traps are early and aggressive, the perimeter rotations are sound, Marcus Camby has things covered within an eight foot radius of the basket. Tonight isn’t one of those nights. Camby somehow records five blocks, but his bruised ribs aren’t allowing him to lurch from the weak side in the manner he prefers. It’s apparent early on that Brian Skinner isn’t going to give the Clippers what they need, which is a little speed and mobility to counter the Minnesota spacing and movement — as disorganized as it is at times.

Brewer gives both Gordon and Ricky Davis trouble on the weak side as they drifted middle, and Ryan Hollins takes full advantage of the Clippers’ going small in Kaman’s absence. Hollins’ 19 points match his season high.

But the froth on those 111 points comes in transition, where Minnesota racks up 29 points. You might assume that the Clippers cough the ball up a bunch, but the Clips turn it over only 12 times in 100 possessions. What kills the Clips are the long misses that the Wolves quickly generate into fast break buckets.

The Clippers put up a fight in the third quarter behind Baron Davis. His 23 points are the most points in a quarter in Clippers’ history. Here’s how he does it:

Baron’s virtuoso performance is only modest consolation. Friday night is the kind of game that can crater a team into oblivion, coming as it does on the heels of a loss to one of the worst teams of the modern NBA era. Respectability is a precarious thing for a team. The season could be lost for the Clippers in a hurry unless there’s a collective acknowledgment that these losses (a) indicate that even bad defensive teams can stop if you make yourself easy to guard, (b) confirm that you have to contest everything on the defensive end, no matter how inept you might think Keyon Dooling and Ryan Hollins are, and (c) don’t disqualify you from future success.

The losses are in the books. Move on.

Game 46

5:00p PT

Fox Sports Prime Ticket

980 AM

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Basketball writer and Boston College partisan Michael Pina has penned a love letter to Craig Smith at Hardwood Paroxysm:

Craig Smith is the most offensively gifted reserve forward in the league (apologies to Carl Landry who plays nearly twice as much). His collection of scoring tactics are a grocery list that would make William Perry jealous.  When the ball is in his hands and the basket is within 10 feet, there is nobody who one on one can shut him down.

It’s funny how the draft works though.  For a player to carve his own niche in the NBA it seems like he’s got to dig through a brick wall with a plastic spoon.  Despite what he displayed in college, players with weaker resumes like Tyrus Thomas and Josh Boone were taken above him strictly based on what they might grow to become.

…Four years later he’s now a 26-year-old in a contract year.  Whichever club decides to court him for the next three or four years will not be disappointed.  Sure defensively he can be taken advantage of if the other team’s got multiple giants, but on the whole he’s talented enough to tip the scales in a contender’s favor.

This past week against the Celtics and the league’s deepest, most devastating defensive front line, Smith beamed his game back to 2003 and treated his opponents like they were the Clemson Tigers.   He single-handedly kept the other L.A. team in the game with 10 straight points in the fourth quarter. Elusive up and unders, head fakes, ball fakes, shoulder dropping brute force aggressiveness, all were on display as the former Eagle did as he pleased.

Did Craig Smith take over a basketball game that featured a laundry list of all-star and hall-of-fame talent? Yes, yes he did.

From David Biderman of the Wall Street Journal:

The travails of the Los Angeles Clippers are well-documented. Not only have they had 17 losing seasons in the past 20 years, but they share a city and an arena with the 14-time NBA champion Lakers. But here’s a thought that might surprise both teams, if not the 3.8 million people in the city: The Clippers’ fans are the most loyal in town. In fact, they’re the most loyal in the entire league.

A study designed for The Wall Street Journal by sports-reference.com, an Internet sports database, looked at NBA teams’ attendance for the past 10 seasons. It then weighed certain factors like city population, arena capacity, prior winning percentage and whether there are other, competing teams in the same market. By those measures, Clippers fans are the most devoted, while Golden State Warriors fans are in second place. Presumably those teams get extra credit for continuing to post relatively strong attendance figures while sporting a combined winning percentage of .399 since the 2000-01 season.