When you consider the Clippers’ shot selection, early foul trouble and that they’re woefully undermanned, the first half goes about as well it can. The wrong guys take the wrong shots for much of the half, and Denver amasses a trove of free throw attempts. Yet the Clips protect the basketball and force the Nuggets into enough bad shots of their own to go into the half with a one-point lead. Offensively, Chris Kaman takes advantage of Denver’s decision to confront him with man-to-man coverage. He goes 6-for-10 from the floor, though the Nuggets keep him off the line. Apart from that, the Clippers get lucky that a few of their long 2-pointers fall.
Defensively, the Clips do alright. They’re the recipient of some bad decisions by Denver and some wide open misses (i.e. J.R. Smith’s 3PA at 2nd, 11:20), but there are also a sprinkling of good defensive possessions. Mardy Collins does some decent work on Carmelo Anthony during the possession that follows the blown rotation on Smith. A minute or so later, Collins plugs the passing lane on a Denver break and flips the transition opportunity in the Clippers’ favor. The sequence ends with Smith taking Chris Andersen off the dribble for an easy layup:
A commenter in the ESPN Live Daily Dime pleaded with me to table my Rhino Praise-athon (his language not mine), but there’s no denying that Smith has given the Clippers something they haven’t had in a very long time — a big man who can come off the bench and score one-on-one. He’s not perfect. To wit, there were a couple of times Nene’s superior length gave Smith trouble defensively, but Smith has been crucial to the improved play by the second unit. Tonight, despite everything else, the backups do fine.
The carnage begins in the third quarter, as Denver scores on 10 of its first 11 possessions, racking up 23 points over the first 5:21 of the period. Chauncey Billups accounts for 10 of those 23 points:
- A pair of free throws when he beats Baron Davis off a high screen, then seals a recovering Baron off along the baseline.
- Two pull-up 3PMs in transition.
- Another trip to the line when he gets a pindown courtesy of Arron Afflalo and draws contact on Marcus Camby on the switch.
But things truly begin to unravel when Ricky Davis floats aimlessly into the middle of the floor to do whatever it is Ricky Davis allegedly does when he decides to straddle the help line, as if his presence beneath the hoop is going to deter Denver from continuing to attack the Clippers inside:
Ricky does very little to help the Clippers tonight. His catalog of shot attempts is atrocious — a bevy of long jumpers many of the them early in the shot clock without even a glance to see if the Clippers have anything else on the floor. Is Ricky Davis under the impression that the Denver Nuggets won’t yield him 18-footers later in the shot clock cycle? Does he believe that Chris Kaman down low isn’t a better place to initiate the offense on a given possession — a strategy that might still afford him his precious shot attempts two feet inside the arc and, in fact, offer him an even better look if he fades to a spot behind Kaman for a kickout, a la Eric Gordon?
Here’s an example of the Clippers’ lackluster halfcourt strategy in the third quarter. Denver has decided to become more aggressive on Kaman. On this possession with Denver leading by 13 at the 5:21 mark of the third quarter, the Nuggets trap him off the right block. Does any Clipper come to Kaman’s aid to alleviate the pressure?
That the answer is no is ironic, given how eager the Clippers are to shoot jump shots from the perimeter. Here’s a catch-and-shoot opportunity for someone — anyone — who’s willing to dart back over to the ball side. Kaman shares some culpability, but to abandon your big man in that situation demonstrates a complete disengagement from what’s happening on the court. Billups PU3IT off the turnover stretches the Denver lead to 16 and effectively buries the Clippers.
The Clippers are 9-1 with the Baron-Gordon-Butler-Camby-Kaman starting lineup, but 10-22 when that unit isn’t intact, and 3-7 without EJ. The Clippers’ perimeter of Baron Davis, Ricky Davis, Butler and Thornton combine to shoot 8 of 36 from the floor. Many of those selfish attempts are ill-advised, early in the shot clock and without an awareness of what’s available on the floor. Gordon’s absence certainly makes the halfcourt game tougher, but the Clippers never give themselves a chance.
12 Responses
I know its the back end of a rough back to back so I can understand the Clips for playing with not much energy… but it’s not like Denver was playing with much energy either. The truth is, the team folded after the half and literally stopped playing. Had the Clips maintained their level of energy from the first half, the Denver game was very winnable. Denver only needed to make one push, which they did at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, and the Clips called it in. Shameful. I hate to say it, since I’m a big BD fan, but I have to pin this loss on him. As the leader of the team, it is imperative that he leads by example and keeps pushing when the others around him are slowing down.
Curtis Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:24 am
I couldn’t have said it better myself RL.
I’m no guru or basketball expert by any means, but those two vids really make you question the common sense of the team sometimes. I know they’re tired and playing an away game, but the truth is, if the team can be ahead by 1 going into the second half, there’s no excuse for losing 20. Win or lose, at least make it respectable.
rmb Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 am
Gordon & Butler play D and they give Baron what he needs on the court. You can’t expect the same from Ricky & Thornton. And Denver employed pretty good strategy
to confuse Kaman further. Baron can’t do everything by himself.
Inspite of loss, I like Clippers attitude. Just because it’s on TNT(with those self-serving
broadcasters who repeat ‘BAD TEAMS’ million times), doesn’t mean you expend all your energy and keep losing rest of winnable road games. Without Gordon, it’s going to be tough & frustrating.
FireDunleavy .com Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:46 am
Isn’t the coach supposed to be the leader of the team?
TNT will never have the Clippers on again.
RL Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
FD, yes and no. Of course Dunleavy has to lead in terms of X’s and O’s, but in terms of a team’s desire to push and play hard, I believe that has to come from the leader on the floor. The Lakers got Kobe, Cavs got Lebron, Nuggets got Chauncey, Portland got Roy, Suns got Nash… you get the idea. It’s the one player the others look to when things go south. What he does, they follow. Unfortunately, BD folded… and so the rest of this team followed suit. This is an area that Baron needs to work on. He needs to be able to carry the Clips mentally and push through the tough stretches. To his credit, Baron has done a fairly decent job of carrying the team when they go through these rough stretches (see Bulls game, Memphis game with the water main fiasco). He just needs to step it up a notch and do it consistently.
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 1:27 am
I think they were tired thats a given but all together defensively neutered by the refs. Our defense is how we win games and if we can’t play defense because big men in foul trouble then its game over most times. They literally played 3 minutes in the 3rd and got a 20 point lead. I love how we are described by carmelo saying we shouldn’t lose to “teams like these”, everyone expects us to lose by 20 even tho a few years ago the nuggets were miserable. this guy’s ego is far bigger than his game and these free throw matches disrespect clipper fans cuz we play great defense and get shafted by every prima donna with a big shoe contract.
stillaclipfan Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:45 am
Very true to me carmelo is just overrated.
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 8:32 am
Watched first half then turned it off because I knew what was coming. I’ve never seen a team with less heart to compete. Sad.
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 11:36 am
I agree. It has gotten to the point were i turn the game off. I get in a bad mood and its not worth it. These guys have not heart. They need to learn to play with that hunger. It has taken me a long time, But now what everybody says is true. Things will never change with this group of management and owners. When it seems that things are changing you get a bit of bad news (Blake) and things effect everybody. Other teams have injuries and they find a way to pull together and win,Portland for example. We need to find a person who has the eye for heart. Players that want to win. Until that happens we will be the same old CLIPPERS.
Good luck
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 1:32 pm
funny…when i saw 2 of those 3 play develop/happen, i thought to myself, KA needs to break that down tomorrow morning! I have you to thank for looking at the game with a fine tooth-and-comb…Great job KA and DJ!
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm
just read this article you all might like. glad kaman is speaking up for himself as well as others.
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/01/22/kaman-says-gasol-not-all-star-worthy/
Posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Baron needs to read this article, he can learn a thing or two from Kobe: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AhGZaFcUXq_HqYffefLi1Ey8vLYF?slug=aw-kobelebronw012210&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 12:44 am
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