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.
19 Responses
Despite these non excusable losses, that third quarter from Baron Davis was amazing. I’m still in awe about that.
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clippafan4life Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 12:54 am
agreed, too bad no one else got up after that
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Posted on January 29th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
23 points in the 3rd qtr? Definate props to Baron for trying to put the team on his back like a back pack .That was quite a performance.
This trip had the notion of ” make or break the season” , 6 games below .500 is a little
too much now to overcome..
Heres hoping for a miracle second half of the season.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Here’s to hoping the ping-pong balls fall our way again…
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Here’s to hoping Dunleavy is canned before the all-star break.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 10:08 am
When you are all done handing out the congrats to BD for his 23 in the 3rd, take a look at the rest of his game and his putrid 1st half…he scored 23 in a quarter and 28 for the game, what does that tell you all? He quit on the team in Jersey, sore knee my ass, didn’t look too sore in the 3rd quarter, now did it? DUNCEleavy is problem 1 and 1A, but this team goes nowhere with BD the fat quitter leading the charge…he is a cancer, has been everywhere he has been, will pollute Gordon, Griffin and whoever this springs lottery pick becomes. All he is a very talented pollutant, he doesn’t care about team, winning or chemistry…in order Baron cares about Baron, Baron, Baron, his ugly beard, Baron, Baron, and Baron.
Let’s see if DUNCE the GM has the smarts to move Camby for a pick before deadline…since there is ZERO chance he would resign here next season.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Well at least someone decided to show up in the 3rd quarter. Too bad everyone else was still asleep…
Is Dunleavy on his way out? His coaching has become quite ineffective and he lacks the ability to motivate his troops (would it hurt to slam and break a clipboard once in a while?). I’m no coach, but I get a sense that the majority of Dunleavy’s plays are not interchangeable and are too Kaman-centric. The plays also take too long to set up – leaving us with shot clock issues. The rest of his plays end up in isos… which is great if the player is KB or Lebron, but not too great if he’s Craig Smith or Al Thornton.
Its too late to do this in mid-season, but I feel the Clips could be very effective in a more free flowing offense. IMHO, implementing some sort of motion offense seems to be a good fit for the Clips. The constant cuts and screens would create: (a) open pop outs for our shooters, (b) mismatches in the low post, and (c) give and go opportunies to the basket.
Example:
1. BD passes the ball to Camby in the high post.
2. As the ball is being passed, Gordon swings from the wing and sets BD’s man for a backpick, generating a give and go opportunity.
3. If the give and go did not materialize, BD continues and sets a pick for Kaman (who is of course stationed near the basket), allowing him to pop out for his beloved 15 footer. At the same time, after setting the backpick, EJ should be able to pop out to the top of the key for an open J (EJ’s defender would naturally have to sag a little to prevent the give and go with BD). Camby has two options: first is EJ’s pop out for an open J, and soon after is Kaman’s pop out for his open J.
4. If the defense adjusts and prevents those opportunities, BD clears and swings out to the corner after setting the pick for Kaman, Camby dumps the ball to EJ at the top of the key, and sets a backpick for Rasual’s man.
5. From the top of the key EJ has two choices: dribble to the side of Kaman and set him up in the low post, or look for a quick pass to the cutting Rasual.
6. There’s a possibility that Kaman would have a mismatch in the low post – since BD’s man might have switched on BD’s pick for Kaman. This leaves the opposing D in a quagmire: (a) let Kaman take advantage of the mismatch, (b) sag off BD to cover Kaman’s mismatch, essentially giving BD an open J (a good choice, lol), (c) prevent the low post pass by having EJ’s man back off and front Kaman a little, giving EJ an open look, (d) have EJ’s defender crowd him, risking a dribble drive penetration from EJ, or (e) have Rasual’s defender leave him to double Kaman, allowing Rasual to cut to the basket freely. At this point, EJ has several possibilites and the Clips have the advantage over the opposing D and should end up with at least a decent look.
Simple motion offense set up, and it generates numerous scoring opportunities that fit our personnel (except for BD’s open J at #6). Thoughts?
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Dunleavy will probably stay because Sterling is going the buy the excuse that only an established coach/GM like Dunleavy will be able to a get one of the good free agents in the off season. I can see it now, Dunleavy tells everyone “We got Lebron!!!” a few days later he signs with the Knicks.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 11:23 am
[...] Take a look at Kevin Arnovitz’s take on last night’s butt-whooping of the L.A. Clippers. [...]
Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 11:25 am
Ok, when you have a head coach that is now categorizing losses as either, ‘terrible’ ‘bad’ not so bad’ etc. This has to be the end of the line. Baron even threw Dunleavy under the bus saying that 3rd quarter was what the team could do if they were allowed more freedom and how stale the offense had become. THIS IS NOW AN OFFICIAL JOKE.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Sorry KA, isn’t the season lost already?? The team sits 6 games under .500 with 36 games to play. They would have to go 25-11 to get to that magical 45 win plateau. I don’t see one thing that shows me that they are capable (or willing) to do that.
I think its time to explore the possibility of trading talent and expiring deals for assets for 2011.
The season is OFFICIALLY lost.
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FireDunleavy .com Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
It might take 46 wins this year.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
The season is officially lost on January 29th… Look at the bright side. This season has lasted two months longer than normal Clipper season. Yahoo!
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
You know the real sad part? We can’t even get a damn rumor that Dunleavy might be fired. Can I at least get a rumor? Please?
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Early last week, MDsr was qutoed in the LA times as everybody is available for trade. After the Cleveland game at Staples, MDsr is quoted in the LA Times : it’s all about the money for free agents. He appears to have no clue about player motivation, organizational loyality, nor the number of good free agents that have signed for less money but with competitve teams.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
I’m so sick of everyone sitting out games with bruised egos meanwhile Camby is the only one giving a damn and he is the one we are trying to move. Aside from all the coach player drama its a fucking game where u put a ball in a hoop its not middle east peace we are trying to accomplish here. Can’t these guys get over their petty bullshit and just play, cause I’m real tired of getting kicked in the pants every game and not getting paid millions of dollars to do so.
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Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
at least we got almost though jan. before it felt 100% over for me.
it’s john lucas time or someone else. how long do we have to wait?
at least tonight will be easy.
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Posted on January 31st, 2010 at 6:33 am
I hope this is the bottom.
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Formerly Section 113 Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 5:52 pm
oh goodness there is a great deal left to go…like the 29 point whooping today….
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Posted on January 31st, 2010 at 2:04 pm
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