The Clippers are a tough team to get a handle on, even this far into the season.
We’ve seen good Baron Davis (like tonight), and we’ve seen bad Baron Davis. We’ve seen stretches where the Clippers played borderline great defense (like the stretch of wins where they slowed down Kobe, Roy and Wade) and we’ve seen stretches where the Clippers played absolutely awful defense (like when they let Minnesota score 111 and win).
From a fan perspective, the Clippers have been infuriating to follow, and I choose the word infuriating for a reason. Last season the Clippers were just depressing to follow. The effort was poor, the personnel wasn’t great…it was just a depressing team to follow. This year, that’s not the case. The personnel is much improved. Maybe not playoff worthy, but talented nonetheless. The effort is almost always there. For all the Clippers issues, it’s been rare to see games where the team looked like they just didn’t care. Watch some tape from the 2008-2009 season compared to this season and you can tell the effort is lightyears better.
Through the course of the season, I’ve harped on three main reasons that I think explain why the Clippers aren’t very good.
- Turnovers.
- Defensive rebounding.
- Baron Davis’ shot selection.
Then something like tonight happens and screws with my whole theory.
Tonight the Clippers turned the ball over only eight times all game. They kept Okafor and West off the offensive glass and only gave up six offensive rebounds to the Hornets. Baron Davis shot 14 times, but only took three of his attempts outside of the paint.
As far as my list goes, you really couldn’t ask for a more perfect game. Yet the Clippers still lost.
There’s a stretch in the fourth quarter that dooms the Clippers’ chances. Ironically enough, it starts with two Chris Kaman free throws. Kaman’s been in a slump, but it’s not hard to figure out why: He’s shot just three free throw attempts in his last five games. That’s 139 minutes of playing time for Kaman, a 7-footer mind you, and just three free throw attempts. I don’t need to expand on the absurdity of that.
Anyhow, here’s the stretch that puts the Clippers away in the fourth quarter:
[7:28, 4thQ] The game is tied at 87 a piece. Marcus Thornton comes off a high pick at the top of the key that the Clippers get hung up on. We often harp on the bigs and their pick and roll defense, but the Clips perimeter players are some of the worst in the league at avoiding and getting through screens. Gordon gets hung up on the high pick, and Marcus Thornton turns the corner and penetrates. Baron comes off his man to stop Thornton’s penetration, and Morris Peterson is suddenly all alone in the left corner for an open three. It’s good.
[6:39, 4thQ] Tough to argue with this one. Thornton shoots a three from about 30 feet that falls in. He gets a lot of good looks on the evening, but this isn’t one of them. Still, the Hornets go up six and the Clippers call timeout.
[5:54, 4thQ] Darius Songaila receives the ball at the top of the key. Chris Kaman is standing at about the free throw line, daring Songaila to shoot. Songaila isn’t effective from NBA three-point range, so he makes the shot more manageable for himself by taking one dribble in and firing. Kaman doesn’t close out, and the shot is good.
Let’s summon Hubie Brown for this one. Okay, if I’m Chris Kaman, I have to ask myself this: Do I care if Darius Songaila tries to blow by me with the dribble and attack the rim? Because I shouldn’t. Now Songaila isn’t the best perimeter shooter, but I have to take my chances by staying up on the jumper and forcing Songaila to beat me as a playmaker.
[5:18, 4thQ] Another late closeout by the Clippers perimeter defenders, and Marcus Thornton nails a three from the wing.
And just like that, what was once a tie game turns into an 11 point defecit in less than two minutes. The Hornets shoot an insane 69 percent from the field in the second half, mostly from jumpers. If Darren Collison hits mid-range shots, it’s understandable. Because of his incredible quickness, you want to give him plenty of breathing room. But the ghost of Mo Peterson can’t hit you for 17 points.
The Hornets hit a ton of perimeter shots, but a few extra steps teamed with a little more aggression could have made those looks even tougher. In the first half, the Clippers did a better job of closing out and scrambling. The second half, not so much.
Really though, it’s tough to win when such a critical part of your offensive game plan goes ice cold like Kaman did tonight. Kaman finished 3-for-15 from the field and 0-for-12 on attempts that weren’t dunks. Quite literally, Kaman couldn’t hit a shot all night. It’s a tricky situation to be in: Do you play DeAndre Jordan instead of Kaman down the stretch, or do you ride out Kaman’s bad night in hopes he’ll start making shots? These types of decisions aren’t easy.
In a way, this Clippers season has been akin to a leaking roof. Certain holes get patched up, but a new leak always springs up. Baron plays his best game of the season, Kaman plays his worst. Eric Gordon comes back from injury, Craig Smith goes missing. And like that it goes on and on, and on and on.
21 Responses
I’m just hoping the season is over, I can’t take anymore. Clippers know how to kick you when you’re down. I hope everyone is okay after the earthquake
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 7:34 am
Beautiful write up! One of my favorites!
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D.J. Foster Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Thanks Jclipper!
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 8:22 am
This is a type of loss that I can live with. If the ball isn’t sinking, it’s just not going down – also, it doesn’t help that the Hornets were making 69% of their shots in the second half – it’s watching the team give up 20+ turnovers and not boxing out that kills me. Good analogy at the end there DJ.
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D.J. Foster Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
It’s a shame the Hornets shot so well – would have been nice to get a win as sort of a “reward” for everyone (including Baron).
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Kamen looks like he is mailing it in!!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 10:11 am
i was all excited there at the ned of the 3rd thinking i was about to see a real battle.
then the other thornton drops a few bombs and the clips took their toys and went home.
yeesh. p fkn u.
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 10:45 am
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
just when i thought i was in…. they push me back out!
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
great analysis
baron has really been pushing it these last few games. I like how he talked about giving more effort “:for the fans” during his halftime interview. I hope he follows through on that statement for the remainder of the season and builds some more cohesiveness with his team.
didn’t mind the game. good effort and aside from a cold kaman and high FG% from a slip in defense, the clips had this game. I feel bad for the team though, it could be hard to put the same kind of effort again when the outcome wasn’t any different from their previous few games.
Here’s your chance to lead baron.
It was also great to see DJ smiling and not getting down on himself.
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D.J. Foster Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
“It was also great to see DJ smiling and not getting down on himself.”
Totally agree. When he gets on a roll and plays with confidence, he’s a whole different player out there.
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Thanks D.J. for the great piece.
I can’t wait for this season to end and look forward to a brand new start.
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D.J. Foster Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Thank you BritClip.
Hope springs eternal, right?
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Shortly before Dunleavy was pushed out as coach, Davis was spending a lot of time criticizing Dunleavy’s system and saying he wanted to play in a more free flowing style of offense (meaning forget the set plays Dunleavy was calling and forget Dunleavy’s demands to play defense). There was a lot of this criticism like this from Davis in the paper. Dunleavy was asked about it in the paper and reponded that teams with the free flowing style never advance far in the playoffs. That is true, and one big reason it’s true is that free flowing teams play terrible defense.
Davis persisted in calling for a more free flowing stye, and now that’s basically what the Clippers are doing. The result is predictable. The defense is terrible.
Teams are blowing out the Clippers on a regular basis. The Spurs (hardly a free flowing team themselves) blew the Clippers out by thirty points. Then last night the Hornets (who were playing on the road in the second night of a back to back and with several significant injuries to key players) ran away from the Clippers in the fourth quarter.
The Clippers are far worse now than they were before switching to the more free floating/no defense style of play Davis demanded and got.
The main weak link in the defense is Davis himself. He does not defend the perimeter. He doesn’t make any effort at it. Opposing guards are taking wide open threes as well as penetrating undefended into the paint.
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bongstradamus Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Its kind of hard to blame Baron for the lack of success of the free flowing offense when Kim Hughes is on his 3rd month of being a head coach and half the team has been traded away with the guys we got in return looking forward to being free agents in the offseason
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Dump Davis Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Many of the teams at the bottom of the standings play free flowing styles, i.e. New York, Sacramento, Golden State .. . now the Clippers. It’s no coincidence. The only upper level team that does is Phoenix. It works with them because of Nash and Stoudemire, but even they never go far in the playoffs. It’s a loser style of play. Now Davis has forced it onto the Clippers . . . so he can have fun and do what he’s meant to do . . . or whatever his words were. And now the Clippers are big time losers.
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Clipps talking to fired Blazer Vice President Tom Penn. Clipperblog where are you? Update!
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D.J. Foster Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
We’re working our sources – we’ll have something if we find anything substantial to the rumors.
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Q.D. Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Really? Where’s the link?
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neiljlax Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
“The one thing I know about Penn is that a lot of people within the organization did not like him. What I heard most often was that Penn was impacting the culture in a negative way. He was apparently sensitive about things said in the media, by his own broadcasters and even others in the front office. There was a new brand of paranoia creeping in and a lot of people felt Penn was power hungry and eating away at Pritchard’s power base.”
hoops hype has links to various stories on Penn.
i still vote for tim legler.
or someone else who is young and suave and can lure better players here
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShdMmF4-0Ew
show some love
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Posted on March 17th, 2010 at 11:13 am
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