The Clippers welcome in the Milwaukee Bucks, another one of those obnoxious Eastern Conference teams that have a very real shot at the playoffs despite owning a record only marginally better than the Clippers. They’re 19-26 and only a half game behind the Charlotte Bobcats. Yes, the Bobcats that the Clippers completely dismantled on Saturday night. But for once, it appears that the Clippers have the numbers on their side. The Clips have won their last 8 games at home and they’ve won 9 of the last 10 against the Bucks at home. The Bucks are in the process of returning to health, both their young star Brandon Jennings and Carlos Delfino have returned to play in recent games, but that might not make up for their offensive limitations.

• Just an unbelievable note on Blake Griffin: Over the course of the year, Blake has made 72 Top Ten Highlights on Sportscenter in only 46 games. That’s over 1.5 highlights per game. If you want to get crotchety and say that it’s not important, that’s fine, but I think the Clippers need all the positivity they can muster to change the culture.

• New York Times’ Rob Mahoney breaks down the complementary players on the Clips.

Keys to the Game:

- The Defense of Blake Griffin. The best defense on Blake has been the strong and quick guys (Chuck Hayes, Ron Artest, Grant Hill) or the long guys (Tyson Chandler, Pau Gasol), but rarely can anyone in between handle Griffin. Considering the Bucks roster it wouldn’t surprise me to see a lot of Bogut on him. He has the size advantage combined with the length and shot-blocking ability to bother Blake. However, he’s not nearly as mobile as Pau or Tyson, so Blake can use his speed to race by Bogut. Ersan Ilyasova and Luc Mbah a Moute will also serve their sentence guarding Blake. Both of them are undersized, but quick. Mbah a Moute in particular has the length and good hands to play adept defense. However, neither Luc or Ilyasova have the strength of Blake. So the Bucks both have guys that might hassle Blake or might get torched. Since it’s the first meeting of the season, I’ll be interested to see how Blake handles the Bucks bigs and their sixth ranked defense (100 Defensive Efficiency).

- The continued contributions of Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes in Eric Gordon’s absence. EJ was a vital cog to the Clippers offense, but in his absence Randy Foye has stepped up averaging 18.7 points and three assists. Ryan Gomes jumped into the conversation with 18 points in the win over the Bobcats and has quietly averaged 13 points in EJ’s absence, up 5 points from his season average. More than making up for EJ, the assistance of Gomes and Foye also prevents Baron from turning into more of a shooter, which is a clear weakness of Baron.

- Sneaky key: Carlos Delfino. The Clippers opponent three point defense has been improving as the season goes on, they’ve only given up 36 percent shooting from deep against their last 8 opponents. However, the Timberwolves 1 for 16 performance brings that number down 4 percentage points. The Bucks aren’t known for their three points shooting, but that’s in large part due to the absence of their signed shooters. Both Carlos Delfino and Michael Redd have missed a mass of games. Well, Delfino is back and he has been lighting teams up similar to his pre-injury self. He’s 10 for 22 since his return and he’s the type of player that the Clippers sometimes forget about.

Injury Report

Eric Gordon: wrist/back, out
Chris Kaman: left ankle, out
Craig Smith: herniated disc, out

Drew Gooden: left plantar fasciitis, day to day
John Salmons: right hip strain, day to day
Michael Redd: left knee, out

For most teams there would be little excitement down the stretch, for most teams it would have been a pleasant malaise as they watched their home team run the Bobcats off the floor. I’m not saying it wasn’t a welcome surprise to watch the Clippers hold the Bobs to 40 percent shooting and 23 percent from three while only turning the ball over 6 times overall (twice in the first half). Those were all great things, but for the normal team, that would result in the lackadaisical fourth quarters when no one cares about the rest of the game. But not the Clippers, because they have Blake Griffin.

You could look at the box score and see Blake’s dominance. He had 19 points on 9 for 18 shooting, 8 rebounds, two assists and a steal in the first half alone (finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and three assists). But what the box score didn’t show were his highlights, and man these were some beauties.

Remember those almost full court lobs Baron was throwing Blake a couple weeks ago? Randy Foye decided to give that one a try in the second quarter, heaving one from the opposite three point line right to Blake as he beat everyone down the court, leapt and flushed it down. Blake likes to get out, sometimes cherry picking (he did this earlier in the game), but what you should watch in the video is where he starts when the rebound comes down. He is underneath the rim. Not at the free throw line, not at the three point line, not half court, Blake beats every single player down the court in the same amount of time it took DeAndre to secure the ball, pass it to Randy Foye and Randy to make a couple dribbles and launch it. Watch the video, he even beats the camera man out of the picture.

And it didn’t stop there, he had another dunk off a Randy Foye lob, a dunk after Gerald Wallace block on Cookie, one while he cherry picked and the topper, his Oklahoma Tornado where he spun off of his defender on the baseline only to get another defender to commit and he spun again to lay it in. And get the foul. Blake is undoubtedly one of the most amazing talents I’ve ever seen.

The opposing defense can’t even come close to stopping him on nights like these, to start out the third he had two men on him when he drop stepped and muscled his way into a layup and the foul. Blake customarily calmed down in the third, but back in the fourth there was a play where Blake beat Derrick Brown for the alley-oop, only Baron didn’t want to throw the lob from near half court with Shaun Livingston on him. Recalibrating, Blake sets back up in the post only to then again go for the alley-oop, when the level of surprise was basically non-existant and he caught the pass and laid the ball in without much problem. He is just that good, he can call his shots.

Even his almost dunk was amazing. His failed dunk in the fourth quarter, when he leapt high, double clutched the pass (it was a great pass) to get more power and then attempted to dunk the ball by means of crushing the entire rim. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but I’m waiting for Blake to be the first dunker to break a rim.

While there have been a lot of spectacular nights for Blake, this has to be one of his best highlight nights. Every basket astonished the crowd.

But we can’t forget the rest of the team. Even though the Clippers lost Eric Gordon, Randy Foye has jumped in admirably. First game without Gordon, 15 points on 5 for 9 shooting with 4 assists. Second game he had 20 points on 7 for 17 shooting. Had he not missed shots in the fourth in Houston like the entire Clipper team, he would have had not just a good night, but a great night. And then tonight he had 21 points on 6 for 15 shooting (like Houston, another inefficient fourth), 4 for 10 from three, four assists. Those fill-in games average out to 18.7 points on 44 percent shooting, 100 percent from the line, 3 assists and 1.7 steals. That’s a pretty good three game stretch for a guy who is accustomed to coming off the bench. And his defense has been great too. Foye held DJ Augustin to 13 points and 4 assists on 4 for 12 shooting and 3 turnovers after holding Kevin Martin of the Rockets to 8 points on 3 for 11 shooting.

You’d think that Baron would take on DJ but with the size and strength advantage for Stephen Jackson at the two guard, the Clippers needed a stronger perimeter player on Captain Jack. Jackson was the reason that the Bobcats remained in the game in the first half, his behind the head shot is almost uncontestable for anyone, let alone Baron who gives up 6 inches to Captain Jack. That said, the Clippers and Baron played Jack really well in the second half, holding him scoreless after he went for 14 in the first half. That back and forth in effectiveness was emblematic of Baron’s game tonight. Not only did he switch it up on Stephen Jackson but he reverted between (mostly) Good Baron and Bad Baron for stretches of the night. When he came off a screen and shot an contested three without getting anyone else involved in the play, but then he would go back to Good Baron for large swathes of the game, handing out 11 assists. He’s so integral to the team, particularly wit Eric Gordon out because Baron is the one that controls the flow of the game, getting even Ryan Gomes involved (17 points!) in an offense that clearly needs everyone to pitch in to make up for EJ’s absence.

There were even productive minutes from Ike and Cookie. Sure Ike struggled with the quickness and height of the Bobcats and Cookie was brutally blocked twice by Gerald Wallace (Cook, never the most explosive, looked even less so on his tender ankle), but they contributed where they should. Ike snatched 6 rebounds and scored 10 points in 18 minutes and Cook made two of his three shots from beyond the parabola.

But the Clippers have already proven that they can win at home, when they have the comfort of the positive crowd. What they haven’t shown is the ability to do it on the road. It may be too late for this season, but as tonight proved, even meaningless minutes or games will be exciting with Blake on the team.

Before the 2006-2007 season, the Clippers were reeling from their only playoff series victory in franchise history and, at the time, felt confident in their plan for the future. Sam Cassell would tutor the young point guard, the one that drew comparisons of his court vision to the elite point guard, and the Clippers would be ready for the long haul. What Cassell started, Livingston would surely finish.

Cassell only played two and a half years for the Clippers but even still, he goes down as one of the favorite Clippers ever. Even when Cassell came over, for Marko Jaric and a first rounder*, the Clippers knew that there wasn’t much left in the tank with him. He was 36 but his charismatic leadership and cojones made up for the step that he’d lost years before. The big ball dance was a favorite of many. But Cassell’s ability to tutor Livingston and build him up to be ready for that imminent take-over, that’s what made him even more admired. He was the perfect teammate. Not only was he raising the Clippers and making them great, but he was also planning his own transparency. His legacy would be the beginning of the ascension for the Clippers, for his gutsy moments and his tutelage of Livingston, the first great Clipper point guard.

But that’s not how it happened. To this day, there is no more gruesome injury footage than to see Livingston land and rupture all of his ‘CLs, and to see his knees snap back like he was an alien creature in The Arrival. You could actually hear the new foundation of the Clippers break. Livingston was out for at least a year and a half and it was thought that his career was over. The team that hovered around .500 continued to hover around .500, but the energy and the hope was gone.

Cassell may be the one that everyone loved, still loves, but the hopes were all on Livingston and his cornrows. I looked back on his career with the Clippers and expected to see statistics more commensurate with the talent that everyone saw. Instead I see the career highs of 9.3 points and 5.1 assists in almost 30 minutes a game and wonder if his potential was a hallucination all along. I guess it doesn’t matter.

Frankly, it’s a small miracle that he’s back out on the court. On top of the remaining games in 2007, Livingston missed all of the next season before signing with the Miami Heat in a small bench role. Traded to Oklahoma City after less than half of a season, he didn’t gain much traction there either. He had a stretch of strong play the last season after being traded to the Wizards, which is probably what earned Livingston the backup guard spot in Charlotte. Raymond Felton departed for the riches of New York City and the Bobcats needed a back up.

When he returns to Staples tonight you’ll recognize him, still skinny but his hair is cropped close. He has earned 17 minutes of play and scores 5 points and hands out 2 assists a game, and he’ll never again show the potential that he had with the Clippers, but at least he’s back out there on the court. He has played every game this season.

(Some great Clipper related stuff at the Daily Dime)

Keys to the Game:

- Plan for DJ Augustin. I wouldn’t have said that as recently as a year ago, but DJ has been the guy to make things work for the Bobcats, using his speed, creativity and his passing ability. He’s the focal point of the offense now that Paul Silas is in town and the Bobcats are better for it. They’re 11-6 after starting 9-19 and are in the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

- Blake Griffin v. Kwame Brown. This doesn’t sound right, does it? But Kwame has been averaging 10.4 points and 9.9 rebounds in the last 8 games under Silas and has the physical strength to bother Blake.

Injury Report:

- Eric Gordon: wrist/back, out
- Chris Kaman: left ankle, out
- Craig Smith: herniated disc, out

- Tyrus Thomas: knee, out
- Desagana Diop: ruptured achilles, out

Professional athletes in any sport have the strength and coordination to routinely make spectacular plays. A three point shot with a hand in the face, a home run, a break away goal, and a long touchdown pass inspire a frenetic awe that can only come with something so astounding. But what is most enthralling is when that amazing play also surprises us. In football it’s the punt returns for touchdowns, the interceptions run back. In baseball it’s the sliding catch in the outfield, the acrobatic double play. In basketball? There’s the alley-oop.  More...

Up one with 3 minutes left to play in the third, Randy Foye stepped into Eric Gordon’s place and drove hard to the rim to score a contested layup. On the ensuing defensive possession, Bledsoe blocked Kyle Lowry and the Clippers regained control of the ball. Randy Foye still with the spirit of Eric Gordon went right back to the rim for a bucket. Another Bledsoe defensive stop, he picked off Brooks’ pass and ran the floor to set up Aminu for the foul shots. Clippers up 6. Could the Clippers actually do this? Could they put in a strong third quarter and win on the road, sans Eric Gordon?

The answer was a resounding, depressing ‘no.’

It wasn’t like the Clippers were playing a great game before the fourth quarter, I thought they handled Kevin Martin well, but Blake struggled the entire game. Some will blame the absence of Eric Gordon, some might blame the the elbow injury and maybe they are right, but the offense of Luis Scola and the defense of Chuck Hayes took its toll on Blake. Good thing there isn’t a Chuis Hola, because Blake really would have had fits. Scola routinely got very good, almost uncontested shots close to the basket and the Clippers rarely switched DeAndre off Hayes and onto Scola to help out Blake (Porbably to keep DJ close to the rim). I know Mike Smith said that this was the only time a smaller player played good defense on Blake, but both Ron Artest and Grant Hill played outstanding on defense by using quick hands and superior positioning, just like Hayes tonight. Even without that, though the Clippers were in it.

Randy Foye played admirably, shooting well through those first three quarters and DeAndre Jordan was imposing in his return home. DJ had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in the first three quarters and provided a strong enough interior defense where the Rockets didn’t challenge the inside as much as they could with the likes of Brooks, Martin and Lowry.

The Clips weren’t even turning the ball over, only fourteen the entire game. And yet, none of the positives stopped them from completely dissembling in the fourth quarter. The Clippers scored 10 points in the fourth, their worst this season, but that didn’t even encapsulate how terrible the Clippers played. They didn’t score their first point of the quarter until 5:43 off a Baron Davis banked in a shot off the right block. The Clippers didn’t score again until 3:05 off a short Blake jumper. They had only 4 points in the first 9:54 of the fourth quarter, missed 18 of their first 19 shots in the fourth and looked completely and utterly defeated. Not like they knew they were going to lose, that was pretty much a certainty, but that happens on the road. It was like they fully understood, for the first time this season, that they weren’t going to make the playoffs.

I know the majority of us realized the playoffs weren’t going to happen as soon as the Clippers stumbled to a 1-13 start, maybe we held out hope with the incredible surge from that home heavy December and January, but the beauty of these Clippers was–yes, past tense–that they believed that they could overcome all of their mistakes and still make it. VDN deserves to be lauded for the motivation of the team and their development, even though he’s often lampooned as the paragon of coaching ineptness. He’s not. Simplistic? Maybe, but the improvement of the team speaks to his abilities.

And yet, now the Clippers finally realize that they won’t make the playoffs this season. Sure, they’ll give the cliched answers about giving it 100 percent until the last second, but they are only human, and there is a level of emotional reaction to Sisyphean reality. Instead of real drive, I expect dutiful resignation and then the continued development of the team. Truth be told, I didn’t think that this year was the Clippers year even before the season started but they would show enough to make people believe. Haven’t they done that? Don’t you believe that next year will be, not could be, better? There still will be a ton of exciting basketball this year, maybe wins over Boston or Orlando to put in the trophy case, but it’s about the future now. Get better, continue to improve habits and focus on trades and transactions that will make the team the best in the future.

Some notes on the night:

• Aminu continues to improve. He made mistakes last night, but tonight there was reason to believe he’ll continue to make that two step forward, one step back progress. In 18 minutes, he scored 5 points on 1 for 1 shooting, 3 for 4 from the line, pulled down 5 rebounds, served out 2 assists and stole the ball once with only two turnovers. His improvement was on display at the end of the first quarter when he led the fast break, avoided both the charge and taking a bad shot, and then dumped the ball off to Diogu for an easy dunk. It’s not going to come overnight, but he’s getting better.

• The second unit. The best stretch of basketball occurred with the second unit on the floor tonight. In the second quarter the Clippers had a lineup of Bledsoe, Aminu, Rasual, Diogu and Cook, and they went on a run. Down 26-31, the unit played selfless ball and brought the team back up to a 44-42 lead before the starters came back in the game (who extended the lead and then lost it). It wasn’t a miraculous stretch by any means, but it instilled enough confidence that the Clippers bench will be able to compete and help the team.