Before last night’s game, there was still hope that Eric Gordon would play. Anyone that has watched the Clippers play this seasons knows that he’s a huge reason for the development of the team. He’s not just a 24 point per game scorer, he scores those points when the Clippers need to stop the opposing team’s momentum or if the Clippers need to sustain their own, frequently in the second half or down the stretch in the fourth quarter. Without Gordon, the Clippers chances of beating the Mavericks were severely diminished.

But there wasn’t the lingering doubt that Gordon was going to miss a lot of time, maybe he would miss only one game, maybe it would be better to have him rest this mini two game road trip and get ready for the behemoth roadie that starts with Atlanta next week? Instead, Eric Gordon will be out 3 to 4 weeks and those slim hopes that the Clippers could overcome the long odds for a playoff spot seem so much slimmer. The Clippers need poise and versatility to win on the road and Eric Gordon is their best option with both.

To make matters worse, Blake had his most serious injury scare last night since the recent Minnesota game. Beating Brendan Haywood off the low block, Blake charged to the rack only to have Brendan Haywood grab his arm as Blake was in the air, sending BG hard to the ground.

I don’t think it was cheap but frankly I’d rather have Lamar’s cheap shot on Blake than what Blake had to face in the flow of the game with Haywood. But Lamar also wasn’t endangering Blake. Also, I’d rather have a strong reaction from the team when the Haywood foul happens than when Lamar got chippy.

Even with the acknowledgement of it not being a dirty play, Haywood’s post-game comments stuck with me.

“No, that’s not a flagrant foul. I feel the NBA should give my money back for that one,” Haywood said. “It was one of those plays; I just grabbed his arm. He’s just so athletic and strong that he was still trying to finish the play and he ends up basically not protecting himself.”

Flagrant fouls aren’t always because the play was dirty, but because there was excessive force that puts the health of the players at risk. So I’m okay with the call. What has really gotten me about the hard fouls on Blake Griffin this year, have been how often they have come from behind, when Blake is blind and the contact awkwardly contorts Blake.

I’m not sure how those types of fouls can be prevented for Blake, outside of him completely changing his game. I don’t like Haywood shoving the blame to Blake on this play, because Blake absolutely blew by Haywood and was in the midst of taking off when Haywood fouled him. At that point, what was Blake supposed to do? Anticipate the grab from behind? No matter what, if Blake is being grabbed from behind, it’s going to throw him into flailing crash.

Rewatching that play, I struggle to find a sense of clarity from it because it didn’t look like a dirty play, Brendan was laying a hard, smart foul on Blake. Hard fouls are part of the NBA, and the flagrant fouls are part of the refereeing of the sport. But there is a line that needs to be drawn from the Clippers perspective, because they can’t have other teams injuring their own players the way that Haywood almost injured Blake and the way the Timberwolves and the Warriors injured Eric Gordon. It isn’t just about the single game, because one loss to Dallas or playing the Rockets undermanned are small in the larger scale of things, but this protection is necessary when it comes to the longterm success.

Keys to the Game:

- Defending Kevin Martin. Without EJ, the Rockets highly efficient shooting guard will be hard to contain. He can run curls off screens or create his own shot and whoever the Clippers stick on Martin (Foye, Rasual, Aminu maybe), they’ll have to be dogged in their pursuit.

- Big game from Griffin. The Rockets don’t have the size nor the athleticism to contend with Blake. Scola will be a tough cover on defense, but he can’t handle Blake on the other end. Chuck Hayes will frustrate despite being shorter than Ryan Gomes, but Blake needs to overcome that without his wingman EJ to balance out the scoring.

- Turnovers. I hate to keep harping on this, but last night was just another example of how important it is to control the ball. The Rockets are so efficient on offense that the Clippers can’t afford to cough up the ball, especially as they look to either maintain or create momentum in the second half.

Injury Report:

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

Yao Ming broken foot, out
Brad Miller day to day
Jared Jefferies day to day

Note: I’ll be on ESPN’s Daily Dime Live chatting tonight.

(The Clippers are in the Onion News)

When the news came in, hours before tip last night, that Eric Gordon is expected to miss 3 or 4 weeks with a bone spur in his wrist, I’m sure Clipper fans had the same thought — Here we go again. One year and one week after the infamous Memphis Water Main Break, the Clippers will once again be challenged to sustain mid-season momentum despite losing one of their stars. E.J. won’t be easy to replace. Gordon’s Usage Rating (a measurement of how often a team runs a play through a particular player) is only a hair behind Blake Griffin’s at 27.11, meaning the Clippers are going to have to spread out more than a quarter of their total possessions among the remaining players. Not only has Gordon become one of the NBA’s best scorers, currently standing eighth in the league with 24.1 points a game, but unlike Kobe, say, he also draws the toughest defensive assignment night after night, defending scorers against whom he often gives up three or four inches.  More...

It’s been a long time since the Clippers faced the Dallas Mavericks way back on Halloween. Then the Clippers had Chris Kaman in the starting line-up instead of DeAndre, Blake was good but hadn’t really started his historic ascension, Baron hadn’t been injured and then reclaimed. Bledsoe and Aminu were enigmatic draft picks and not a viable and developing second unit that they are now. The team as a whole played catastrophically bad defense. Basically, the only player that was playing well was Eric Gordon who scored 22 and 19 points in the two game before facing the Mavs, but even EJ was having a hard time finding his outside shot. And now the Clippers may or may not have EJ on the court due to injury.

The Mavs have seen their team change, too. Caron Butler lit up the Clippers in the first meeting, but he’s out for the year now and the Mavs are seeing more from Shawn Marion at small forward. Marion has been good in years past, but he’s old now and not nearly the player he was when he played in Phoenix. Not to mention that Dirk hasn’t rounded into the MVP caliber shape that he was showing before his knee injury and the team has suffered from it. The Mavs are only 3-7 in their last ten games and lost 7 of 9 when Dirk was out.

The Mavericks poor play is cause for excitement, but the Clippers’ only two recent losses have been on the road, against less than dominant opponents so it’s not exactly as if they are perfectly primed to take advantage of the Mavs. Yes, the Clippers are playing much better of late, but they haven’t shown the necessary discipline while traveling to have sustained success. The only convincing win on the road this entire year was against the Pistons, because in both the Sacramento and Chicago road wins Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose missed free throws to come back against the Clippers. Those games would have been better described as survivals than wins.

What has been most unnerving, for me at least, is the Clippers inability to stay focused in the games. I like that there is still effort when the Clippers play, but they become discombobulated when the game goes into the second half (including the Sac and Chi wins). Even recently, in the game against Portland, they were within 3 points with only a five minutes remaining in the game and they lost by 15? Those are the types of lapses that they can’t allow.

After the Golden State game Baron elaborated on this:

“On the road I think it’s more so our turnovers, execution down the stretch… we’re a young team getting in hostile environments sometimes you try to make the same plays that you do at home and we’ll be a little more conscious of our turnovers.”

In addition to the difference in the types of plays that the young Clippers try to make when they are at home and on the road, I think that there is also a reaction by the players that needs to improve. At home they have the safety of the supportive environment, so if they do make the mistake, little reaction will be made. On the road they have to maintain their confidence so that they don’t wilt.

I do like the way the Clippers are talking. Baron said the game against Dallas will “be a good for us, playing against a team like that, being a playoff tested team.” The shift in attitude, looking at the tough road games as a challenge, is much better than viewing the games as an inevitable hardship. If the Clippers can pull off a win tonight (and maybe tomorrow?), it’ll be huge steps in the attempt to do the unthinkable: make the playoffs. Something that few would have thought possible back on Halloween.

Keys to the Game:

- Tyson Chandler v. Blake Griffin. One is a center and one a power forward, but I’ll guarantee that there will be plenty of possessions where Tyson Chandler guards Blake Griffin. Chandler had success in the first meeting, holding Blake to 4 for 15 shooting, but Blake has improved immensely since then. But even with his leaps in improvement, Blake can still struggle against length (his 1 for 9 first half against Pau and the Lakers and his 6 for 17 performance against LaMarcus Aldridge and the Portland Trail Blazers), but Blake’s passing provides a serious threat and may earn him a little more space from the help defenders.

- Caring for the basketball. The Clippers have committed more turnovers (702) this year than any other team besides the Minnesota Timberwolves (753). The Dallas Mavericks have fewer turnovers (583) than every team other than the Bobcats (573) and the Bobs have played one fewer game. The Clippers have had their difficulties on the road this year, only 3-13 traveling, and giving up 3 more turnovers than the Mavericks will make their goal even more difficult.

- It doesn’t sound like EJ will play, so Foye, Baron, Bledsoe and maybe Rasual or Willie Warren will be asked to kick in a bigger contribution.

Injury Report:

Eric Gordon right wrist, game-time decision (doubtful)
Chris Kaman left ankle, out
Craig Smith herniated disc, out

Rodrigue Beaubois fractured left foot, out
Caron Butler ruptured right patella tendon, out

Yesterday afternoon I was stuck in traffic on the way back from San Diego, weighing the risks of (illegally) using the diamond lane, and listening to a sports talk radio debate weighing the relative merits of Lamar Odom vs. Blake Griffin for the West’s final All-Star spot. (Of course, in accordance with local sports talk’s strict homerism laws, neither Lamarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love even rated a mention.) “Blake Griffin’s got great numbers,” opined one host. “But he doesn’t bring the dimensionality (sic) or the intangibles to the game that Lamar does.”  More...

Coming off the the disappointing loss in Portland, the Clippers face a familiar foe in the Warriors. It’s the two teams’ final match-up of the season and the third time they’ve played in the last two weeks, so they know each other and have the same goals. Both teams are on the outside of the playoffs with distant hopes to make it. According to John Hollinger’s playoff odds, the Clippers have a 1.3 percent chance and the Warriors have a 9.3 percent chance. So while each team still has a chance, it’s going to be a dog fight to get into the playoffs. At this point, thought, the Clippers still haven’t proven themselves on the road (3-13), so every home game is a must win.

A few Clipper related bits around the interwebs:

• Daily Dime Live host and contributor to Cowbell Kingdom, Wolf Among Wolves and Hardwood Paroxysm, Zach Harper wrote an ode to Blake Griffin:

Blake Griffin is an Absinthe hallucination.

Nothing he does is real. It’s all created in our minds and hearts through some inebriated state of fandom. He is the wet dream of Nielsen Ratings. If you were to create a player in NBA 2K11, you’d GameShark your way to an infinite amount of skill points and build the 250 lbs propulsion device that is Blake Griffin.

It’s not that he’s inventing the art of dunking or the concept of the highlight play. That was down decades ago. It’s that he’s doing these things with a ferocity that is both sexually gratifying and completely animalistic in its nature. He’s relentlessly violent in the way he attacks the rim. Cut him off from the dunk and he’ll just hang in the air until he finds the right angle for his shot.

Talking about his motor would often be as cliché as asking him to take things one game at a time and give 110%. But the guy works himself into complete exhaustion in a way that makes the Energizer Bunny want to throw down the drum set, put his feet up on the ottoman, and see if Lamar Odom is going to have an awkward conversation with whatever it is we’re calling “Bruce Jenner” on the newest Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

At 6’10” he has the handle of a mid-level exception earning combo guard. We’ve seen his jumper extend comfortably out to the 3-point line on occasion and his touch off the glass from 2 feet or 16 feet makes you all tingly inside. If LeBron James is what it would be like if Karl Malone was a point guard, then Blake Griffin is what it would be like if LeBron James decided to swallow his pride and become the power forward some of us have hoped he’ll want to be.

• Marc Stein with his mid-season report, lots of Blake Griffin.

• Lisa Dillman’s report on the team’s exhaustion after the Portland loss, not a good sign if they are tiring while mostly playing their games at home.

Keys to the Game:

- Pace. In the one win against the Warriors this year, the Clippers held the Ws to 91 points, as opposed to the 122 and 109 they allowed the Warriors to score in the losses. The Warriors are just too efficient of an offense and too accustomed to fast pace for the Clippers to have a good chance at beating them in a track meet.

- Defend the three. In the two losses, the Clippers gave up 58 and 54 percent, but in the lone win? 32 percent. It’s no surprise that when the Clippers defend the three, they win against the three happy Warriors.

- DeAndre Jordan. He has become a focal point for Clipper success because he allows the defense to funnel their opponents into him. This is especially important when playing the Warriors because they have three strong offensive perimeter players. Dorell Wright, Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis can all score easily, making it hard to guard them one on one. However, if Baron, Eric and Gomes know that they can guide those players into DeAndre, then it allows the team to play better defense. In the one win, DeAndre had 9 points and 13 rebounds with 3 blocks, much better than the 9.5 points, 6 rebounds and .5 block he averaged in the two losses.

Injury Report:

- Chris Kaman left ankle, out
- Brian Cook right ankle, doubtful
- Craig Smith herniated disc, out

Update to the Injury Report:

Vinny just said that Brian Cook is expected to play 10-12 minutes tonight.