Chicago Bulls v. Los Angeles Clippers

02 Feb 2011

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Get ready to say your goodbyes, because after this game the Clippers are off on their marathon road trip. And as much as they might fret the oncoming travels (starting with Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and New York… it’s rough), the Clips have a mighty hurdle to overcome before they even hop on the plane.

Even though the Clippers won in the previous meeting (on the second night of a back to back on the road and third game in 4 days, no less), I have a feeling that the Bulls will be extra motivated to get a win back on the Clips home floor.

Keys to the Game

- Boozer and Blake. Both are great scorers and rebounders, neither are great defenders. Blake plays a more athletic game that Boozer, with an edge in rebounding while Boozer has the far more refined (below the basket) post and high post game. There have been strides in the one on one defense with Blake, and he’ll have to show it because the Bulls have Derrick Rose on the wings.

- Ball movement and preventing turnovers. The Bulls have the toughest defense in the league (allowing 96 points per 100 possessions), and it’ll be important for the Clippers to avoid stagnation and predictability. In the last matchup, the Clippers turned the ball over fewer times than the Bulls (14 to the Bulls’ 15 turnovers) and they had more assists (20 to the Bulls’ 17), which was crucial to the victory. The Bulls aren’t a team that plays loosely enough or fast enough to allow the Clippers to come back from mistakes.

- Help defense. Derrick Rose is fast, he turns off picks very well and he doesn’t waste any energy attacking the rim. There are no circuitous routes, as soon as he sees a crease, he’s going to the rack. The Clippers will have to be extra attentive on defense, because Rose will beat whomever guards him a lot. Doesn’t matter who’s up there, Rose has a quick enough crossover and runs through enough picks that no one will be able to stay in front of him the whole game. The best that the Clippers can hope for is that they guide him into other defenders and tough situations. No matter what, he’s a handful.

Injury Report

Chris Kaman: left ankle, out
Eric Gordon: wrist/back, day to day (!) but really he’s out
Craig Smith: herniated disc, out (might return soon though)

Joakim Noah: right thumb, day to day
Taj Gibson: ankle, probable

Metal Matty

Clippers have played some good ball lately but they will mail this one in and then limp into the long road trip hoping to win 2 of the 9 road games. At least, that’s what they would always do under Dunleavy. Let’s see what Big Vin can muster during this tough stretch.
- T and another T
  
  The Bulls are the last team that VDN would allow a poor effort against. Expect lots of energy and fight. I don’t know what the result will be but the Clips have played very well against the Bulls the last several games.
clip4life

Any news on eric Gordons return, What about our other center…My god its only a sprianed ankle..please advise
- Metal Matty
  
  Wake Up clip4life. Ankle can keep a player out a LONG time. Depends on the type of sprain.
  - clip4life
    
    hes a P***y, get over it
Dump Davis

The main reason the Clippers are an exciting team this year is because for the first time ever they have some key players they can build a champioinship team around. Everyone knows it and projects into the future, then gets excited. Griffin and Gordon for sure and Kaman if he’s not injured and plays the way he often does. That’s it. Nobody else on the team is good enough to start on a championship team. It’s a mistake to think otherwise, the kind of mistake that causes the fans to be fooled into accepting what they shouldn’t and causes the team not to reach the level it should. If the Clippers are going to become a championship quality team, they have to add more excellent players. As has been said before on this blog, they need one more player that’s better than Gordon. If they don’t get that player, they have only themselves to blame. The promising future is exciting, but that future has to be realized. The way things are sitting now, it’s not going to happen. So some things have to change.

The main thing that has to change is Daivs has to go. His recent least bad mode is a marked improvement over his first two years here, culminating last season with his anouncement to many in the media that he wanted this year to be about him so he could show what he does when he “roams”. A very scary thought. That is the true Davis. He then saw it wasn’t going to be all about him this year, so he went into his typical passive-aggressive sabotaging mode the start of the season. Then he was called out in the media both by Griffin and Gordon as well as numerous local sportswriters, culminating in all the hoopla over Sterling heckling him. I agree with Bill Plashke’s comment where he said all Clipper fans should “rise as one and heckle Davis.”

After that culmination, Davis finally realized that he no longer was getting away with his old attitude and old ways. so he publically made a big ado about putting on a new mask and saying he was going to defer to Griffin and Gordon and indeed was going to try to make them all-stars. Again, it’s a mask and he’s a manipulative fake, and this new act won’t last long. Davis is still Davis, lurking under his new mask.

The Clippers should use the next few weeks before the trade deadline to deal him (for anything), while his value should be higher than it’s been in two and a half years.
- Metal Matty
  
  You make it sound like at this point, underneath it all, Davis wants to be THE MAN. However, even Davis’ ego is not that delusional. He proved to not only the world, but HIMSELF over the last two years that the old engine, even with a full tank of gas and a tune up, does not run like it used to. … comments made even by him…. would support that realization. I belive where you are going with this post WOULD have had validity if he were three or four years younger….. but right now. This supposition has no place in fact.
Dump Davis

Speaking of +/- . . .

Here’s the +/- for the Clipper starting five in the Bucks game:
Gomes +22, Griffin +13, Foye +12, Davis+6, Jordan +5. Big drop off for Davis and Jordan, probably reflecting their defense when the other starters weren’t on the court with them.

I was looking at the +/- for the last half a dozen or so games, and for the most part they basically align with the Bucks game. Gomes always has the best. Davis and Jordan usually are the worst. That seems to point to Gomes as a major defensive asset and Davis and Jordan as defensive liabilities.

Here’s why I think Gomes should be shooting more instead of Davis. In threes, Gomes is shooting .336, Davis is shooting .273 (which is really bad). Gordon is at .359, so either of the others is a minus in his place but Davis is a bigger minus.
- Steve
  
  And this is another reason yet again why you’re such a tool when it comes to this. You looked at +/- for the last “half dozen games” and concluded that Gomes, our MOST inconsistent shooter, should shoot more? Do you even know what +/- is or where it originated from? If you think DeAndre Jordan having 5 blocks is A defensive liability you really are on another planet. / thread, GTFO
  - Dump Davis
    
    No, I looked at the last half dozen games and concluded Gomes was the most consistent defender and Davis and Jordan were the least. Then I looked at the three point shooting percentages and concluded Gomes should shoot more threes than Davis.
    
    http://dimemag.com/2011/01/nba-trade-rumor-mo-williams-is-being-shopped-by-cleveland/
    How about Antawn Jamison at small forward. According to the above link, Cleveland is trying to trade him and Mo Williams. Jamison’s salary this year is almost idenetical to Davis’ so that would work. Jamison has one more year whereas Davis has two more, so Cleveland would probably want something more, like a #1. They might want us to take Williams too. That would throw the salaries off but Cleveland has a $15 million trade exception because James left, so they could use a little of that, or the Clippers could add someone else.
    
    Cleveland could use a good draft pick in their rebuilding so they might be more willing to take on Davis than most people would.
    - JaySee
      
      HAHA! You don’t know how a trade exception works. It works FOR CLEVELAND, not for the Clippers. Cleveland can take more money with the exception, not dump it on us.
    - Bongstradamus
      
      Id much rather have Baron than some baby who cried about retiring because LeBron left Cleveland.
neiljlax

I think Baron realized he might as well have some fun since he’s playing with 2 beasts and Gordon as well. He looks totally engaged and giving his best effort in 2011. It’s a damn shame cause I can’t see why it wasn’t like this in November, But it’s a good time at Staples or on the TV right now.
Aussie Clipper

Just had a shocker tonight all round, lost every quarter, 11-21 from FT line, got killed in rebounds. The 2nd unit just can’t cut it against the elite teams but think most agree we are one good player plus Kaman away from being even competitive at that level and if we add 2 players of that ilk then the 2nd team becomes massively better

Were due for a bad one at home so hope thats all it was
Metal Matty

I define terrible defense as giving up both wide open threes and uncontested layups constantly. If a team is playing solid, organized basketball, you still have to take away SOMETHING. And the Clips were not able to do that tonight. I’ll credit the bulls for not getting disorganized or going away from patient motion offense that was producing gold. That maturity is likely why they are playing some of the best ball in the league right now.
- clipperbull
  
  And just wait till Noah returns.
rico

The Bulls were terrific tonight. They were strong on the boards and proved to be too much for the short handed clippers. I wonder what Dump Davis and the other +/- morons will have to say about tonights line?
clipperbull

Excellent point, rico. Blake was -9 with 32 points proving once again it’s a completely meaningless statistic.
- itsphil
  
  agree with both of you. was at the game tonight. only bright spot was my autographed jersey by EJ and a pic with him! btw this is how our convo went.
  
  Me: “Eric!! We really needed you tonight.”
  Eric Gordon: “Thanks.”
  
  typical EJ response.
Jambir

WOW is all I can say. So I wonder how much money DJ is really going to require this summer? This was a pathetic showing by him.
- itsphil
  
  good thing i sat in the 100 level, i hope he heard my heckling that was horrible.

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