Friday night fight night as the Clippers play Lakers in the final game of the hallways series! Andrew Kamenetzky of the Land O’Lakers Blog stops by to talk Lakers and Clippers before the match-up

Breene Murphy: The Lakers have been playing great recently, and Kobe has been the most emotionally exuberant in a while, what do you attribute it to? Bynum’s health? Lakers getting more home games? End of the season wake up call?

Andrew Kamenetzky: All of the above, really.

The All-Star break couldn’t have come any quicker for the Lakers. They looked like a team in need of a break from the game, from each other, and from anything basketball-related. Derek Fisher later admitted the negativity from fans and media regarding their inconsistent play was getting to everyone, in part because they shared the same frustrations. The time off allowed everyone to recharge, plus there was a team meeting following the Cleveland debacle, and the sitdown was apparently effective.

Individually, Matt Barnes is steadily rounding into form after returning from knee surgery and Ron Artest and (to a lesser degree) Steve Blake have played better in March, which has helped matters. Still, no one player has made a bigger difference than Andrew Bynum. The kid has been flat out redunkulous. Since the All-Star break, he’s averaging 11.8 points, 13 rebounds and nearly three blocks. In his last five games, 14 points and 15 rebounds. That’s insane, when you consider the other scorers and rebounders alongside him. And beyond the stats, his overall defensive presence has been off the charts. He’s altering and changing shots on a regular basis, and beyond those in the lane. He’s aggressively stepping out to the elbow, the free throw line, and even further out to bother shooters. In the meantime, the basket has been exceptionally well-protected.

The metaphorical “finish line” in clear sight also helps. This team’s core has played a LOT of basketball for the last few seasons, which makes the regular season physically and (especially) mentally draining at times. With the playoffs in close proximity, plus the welcome challenge of jockeying with teams in both conferences for home court advantage, they’ve discovered a second wind.

BM: Due to DeAndre’s health, the Clippers have been going with Kaman and Blake in the front court. How have the Lakers handled other strong front courts, like Chicago (with Boozer and Noah) and Memphis (Z-Bo and Marc Gasol)? Do the Lakers alter their play?

AK: Like most teams, even those as big, long and talented as the Lakers, a tougher opposing front court provides a more difficult challenge. It’s certainly easier to score down low against Nenad Krstic than, say, Joakim Noah. Having said that, I’ve never noticed the Lakers’ significantly alter their game plan in reaction to a noteworthy 4 and 5. They (rightfully) have confidence in Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom and will put eggs in the basket of those three every day of the week.

As for the effect of an opposing talented front court, it’s typically most dependent on the individual big man’s style. If the big in question is overly physical, Pau Gasol can sometimes be bothered (although no longer to the degree of his “soft” reputation). But if it’s possible to match Bynum against the bruiser, that may solve the problem, especially the way Drew is playing right now. If it’s a mobile big, the matchup may not be ideal for Bynum, but Gasol and especially Odom are fine. And in the meantime, all three Laker bigs can provide major mismatches of their own and move the ball extremely well. The Lakers’ interior passing is the best in the league, hands down.

In terms of the specific matchup tonight, Blake Griffin has struggled all season against the Lakers, one late-game surge aside. Unless the rook can figure out a way to be more effective in the Hallway Series, I think the edge remains with the Lakers, the kid’s obvious talent acknowledged.

BM: Eric Gordon is back for the Clippers and in his two games against the Lakers he’s played well (27.0 ppg on 62 percent shooting). Kobe is obviously having another great season, but have you seen slippage defensively? Are opposing shooting guards a common weakness for the Lakers?

AK: I wouldn’t say slippage is really a problem for Kobe, even though I don’t think his defense has been consistently great this season. In the recent loss against Miami, for example, Kobe corralled Dwayne Wade for most of the game. There were struggles down the stretch, but we are talking about one of the league’s premier talents, so being able to check him at all, often without help, speaks to the skills still intact. He’s also been effective against Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook, despite the speed and age disadvantages. When engaged, Kobe is still among the best wing defenders in the game.

If anything, there is a tendency to disappoint defensively against the Sam Young’s and Xavier Henry’s of the world. (Not randomly selected dudes, as both Grizzlies have enjoyed big games with Kobe checking them.) The less respect Kobe has for a player, the more the assignment gets ignored, even when the C-Lister in question is clearly heating up from the open looks. This situation has presented itself on several occasions, often to detrimental effect.

But a marquee matchup tends to motivate Kobe, and Gordon would certainly qualify. It wouldn’t shock me if Ron Artest gets his share of cracks at Gordon. His defense has been excellent of late and the crossmatch would lessen the load on Kobe. Then again, Artest has also struggled against Gordon’s quickness at times, so Kobe shadowing him is probably inevitable at some point, unless Ron is truly in a zone.

Check out the Land O’Lakers Blog to see what they asked me about the Clippers.

Keys to the Game

- Chris Kaman’s Jumpshot. Andrew Bynum has been playing very good interior defense. In the 10 games before Bynum’s two game suspension (he knocked Michael Beasley of the Wolves out of the air), he averaged 13.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, and if Chris Kaman is making his jumpers, Bynum’s presence will have to be pulled further out, providing more space for Blake, Gordon and the rest of the Clippers to get into the paint.

- Mo Williams. Derek Fisher plays as effective defense as his body will let him. He’s smart enough to draw charges, and funnel players, but he’s 36 years old and doesn’t have the foot speed to deal with a guard like Mo Williams. If it weren’t for the Lakers bigs in the paint, this would be Mo’s ideal matchup. And with Kobe on EJ and Pau on Blake, the Clippers might need to rely more heavily on Mo.

Injury Report

DeAndre Jordan: pneumonia, questionable

NOTE: Due to extenuating circumstances in Bloggerdom, the Clippers/Lakers recap won’t be up until tomorrow morning.

Under a minute remaining in double overtime with the Clippers up 122-125, Blake Griffin found himself at the high post with the ball. The Wizards double teamed him and Blake dished the ball out to Randy Foye, who settled in and calmly sank the three pointer with 42 seconds left. Clippers up 6, game over. And the assist that Blake had? Oh, that marked his first NBA triple double.

Blake finished the night with 33 points on 14 for 19 shooting, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists (with a block and a timely steal, too). That is an astonishing triple double, and tied Blake for the most double doubles in a season in franchise history with Elton Brand at 55. A better augur for the future, better than Blake’s dunks (how about that right foot, right handed dunk and the foul over JaVale McGee with 2:33 remaining in OT?), was Blake’s strides on defense, especially as the game came down to the wire in regulation. On three of five trips Blake played heads up, sound defense. The first play came when the Clippers left Blake out on the perimeter to cover John Wall. Wall had torched the Clippers all night and Blake moved his feet, stayed in front of the ultra quick guard and forced him into a tough shot that he missed. But the play that really helped the Clippers was when Blake poked away the ball from Wall, that led to a fast break with Gordon that should have put the game away at 101-97. And then he drew the charge on Crawford, protecting the Clippers tenuous lead. If anything the stops showed that Blake at least has the potential to play good defense.

Speaking of Gordon, how great was that shot at the end of the first overtime? EJ looked for the ball off the high screen on the far side of the court, but Mo couldn’t get it to him (bad angle and risky pass), so Gordon ran back to the strong side, got the ball, stepped back, pump faked JaVale McGee into the third row of seats and then drilled a three with a hand in his face to tie the game. Gordon, like the rest of the Clippers, struggled taking care of the ball tonight (5 turnovers for EJ, 25 for the Clippers), but he didn’t let his shortcomings handling the ball hurt him in the rest of his game. That’s what’s so admirable about Gordon, he keeps his head up and his emotions in check even when the games turn hectic or he mucks up. Gordon committed what would have been confidence rattling turnovers (like the herky-jerky turnover with the Clippers down 1 in OT and only two minutes left that turned into a Clipper 3 point deficit), and yet he shrugged it all off, made that game tying three and scored 32 points on 11 for 21 shooting. Just impressive.

Two thirty point scorers and some defensive stops, well the Clippers needed more to get the win tonight as their defense on the opposition was for the most part, less than stellar. Jordan Crawford, as I suspected, played inefficiently well, both shooting the Wizards into the game and out of the game. He started 0 for 7 from the field before he made 7 of his next 8 and brought the Wizards back from the depths in the third quarter. Gordon did make Crawford work for his shots, as Crawford scored his 25 points on 10 for 28 shooting. You have to like those percentages for an opponent, but there was still the feel that Crawford was a huge part of the Wizards effort. He made some miracle, momentum plays, like the two reverse layups in the fourth quarter that shocked the fans.

However, the best Wizard on the floor tonight was, unsurprisingly, John Wall (honorable mention goes to JaVale McGee). He had his normal penetration and passing, but he also shot the ball well (12 for 26), despite a missed free throw that allowed Gordon to tie the game. But on the whole, Wall just eviscerated Mo Williams. No one’s pretending Mo is a good defender here, but there are very few good point guard defenders in the league (Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook, Toney Douglas and that’s about it) and even with an elite defensive point teams need good defensive schemes to defend quick point guards. Whenever Wall beat Mo off a screen or just flat out in the open floor, so rarely did a Clipper slide over and try to stop Wall. He is, simply, a great point guard and that’s why he needs to be planned for, otherwise he has pretty good shooting nights like tonight.

Despite Mo’s deficiencies on the defensive end, he played very well on offense. For the majority of the game, he contented himself to manage the game, getting Blake, Eric and Kaman (more on Kaman later) the shots that they needed. Through three quarters, Mo only scored two points on 5 shots, but once the team was in the flow of the game, that’s when Mo knew when to make his momentum swinging shots. He scored 12 points in the final quarter, with some huge threes but he never fell out of the flow of the game, also getting 4 assists (he finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds). And then in overtime, he hit that inbounds, give and go three that got the Clippers back within 2 when the Clippers were down five with little time remaining and were all but dead. Now, the Clippers are 7-5 with Mo running point. Some of the games have been against teams like the Wizards, but others included the Celtics on the road and Denver at home. Besides, winning is winning and that’s a great development for the Clippers.

An even better development has been the improvement and integration of Chris Kaman. Starting in place of the pneumonia plagued DeAndre, Kaman stepped up big, scoring 28 points on 10 for 18 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. His game wasn’t perfect, he still turned the ball over and through the first quarter he had almost as many shots as Gordon and Griffin combined, but Kaman played with energy. There are limitations and habits to his game that will never change. He still hesitates, turns the ball over and the Clippers missed DeAndre’s length when Kaman tried contesting John Wall’s drives and floaters, but the competition at center has revitalized Kaman. He looks more active on defense than any time all this year, maybe since he’s been with the Clippers. The reality is that the Clippers need both of the centers to be successful. Who starts isn’t of so much importance as much as playing the match-ups well and communicating with the players. The Clippers, regardless what they do at starting center, look like they have a bright future, regardless who starts at center.

The continued improvement of this Clippers team won’t do anything for this year. No amount of Blake Griffin triple doubles or big Eric Gordon shots or strong Kaman games will get the Clips to the playoffs, but the team continues to grow. Say what you want about VDN’s playcalling, but the Clippers play hard and improve. The mantra always seems to be “wait ’til next year!” but that no longer sounds ironic.

Notes:

• JaVale McGee played great against the Clippers, 22 points on 11 for 14 shooting and 13 rebounds but he made his mark blocking shots. He finished with 4, but this might be the hardest block I’ve ever seen on Blake:
• Mo is starting to get the hang of throwing Blake alley-oops. Case in point:
• Two weird officiating moments tonight: 1) for the Clippers, it appeared that the Clipper ran out of timeouts in regulation, Ralph and Mike were nervous, but then, out of nowhere the Clippers did have a timeout. Nice to see Vinny being more aware than the announcers. And then 2) the Wizards had a back court violation called back with the game going down to the wire because the refs said that Wall never established possession in the front court. I believe both events were called correctly, but it didn’t mean that there wasn’t a whole lot of confusion on the court. Glad the refs got them both right though, nice going Derek Stafford and crew.
• How about Jamario Moon’s offensive rebound in the second overtime that led to the Blake assist of the Randy Foye three? Pretty great, huh? I still wonder why the Clippers don’t play him a little more. Sure he’s not part of the future, but neither is Gomes. As long as he doesn’t eat into Aminu’s minutes too much (which happened tonight, Aminu only played a minute), I think that Moon should get some run.
• Chris Kaman had 28 tonight, and he still doesn’t hit for 30. Astounding that not once in his career has he gone for 30.
• Randy Foye making shots. 8 points in 30 minutes but the shot to seal the game was confidently made. Not sure how he’ll evolve with the team, because I don’t like Bledsoe getting 12 minutes in a double overtime game, but Foye helps.

With the Wizards and the Clippers squaring off, it’s hard not to think of “What if Blake Griffin and John Wall played on the same team?” It’s not to hard to imagine, the Clippers overcame similar odds in 2009 when they drafted Blake Griffin, and had that happened in 2010, we might have seen more of this:

Can you imagine the alley-oops? The efficiency of VDN’s PnRs? The Dougie-ing? The team would have been mind-bending and fun to watch.

Instead, the two are separated onto low end teams that, even if they combined their wins, would only have 44 wins, fewer than the Spurs (57), Lakers (51), Mavericks (49), Thunder (45), Celtics (51), Bulls (50), Heat (48) and Magic (45). The game between the Wiz and the Clips relegates its interest to the forgotten fan bases of the Wizards and the Clippers and NBA fans attracted to esoterica (Rookie of the Year Candidates! Two consecutive number 1 picks! The Wiz might be the worst road team ever with their 1 and 32 away record! Elgin Baylor is from D.C. and he used to be GM for the Clippers!).

Keys to the Game

- John Wall. No surprise here. Despite losing by 21 points at home, the Wizards didn’t lose because of John Wall. He scored 25 points on 9 for 23 shooting, grabbed 7 rebounds and doled out 8 assists. Wall isn’t the best shooter, as evidenced by his shooting in the last game, but he gets to the rim with shocking efficiency and he plays surprisingly good defense for a young point guard (1.7 steals per game). The Clippers will benefit from a game plan with Wall, with hard hedges on the pick and roll, because Wall is way less efficient far from the basket (shoots under 30 percent outside of 3 feet) and his teammates are banged up or just plain bad.

- Get Blake and Eric Gordon back. Blake has been in a constant downward trend since the zenith of his play in January (when he averaged 26 points and 13.4 rebounds). He hasn’t had double digit rebounds in the last 7 games (6.9 rebounds during that stretch) and his field goal attempts are down as well (15.5 attempts in those 7 games compared to 16.6 over the course of the season). Blake won’t get the same amount of touches now that Mo, Kaman and Gordon are all playing, but how the Clippers deploy his talents should be better used. Blake’s post game has been functional, if limited, all season. He has a small repertoire, but the league has caught on and Blake’s athleticism has been the reason he continues to get buckets. He works very well moving, so the pick and rolls need to stay around, but would it hurt to see some off ball screens that would open him up at the high post where he can use his dribbling abilities to break down his man? He could also pass the ball from the high post, where he’s been most effective, often getting Gordon open threes. This is where VDN comes in, he needs to figure out a few plays that expand Blake’s threats without him learning a new move, just a simple cut, screen or misdirection. And if VDN were to include Eric in those plays, that might kick start Gordon too. I’m not as worried about Gordon, because he has played well in two of his three games back from injury (I’m counting the Houston game when Mo first arrived), but Gordon and Griffin need to be the focal point, which hasn’t been the case in the recent losses. I like Kaman but he’s a second or third option now (a reason why I like him coming off the bench for 25-32 minutes a game). One of the points of the Baron trade was to re-center the team around Gordon and Blake, now the Clippers should do it.

- Jordan Crawford. I could probably pick something more tangible out, but I just have this gut feeling that with Crawford in the starting lineup and the way he relentlessly attacks, that he’ll be a factor in this game. Since coming over to the Wizards in the Hinrich trade, Crawford has averaged 12.9 points per game. Yes, it’s been on 13.2 field goal attempts per game, but his tenacity, the confidence boost from starting and his relatively low profile gives me the feeling that he’ll be the guy that slips through the cracks against the Clippers. I hope I’m wrong.

Injury Report

DeAndre Jordan: pneumonia, questionable

Nick Young: sore left knee, day-to-day
Andray Blatche : shoulder, out
Josh Howard: knee, out
Rashard Lewis: knee, out

When you take Baron Davis off a team, any team, and replace him with Mo Williams, you will inevitably get a different style of play from your point guard. One is an exceptional passer, the other – aside from a few months this year in Cleveland – a gifted shooter. But beyond these most basic characteristics, when you take Williams from those Cavs and put him on these Clippers, the dynamic changes completely, and so far, the results have been positive.  More...

Blake Griffin suffered a frustrating night that will be remembered for much more than his career low 2 rebounds and his inefficient shooting (6 for 18, 2 for 8 in the first quarter). It will be remembered by a single, glorious failure. Down 97-84 with a little more than 4 minutes to play, Blake set a high screen for Mo Williams on Steve Nash. A standard play that hadn’t previously had the desired effect on the afternoon, one of the reasons that the Clippers found themselves down 97-84. But on this play, Blake found daylight, and a perfectly led pass from Mo, then lept over Marcin Gortat, who slid under him at the last second, and Blake jammed the ball home. But he was whistled for charging, his sixth foul. Shocked and incensed, Blake ran down the other end with the ball, pleading his case and was again whistled. Technical foul.

No one in the arena could believe what happened, either that Blake actually dunked over Marcin Gortat from outside of the restricted area, or that Blake Griffin was called for the charge. When it happened, Alvin Gentry responded by turning around in amazement (after the game he said “I don’t care if it was a charge. That might be as impressive a dunk as I’ve seen in the NBA in 23 yrs.”), but the most emphatic response came in the form of loud and incessant boos from the fans. On the replay, it appeared that Gortat’s foot was partially inside the restricted zone, and the fans didn’t want the referees or the Suns’ players to forget the injustice that had just happened. The fans booed longer than in any game I have ever heard, longer than any time that Blake was taken down by a foul, longer than any last second loss. The boos were loud and vitriolic, full of an unique intensity.

The energy in the arena was so strong that it sparked a quick Clippers run. The Clips cut through the Sun’s 14 point lead, bringing it all the way down to 7 with a minute left and the electricity of the crowd. Mo Williams appeared the most energized by the crowd as he went right to the hoop to draw a foul (made both free throws), found Kaman rolling to the rim for the bucket and the foul, had another set of free throws (made one) and two layups (one of which was a slicing, spinning layup where he took on four Suns and left Steve Nash scratching his head on the ground). All in all, Mo Williams finished those last four minutes with 7 poins and two assists.

However, none of Mo’s efforts were enough to surmount the lead that the Suns had created in the first 44 minutes. And it’s not like he can’t look in the mirror some, Steve Nash torched Mo over the course of the game. Nash did most of the damage in the first half, scoring 15 points on 6 for 9 shooting, grabbing 7 rebounds and distributing 7 assists, mostly while operating the pick and roll to perfection. Mo tried, but switching on Nash PnRs, the strategy of the day, didn’t serve to tak away Nash’s shot nor did it take away the pass. Nash finished with 23 points on 8 for 13 shooting, 7 rebounds and 13 assists.

Eric Gordon’s performance didn’t help either. Gordon finished with only 10 points on 4 for 11 shooting and 2 for 6 beyond the parabola. Gordon made some big shots, like the 3 with 6:28 left in the third quarter that brought the Clippers within 3, but he didn’t have the same quietly charismatic game to infuse the Clippers with the momentum necessary to come all the way back.

The best efforts on the Clippers came in the form of Randy Foye’s first half (13 points on 5 for 6 shooting) and Chris Kaman’s 21 points on 9 for 16 shooting with 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. He also had a monster left handed jam. However, even Kaman’s game had its blemishes, even if the stat line doesn’t show it, but more in the form of how the game was played. Kaman started for the first time since November, and the start proved worrisome as it knocked Blake Griffin out of rhythm. Blake got a couple low post touches in the beginning of the game, but when those touches went unsuccessful, Kaman earned, rightly so, 3 shots on the low block. The problem is that going to Kaman after Blake’s touches don’t result in points is a good and natural reaction for that instance, but hard on the greater flow of the game. Blake needs his rhythm and losing early touches to Kaman can easily be avoided by starting DeAndre and still playing Kaman starter-ish minutes. If Kaman entered the game with 4 minutes left in the first, Blake would be already established and Kaman could be force fed shots with Bledsoe and Aminu running with him.

This isn’t an indictment on VDN’s decisions, because DeAndre wasn’t available. It just seems like a cautionary example that harkens back to the lack of offensive chemistry at the beginning of the season.

Notes:

• The Clippers won the third quarter, 29-27, and they showed resiliency, a rare commodity when the Clippers are down. Kaman, Gordon and Blake combined for a 7-0 run that put the Clippers back within one. More impressive, the Suns re-extended their lead and the Clips fought back again. Like to see that become a more reliable pattern. Unfortunately, then the 4th quarter happened.
• Mo Williams and Eric Bledsoe split minutes in the first half (13 minutes to 11) and that might have become a trend had Bledsoe not played so poorly in the fourth quarter. He turned the ball over repeatedly and couldn’t find a use for his athleticism. The Suns left Bledsoe open behind the arc and Bledsoe obliged by missing 3 of 4 shots. For good reason, he didn’t play much in the fourth.
• How bad were the Clippers’ fast breaks today? Just awkward. Right out of the half, Gordon, Griffin and Gomes found themselves on a 3 on 1 break. Gordon tried to hand off to Blake for a dunk, but Blake was covered, and the ball bounced around until Blake ended up getting the ball back and laying it in. Then there was the Randy Foye steal where he wanted to lob it to Blake but they hot-potatoed the ball around and squandered the break when Ike was blocked by Lopez. And there was the Bledsoe-led fast break that resulted in a dunk called back because Bledsoe charged. Something to work on and no single culprit, the whole team needs to improve.