The Dallas Mavericks have absolutely owned the Clippers this year. In the three games, Dallas has beaten the Clipers by an averaged of 9.7 points, the Clippers 6th worst point differential against any team (only Indiana, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia and Portland have a larger point differential over the Clips) and based on the construction of the team, it’s no surprise.
Not only are the Mavericks a veteran team but they possess many of the elements necessary to slow down the Clippers. The right defenders for Blake? Yep, they have the long, athletic guys in Tyson Chandler (who, along with Pau Gasol, has defended Blake as well as anyone this year) and Brendan Haywood, as well as that undersized quick small forward that can bother Blake, in Shawn Marion.
The Mavs have a high scoring big man in Dirk, who can give any team trouble, but he also draws Blake, Kaman or DeAndre away from the basket where they are most effective at rebounding and, to some extent, defending.
They have a potent bench, both Jason Terry and J.J. Barea can give them an additional offensive punch and Brendan Haywood can, when properly motivated, defend as well.
But mostly, the Mavericks are a team more than a collection of players. The Clippers have had moments of real team play during the season, but the Mavericks do cohere almost every game. They have defined defensive responsibilities (lots of zone) and they know their role on offense as well. They have a plan.
Right now, due to injuries and inexperience (VDN especially included), the team doesn’t have that much of a plan from game to game. They are fortunate that the top dogs are clearly defined, Blake and Gordon are the stars, but after that the team floats in and out. Sometimes Mo is in scorer mode. Sometimes Randy Foye is the first point guard off the bench, sometimes Eric Bledsoe takes point responsibilities. Sometimes Aminu is charging around for offensive rebounds, sometimes he’s hanging out in the corners. Kaman and DeAndre have been somewhat consistent, but their play has only fueled more conversation as to whether the team needs to start or get rid of one or the other. Keeping DeAndre would probably mean that they would have one expensive backup and Sterling isn’t known for that type of waste.
To be successful in the future, the Clips will have to adopt some form of structure, even if its not like the Mavericks in execution but spirit, so that they can play up to their collective abilities.
Keys to the Game
- J.J. Barea and the Mavericks Bench. I couldn’t just put J.J. Barea there, no matter how true it is. In the last two games Barea has absolutely wrecked the Clippers going for 23.5 points on 75 percent shooting. Yes, that’s right. 75 percent shooting. The Clippers can’t let the crafty guard score so easily, he’s just not that good. No one is that good.
- Blake and Dirk. Two of the best power forwards in the game with completely different styles. Dirk likes his high screens, pull up jumpers from the elbow and the occasional three. Blake is a transition dunker, a low block bull and a great high post passer. Chandler will probably see more time on Blake, but Blake (25 points on 10 for 14 shooting, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals) looked like he has started to figure out Dirk and the Mavericks in the last game, rather than the other way around.
- Balance that offense, Mo. Whenever there’s a creaky, slow defender like Jason Kidd or Derek Fisher covering Mo, he loves to attack, sometimes at the expense of his distributor’s duties. However, Mo will have to be a bit more open to passing the ball, as the Mavericks switched Kidd off Mo after Mo’s hot start in the last game and really sucked the momentum from Mo’s game.
Injury Report
Ryan Gomes: right knee, questionable
Caron Butler: right knee, out
Tyson Chandler: sore lower back, questionable
Domique Jones: right foot, out
With the Clippers down 12 early in the fourth quarter, DeAndre Jordan scored 8 points on 4 for 4 from the free throw line, a put back layup and a dunk as part of a Clippers 10-2 run to cut the lead to 4. Scotty Brooks called a time out and the Clippers looked like, suddenly, they were going to accomplish a rare feat: coming back from double digit deficit on the road to beat not just a playoff team but a top team in the conference.
Even when the Clippers completely fumbled, they came back. They endured a stretch where even though the small ball lineup forced a turnover on Durant, with Craig Smith coming up with the steal, Smith couldn’t make the layup at the other end, sparking a mini collapse for the Clippers. Westbrook found Collison for an easy layup, Gordon was called for a charge, Kaman missed a free throw, Blake touch-fouled Ibaka who made both free throws and Eric Gordon had one of the laziest passes that Westbrook easily swiped and the Clippers all while ignoring Blake Griffin who, up until the fourth quarter, had been on fire (30 points and 10 rebounds through three quarters). The Clippers were now down 9 with less than 6 minutes left, and yet, they still came back.
Even with Kaman missing another three free throws, the Clippers cut a the lead down to 2 points and it could have been even less had Blake made both of his free throws or slammed the ball when Ibaka fouled him. Both Mo and Eric made tough threes down the stretch and even showed some promise (and some more screw ups) by VDN.
The Clippers had two beautifully functional inbounds plays down the stretch that completely fooled the Thunder. The first earned Blake the free throws that he would eventually make 1 for 2. Eric Gordon inbounded the ball to Blake, with the impression that there would be a hand off back to Eric and he would have a three at the top of the key, except that Blake faked the hand off, letting both the defenders sag over to Eric and completely opened up the lane.
Some might be upset that Blake didn’t try to use the contact and go for a smarter bucket and the foul, but I have a hard time blaming a player for going hard to the rim. And he was so close to pulling it off. There is no guarantee that had Blake gone for the layup that he might have made it, after all, he was swiped across the face.
The second inbounds play went to Blake who, instead of taking it himself (like the last play) or looking for one of the Clippers three guards (Mo, Eric and Randy) on the wing, he found a streaking Craig Smith for an easy layup. Neither play was fancy, just used clever misdirection and simple passes with Blake at the fulcrum of the play. Blake needs to be the fulcrum of the offense because not only is he one of the best scorers, but he is the best passer and makes the best decisions on the team.
But the Clippers weren’t even one sided down the stretch, Vinny came up with some great defense on the inbounds plays for the Thunder. The Clippers completely swarmed Kevin Durant by switching Blake onto Durant and doubling off every screen for every possession, almost forcing the Thunder into two turnovers by knocking the ball out of bounds and then forcing the inbounder to call a timeout, thus wasting the Thunder’s last time out. Even when Durant did finally get the ball, it wasn’t for lack of planning, because the Clips fought through every screen on those repeated inbounds plays.
What was the most disheartening coaching sequence, was the inbounds after Craig Smith’s layup (the great inbounds play). Both Randy Foye and Craig Smith pressured the inbounds pass, only that left Thabo Sefalosha completely open to take the pass and then, because no Clipper surrounded him, he easily passed it up to the cherry picking Russell Westbrook who jammed the ball home, ending the game.
As good as those offensive plays were, the failed trapping was just as bad, if not worse because of the ease at which the Thunder broke the press. While the side-inbounds play was aggressively defended, the Thunder just simply finished the Clippers off without much of a fight on the play.
On the whole, the effort was way more than encouraging, and even the execution was impressive. The Clippers walked into OKC and expected to win. And while losing to the Thunder now doesn’t have any serious effects, this year is pretty much just a training exercise, there will be a time when these efforts will no longer be considered encouraging but wasted.
Lots of highlights and then Notes:
Blake Griffin, from whatever measure you want to use, actua play, highlights, box score, or cheers was the absolute center of attention. He scored 35 points on 15 for 20 (!) shooting, yanked down 11 rebounds and notched 6 assists with an enormous block in the fourth quarter (when he looked like he tweaked an ankle but kept playing). He was just everywhere. And to top it off, that was his 61st double double of the year, the most by a rookie since the NBA/ABA merger. More than David Robinson, more than Hakeem, more than Tim Duncan or KG or, even, Shaquille O’Neal. Huge accomplishment.
VDN went with the three guard lineup down the stretch again to mixed results. Randy Foye played the third guard despite not making a single shot until the fourth quarter (1 for 6 for the game), however, magically, he played great defense on Kevin Durant (29 points on 9 for 23 shooting). He was part of the three guard squad that kept Durant from making a field goal at the end of the second quarter (KD went 0 for 4 in the second), and when KD came back in the fourth, he forced KD into 2 for 6 shooting, 3 for 4 from the line and a potentially costly turnover. I still don’t know how that defense works, but it does. If Foye would have been as effective on the offensive end, the Clippers probably would have pulled out a win.
More weirdness that is Randy Foye. When he came in the second quarter, before Durant returned to play, the Thunder went on a viciously quick 15-4 run and swung the game around. So he can guard the toughest scorer, who has a 6 inches on him and a high shot and yet he can’t guard James Harden or Daequan Cook? I don’t understand Randy Foye.
Despite Kaman’s poor free throw line performance, I thought the center platoon did very well. Kaman shot 5 for 12, pretty normal for him, but he was as active as he has ever been on defense. Those six blocks he had tonight didn’t come cheap. And yet DeAndre popped into the second unit and played perfectly in his 10 minutes, scoring 10 points on 3 for 3 shooting from the field and a miraculous 4 for 4 from the line while grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking a shot. Let’s revisit, that was all in ten minutes of play. Loved the energy from DeAndre and he probably would have earned more minutes if the Clippers didn’t need Kaman’s floor spacing to prevent Perk from helping out Ibaka to double team Blake.
Small forward continues to be an issue. Jamario had some nice stops on Durant (he even forced Durant into shooting one off the side of the backboard) but those moments were fleeting as Durant proceeded to catch fire. Aminu played uninspired and I’m worried about VDN being able to reach Aminu. Not only has there not been much development in his game, but Aminu doesn’t seem to be having the same fun he did earlier in the season. Randy Foye isn’t a long term solution at SF.
Mo Williams struggled defensively, but he ran the offense really well. He sublimated his game to improve Blake’s hot start (some really good alley-oops to Blake) and when he did take shots he made them at a high percentage, even having a huge three at the end of the game. He’s made some big shots in his tenure with the Clippers and I think he’ll be of help through next year, unless Eric Bledsoe makes a gigantic leap forward.
Speaking of Bledsoe, he looks good at times and bad at others. The most concise example of both was when he flew in for an offensive rebound in the dying moments of the third quarter, and then, with a couple of seconds left, launched up an airball. Had he been just slightly more aware and patient, he could have put up a much better shot.
ESPN.com’s Chris Palmer writes a column once a week analyzing two similar players, coming to a conclusion through a five step process of Key Strength, Key Weakness, Secret Skill, Intangibles and Player POV. On the heels of the Clippers comeback upset of the Thunder, Palmer released a comparison of Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant with a judgement that shocked, and angered, many NBA fans. He chose Griffin as the better player.
Durant is as pure a scorer as there is and looks to be a perennial MVP candidate. But the league has simply never seen anything like Griffin’s skill set before. Despite the fact that Griffin has not yet mastered the nuances and subtleties of the pro game, Durant’s efficiency rating is only slightly better.
Griffin is the first rookie since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1969-70 season to average 22 points, 12 rebounds and three assists. His March 23 triple-double of 33 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists was the first time a rook posted at least 30-plus points, 15-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists in 50 years (Jerry West, 1961).
Griffin is a raw, mountain of a power forward in the early stages of understanding the NBA game, yet still averages a full assist more than the highly skilled Durant. He already does a lot of little things better, too. For example, passing out of double teams. (Griffin’s assisted on 85 3s to Durant’s 40.) With his rapidly improving ballhandling, floor vision and understanding of the game, Griffin could average six to seven assists without compromising his scoring one bit. Continuing to improve his free throw shooting would add 2-3 points to his average.
Durant’s averages of 6.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists are very solid, but he loses ground because he doesn’t necessarily improve those around him. Both players have a tremendous work ethic but what makes Griffin scary is his time warp-like improvements. He seems to add a new element to his game each month. In November, his bringing the ball up the floor was a novelty. Now it’s a weapon.
Despite his victory, Griffin has a long way to go. He isn’t particularly long and is bothered by post players who have exceptional length and must learn not to beat himself up when he makes a mistake. He could also stand to block more shots given his terrific hops.
Durant is a phenomenal talent who can explode for 40 on any given night. But there’s a way to deal with him — be physical and push him as far out as possible to disrupt his rhythm.
What makes this article so interesting, though, is the reader reactions. Here are just a few:
From DonDada118: “Griffin is better than Durant……..a better dunker……thats it, nothing else”
From gerrysmithaz: “Watched Griffin play this past Friday versus the Suns. For years, every player in the league has career games against the Suns. Griffin had to be put back in during garbage time to get his final statistics that totaled 20 points on 6 for 15 shooting. He had no touch or luck with any shot that wasn’t a dunk. He has springs for legs and can real elevate, but stars in the NBA must score in more ways than dunks and a few fast break layups.
Amare Stoudemire was far superior and showed more upside as a 19 year old rookie than this 22 year old rookie. Griffin is a good player, but he will never be a superstar. And an NBA championship will never be won by a team centered around Griffin. He just isn’t good enough!
Durant is far superior and has more upside and confidence than the overhyped, because he is in Los Angeles, Griffin.”
And there are many, many more that aren’t all that suitable to post.
Not to say there aren’t some valid points. I don’t believe that Blake Griffin is a better athlete than LeBron James, but even mentioning the two together alludes to the unbelievable physical gifts of Griffin. And to say that Kevin Durant “doesn’t necessarily improve those around him,” seems a bit excessive. But I’m not sure the commenters have watched enough Griffin to know that this comparison is much closer than they think.
To compare the offensive repertoire is silly, it’s like comparing LeBron and Kobe. Kobe is much more skilled than LeBron, but like LeBron, Blake doesn’t need the same level of intricacy in his game because he’s at such a ridiculous athletic advantage. Still, Blake has a handful of moves, the spins off the left and right block, the new little up and under, the righty bank off the glass and when his jump shot improves beyond just being passable, he’ll be uncontainable. Also, Palmer touched on something that I think he might have wanted to give more due: Blake improves so fast. Palmer mentioned dribbling as a November trick, but he failed to bring up his vastly improved free throw shooting and the fact that Blake is even starting to play good defense already.
I don’t have the gall to say that Blake is better than Kevin Durant just yet, but it’s close. However, I will say if Blake stays healthy, something that’s a greater concern with him than with KD, BG will be the better all-around pro.
Keys to the Game
- Keep cool. The last game featured 6 technical fouls and since there have only been a few days between games, so the anger my not have been completely squelched. The Clippers will probably bang with the Thunder, but they can’t let that affect their emotions. Also, the Thunder will have added motivation to win at home after the Clippers embarrassed them, which could mean some really hot offensive stretches. If the Clippers can deal with the emotion and the aggressive offense, then they’ll have a much better chance to pull of the upset, again.
- Continued defensive success on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. The streak looked like it would break last game when Durant started hot (4 for his first 5 shots), but the Clippers buckled down and held Durant to 9 for 23 shooting. And on the season he’s even worse, averaging 20 points on 34.8 shooting and 6.7 rebounds. Westbrook is even worse, averaging 12.3 points 33 percent shooting and 7 assists. To start the year, Gomes did a great job guarding Durant, but even without Gomes the Clippers played Durant tough. There was an admirable platoon defense on Durant, with Jamario Moon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Randy Foye and Blake Griffin all got an opportunity to guard Durant. Although, I wouldn’t expect Foye to be as successful, seeing as he gives up at least 6 inches on KD.
- Perimeter offense (and I’m going to include Kaman in this). Kaman has, for a center, turned into much more of a jump shooter this year, which should work perfectly against the Thunder. If he drags Kendrick Perkins away from the paint, that gives Blake Griffin a whole lot more room to operate on Serge Ibaka. Aside from one huge block —
– Ibaka hasn’t done a great job on Blake (Blake went off for 26 points on 7 for 16 shooting and 16 rebounds). Also, Mo and Gordon need to play more efficiently, because they won’t have the same opportunity for heroics if they have similarly ineffective games. Westbrook and Sefalosha are elite defenders at their positions, so Gordon and Mo will have to be especially on point.
The Clippers eked out a victory over the Grizzles in Memphis tonight, 82-81, in a game that was in turns sloppy, bewildering, and – briefly – thrilling at the very end. It was the occasionally good, the often bad, and the mostly ugly, but in the end the Clippers somehow managed to end up on the right side of another strange game in Memphis.
Frankly, it was amazing that the Clippers were even close in the game. Besides the thrilling second half of last week’s victory over the Thunder, the Clippers have played generally uninspired basketball over the past month. During this season’s horrific 1-13 start, this squad built a reputation for playing like they had something to prove every night, competing in games they had no business being in. Maybe it’s impossible to sustain that kind of energy when you’re playing out the string in April, but it’s troubling how disengaged the Clippers looked for three plus quarters tonight.
Turnovers, for instance, have been a constant bugaboo all season, but many of the 20 turnovers the Clippers committed were particularly egregious, and seemingly the result of carelessness as much as sloppiness. Guys threw the ball away on the break, attempting needlessly complicated passes. No one on the floor seemed to be talking to each other – a fact that made it easy for Memphis to pick Blake’s pocket from behind twice. The Clips were slow to the ball on the defensive glass, and soft boxing out, and Memphis’ shorter front court guys, Shane Battier and Zach Randolph, took advantage on put backs and tip ins. Chris Kaman, despite being the only Clipper who could shoot for most of the night, twice chose to forgo shots from the baseline in favor of wild cross court passes, which Mike Conley picked off easily and took in for uncontested layups the other way. In half court sets, the offense was almost completely motionless. Guys would run one cut max and then settle around the perimeter waiting for the ball. Shooters like Gordon and Foye would run to the top of the key demanding the ball and then wander off again without setting screens.
But no matter how poorly the Clippers were playing, the Grizzlies’ lead hovered between 6 and 10 points, due mainly to their terrible shooting. I was actually surprised, looking at the box score after the game, that Grizzlies managed to shoot even a paltry 39%… watching the game it seemed much worse. Pretty much all of their shooters besides Mike Conley were cold. ZBo was 6-15. Tony Allen was 4-13. OJ Mayo and Darrell Arthur were a combined 1-16 off the bench. It seemed like there were any number of times in the third quarter that the Grizzlies were a dagger away from putting the Clippers away, but they went 1-9 from 3 on mostly open looks.
Besides Chris Kaman – 5-6 from the field in the first half – no one on the Clippers played particularly well in the first half, but Eric Gordon seemed to be having a particularly tough go. His numbers don’t scream terrible game. He scored 11 points on 5-13 from the field, a mediocre night, not an awful one. E.J. has looked uncomfortable since returning the second time from his wrist injury a few weeks ago. Maybe it’s adjusting to sharing the back-court with another shooter, or maybe the wrist injury is still bothering his touch, but the Eric Gordon of the past few weeks hasn’t been the Eric Gordon we watched dominate over the season’s first three months, and his mounting frustration has been evident. At times, too evident.
Over the past few weeks, there has been a steadily rising drumbeat of discontent among Clipper fans about Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon’s recent demonstrativeness – some might say downright whining – towards officials.. (And it’s not something that only Clipper fans have noticed, by the way. The Daily Thunder blog had a long paragraph indicting Blake’s post dunk stare-downs and constant ref hounding in its recap this weekend.) Tonight may have been a breaking point. On an inbounds play under the Clippers’ own basket midway through the second quarter, Gordon was stripped of the ball by Mike Conley. On the replay you can clearly see that Gordon is yelling at the ref as the play is still happening his back turned to the court as Zach Randolph is basically dunking over him. According to Ralph and Mike, Vinny has recently warned his young stars to do less yapping and more playing, but this was the kind of play that drives coaches crazy even if it isn’t part of a larger pattern. Gordon stayed in the game for the rest of the quarter and started the third, but he was pulled midway through the quarter and didn’t return, sitting out crunch time for the first time all season. (Strangely, no one on the broadcast so much as commented on this, despite the fact that the Clippers were playing a three guard lineup down the stretch that included Randy Foye and Eric Bledsoe but no Eric Gordon.)
But give the Clippers credit. Maybe they were only in the game late because of Memphis’ shooting deficiencies, but they still took advantage late. In the first few minutes of the fourth quarter the Clippers cut a 13 point Memphis lead down to five on a pair of Chris Kaman jump shots and some heads up work on broken plays by Al Farouq Aminu. As The Grizzlies continued to struggle with their shooting, the Clippers inched closer. Randy Foye hit a a few of his patented heel-on-the-3-point-line 2-pointers, Jamario Moon managed to tip in a missed DeAndre Jordon free throw, and somehow – if you didn’t watch the game you can’t imagine how surprising this felt – the Clippers found themselves down a mere point with 2 minutes left to play.
Mo Williams wasn’t sharp in the first half, but he came up huge in the game’s final minutes. He hit a huge three point coming out of a time out to put the Clips up one with just under two minutes to go, and then scored on an old fashioned three point play in the transition after Blake Griffin poked the ball away from ZBo in the post. With just under 40 seconds the Clippers had a 3 point lead – their largest of the game. A Mike Conley lay-up sliced the lead to one. The Clippers had the leather and the lead (as Brian Siemen would say) with 30 seconds on the clock. Which is when the weird started.
Eric Bledsoe brought the ball upcourt with the intention, I’m sure, of nursing as much time as possible off the clock. But – as always seems to happen with these Clippers – there seems to be too much emphasis on killing time and almost none on eventually running a play. Bledsoe dribbled for the better part of twenty seconds, and then, when he finally started to attack with 5 seconds left on the shot clock, promptly dribbled the ball of Marc Gasol’s leg. Somehow managing to regain control (or something close to control), Bledsoe careened into the lane and slammed into Memphis’ Tony Allen as the shot clock buzzer sounded. Two calls were made simultaneously. Crew chief Tony Brothers called a charge on Bledsoe, while Violet Palmer, standing on the baseline, called a block on Allen. The refs met at mid-court, conferred, and decided to go to the replay table, where they remained for almost ten minutes. It seemed likely that eventually Brothers’ charge call would win out: he was the senior official, plus Bledsoe was out of control on the play (“out of control” often being basketball’s “tie goes to the runner”).
But evidently no consensus was reached. It wasn’t quite the water main breaking – the court wasn’t evacuated – but the delay seemed almost as long. After an almost ten minute delay where the refs made sure that both Palmer and Brothers made their calls before the shot clock expired, 5.7 seconds were put on the clock and a jump ball was held at center court. It was the best possible outcome for the Clippers – augmented by the fact that the Grizzlies lined up for the jump ball without a single player in the Clippers back court. When Kaman backtapped the ball to Blake Griffin there wasn’t a Grizzly within ten feet of him. He passed the ball further into the backcourt to Mo Williams, who managed to dribble out the clock without being fouled.
All in all, a strange game. There has to be some satisfaction, I suppose, that the Clippers managed to win another close game – three of their past four victories have been by 6 points or fewer, and the fourth was the double overtime game against the Wizards. Mo Williams has clearly demonstrated not only a willingness but also an ability to make big shots down the stretch, which will be invaluable next season. But the team’s recent play, even in victories, continues to raise as many questions as it answers. Although their record over the past month doesn’t indicate it, the Clippers have not played a complete basketball game since Eric Gordon’s last return from injury, and as the off-season approaches it’s fair to wonder how Vinny plans to make all of his weapons work together comfortably and productively in the future.
The Clippers begin their last road trip of the season, a four games in five nights screamer, with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Like the Philadelphia 76ers in the East, the Grizzlies got off to a rough start on the year, they were 9-14 going into their first matchup with the Clippers, and turned their season around completely. Since March 1st, the Grizzlies have gone 10-5 while having beaten New Orleans, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Boston and, in what could be the foreshadowing of a playoff upset, San Antonio (twice). Of course, this is all without their premier perimeter player, Rudy Gay.
The reason for the Grizzlies’ turnaround, and why the Clippers haven’t beaten them, resides in the Griz’ unique ability to force turnovers. The Grizzlies have forced more turnovers than anyone else in the NBA (1287) and lead the league in steals per game (728 steals). The two biggest kleptomaniacs on the Grizzlies are Mike Conley (1.74 steals per game) and Tony Allen (1.81 spg), who are in the top six in steals per game in the NBA. And yet, the Grizzlies have plenty of good defenders behind those two, with Battier and Gasol, who have all formed to create the league’s 10th best defense.
The Clippers have struggled against teams like the Grizzlies (the Clips have lost in a similarly discouraging fashion to the 76ers, who are 8th in steals), because they have multiple high turnover players. Eric Gordon has been especially turnover prone with his wrist injury, having averaged 3.4 turnovers per game since returning. However, he’s not the sole problem. Mo Williams has the 20th highest turnover ratio (percent of possessions resulting in a turnover) among all point guards (12.8 percent) and his backup, Eric Bledsoe, is third amongst point guards with (18.4 percent). Even the low usage DeAndre Jordan has the 11th highest turnover percentage (17.4 percent).
The positives are that Blake Griffin, despite his 2.7 turnovers per game, is actually relatively efficient considering his usage and only has a 10.1 turnover percentage. Also, Kaman is having his most efficient year from a turnover perspective (11.8 percent), although that’s come as a result of his more jump shot oriented offense (he’s taking the fewest shots within 10 feet of his career, 5.6 shots per game). But getting the ball to the Clippers’ more careful bigs, there’s still the issue with getting them the ball.
So beating the Grizzlies remains a tough matchup and somewhat of a longshot, which doesn’t bode well for the road trip. The Clippers have only won three games total against their four opponents (0-2 against the Grizzlies, 0-3 against the Mavericks, 2-1 against the Thunder and 1-2 against the Rockets), and the lone team against whom the Clippers have a winning record, the Thunder, will have extra incentive after suffering a humiliating comeback loss last Saturday. But at some point, the Clippers are going to have to perform well on these trips if they want to become a playoff hopeful or even a contender.
Keys to the Game
- Turnovers. The Clippers have averaged 22.5 turnovers per game against the Memphis Grizzlies, an absolutely unacceptable amount and a huge reason that the Clippers haven’t won a game against the Griz. The Griz have great perimeter defense, highlighted by the stellar play of Tony Allen and the addition of Shane Battier, so an increase in turnovers are expected. But 22.5 turnovers a game? Not a recipe for success.
- Interior Defense. Blake has been playing better of late, but Zach Randolph has the girth and footwork unlike any other player in the league. Randolph doesn’t play anything close to resembling a high flyer game, but he doesn’t have to. In two games he used his size to body up opposing defenders to average 24 points and 12.5 rebounds as the centerpiece of the Grizzlies’ offense. Blake and crew will have to be at their best against Randolph. And then there’s Marc Gasol at center (11.6 points, 6.9 rebounds), so double teaming Randolph could pose problems.
- More Zone D. Clippers eked out a win over the Toronto Raptors a couple weeks ago based on their baffling zone defense down the stretch, a strategically smart move due to the Raptors poor outside shooting ability. Well, the Grizzlies are in a similar situation, as they shoot the 27th worst percentage from beyond the arc in the NBA (33.2 percent). They are missing their best consistent three point threat in Rudy Gay, they inconsistently play O.J. Mayo and Battier hasn’t caught shot well with his new team yet (31.5 percent with the Griz). Used in the right spots, a larger helping of zone defense could help the team earn their first win over the Grizzlies this year.
Injury Report
Ryan Gomes: knee, questionable
Chris Kaman: viral infection, questionable
Rudy Gay: left shoulder, out
Xavier Henry: right knee, out
Jason Williams: lower back, out
