The Clippers lost at home to the Spurs 103-100 in overtime in one of the craziest games of the season. First, check out the Lob City Ledger over at ESPNLA.com by Jordan Heimer, then let’s dive into three things.
The Good
- Randy Foye’s Third Quarter Explosion: What a roller coaster. The Clippers moved the ball extremely well in the first quarter, even without Chris Paul in the game. Blake Griffin was drawing fouls and exploiting his mismatches in one-on-one situations, and the ball was being peppered around the perimeter when San Antonio came with help. The Spurs, of course, made their adjustments defensively and began to knock down their open looks on the other end. After getting up big to start the game, the Clippers fell behind 65-50 in the third quarter when their offense stalled. Enter Randy Foye. The Clippers went on an insane 15-0 run behind some ridiculous shooting from Foye, who put up a Kobe-esque 16 points (!) in the third quarter alone. For the second straight game, the Clippers pulled back into it in the third period with solid defense and contributions outside of the usual suspects.
- Chris Paul’s Fourth Quarter Takeover: Paul really takes the whole “winning time” thing pretty seriously. The back-and-forth battle with Paul and Tony Parker was the most entertaining aspect of the game. Because the Clippers struggled to defend the Parker/Duncan pick-and-roll, they ended up switching all ball-screens — a strategy that probably should be utilized more with a mobile defender like Kenyon Martin on the floor. On the other end, Blake Griffin represented too much of a threat in the post, so the Spurs sent aggressive double-teams to him on the catch. It was a little bit of a chess match between the two coaching staffs, but Paul rescued the game with two straight knifing drives to the rim that resulted in layups to give the Clippers a 91-90 lead with less than a minute remaining. After Parker hit two free throws on his end, Paul made a heady veteran play by literally grabbing Kawhi Leonard’s arm as he turned the corner to draw contact, then exploding backward (all right in front of the ref) as if he had been completely pushed out of bounds. It worked. Paul got to the line, and did his part by making his two free throws, then hit two more after a GREAT defensive rotation by Kenyon Martin got the Clippers the stop they needed. More on what followed that possession later… but how about the fourth quarter totals for Paul? 17 points, and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. It’s insane how he’s able to flip the switch the way he does when the fourth rolls around.
- Blake Griffin’s Everything: The Clippers have this tendency to portion out the quarters offensively. Caron Butler, you get the first quarter. Mo Williams, you take the second. We’ll play defense in the third, and then Chris Paul takes the fourth. Blake Griffin, however, doesn’t get let in on that fun. Griffin has been the steadying factor offensively by making the right decisions in the post and out-working everyone else around the rim. It kind of goes without saying, but you don’t stumble into 20-20 games with 7 offensive rebounds without a ton of effort and energy. Griffin’s improved defensive play deserves its own post, so I’ll stop here, but Griffin was again the workhorse through all four quarters.
The Bad
- The rest of Chris Paul’s Night: Some of the Clippers best moments through the first three quarters came without Paul on the floor — a good sign going forward. The fact that the Clippers can remain in games against really good teams like San Antonio with Paul only having one field goal going into the fourth doesn’t belong in the “bad” section, but Paul’s performance through three probably does. You can appreciate the fact that Paul saves his best for crunch time and when the games really matter (read: playoffs), but I’d be more comfortable not depending on Randy Foye to go nuclear to stay in ballgames.
The Ugly
- Gomes as the inbounder: The Clippers were up 3, with the ball, with nine seconds left. Literally, the only thing they had to do was get the ball inbounds. That’s it. Just get it in, get fouled, and make 1-of-2 free throws and the game is over. I even sarcastically tweeted before the play to “Put Ryan Gomes in the game to inbound!” as a joke. But Del Negro actually did it, just eight days after he saw Gomes call a timeout on his first try, then turn it over on his next to Lou Williams to give Philly a lead and a win, if not for some Chris Paul heroics. So out of the timeout, incredibly, Del Negro went right back to Gomes to inbound the ball. I get that you don’t want Blake Griffin on the floor. I understand that. But why not have Mo Williams or Randy Foye inbound the ball — guards who are used to having the ball in their hands to make good passes? Only one guy can get fouled — I get the theory of having three 85 percent three-point shooters out there, but it doesn’t mean anything if the guy inbounding the ball is freaking out because he hasn’t played in forever and he’s ice cold. Probably the only person happy to see Gomes enter the game to inbound the ball again was Daniel Ewing.
- Seriously? Gomes? So you don’t want a guard inbounding. You want someone with size — that’s fine. Have Butler inbound the ball. He’s been playing, he’s loose. I know Gomes is a smart guy, but intelligence doesn’t matter when your system is flooded with the fear of screwing up. Gomes throwing the ball to Paul right before he crossed over into the backcourt was literally the one second where he couldn’t pass the ball. Paul had no choice but to try and avoid the violation, and Gary Neal was in the right place at the right time to bury a wide open 3 to push the game to overtime. You had the sense that, even in a roller coaster game with all of those swings, the ride was over for the Clippers. There’s no coming back from that. Gomes deserves the criticism for making a dumb decision — he’s a professional basketball player, and that was inexcusable – but it’s a spot he should have never been in, in the first place.
There were so many good things to come out of this game. The Clippers played really well offensively without Paul for extended stretches. Blake Griffin was utilized well. There were some good adjustments made on the fly. The defensive rotations were improved. It really looked like a game you could point to and say, “they’re putting it all together.”
But then disaster struck, again. And now you look to this game and point to something else entirely.
28 Responses
Terrible! Just terrible! All they had to do was inbound the ball!!!!!!! I thought they only called back court if you’re inbounding the ball from the base line??? The Clippers are in desperate need of another wing player.Gomes doesn’t belong on this team. Didn’t belong here last year either. To top it off, he still has a year left on his contract.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 5:24 pm
I read that the Clips worked Azabuike out. Would be a good signing IMO. I remember they offered him a deal a couple years back but Golden St. matched the offer sheet
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Blake’s spectacular efforts on both ends of the floor for the past few games have been overlooked with Chris’s late-game heroics, but this kid has really been something else to watch. He’s my pick for best performer in the last three games. A joy during some otherwise ugly matches at times.
I think it’s safe to say Ryan Gomes has effectively overtaken Cookie as the Clipper you’d most hate to see on the floor during crunch time, but that whole possession was terrible. Blame Vinny for drawing that play, blame Foye for not guarding Neal since I assume he was back there playing safety of sorts, but mostly blame Ryan Gomes for being Ryan Gomes. It’s gonna take a while to get over this one.
C L I P S E T Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Can’t blame Vinny for drawing that up. Up 3, all Chris had to do was hold the ball. why did he get rid of it?
Cp Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
This is unclear to me as well. Why would that have been a violation? I thought the whole court is in play on an inbounds pass.
D.J. Foster Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
That’s correct — the whole court is in play when you’re inbounding from the sideline.
However, Paul caught the ball in the frontcourt. As soon as he would have crossed over into the backcourt, since he originally caught the ball in the frontcourt, it would have been a violation. Because he was running at full speed towards the backcourt, there was no possible way for him to stay in the frontcourt. That’s why he tried to get rid of the ball…unfortunately, it landed right in the hands of Gary Neal.
Yes, Paul shouldn’t have flinged it directly to Neal, but ultimately it’s on Gomes for not waiting until Paul crossed fully into the backcourt before delivering the pass.
C L I P S E T Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 8:45 am
He caught the ball with one foot in the front court. His second would have landed back court. If the entire court is in play why would it be a violation? Is one foot enough?
Nick_C Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 12:03 am
I’d say equal blame belongs to Gomes and Paul, and if I had to pick, I’d blame Paul for the three the most, but maybe not for the turnover. By which I mean that it could’ve resulted in an out of bounds turnover as Gomes fault, but Paul made it worse (an open three for Neal) than it needed to be.
Basically, if Paul thinks it’s going to be a backcourt violation if he catches it, it doesn’t become any less of a violation if he throws it to a teammate in the backcourt from his position in the front court. So, either he needed to think, “this is a backcourt violation because I caught in the frontcourt, so I’d better throw it back into the front court to try to save possession.” Or, he needed to just catch it and take the out of bounds turnover if the ref calls it.
Trying to throw a tough pass to a teammate in the backcourt doesn’t make sense from either thought process. It’s just a riskier way to get a backcourt violation. But, in the end, it’s just a panic decision at the end of a regular season game. Hopefully everyone will just learn from it and move on.
Sorry if that was convoluted, hopefully my reasoning makes sense.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
VDN is to Gomes as Dumbleavy is to Novak. Stop ovecoaching putting in ice cold players to screw up the final 5 seconds of a game they hardly/if ever played in. Please get rid of VDN asap. We have 1 play and we run it everytime and now we need at least a 4 point lead with the ball to win frickin’ a game. Atrocious.
Also, you can see just how clueless vdn is when he has DJ in the game down 3 with 5 seconds left. Ummm, what exactly is he there to do? Also, nice play, Mo williams passed it in and stood out of bounds the whole time. Way to draw up a winner vdn.
EricGordonsAnkleBrace Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
I think that should get me some Langers Pastrami.
D.J. Foster Reply:
February 18th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
I’ll inform the right people
Wilpatyo Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 12:08 am
Terrible comparison. Novak could be colder than Coors Light and Ice Cube, and still knock down a shot. Gomes is VDN’s Daniel Ewing.
arnold Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
steve novak is a clipper legend, and he got discount double check trending on twitter. i think the daniel ewing comparison makes sense, even though that name makes me cringe.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Gomes has been put in off the bench to make a key inbounds pass twice this season and screwed it up miserably both times… Don’t make it a third VDN. Keep Gomes on the bench where he belongs.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
if rasual butler got dnps i think now gomes should get them. at the end of the day i get it we are all human we make mistakes. In basketball you make mistakes and you go out the next time and go hard to make up for them. gomes doesnt do that. two bad passes. we could have easily lost the other game too. buy out gomes or bench him for the season. there a reason del negro runs a three guard line up when butler is out. becuz gomes cant play. i wont be surprise if he cant get a new contract after this one is up. Damn gomes i never thought i would say this about a player but go sprain an ankle so you have no right to be in there
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
Really tough loss today
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Coach and Gomes gotta go. it will not be any easier in the playoffs and these types of plays will get you knocked out early. let gomes and cookie bring the guys towels and refreshments during the game. Gomes is done and will probably never get another contract. need another 3 bad – hope we get a defensive minded one.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
I think you mean dumbleavy is to Ewing…
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Putting in Gomes was a classic “Clipper” moment. I even said before the timeout, “watch this idiot put Gomes in”
VDN has done a good job so far this year. The sign of good coaching is when you don’t notice it. But the times he’s miscalculated it’s been extremely costly.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
DJ, when you go on MM this week please bring up Bledsoe’s 3rd quarter defense.
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 10:01 pm
This one hurt alot…
Posted on February 18th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
does anyone have a clip of the DJ 21 footer?? that thing ws amazing! looked like a rainbow in person!
D.J. Foster Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 11:52 am
I’m working on making a minute video of that shot on loop. Maybe throw some keyboard cat as background music or something.
phil Reply:
February 19th, 2012 at 5:08 pm
an nba slo-mo “commercial’ of that would be awesome. and then maybe a zoom in on the players’ faces and the bench reaction.
Nick_C Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 12:07 am
I think that DJ hitting that jumper should be the ending of one of those random players pass to random players NBA commercials. He could replace Ryan Gomes as the random Clipper involved.
Posted on February 19th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Worst game but as a clip fan we are use to it…
ONE GOOD THING FROM GAME:
-Get all of the bad mistakes and coaching out during regular season…and DON’T MAKE SAME MISTAKES IN PLAYOFFS
Posted on February 19th, 2012 at 11:02 am
I was watching the game with my 16-year-old son… When the timeout was called he literally said, “The only way the Clippers can lose this game is if they put Gomes in.” Can you imagine? I was thinking the exact same thing.
Posted on February 20th, 2012 at 9:21 am
I think Gomes major probelm is he has no confidence and 0 court vision. I have no idea why Vinny put Gomes in I guess he thought their was no possible way he could mess up and maybe thought he learned his lesson from the last game where he made the exact same mistake?
Posted on February 20th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
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