(Photo by AP/Alan Diaz)
37 of 47. LeBron James has made 37 of his last 47 shots. That’s just ridiculous. Against the Clippers he was on point, scoring 30 points to go along with five rebounds and six assists in just 31 minutes. He missed more free throws (8 of 11) then field goals (9 of 11). What’s possibly more absurd is that the Heat were 15 of 27 more downtown (55.6 percent), giving the Clippers but no shot at winning their first game where everyone was “healthy.” (Grant Hill? Trey Thompkins, anyone?). This one was ugly, and I’m already getting nauseous thinking about it. Onto Last Call:
Buzzer Reaction
 |
89 | Recap | Box score |
111 |  |
No Dime tonight, folks.
Tweet of the Game
Chris Paul, Chauncey Billups, Eric Bledsoe, Lamar Odom and Jamal Crawford needed 34 shots to score 30. LeBron needed 11.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) February 9, 2013
Eric Bledsoe Per36 Stat o’ The Night
On hiatus until Chris Paul actually returns.
ClipperBlogLive’s Best Moment
There’s a young person’s card game, a shout out to Trey Thompkins and a ruined Face Time. Check it out.
Check Your Messages
Paint it black
I recently heard an interesting interview with Rolling Stones’ drummer Charlie Watts in which Watts explains his unique role in the band. In basically every other rock band, the drummer sets the beat and the band follows. The drummer is foundational. But not in the Stones. Legendary rhythm guitarist Keith Richards sets the tempo and Watts follows, cuing off Richard’s strum hand. In other words, Watts is considered a great drummer DESPITE NOT PERFORMING THE MOST BASIC FUNCTION OF A ROCK DRUMMER.
Lamar Odom is Charlie Watts. A healthy Chris Paul is Keith Richards. And the rest, as they say, is noise.
- Jordan Heimer
What Heat Clippers Actually Look Like
- Fred Katz
Conquering King
The Clippers couldn’t do anything to stop a humming Miami offense. With an insanely efficient Lebron James as the focal point, Vinny Del Negro had to pick his poison on the defensive end. Either commit to stopping Lebron’s penetration at the expense of weakside defense or instruct defenders to stay home on their man around the perimeter allowing Lebron free reign.
The team defense employed by the Clippers isn’t sophisticated enough to accomplish both. Whenever they would commit to stopping a particular aspect of the Heat’s attack, Miami would adjust accordingly and exploit the advantage.
This game says a lot more about Lebron and the Heat than it does about the Clippers. You can count on one hand the number of times tonight’s starting lineup has played together this season. While the Heat are spectacular, Chris Paul and the Clippers won’t take any pride in their performance for this nationally televised main event.
- Michael Shagrin
Baby, you got a stew goin’?
Barring any further setbacks, Los Angeles will finally know what they have around or just after the All-Star break. It’s frustrating to Clipper fans, drunk off of early-season contender talk, dealing with the Grammy road-trip and an injury hangover.
But to build a good stew, the base requires patience; drawing all the nutrients from the stock, layering in the herbs on a slow burner, allowing deep flavors to develop. Will this meal hit the right notes? Los Angeles finally has all their ingredients. Now it’s a waiting game to see if they can be married.
- Andrew Han
