(Patrick Hoelck/Red Bulletin Magazine)
Over at RedBullUSA.com, Brian Kamenetzky puts together an in-depth piece on the Clippers’ journey through their recent Grammy road trip. Here is an excerpt from that article. To read the whole piece, click here.
*****
Ninety minutes before Friday night’s tip against the Heat, the media is allowed into the visiting locker room at American Airlines Arena. Hip-hop blares from a portable iPod speaker on a table in the center of the room.
I ask Crawford who plays DJ.
“Pandora,” he says. “Somebody picks who is going to be DJ each day, and then they put on their favorite artist and Pandora just spins it.”
It appears to be Billups’ turn, because he stops at the table to adjust the tunes. Don’t expect any music-centered tension, either. This team has no Lutz demanding Blimpie for lunch.
“We all like the same music,” Crawford says.
The mood is good. Reserve forward Ronny Turiaf, who played last season with the Heat, will be honored and awarded his championship ring before the game. Backup point guard Eric Bledsoe was named a participant in the dunk contest during All-Star weekend. Best of all, at practice the day before, the Clippers had Paul, Billups, Griffin, and Crawford back on the floor. With veteran forward Grant Hill having made his debut for the team earlier in the trip, it meant the Clippers had, for the first time all year, all 14 players on the roster available to play.
