The Clippers spent a good part of Tuesday’s practice working on defensive rotations. During the team’s 5-on-5 scrimmage, the coaching staff would have one practice squad run a high pick-and-roll, with a direction by Mike Dunleavy to go left or right off the action. The defensive unit was then ordered to trap or “red” the point guard, which means the PG’s primary defender would crowd him directly on his shoulder, with the screener’s defender joining his teammate out on the perimeter.  More...

The Clippers have posted some good video of Blake Griffin’s workout last Saturday on their Youtube channel. Griffin’s athleticism jumps off the screen, and he moves confidently, even away from the basket. The part of Griffin’s game that needs to most work — by his own admission — is his jump shot. There’s a heaviness and lumbering quality to Griffin’s shooting form that belies his agility as a big man, something he’s already working to improve.  More...

Marcus Camby has been a somewhat polarizing player in the sphere of NBA discussion since he was named the 2006-07 Defensive Player of the Year.  Camby has built a career as a serviceable offensive player,  but an elite rebounder and help defender. He’ll record his 2,000th block sometime before Thanksgiving. If he can stay healthy, he’s got a chance to finish his career as one of the NBA’s top 10 most prolific shot-blockers of all-time.  More...

The Clippers are parachuting into Denver without Al Thornton, Chris Kaman, and Marcus Camby, so I don’t expect tonight to be much of a game. The Nuggets’ frontcourt rotation is composed of legitimate big men — Nene, Kevin Martin, Chris Andersen, and Renaldo Balkman.  They don’t engage in a lot of smallball, despite what their 5th ranked pace number might suggest. At times, Linas Kleiza will assume the 4 spot in the second unit, particularly with Martin still recovering from a back injury, but they generally have two big bodies out there at the 4 and 5.

Along with Chauncey Billups, these bigs are a primary reason the Nuggets rank 8th in defensive efficiency.  On Thursday night, they held Utah to a mere 104 points in 107 possessions.  X’s & O’s of Basketball watched the game, and illustrates Denver’s effective pick-and-roll defense.  Jeremy Wagner of Roundball Mining Company made some similar observations a few weeks back.

X’s & O’s has a video clip of a particularly good defensive set where Denver traps Deron Williams:

I just like this defensive/offensive sequence from the end of the first quarter. The Jazz are in their ISO and high PNR set for Deron Williams, the Nuggets do a great thing by trapping the ball screen, then zoning up, forcing the 24 second shot clock violation…I really like [trapping the screen] because it takes the ball out of the offense’s best playmaker. You might give up an open look, but I think when you play against a team with a great playmaker, the key is to force the other players to make a play, create their own shot. In fact, even if the Jazz didn’t run a high ball screen, I would’ve doubled Williams anyways to get the ball out of his hands…

There’s no question that S/R defense is the linchpin of any NBA defense, but X’s & O’s reveals a point that often goes unsaid:  The two guys defending that action are vital, but the three guys covering the rest of the floor are just as important to a defensive stop.

Carmelo Anthony, Linas Kleiza, and J.R. Smith aren’t anything special as individual defenders, but they do a great job here of blanketing the floor, accounting for Utah’s perimeter people, and ultimately rotating while Chauncey Billups and Chris Andersen work against the S/R.  In doing so, those three guys buy Andersen enough time to get back to the basket area, where he’s most useful as a defender [and where he blocks Andrei Kirilenko's layup, resulting in a shot clock violation].

Remember that Clippers’ #8 ranked defense of 2005-06?  As individual defenders, they weren’t all that much, but they did this sort of thing remarkably well — which goes to show that alertness and chemistry account for a lot.

As if it weren’t obvious from the crickets chirping around these parts over the past week, I’ve been away from Los Angeles.  I’ve been able to watch the Clippers only in fits and starts on a lousy connection that freezes my League Pass every 90 seconds.  This suspended animation produces still images of Andray Blatche looking like a large bug for two straight minutes and, even scarier, of the Clippers appalling interior defense.

On the rosier side, Steve Novak has clawed his way into heavy rotation, as John Hollinger notes today:

If you haven’t been watching Clippers games lately, I can’t say I blame you. But you’re missing out on a 3-point explosion for the ages.

L.A.’s Steve Novak went 6-for-10 from downtown Wednesday night and now is 21-for-34 over his past four games — including the game-winner at the buzzer against New Jersey on Sunday. The past 11 times he’s played at least 20 minutes, he’s made two or more 3s. Since Jan. 19, only Cleveland’s Mo Williams has made more 3-pointers than Novak, which is pretty amazing, considering Novak has played only 21 minutes a game in that span.

In that two-month span, Novak is 77-for-171 (45 percent) from downtown while averaging a 3-point hoist every four minutes. Although he is fairly worthless on defense and can’t create his own shot, his 3s are such a powerful offensive weapon that he’s forced the Clips to play him anyway — he started the second half Wednesday against Washington, and that might be a harbinger of how he will be used the rest of the way.

With one of the highest true shooting percentages (62.9) in the league and a microscopic turnover ratio (4.9 percent of the possessions he’s used), along with his teammates’ dreadful efficiency otherwise (they are last in offensive efficiency), getting him as many shots as possible should be among this team’s highest priorities.

That last point is worth noting and will be an interesting test for Mike Dunleavy and the guys who share the floor with Novak.  We’ve seen the Clippers run some effective stuff for Novak — using Randolph in the post to leverage some space, and with Baron up top on the pick and pop.  Novak isn’t an easy guy to get shots for.  He doesn’t have the speed of a Rip Hamilton or Dale Ellis.  The Clippers will have to be creative in their design, and flawless in their execution.  For the past week or so, it’s been working, but you have to assume that teams will start preparing for Novak and, in some cases, assigning a sticky perimeter defender to him.