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

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.

Injury Report

Ryan Gomes: knee, questionable

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

The Clippers play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team whose plan the Clips would love to follow. Draft a couple blue chip prospects (Durant/Westbrook or Griffin/Gordon), fill the team in with talented young role players (Ibaka, Harden, Maynor or Jordan/Aminu/Bledsoe), value highly the chemistry of the team, don’t overspend on veteran players, rid the team of bad contracts and stock up on draft picks. For continued development, stay wise with picks and vets, and let the team grow.

Although, as smooth as the Thunder’s rise to success has seemed, let’s not forget that they had their struggles, too. When they were supposed to take off in their second year, they limped out the gate to a 1 and 12 start, fired P.J. Carlesimo and continued to flounder under Scotty Brooks (winning only two more of their next 19 games), and even had paradoxical questions to deal with like whether the Thunder were better off without Kevin Durant on the floor. Even when they improved, they had to deal with the underwhelming Jeff Green (6 rebounds per game as a power forward?), whether or not the once sure thing James Harden would develop into a solid rotation player and the fact that they had very little size or intimidation.

And that’s all after they had won 50 games and made the playoffs. No matter how talented a good team is, there will always be questions.

The Clippers have a ton of their own (what to do at small forward? Will Aminu develop into the future small forward? Will Mo Williams mesh with the team? How will their team defense improve or their individual defense? What to do with Kaman and DeAndre? Should they keep both, trade one?), but the essential foundation is there. They have two blue chip players to build around and from the looks of it, they are showing the patience necessary to do so. The most rushed move they’ve done was to get rid of Baron Davis while they could. The Clippers might have been able to unload Baron after the end of the year and get back more, but even the concession of the pick is understandable considering the financial repercussions.

The great news is that the Clippers team has won more this year than either of Kevin Durant’s early teams (whether they were the Sonics or the Thunder). The Clips have already suffered that horrible opening, this years 1-13 start, and have righted themselves earlier than the Thunder team. But that doesn’t guarantee that the Clippers will have more or even as much success.

Oklahoma made plenty of smart plays after they began to shine, from getting a young coach that could connect with the team and get Kevin Durant to improve his defense. They finagled the extension with Nick Collison by front loading his contract so that they would have room for the extensions of other players on the team. The Thunder snuck away good players (like Maynor) from teams that needed cap relief and took advantage of teams that were looking towards the future while ridding themselves of their own problems (like the Celtics trade with Kendrick Perkins for Jeff Green).

Beyond just improving the team’s defense, cutting down turnovers and keeping them healthy, the Clipper front office has a huge workload. There is an adage insisting on the ephemerality of both success and failure. Just because the Clippers have, finally, begun to assemble a good team doesn’t guarantee it. They need to watch how hard and smart the Thunder work at every level, and then emulate that ethic. And though that doesn’t guarantee success, that ideology will give the Clippers the best chance.

Keys to the Game

- Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Both players are MVP caliber and so far the Clippers have been able to hold them in check. In the two previous meetings, Durant averaged 18.5 points on 31 percent shooting while Westbrook averaged 14.5 points on 29 percent shooting. No matter how good the Clipper defense is on those two, the probability that they play around those numbers is unlikely. That will be the goal, but anything below their averages of 22 points on 44 percent shooting for Westbrook and 27.8 points on 46 percent shooting for Durant will be considered a success.

- Big game for the Clipper bigs. The Thunder have one of the better interior defenses with Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka, both are athletic and capable of blocking shots and limiting the points in the paint. One on one, Blake can take either of these players, however, the Clippers are potentially without Kaman, so the pair of Perk and Ibaka might be able to swarm Blake, making for a rough offensive night. Blake has been very efficient against the Thunder (23 points on 59 percent shooting) but both games were before Perkins joined the Thunder lineup. He’ll need some help from DeAndre or Kaman (if he plays) to give him the spacing to operate down low.

- Mo Williams. Mo started to find some rhythm against the Suns, dished out a couple assists (even to Eric Gordon), but found himself in early foul trouble due to some silly fouls. Mo needs to keep himself in the game, maintain that rhythm because in the last few games, VDN has been putting Foye in to run the offense, which is a significant downgrade at the point.

Injury Report

Chris Kaman: viral illness, questionable

Thunder: none reported

The Clippers will face a Suns team that they haven’t seen in their first three meetings, not that any of those teams were exactly the same (pre-Marcin/VC trade, Marcin/VC trade adjustment period, post-Marcin/VC trade), but now the Suns have fallen two games below .500 and are 5.5 games out of a playoff spot.

Over at Valley of the Suns:

With the Phoenix Suns mired in a four-game losing streak that has dropped them 5 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and caused the Hollinger Playoff Odds to decrease their chances of reaching the postseason to an honest 0 percent, it begs the question how much longer will Steve Nash continue giving everything he has for a season gone awry?

Just because of the emotions, the recent performance, the Suns could easily add to their losing streak. They had expectations, like always, of making the playoffs and despite some stretches of solid play mixed with a great addition in Marcin Gortat, the Suns are practically but not mathematically eliminated. Even if they won the last 8 games, Memphis could win only 3 games (and they have two against the Clippers) and still have a clear lead in the standings.

Clipper fans will remember how the Clippers handled their apparent practical elimination from the playoffs when they lost to the Bulls on February 2 (or earlier against the Rockets and Mavs), the Clippers then went on a 2-9 road trip. Only rare nights drew much energy from the Clippers as a collective.

The Suns are a veteran team, so they’re not looking to develop a chemistry and identity, but maintain health for the future. Every win is a stepping stone for the Clippers right now, and if anything, they need to take advantage of teams when they are down. The Clips need to develop the habits necessary to win with consistency and every game provides that opportunity.

In other news, Ryan Gomes’ knee has been bothering him and he might eventually be shut down for the season. While this doesn’t change the problem that the Clippers have had at small forward this year (Gomes played his worst season of his career), a dimension of the problem is added, or removed. Now, the Clippers only have three options: 1) give Gomes’ minutes to Al-Farouq Aminu, 2) give Gomes’ minutes to Jamario Moon or 3) give those minutes to the Clippers three guard lineup of Bledsoe, Gordon and Foye.

At this juncture, none of those options are particularly appealing. Aminu has shown glimpses, but is still a project. Jamario has had flashes, but his career is just a series of flashes (check out Ben Golliver’s post at Blazer’s Edge on Malcom Gladwell’s famous 10,000 hour principle applied to Gerald Wallace and Jamario Moon). And having Gordon or Foye spend time at the three minimizes Gordons ability to defend or leaves Randy Foye out to be not just a streaky defender but a wildly bad one.

Since the Clippers are playing for the future, playing Farouq more seems like a no-brainer. Aminu had his best stretch of the year when he was starting (don’t you vaguely remember that 20 point, 8 rebound performance against the Hornets back in November?), and needs minutes to develop. Although after Vinny’s post-game talk about the rookies (Aminu and Bledsoe) not being consistent enough, Jamario and the three guard lineup might see more run.

Keys to the Game

- Steve Nash v. Mo Williams. As Mo has shown, he’s ready to attack any time he a poor defensive point guard covers him. He lit up Derek Fisher, as well as Jason Kidd in the quarter Kidd covered him, but Mo’s not a good defensive player. Nash is also not a good defensive point guard, but the offensive capabilities between Nash and Mo are not even remotely close. While Mo seems to have ‘distributor’ mode and ‘scorer’ mode, Nash is better than Mo in both scoring and distributing and to top it off, is always in both modes. Cut off Nash’s passing lanes, he’ll drive to the hole for a circus layup. Collapse on Nash and suffer the Suns getting a wide open three. That’s really the distinction between guys like Mo and Nash, the ability to not fall into a zone, because that zone makes defending that player easier. Although Nash may not play much or at all, which would be huge for the Clippers.

- Blake v. the Phoenix Bigs. Blake had one of his least efficient games against the Phoenix in their last match-up (17 points on 6 for 18 shooting), largely due to the new defensive presence of the Suns. Both Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez provide the length and athleticism requisite to bothering Blake.

- Eric Gordon. He hasn’t been playing nearly as consistently as of late, and that’s of some concern. Not sure whether that’s due to his wrist, or Mo’s ability to get the ball in Eric’s favorite spots. The good news is that both can be remedied, although not right away.

Injury Report

Mickael Pietrus: knee, questionable