While you keep your fingers crossed for the MRI results on Chauncey Billups and his left Achilles, let’s give you some waiting room material to browse over.

• Jordan Heimer was on Lob City Ledger duty last night, and pointed out something that’s been mentioned in the comments section here: Griffin’s new rhythm dribble helped him go 6-for-7 from the free throw line. It begs the question: Is it a confidence thing, or a mechanics problem? I’ll still argue that Griffin locks his knees far too early and relies on his upper body, but his stroke last night did look a little more fluid and less mechanic.

• In addition to some of the other cool stuff we’re getting to do, ClipperBlog will have a home on ESPN’s new and improved Daily Dime going forward. Last night, I broke down what I felt to be the most important plays of the night — Caron Butler and Ryan Gomes grabbing two offensive rebounds in overtime to milk the clock and force Orlando to foul.

• ESPN’s analysts (including Kevin Arnovitz) weigh in on whether or not a lengthy Billups injury ruins the Clippers title chances in the latest NBA 5-on-5. The answers might surprise you.

• Over at ESPNLA.com, I’m a little more pessimistic about contending for a title without the services of Billups. I’ve been critical of Billups in the past, but he’s still a definite upgrade over Randy Foye…and the Clippers’ defense has been leaps and bounds better when Billups plays with the starters as opposed to Williams. There’s more there in the article, but let’s hope it’s rendered meaningless after today.

Let’s roundup the action from last night’s victory over the defending champs before we get to the recap:

• Here’s the Hoopdata.com box score. Best nugget: Mo Williams had a True Shooting Percentage of 81.9% last night. If you had to hand out the 6th Man of the Year Award today, it has to go to Mo, right?
• In the Lob City Ledger, I point out that Blake Griffin may be human after all. I make the point that Griffin’s poor free throw shooting comes from fatigue — mainly because he doesn’t use his legs and locks his knees before his release. When you depend all on your upper body, you’re going to miss short more often than not. Of course, I also got on Blake for his “poor defensive rebounding” even though his defensive rebounding rate was a whopping 32.1 last night. Bad call by me. The real culprit was Caron Butler, who allowed Shawn Marion to grab six offensive boards while posting a DRR of 8.7.
• Okay, okay. Less talk about rebounds, more talk about big shots. Kevin Arnovitz has the full breakdown of those last two possessions over at TrueHoop. Read that, and then adopt the word “Popovichian” into your every day vocabulary.
• Here’s the link to ClipperBlogLive, our postgame show held immediately after the buzzer. Big thanks to those of you who keep providing us great questions to take on the air.  Remember — you can contribute to the show by tweeting @clipperbloglive, emailing clipperbloglive (at) gmail.com, or even using the comments section here.

Tweet of the night: From @marcel_mutoni : “Billups is owed an apology by the Internet.”

On Deck: Michael Shagrin will have the full recap from last night’s game coming up shortly.

• One of the cooler aspects of the Clippers rise to prominence is the amount of voices now chiming in on the team and its players. Here’s an excellent piece on Los Angeles, Chauncey Billups and how it all fits together by Kate Perkins for The Classical: “Waived by the Knicks in order to acquire Tyson Chandler from Dallas, Billups openly displayed the kind of self-pity and resentment of a player well aware of his own waning light. There’s no great promise, in any case, in the dismissal “Go west, old man!” Dusk is lowering over Chauncey Billups’ career. But that, he surely knows, makes it all the more urgent for him to shine.”
• Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on the NBA Today Podcast talking Chris Paul vs Kobe Bryant in the clutch. This is required listening, mainly because it will help you deal with that Lakers fan in your life.
• Mike Downey revisits the Clippers hilariously depressing past for ESPNLA.com. Make sure to check out Shelley Smith’s video as well, if for no other reason than to hear Ralph Lawler’s best “oh me, oh my” moment of all-time.
• Kevin Arnovitz and Jordan Heimer are predictably awesome in their new podcast for ESPN.  Their guest this week was basketball genius David Thorpe . Can’t recommend this highly enough, especially since they kick it off with a little Pharcyde. Bravo, gents.
• Lastly, a little housekeeping. Right after the buzzer of every game, we trot out the Lob City Ledger at ESPNLA.com. We also do ClipperBlogLive, which you can participate and listen to live a few minutes after the game right here on ClipperBlog. You can also find us creeping around in ESPN.com’s Daily Dime Live during most games, so feel free to join us there. And if you really, really like us, follow our accounts on Twitter. Self-promotion, ahoy!

Plenty more coming on the way. We’ll have a 3-on-3: Clippers-Lakers edition coming to you shortly.

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• The estimable Steve Perrin at Clipsnation with a breakdown on Eric Gordon’s 18 point performance against Greece on Wednesday: “In the first game where he wasn’t worrying about his spot on the roster, Eric Gordon led Team USA with 18 points.  He also had two steals, and could have been credited with more than that by my reckoning.  He probably had eight deflections on defense.  EJ was feeling it from the moment in checked in, getting a steal and a tough finish on his first sequence”
• Eric Gordon has a long distance chat with Clippers.com, and again displays more verbal confidence than we’ve seen before. Here’s Gordon responding to a question about his role off the bench: ”(…)To make it happen on a nightly basis it can really help your confidence out. Whatever you need to do to help the team. What I have learned is that, even with the Clippers, I just know how to get things done in a short period of time.”
• A look at the upcoming schedule for Team USA.
• Jerry Colangelo on Eric Gordon, via John Schuhmana of NBA.com: “I’m not going to say he’s a surprise,” Colangelo said. “What I’m going to say is we’re really pleased with the way he’s playing. And he’s to a point now where he takes a shot, we expect it to go down. It’s not a question in our minds. There are very few players playing on any level where you feel if they’ve got the ball, they’re going to score. He’s one of them. “He’s a pure shooter, just needs a little bit of room. He’s quick. The other thing is his body type is perfect for international play. Big and strong.”
• There’s a common theme brewing in the praise of Eric Gordon. Yes, he’s a spectacular outside shooter, but smart basketball people have been raving about Gordon’s efforts on the defensive end. By teaming up the improved Gordon with Blake Griffin, who was regarded by Mike Dunleavy as the smartest defensive rookie he had ever coached, the Clippers should provide a little more resistance than they did last season.  

In case you haven’t noticed or happen to be in hibernation from the Clippers, the coaching carousel is starting to turn a bit. We’re not quite at defcon level Ramon Sessions yet, but things seem to be slowly heating up around the league. Let’s take a look at the latest names to be floated around.

• The estimable Steve Perrin over at ClipsNation breaks down the coaching situation and makes some sense out of locking up a coach sooner rather than later. The LeBron James fantasy is fun, but passing up dates with attractive candidates in hopes that the supermodel has your phone number isn’t the smartest strategy.

• A couple of “new” candidates have emerged for a few head coaching jobs. First, Kentucky head coach John Calipari is rumored to have serious interest in Chicago. It’s hard not to imagine Worldwide Wes having something to do with that. Monty Williams’ name is being thrown around as a top candidate in New Orleans. 

• Philadelphia isn’t being exactly shy about bringing in people to interview for their opening. They’ve already interviewed Avery Johnson and Doug Collins,but they won’t be interviewing Mark Jackson anytime soon for that opening. Instead, he’ll be auditioning for the spot in New Orleans. The Hornets have been pretty active in their search as well.

• It’s impossible not to be impressed with what the Jazz have done in the playoffs so far. If you want to cherry pick another team’s assistant, you could do far worse than someone who has worked under Jerry Sloan.

• As for the Clippers? Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey will almost certainly interview in the near future. The Clippers have also requested to interview with Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau.

• In case you missed it, Jan Vesely pulled out of the 2010 NBA Draft to work more on his game before coming to the NBA. Although he was unlikely to be taken before the Clippers pick or by the Clippers themselves, stranger things could have happened.

• We’ll talk a ton about the Clippers’ lottery pick in the next few months, but what about the second round? Due to some earlier trades and pick swapping, the Clippers will select near the tail-end of the draft at pick 24. I’ve been trumpeting his case all year, but why not take a chance on Cal’s Jerome Randle? He was nearly a 180 shooter his senior of college, shooting over 40% from three and 93% from the free throw line. He was also the MVP of the Portsmouth Invitational last month. Draftexpress takes a look at Randle and decides it might not be wise to dismiss him because of his height. Other than dunking ability and a bestselling jersey in the league (ugh), what’s Nate Robinson have that Randle doesn’t?

• Where in the world is Ricky Davis? Turkey. I don’t know why I find the prospect of Ricky Davis in Turkey fascinating, but I do. Get buckets, Ricky. Get buckets.

• Someone will need to make the first move in free agency for the fireworks to start. Will it be Chris Bosh choosing a home first? As much as the player movement will depend on that first domino, coaching movement might be the same way. Avery Johnson is going to talk with New Orleans and Philadelphia about their openings. New Orleans has also been rumored as a destination for Dwane Casey, one of the Clippers top candidates, so that’s a situation to keep a close eye on.

• Speaking of Bosh, he’s asking his followers on Twitter for some help on his “decision” this summer. Bosh has always struck me as a guy who desperately craves the limelight. Wherever he goes, I think he wants to be “the guy.” Feel free to make your case to Bosh in 140 words or less, but beware the Raptor Truthers. They (with good reason) aren’t handling this whole thing too well.

• According to Marc Stein, it’s looking like Marcus Camby is going to be staying in Portland for the next few years. The Blazers are 16-3 in games where Camby has suited up for them, while the Clippers went 8-21 without the big man on their side.  There was some talk about Camby possibly coming back to Los Angeles this summer, but that appears to be dead.

• Chris Bosh talks about his impending free agency. Reading through that interview, the chances that he goes back to Toronto seem pretty unlikely, don’t they?

• Ralph Lawler broke the exciting news a few days ago: The Clippers won the tiebreaker for the 8th spot in the lottery with New York (actually Utah). What’s that mean? The Clips now have a 23 out of 1000 chance at landing one of the top three picks.

• If you haven’t already, bookmark DraftExpress.com. We’ll be referring to them quite a bit this summer. Here’s a look at their current first round mock draft, with team needs not yet factored in.

• If Houston Rockets assistant Elston Turner lands the Clippers head coaching job, it’s going to be awfully difficult for him to pass on Greg Monroe in the draft. Monroe’s unreal passing talent from the high post would be an absolute perfect fit in the offense we’d expect Turner to run. Personnel that matches up with the general offensive scheme? Now there’s a thought.

• Our friends at ClipsNation.com are having a big sponsored game night Saturday, April 10th against the Warriors. After reading Steve’s teaser, it’s hard not to get excited. All the information about the event can be found here. I’ll definitely be there – should be a very fun evening.

• Lisa Dillman at the Times introduces you to new new General Manager, Neil Olshey.

• Since Mike Dunleavy stepped down as coach and Marcus Camby was shipped to Portland, the Clippers have had only two games where they’ve posted a defensive efficiency number under 100. Even worse, both were against bottom dweller Sacramento. Remove the head, and the body will still flail around a bit. Remove the head and the body, and what are you left with?

• Adrian Wojnarowski of Y! Sports talks about Donald Sterling: “Donald Sterling has always talked a big game, but he’s never gone after a star GM in his prime. Dunleavy leaves the franchise set up in some good ways, but Sterling doesn’t understand that winning in the NBA doesn’t come from empty words in absurdly worded press-release firings, doesn’t come with throwing red meat to a fan base that wanted the old GM embarrassed and fired on the spot.”

• Bill Plaschke, doing some true California dreamin’: “Now introducing, Clippers forward LeBron James and two of his high school chums as general manager and coach. Crazy, too, but that’s the thing about what happened Tuesday. The Clippers didn’t lose a general manager, they gained a world of possibilities.”

Marcus Camby on his new situation: “Anytime you get traded it’s always an awkward situation, especially when you’ve been in a place for a couple of years, you’re used to your surroundings, you know, you enjoy the situation that you’re in. But then to find out you’re traded and you have to move on to new surroundings, it’s always difficult. But once you sit back and digest the situation and take a moment to yourself to analyze how things are – where you’re at and where you’re going – it’s a no-brainer. The Clippers are going in opposite direction than what I would have liked in my career. Coming to Portland and being surrounded by the great players that we have – Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge – it was a no-brainer. I definitely welcome the situation to be in playoff contention again, and I definitely can’t wait to get started.”

Mike Dunleavy speaks about the possible return of Marcus Camby: “We love Marcus as a player. Everything about his game and what he does for this team. Like I said, we’ll see how things go forward. Marcus is a free agent. We have a lot of cap space this summer — and you never know how things work out.

Chris Kaman riffs on roster turnover: “That’s why I trust, I have to trust, that the decisions they make are the right ones for the team long term. Obviously we didn’t perform the way we were capable of this season. I’m not saying that it’s over but it’s going to be tough to come back and win games when everybody is on different pages and new players are shuffling in and out of the locker room and in the lineups…and Kim is having to deal with all that. It’s just tough.

Kim Hughes gives some insights on Chris Kaman emotions in his first pre-game interview: ” I’ve talked to Chris, and let me preface this by saying Chris is retarded. …He’s really not. He’s emotionally handicapped, actually. Chris is a wonderful, caring person.”

Byron Scott on the Clippers job: “Man I will tell you what… You have seen me there every day. I am at the gym and having a great time. It is the first time since I have been playing or coaching that I have had this type of time where I can enjoy my family, my wife she goes to the gym everyday as well, and kind of just relax. To be honest with you for the past two months I really haven’t been thinking about coaching or anything like that until the last couple of weeks. You get that itch, especially when it gets close to playoff time. I am just going to kind of sit back until April or May and survey what is going on out there because there is obviously three jobs available right now. One I already had obviously in New Orleans and you have got Jersey and you have got the Clippers… There is going to be three or four more when the season is over that is going to be available as well. So I am just going to kind of sit back and take a look at the teams, do a couple of interviews and just kind of pick the team that is the best fit for me. I do think the Clipper job is a pretty good job for me. They have got some young talent. Obviously they are going to have a lot of cap room and another lottery pick coming in. So I think it is a pretty good job. I am just going to sit around and just kind of evaluate everything that is going on and try to make a decision I think that will be best for my family.”

• Is the rumored Mavericks and Wizards trade the first domino? The trade as currently structured is a straight swap of Josh Howard for Caron Butler, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo!Sports. Howard has a team option next year which will most certainly be terminated whether he gets traded or not. I may be looking way ahead here, but if Joe Johnson is unavailable this Summer do the Clippers take a look at Josh Howard?

• Here’s a deal that nets the Clippers Andre Iguodala (Insider), and how it looks on paper. From Chad Ford: “Given that, adding Iguodala and Dalembert might be about as good as it gets for the Clips. Iguodala, in particular, would be a perfect fit as an athletic, multifaceted wing player who can handle the ball or thrive without it while defending at least two positions. Dalembert would be a nice one-year replacement for Camby as an athletic shot-blocker and rebounder to back up Chris Kaman.” The potential dealbreaker here? The inclusion of DeAndre Jordan.

• Marcus Camby back to the Nuggets? Travis Heath from Hoopsworld.com helps debunk the rumor:  “I don’t know where that came from, and it’s not happening,” said one very well placed Denver Nuggets’ source when asked about the proposition of re-acquiring Marcus Camby from the Los Angeles Clippers. I continued by explaining that logistically it would be difficult for Denver to complete such a deal financially without giving up a rotational player even if the team had aspirations of doing so to which the same source replied: “We’re not trading a rotational player.  If someone wants to take on some of our (expiring contracts) than fine.  But we’re not giving up a rotational player.”

• Our friends at ClipsNation have a great trade poll up. There’s some fantastic proposed deals in the comments section, but the majority of voters prefer the Clippers do “little to nothing” at the trade deadline. Here’s a thought: How about flipping Marcus Camby for another expiring contract and a first round pick? Maybe something like Camby for Etan Thomas and his expiring contract and one of Oklahoma City’s two first round picks? The VP of Common Sense approves.

• A statistical comparison of the three “big” pieces the Clippers could possibly acquire. None of these guys are perfect. Caron Butler has had a terrible season and is getting up there in years. Luol Deng is locked in on a long contract but is still the least likely of the three to get moved. Andre Iguoudala is the stopper at the 3 the Clippers have yearned for, but he comes with baggage in the form of Dalembert. Should the Clippers go after any of the following, or should they wait to see what shakes out this Summer?