The Clippers are a tough team to get a handle on, even this far into the season.

We’ve seen good Baron Davis (like tonight), and we’ve seen bad Baron Davis. We’ve seen stretches where the Clippers played borderline great defense (like the stretch of wins where they slowed down Kobe, Roy and Wade) and we’ve seen stretches where the Clippers played absolutely awful defense (like when they let Minnesota score 111 and win).

From a fan perspective, the Clippers have been infuriating to follow, and I choose the word infuriating for a reason. Last season the Clippers were just depressing to follow. The effort was poor, the personnel wasn’t great…it was just a depressing team to follow. This year, that’s not the case. The personnel is much improved. Maybe not playoff worthy, but talented nonetheless. The effort is almost always there. For all the Clippers issues, it’s been rare to see games where the team looked like they just didn’t care. Watch some tape from the 2008-2009 season compared to this season and you can tell the effort is lightyears better.

Through the course of the season, I’ve harped on three main reasons that I think explain why the Clippers aren’t very good.

1. Turnovers.
2. Defensive rebounding.
3. Baron Davis’ shot selection.

Then something like tonight happens and screws with my whole theory.

Tonight the Clippers turned the ball over only eight times all game. They kept Okafor and West off the offensive glass and only gave up six offensive rebounds to the Hornets. Baron Davis shot 14 times, but only took three of his attempts outside of the paint.

As far as my list goes, you really couldn’t ask for a more perfect game. Yet the Clippers still lost.

There’s a stretch in the fourth quarter that dooms the Clippers’ chances. Ironically enough, it starts with two Chris Kaman free throws. Kaman’s been in a slump, but it’s not hard to figure out why: He’s shot just three free throw attempts in his last five games. That’s 139 minutes of playing time for Kaman, a 7-footer mind you, and just three free throw attempts. I don’t need to expand on the absurdity of that.

Anyhow, here’s the stretch that puts the Clippers away in the fourth quarter:

[7:28, 4thQ] The game is tied at 87 a piece. Marcus Thornton comes off a high pick at the top of the key that the Clippers get hung up on. We often harp on the bigs and their pick and roll defense, but the Clips perimeter players are some of the worst in the league at avoiding and getting through screens. Gordon gets hung up on the high pick, and Marcus Thornton turns the corner and penetrates. Baron comes off his man to stop Thornton’s penetration, and Morris Peterson is suddenly all alone in the left corner for an open three. It’s good.

[6:39, 4thQ] Tough to argue with this one. Thornton shoots a three from about 30 feet that falls in. He gets a lot of good looks on the evening, but this isn’t one of them. Still, the Hornets go up six and the Clippers call timeout.

[5:54, 4thQ] Darius Songaila receives the ball at the top of the key. Chris Kaman is standing at about the free throw line, daring Songaila to shoot. Songaila isn’t effective from NBA three-point range, so he makes the shot more manageable for himself by taking one dribble in and firing. Kaman doesn’t close out, and the shot is good.

Let’s summon Hubie Brown for this one. Okay, if I’m Chris Kaman, I have to ask myself this: Do I care if Darius Songaila tries to blow by me with the dribble and attack the rim? Because I shouldn’t. Now Songaila isn’t the best perimeter shooter, but I have to take my chances by staying up on the jumper and forcing Songaila to beat me as a playmaker.

[5:18, 4thQ] Another late closeout by the Clippers perimeter defenders, and Marcus Thornton nails a three from the wing.

And just like that, what was once a tie game turns into an 11 point defecit in less than two minutes. The Hornets shoot an insane 69 percent from the field in the second half, mostly from jumpers. If Darren Collison hits mid-range shots, it’s understandable. Because of his incredible quickness, you want to give him plenty of breathing room. But the ghost of Mo Peterson can’t hit you for 17 points.

The Hornets hit a ton of perimeter shots, but a few extra steps teamed with a little more aggression could have made those looks even tougher. In the first half, the Clippers did a better job of closing out and scrambling. The second half, not so much.

Really though, it’s tough to win when such a critical part of your offensive game plan goes ice cold like Kaman did tonight. Kaman finished 3-for-15 from the field and 0-for-12 on attempts that weren’t dunks. Quite literally, Kaman couldn’t hit a shot all night. It’s a tricky situation to be in: Do you play DeAndre Jordan instead of Kaman down the stretch, or do you ride out Kaman’s bad night in hopes he’ll start making shots? These types of decisions aren’t easy.

In a way, this Clippers season has been akin to a leaking roof. Certain holes get patched up, but a new leak always springs up. Baron plays his best game of the season, Kaman plays his worst. Eric Gordon comes back from injury, Craig Smith goes missing. And like that it goes on and on, and on and on.

Charlie Widdoes composed this recap of the Clippers’ loss in Charlotte:

Clippers fans are all too familiar with this phase of the season. Out of playoff contention for a while now, the mission inevitably shifts to building for the future. Sure, Neil Olshey and Donald Sterling talk about “winning now,” but what they really mean — or should mean — is that they want to develop a level of play and effort that can be translated into a better record next year. To fans, it adds a different dimension to viewing, for sure. As Ralph Lawler pointed out at one point in the second quarter, the Clips had “four free agents-to-be and DeAndre Jordan” on the floor, another indication that the focus has indeed shifted.

It’s no wonder the Bobcats won tonight. Not unlike Wednesday in Miami or countless games before that, the Clippers demonstrated inferior effort and execution on both ends of the floor. They turned the ball over 23 times against a disciplined and motivated team striving for a playoff berth. From the opening tip, the Clippers showed no desire to get back on defense, as evidenced by the play at (1st, 6:20) when Drew Gooden takes a lazy stroll downcourt off a Clippers’ miss. When he finally arrives, he jogs over to double Gerald Wallace, who is 17 feet from the basket posting up Travis Outlaw. Gooden is completely oblivious to the trailing Boris Diaw, who drains an uncontested 3.

It’s possible that the best defender for the Clippers tonight was the lane: Charlotte was called for six 3-second violations. It should be mentioned that the best player on the court may have been Wallace, who scored 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting, with four steals, all in the first half.  The outcome was hardly in question, but it did offer more answers to those of us looking towards the future.

Baron Davis
By virtue of his contract, Davis is unlikely to go anywhere in the next few years. Tonight’s game, though, continues to raise doubts about his ability to lead a consistently winning team. His line of 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting, with seven assists and five steals speaks to his capacity to dominate. But despite being able to get to the hoop and create for others, Davis can also singularly take his team out of the game. The Clippers again fail to protect the ball, and Baron’s four turnovers played a big role. As the point guard, it’s Baron’s job to control the flow of the offense. Baron’s five steals suggest he was strong on defense, but he never once engages in a prolonged effort from to take charge defensively.

The most troubling aspect of Davis’ game — and personality, really — is his body language. He frequently chooses to dribble backwards off high screens, and in many cases lacked purpose with his actions. His tendency to let the shot clock run down, thus limiting the quality of shot the team can get, seems chronic and hurts offensive continuity.  The play on which he gets stripped by Wallace and then eventually commits the flagrant foul that ends Wallace’s night is just one example of directionless dribbling leading to a turnover. At one point in the third he throws up his hands in frustration, causing Ralph Lawler to remark, “People who say he doesn’t care just don’t know Baron.”

I have never questioned that Baron cares, but I do wonder whether he fully grasps his potential to be the best player on the court. Baron has the unsettling propensity to make things more difficult than they need to be. I remember Sam Cassell would get into his teammates’ faces for mistakes, but he often responded by hitting elbow jumpers that led the team to victory.  With Baron, it seems like he has no problem showing emotion or jawing with the refs, but struggles to make the plays needed to win games.

Eric Gordon misses his fourth consecutive game.
Playing without Gordon leaves the Clippers at a disadvantage on both ends.  Without his strong perimeter defense, Charlotte is able to penetrate at will, which leads to layups for D.J. Augustin and Raymond Felton or easy dump-offs for layups and dunks. It’s clear that the Clippers’ bigs are slow to rotate, but the Bobcats are able to get into the lane too frequently.  On the offensive side, Gordon’s absence exposes the flaws in Rasual Butler’s game. When forced to make plays off the dribble, Butler loses most of his effectiveness, and that is apparent tonight. True to recent form, Butler hit three threes, but is unable to create for himself off the bounce, and a few of his long misses lead to transition points for Charlotte.

In regards to Gordon’s injury situation in general, I find myself wondering if it might be time to shut him down for the year. We know that he rushed back from his foot injury earlier in the year while the team was on the marathon east coast road trip and still had playoff aspirations. Dain Blanton now reports that an MRI shows cartilage irritation in Gordon’s right leg.  At the very least, you have to assume he will take his time coming back, but I could certainly see the logic in sitting him for the rest of the year if it means he will be healthier in the long term.

Clipper big men
Chris Kaman is relatively silent, especially during the second half, during which he notches his first points with 3:24 left in the fourth.  He scores 13 to go with 11 boards, but you get the feeling that, with a few more touches, he could do more damage against the Bobcats’ centers.  Craig Smith is a tough cover for Tyrus Thomas, but Smith, along with DeAndre Jordan, draws the ire of Coach Hughes for being slow on defensive rotations. Drew Gooden has a very efficient offensive night, with 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the floor.  Many of his shots come around the basket, and his activity on the boards is solid for the most part.  The fact that Charlotte gets so many layups and dunks reflects poorly on the defensive effort of the Clippers’ bigs tonight.

From his blog:

The Clippers are in turmoil and have announced they “want to win now.” Is this possible? Since trading away Marcus Camby the Clippers have played around 8 points worse than an average NBA team. Surprisingly, most of the poor play has occurred when Steve Blake is in. Blake had played great for Portland this year, but if you look at all minutes since the Camby trade the Clippers performance breaks down as follows:

• Blake or Novak in (mostly Blake) the Clippers in 342 minutes have played 14 points worse than average.
• Rest of time the Clippers have played 2 points better than average,

It may be that Blake is having trouble learning the offense, I do not know, but he has clearly been hurting the Clippers. Some other amazing stats:

• In the 94 minutes Outlaw and Baron are in together, the Clippers play 11 points better than average.
• Butler, Baron Davis, Gordon, Kaman and Gooden have been solid, playing 4 points better than average in 128 minutes.
• Butler, Davis, Gordon, Kaman and Smith have been great: In 53 min this lineup plays 18 points better than average.
• In 55 min with Outlaw and Gooden in and Kaman out the Clippers play 11 points better than average.

Building around the things that work should enable the Clippers to win some games. Perhaps then LeBron can be convinced that a nucleus of Kaman, Gordon, Outlaw, and Baron and a coach of his choosing is where he wants to land in 2010.

Winston fails to mention Blake Griffin, who should only add to the Clippers’ future.

ADDENDUM
Haralabos Voulgaris e-mails:
There is really nothing meaningful Adjusted numbers can determine from such small samples, his biggest minute sample is 128 minutes and you really can’t do anything to predict future success on a sample that small, in fact even using a whole season’s worth of your most-used lineup. For instance, in 2009 Boston’s most-used lineup played 4267 possessions (their starters). If you tried using one year of lineup data to predict future outcomes you would have faired much worse than using two full seasons’ worth of lineup data. I’d have a hard time stating with any level of authority any findings better than or worse than average using one full season of data, without a very sophisticated modeling technique. I can’t imagine using the clearest of crystal balls could draw any conclusions using 100 minutes of data.

The Oklahoma City Thunder has been a good measuring stick for the Clippers the past two years.  In the final game of the 2009 campaign, the 23-win Thunder team hammered the Clippers at the Staples Center by 41 points, 126-85.  In a nightmare season, marred by injuries, the 2009 Clippers walked off the floor for the final time to a chorus of boos from their usually forgiving fans.  Though both franchises were destined for the lottery, the Thunder finished the season on a resoundingly strong note, and a clear message was sent to the league that their talented young core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green would be a team to contend with in the future.  In a way, the Clippers and Thunder were as two trains passing in the night, one franchise bound for future glory, and the other was wracked with familiar questions and doubt.

The summer of 2009 changed the Clippers fortune, when they unexpectedly won the lottery and the rights to Blake Griffin.  Then, Mike Dunleavy, wearing his general manager cap, orchestrated some canny moves to bolster the bench by turning Zach Randolph’s bloated contract into Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair, as well as the acquisition of Rasual Butler.  Optimism was restored to Clippersland, and there was hope that the now rejuvenated, deep and athletic Clippers squad can make a run for the final playoff spot in the West.  As the 2009-10 campaign began, many observers saw the Clippers and Thunder on equal footing.  Both teams were on the rise, and has a chance to compete in the difficult Western  Conference.

The Clippers and Thunder met earlier in November, playing two games in a span of five days.  Each team won on the other’s floor, and both contests were decided in the fourth quarter.  Though the Thunder has proven themselves as contenders in the West and had a better record, the Clippers clawed back from their tough earlier schedule and proved their mettle by beating their Western Conference rival in a hard fought game in Oklahoma City.  It was a much needed victory, a type of win that playoff teams squeak out during the course of a season.  But four months later, that win in Oklahoma City has remained the Clippers best road victory against a playoff bound team in the 2010 campaign.  And when the two teams met again on this early March night, the fate of both franchises has already been defined.  And from the first few minutes on, the Thunder proved that, without a doubt, they are a team to be reckon with, come playoff time.  While the Clippers are once again, bound for the lottery, the fate of their franchise, their coach, and their free agents, unclear.

The Thunder asserted themselves on the defensive end very early on.  Coming in to the game, it was clear that the Clippers have an edge inside, and it was as if Oklahoma City almost conceded one on one coverage to the Clippers big men.  Their perimeter defense was suffocating however, and the Clippers perimeter players could not get an open look against the Thunder’s taller and more athletic counterparts.  Durant, while not known as a defensive stopper coming into the NBA, has groomed himself into a serviceable defensive player.  Green, Westbrook, Harden, Collison, and Serge Ibaka all played very physical and tough team defense, their defensive rotations were quick and aggressive.  They concede nothing and outmuscle the smaller Clippers wing players.  They would get 13 steals and block 11 Clippers shots during the game and hold the Clippers to 37 percent shooting.  Asides from Smith, no Clippers player was able to hit even half their shots.

Durant is a burgeoning offensive star who’s about to cross that rare threshold into superstardom.  But it is clear that the Thunder’s calling card is their rangy, athletic, perimeter defense.  It is the mark of a good, young team, one that the Western Conference powers will be loathed to face come the final weeks of April.  They suffocated Baron Davis early on.  With the Clippers offense stagnating after a promising early start, they trapped Baron in the corner and blocked his desperation three.  As if to redeem himself, Baron came right back down the floor and clanged off another three at the six minute mark.  Oklahoma City capitalized on every Clippers missed shots and boneheaded miscues early on and ran off 12 points in row.  By the time Craig Smith was brought into the game for Drew Gooden, the score was 18-6, Oklahoma City.  The burly Smith made his presence felt right away, scoring on his first touch and drew a foul.  All night long, the Clippers would crawl their way back to eight points, to six points, only to have Oklahoma City pull away again.  Never once did it feel that the Clippers were going to legitimately mount a charge against this Thunder team.  Near the end of the first quarter, Durant made a beautiful jab step against Rasual and blew by him for a thunderous dunk.  It is hard to blame Rasual, as Durant has been hitting step back fifteen footers against him early on, racking up 15 points in the first quarter alone.  It was a clear case of going up against someone who is taller, more skilled, and more athletic, someone who is on a completely different level as a player.  In a way, the dream that the Clippers have of being on the same level as this young Thunder squad was revealed to be a fantasy tonight.  As the 2010 season slowly winds to a close, the Thunder has proven to be a clearly a superior team, and a legitimate playoff squad.

That the Clippers somehow closed the 10-12 point lead to four points in the third quarter at the four minute mark is a bit of a surprise.  Rasual Butler got hot in the third, abetted by some beautiful drive and dish by Eric Gordon, and hit some three pointers to pull  the Clippers to 68-64.  During one sequence at the 6:27 mark, Drew Gooden set a solid pick and freed Eric for a drive into the lane, as the defenders converge on Eric, he kicked the ball out to a wide open Butler for a 3.  It was a solid play, executed by a fundamentally sound basketball player from Kansas who knows how to set picks.  At the 5:50 mark, the same play was ran but with Kaman instead of Gooden.  This time, Kaman rolled to the basket too early, hoping to get the ball, and the play broke down as Eric was never able to find daylight.  It was another opportunity lost, and the Thunder once again pulled away convincingly as James Harden was brought back in.  They would score the next eight points during the next three minutes and re-establish their lead back to 76-64 as the third quarter drew to a close.

With Craig Smith picking up his fifth foul at the 11:43 mark of the fourth, the Clippers most effective offensive weapon on this night was taken out of the game.  After that, the Thunder re-asserted their dominance and slowly put the game out of reach.  Harden made a smart, aggressive move to the hoop and put his body into Kaman’s chest, drawing a foul and putting the Thunder up by 15 at the 9:57 mark.  Gordon would hit a three and made a tough layup to pull the Clippers to within 11 but that would be as close as they get the rest of the way.  The final score of 104-87 was not quite emblematic of the game, as the Clippers were within striking distance for most of the night.  However, one never got the sense that it was all that close, that the Clippers were capable of overtaking the Thunder on this night, or this season.  As the final stretch run of the 2010 season begins, it is clear that the path of the two franchise has diverged, as clear as that last game of the 2009 campaign.  Thinking back on the exuberance from the Oklahoma City Thunder players on that April night of last year, when it seems that they enjoyed their time on the court, and didn’t want to go home for the off-season, it reminded me of another Clippers squad from the 2000-2001 campaign.  The season was lost a long time ago, but their joy was infectious as they blew away a 51-win Phoenix team on their final home game of the season.  Darius Miles, Quentin Richardson, and Lamar Odom celebrated on top of the scorer’s table and thanked their fans.  They milled around the Staples Center floor afterwards, not wanting to leave, wanting to play on, as if the promise of their vast potential shimmered seductively before their eyes, as fragile as a mirage; and as if by leaving, they might forsake that beautiful synchronicity which they had miraculously achieved on that night, and might never attain again.  Yet the promise of next season burned brightly that evening, and Clippers fans left the Staples Center yearning for the 2001-2002 season to begin.  It is perhaps too much to hope for with this 2009-10 Clippers squad, and one cannot help but admire this young Thunder team with a bit of jealousy and perhaps yearn for what could have been.

There is a swirl of themes surrounding the Clippers right now, many of which come into focus in a big win over a very good team Monday night, albeit the Clips almost blow the game in spectacular fashion over the final couple of minutes.

It’s clear that the Clippers aren’t a horrible team. If this core group remains healthy though the final quarter of the season, they won’t embarrass themselves on a regular basis, and they’ll probably pick up some solid wins at home (As it is, the Clippers have won 12 of their past 16 games on their home floor). They still have a couple of wings who can stretch the floor, a center who — when he makes good decisions — can put a lot of pressure on the opponent’s interior defense, and a point guard who — when he’s not preoccupied with trying to shoot his team to success — does a good job of finding those scorers. They also now have a power forward with a versatile enough game to keep the defense off-balance. None of these five guys is a complete player at his position and the team defense won’t be top-shelf, but there’s a cohesive unit out there that can score — the Clippers have racked up an offensive rating of 107.7 or greater in four of their past five games.  Add to that starting five one of the better backup point guards in the league, a couple of intriguing talents, and an efficient, othersized power forward in Craig Smith (who’s dinged up right now). That’s a solid nine-man rotation — one that can tilt big or small, depending on need.

With Gooden in place, we’re seeing a half court offense that features rotating pick and rolls on both sides of the floor. This requires more of some players than they have been accustomed to contributing, especially Eric Gordon. Because he’s the ball man on more ball screens, Gordon is being asked to do more as a playmaker. He’s struggled with his handle this season, but tonight he looks a lot better, particularly in the second half.

My favorite offensive possession of the game comes at about the 4:25 mark of the fourth quarter. The Clippers demonstrate both patience and execution. It’s the kind of set that good offensive teams run on a regular basis:

Gooden and Chris Kaman offer Baron Davis an early stagger screen along the arc. Baron moves from right to left, but Deron Williams fights through the screens and Wesley Matthews is also waiting for Baron as he tries to turn the corner. Baron backs out as the Clippers reset. This time, Gordon curls around a back screen from Kaman, catches the pass from Baron in motion. As the Utah defense collapses on Eric, he dishes the ball in traffic out to an open Kaman, who drains the jumper from about 18 feet.

Eric Gordon has a massive fourth quarter, scoring 13 points. He goes 4-for-6 from the floor, 2-for-2  from the stripe, and hits all three attempts from beyond the arc. On the first two (4th, 10:54; 4th, 9:52), C.J. Miles drifts too far from the arc. On the final one (4th, 6:28), nobody picks up EJ in transition on a break initiated by a ridiculous swat of a Williams’ attempted layup by DeAndre Jodran, who swoops in from the weak side.

That 3-pointer by Gordon should be the dagger, as the Clippers go up 95-78 with just over six minutes to go in the game. The Clippers still lead by 12 with 2:29 remaining. The Clippers move themselves and the ball fairly well on the next two possessions (4th, 2:15; 4th, 1:50), but come away with only an off-balanced, fadeaway elbow jumper from Davis and a contested 25-foot Rasual Butler jumper from beyond the arc. Neither shot goes in. When the Clippers walk the ball up with a minute and a half remaining, their lead has been trimmed to five.

After that, the offense screeches to a halt:

• (4th, 1:30) Davis milks some clock, then gets a high screen from Kaman with :08 remaining on the shot clock. Everyone in the building knows that’s the call, including Williams and Carlos Boozer. Williams walls off the lane as Baron tries to penetrate, and ultimately strips Baron of the ball.
• (4th, 1:02) This time, the screen from Kaman doesn’t come until the :05 mark on the shot clock, but he pastes Williams (you argue it’s a moving screen as Chris seems to give Williams a little bit of a shove. Williams jaws about it with the official after he converts a layup on the other end + one.). Either way, it gets Baron the space he wants, as he drives to the foul line, pulls up and drains the jumper.
• (4th, 0:38) Yep. Again. Boozer practically leaves before Kaman does. As Davis dribbles left, he loses the ball. The only consolation is that he’s able to catch Williams in transition and foul before the Utah point guard can convert the layup. Williams misses both free throw attempts, a pair that would’ve tied the game.

During the Utah rally, the Clips give up a big bucket in transition to Andrei Kirilenko (4th, 1:05), but the other points are surrendered courtesy of slow reactions. Boozer beats Gooden off the dribble + one (4th, 2:01) to cut the Clippers lead to seven. On the next Jazz possession, Kaman loses track of Millsap, as the Utah power forward drifts out to about 17 feet along the baseline, where he catches a pass and buries an open jumper to cut the lead to five (4th, 1:31). Off the Davis made jumper, Deron Williams knives through the Clippers defense in about three seconds, drawing a foul on Kaman in the process (4th, 0:40). When Williams hits the free throw, the Jazz trail by only two. For about 40+ minutes, the Clippers play solid defense. They’re particularly sticky on the perimeter, and consistently effective against the pick-and-roll. If not for the pair of Williams’ misses, one of the more complete efforts of the season could’ve been squandered.

DeAndre Jordan’s line doesn’t look like much, but he plays one of his better games under the Hughes regime. The four blocks electrify the crowd, but it’s the humdrum part of the gig that impresses most. His screen/roll defense is decisive and, as the blocks suggest, he’s a help side menace against Utah’s inside attack.

As D.J. Foster noted last night, everyone on the Clippers’ roster has legitimate deficiencies and the Clippers can’t afford for each of them to surface on the same night if they want to win basketball games. But so long as some of the team’s worst habits are sublimated, the product on the floor might be good enough to steal some games and, as the very least, entertain.

Around Halloween time as a kid, do you remember reading about Witches’ Soup? Basically Witches’ Soup was made by a witch that threw a bunch of nasty stuff into a giant black cauldron — boots, banana peels, spiders, eyeballs…ya know, that whole bit. I specifically remember as a child thinking about the point where I would no longer be able to stomach the imaginary soup, sort of like a make-believe game of Fear Factor. Even though I was a human garbage disposal at that age, eventually there would be too much nasty stuff added to let myself even fathom eating the concoction.

When the Clippers play poorly, it’s sort of like the basketball version of Witches’ Soup. Add one thing to the pot, like 15 turnovers, and you can survive that. Toss in 9 for 30 shooting from your starting backcourt and it gets a little tougher, but it’s still manageable. Sprinkle in 22 allowed fast break points, and 5-20 shooting from deep and all of the sudden things begin to look rather disgusting. In most losses this season, the Clippers have only done a small combination of things poorly. Tonight however, specifically down the stretch, the Clips seem to bust out every ingredient that has contributed to each of their 35 losses on the year.

Outside of the red-hot Rasual Butler, no Clipper plays particularly well tonight. Eric Gordon goes 4 for 13 and struggles to find his jumper all night. At this stage of his career, Gordon is a little like Butler in that if his shot isn’t falling, he’s not incredibly valuable on the offensive end. Of course the difference is Gordon can penetrate, but until he learns to properly kick out on his drives and stop leaving his feet to pass, he’s somewhat of an easy cover for a focused team defensively. Drew Gooden does a nice job drawing fouls and getting to the line (7-7 FT), but his 5 turnovers hurt. Between Gooden and Kaman, defenses can make a living by swarming the post once the Clippers’ big men put the ball on the deck, and a lengthy Sacramento team does a good job of doing just that tonight. It’s good to see Travis Outlaw attempt to assert himself on the offensive end, but he’s cold tonight and goes 3 for 10 from the field. Although Outlaw doesn’t shoot the ball well, his 8 rebounds from the small forward position are a sight for sore eyes. DeAndre Jordan had his typical roller-coaster of a game, getting 3 points, 5 boards, 3 blocks and 3 turnovers in 16 minutes of play.

Down the stretch it’s a frustrating display of the faults of Chris Kaman and Baron Davis. After dropping an easy pass underneath from Drew Gooden [3:42, 4Q], Kaman fails to get out in time to contest a 20-footer from Carl Landry [3:30, 4Q]. Even with the mistakes, the Clippers cut the lead to one behind a Rasual Butler three-pointer [2:06, 4Q]. On the ensuing possession, Kaman collects a defensive rebound but panics and floats a lazy outlet pass that’s knocked away by Ime Udoka. Udoka makes an incredible save and the Kings retain possession. Tyreke Evans then receives a handoff from Hawes [1:27, 4Q] in the high post that baffles the Clippers’ defense. Rasual Butler gets caught up in the handoff on Hawes, Kaman is late stepping over to impede Evans’ progress, and Baron Davis is in no man’s land in his help defense. The possession results in an easy layup for Evans and a huge swing back in momentum for the Kings. Kim Hughes likes to go back up without a timeout, but the Clippers looked flustered in their attempt to answer. Butler is on fire, but without the proper set being drawn up for him he has no chance of springing free for a decent look. The Kings scramble and lock up defensively, and the Clippers don’t get the ball within 25 feet of the basket even once. Eventually Baron Davis shoots a late shot clock three…from 30 feet away [1:02, 4Q]. Can you blame Baron for the shot late in the clock? Maybe not. But you’d surely like to think he could have helped manufacture a better look earlier with the game on the line.

Tonight’s game serves as a reminder of the imperfections of the Clippers as individuals. Baron Davis can’t really shoot. Chris Kaman’s decision making can’t be fully trusted late in games. Eric Gordon is not exactly a versatile offensive threat. DeAndre Jordan will make the occasional silly mistake. Can these faults all be hidden and compensated for? Absolutely — just most nights you can’t stomach it all at once.