The Clippers edged the Magic 107-102 in an overtime thriller. Our three ClipperBlog contributors discuss the drama in Orlando.

1. The three biggest plays of the game were…

 
Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: (a) Glen Davis turns the ball over, leading to Caron Butler making a 3-pointer off a Chris Paul assist to put the Clippers up one with less than two minutes to go. The Clippers never trailed again after taking back the lead.

(b) Jason Richardson misses a 3-pointer, Ryan Anderson misses a tip-in lay-up and Chris Paul secures the rebound, gets fouled and makes both free throws. If either player scores, they could’ve been looking at another overtime (with a loss almost guarenteed with no centers available). Instead, Clips secure the win.

(c) Ryan Gomes and Butler grab offensive rebounds, leading to Mo Williams free throws (00:39 in OT, 105-102 Clippers). Gomes didn’t play much, but he had a crucial rebound.

Jordan Heimer, ClipperBlog: (a) Paul’s shot to put the Clips up three with a minute left in overtime. Who has been more clutch than Paul this season? Does anyone looked more comfortable and less rushed shooting with the shot-clock ticking down?

(b) and (c) Gomes and Butler’s offensive rebounds on the Clippers final full offensive possession. Welcome home, Ryan Gomes! I don’t know a Clippers fan who doesn’t want Gomes to turn his disappointing season around. His offensive rebound with 39 seconds left denied the Magic the chance to set up a good final shot, sending the game to its ice-it-at-the-free-throw-line phase.

Michael Shagrin, ClipperBlog: (a) Butler’s go-ahead 3-pointer. Down by two points in overtime, Williams took it down the floor (we all held our breath as he seemed to setup for a PUJIT), he dished it to Paul, who hurled a skip pass to Butler on the other side of the floor. Bingo. Clippers don’t give up the lead again.

(b) Paul’s baseline stepback on Dwight Howard. This happened immediately after Butler’s triple to extend the lead. Nobody is supposed to hit that shot over D12, particularly someone a foot shorter than him.

(c) Reggie Evans putback layup in overtime. The first basket for the Clips in OT came on a second-chance opportunity, after Evans rebounded his own point blank miss. This shot gave Evans his season high of seven points.

2. What happened in that first quarter when Orlando shot 68 percent?

 
Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: The Magic spread the Clippers thin and dissected their defense possession by possesion. Sure, they were hot (68 percent is ridiculous), but most of their shots were chippies and high percentage attempts. Jordan was forced to leave to Howard to prevent perimeter penetration, which allowed Howard to get dunk and lay-up after dunk and lay-up. The Clippers need to figure out/improve their rotations to say the least.

Jordan Heimer, ClipperBlog: Part of it was just hot shooting — it seemed like the Magic were making everything they looked at from outside. More troubling was the Clippers’ pathetic defense against Howard. It wasn’t just that Howard was scoring, but how easily he was doing it. There was a lot of talk coming into this game about DeAndre Jordan’s improved defense, but tonight his tenancy to over pursue shot-blocks left him out of position more often than not.

Michael Shagrin, ClipperBlog: The Magic only made one shot from outside the key in the first quarter, with all 13 of Howard’s points coming from the painted area. The lack of interior defense by the Clippers showed a glaring Achilles heel with the the dominant big man scoring at will. There’s not really all that much Del Negro or the post defenders could have done to stop Howard, particularly in light of both the Clippers’ centers fouling out anyway.

3. How badly would a prolonged absence from Chauncey Billups — who injured his left Achilles’ tendon in the second half — hurt the Clippers?

 
Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: It would definitely hurt them, but I’m not sure how much. At best, he’s their fourth or fifth most important player behind Paul, Blake, Butler and Jordan (you can throw Mo somewhere in there too). However, if Mo is forced to start, the bench takes a big hit production-wise with Bledsoe still out. If Foye starts? Well, you can fill in the blank. It won’t be pretty.

Jordan Heimer, ClipperBlog: If the Clippers are built to absorb any loss for a 3 weeks or a month, this might be it. Not the Clippers won’t miss Billups’ deadly shooting, but Williams is a former All-Star playing some of the best ball of his career, Eric Bledsoe is healthy again, and Randy Foye, well, Randy Foye was a lottery pick. The back court depth will allow Chauncey to take his time coming back.

Michael Shagrin, ClipperBlog: Between bad and very bad. The aspect of a long-term Billups injury that tilts towards being ordinarily bad is that there are plenty of backup guards on the Clippers who could nicely fit into the starting rotation, albeit with less talent and leadership. The way this injury could be very bad is if Vinny Del Negro can’t find a rotation that allows Williams to be the offensive spark with the second unit. Williams didn’t have a great game tonight, but his value is immeasurable amongst the offensively-challenged reserves.

“They’re the best team we’ve played all season.” — Scott Brooks, Thunder Head Coach

The term “best team” and “Clippers” have never really been synonymous. Maybe we’ve said the Clippers are the best team at allowing half court shots at the buzzer (because we all know that’s true) but to hear “best team” and Clippers together is as much of a shock to the system as seeing Chris Paul in a Clippers uniform for the first time was. It’s still difficult to wrap your mind around it.

Last night’s game signified an arrival. There wasn’t a bad individual performance on the floor. The coaching was great. The rotations made sense. The chemistry was there. The ball was swinging around the perimeter, each man passing up an open look for an even better one. It was as close to a perfect offensive performance I’ve ever seen the Clippers put up.

The Clippers have beaten great teams in the past. They conquered some of the league’s elite last year, and they’ve already taken down the Heat, Lakers and Mavs this season. But this felt different. The Clippers made the Thunder look hopeless. 

The Thunder’s only answer was to come back defensively. Durant kills you because you can’t contest his shot. Westbrook kills you because you can’t possibly stay in front of him. But Paul kills you in a different way. He administers a small dose of poison every trip down the floor. It’s a death by a thousand decisions, and it’s just as effective.

The Clippers didn’t sneak by. They didn’t get bailed out by missed free throws or a big shot at the end of the game. They dismantled the best team in the West, piece by piece, until there was nothing left.

Even if this performance is the ceiling for the Clippers — the absolute best this roster is capable of — it’s plenty good enough. No team in the league could have beat the Clippers the way they were playing last night. This, all this, on a tail-end of a back-to-back, traveling home from a tough game against Denver? The circumstances make the performance even more terrifying.

We may never see an outing like this one again from the Clippers, and that’s okay. At least now we know, without any doubt, that this team is capable of greatness.

 Photo by Jack Dempsey/AP

ClipperBlog’s Charlie Widdoes, Nick Flynt and D.J. Foster discuss the Clippers road win over Denver.

1. When the Clippers go small they are ______ ?

Charlie Widdoes, ClipperBlog: Really, really bad at rebounding the ball. With the exception of Chris Paul and Randy Foye on occasion, they struggle to stay in front of guys on the perimeter, which forces DeAndre Jordan to help. With the big man out of position, responsibility falls to the guards to pick up the slack, and as a group, they just don’t have the instincts to be even adequate in that area.

Nick Flynt, ClipperBlog: They’re “who knows?” The Clippers have played almost no small ball this season according to 82games.com. 3-guard lineups had some pretty decent results in certain situations for Vinny Del Negro and the Clips last season, but I’m still not sure if I want to see it this season. The team is having enough trouble with rebounding as it is, not to mention the defensive implications of going small. It worked down the stretch tonight, but only because Denver allowed it to with their own small lineup.

D.J. Foster, ClipperBlog: Enhanced – at least offensively. Since Butler doesn’t draw fouls or hit the offensive glass at high rates, Williams represents an upgrade offensively because he’s a better 3-point shooter (45% to 34%) and a superior playmaker (4.7 assists per 36 minutes to 2 assists). To pull it off defensively, you have to be playing against a set of wings incapable of posting up and a point guard who can’t hurt you from outside or with quick penetration. That’s Andre Miller, and that’s Denver. The matchup will rarely permit, but it did tonight.

2. What gets more credit for the fourth quarter comeback: The offense or the defense?

Charlie Widdoes, ClipperBlog: The offense. Chris Paul came alive after a 2-point first half and everything else fell into place. Even though many of their shots were contested jumpers, Chauncey Billups and Mo Williams caught fire and had an answer for every Denver run.

Nick Flynt, ClipperBlog: The offense. Mo Williams and Chris Paul both came back to life in the 4th, and Chauncey closed out his strong game offensively. Defensively, the Clippers gave up 4 dunks to Nene and were fortunate Al Harrington came up small with some good opportunities to win the game for Denver.

D.J. Foster, ClipperBlog: The defense. The Clippers captured the lead with hot shooting, but their awareness defensively helped them keep it. As the refs swallowed their whistles, Blake Griffin went to a classic move – the old hand push on the hip. It helped slow Gallinari down on his drives to the hole and then left him unable to elevate at the rim. Griffin’s heady tricks were only bested by Chauncey Billups, who stepped over and took a charge in the game’s most critical possession.

3. Who was the MVP tonight in the win?

Charlie Widdoes, ClipperBlog: Paul. Billups led the way with 32 points and drained 6 of 12 from three, but Paul’s impact on all phases of the game was the difference. Even with the high scoring total, Chauncey only finished the night with a +2. Paul scored seven fewer points, but chipped in seven assists and six boards and a whopping +19 rating for the game.

Nick Flynt, ClipperBlog: Chauncey Billups. Sometimes the box score hides the true top
contributor for a team, but tonight the numbers said it all. Chauncey hit bailout shots as well as he hit open shots tonight, and his performance carried the Clippers for some key stretches.

D.J. Foster, ClipperBlog: It’s absolutely Chauncey Billups. It helps he was on fire, but Chauncey’s shot distribution was perfect tonight – 12 of his 20 attempts were from behind the arc (good) and 8 of his 11 made field goals came on shots where he used one dribble or less (great). When Chauncey plays primarily as a spot-up threat, he’s dangerous.

Twitter: @charliewiddoes, @clipperblognick, @fosterdj

Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images

Memphis Grizzlies at Los Angeles Clippers

7:30 p.m.

Fox Sports Prime Ticket

KFWB 980 AM

ClipperBlog’s Charlie Widdoes, Jovan Buha and Breene Murphy preview the matchup with the red-hot Grizzlies.

1. Who would you rather have for this Clippers team: Chauncey Billups or Tony Allen?

Charlie Widdoes, ClipperBlog: Tony Allen, and it’s not even close.  Chauncey was brought in to play off the ball and knock down shots, but is shooting only 33% from the floor with questionable shot selection and a declining 3-point stroke that once upon a time made up for his offensive weaknesses.  Oh yeah, and he’s even more of a defensive liability than he’s ever been (110 points allowed per possession), whereas Allen locks down the best of the best (98 defensive rating).

Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: Besides Caron Butler, the Clippers have no length on the perimeter. More importantly, they lack a defensive stopper and are susceptible to scoring outbursts by elite scorers. You know the story. Allen fits both needs. While Billups has added leadership, experience and in-game decision-making to the roster, he’s not the best fit with Paul. Allen can’t shoot, but he’s an underrated offensive contributor. Plus, I’d love to ask him about his tweets.

Breene Murphy, ClipperBlog: Definitely Tony Allen. One of the biggest flaws of this Clipper team is that they don’t have a single player that can consistently lock down the opposing team’s best wing. Tony Allen is up there in that Andre Iguodala/LeBron James/Luol Deng category of elite wing defenders.

2. Over or Under: The Clippers turn the ball over 15 times against the Grizzlies.

Charlie Widdoes, ClipperBlog: I’ll take the under.  For all their other issues, I don’t see them coughing it up more than their season average of about 14 a game, especially if Chris Paul is able to play more minutes in his second game back. 

Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: Over, but barely. The Grizzlies have the 11th best defense and lead the league in steals and opponent turnovers. Meanwhile, the Clippers turn the ball over the third-least amount of times per game and are second in opponent steals (how many steals their opponents get). Something’s got to give. I say the Grizzlies (force 18 TOs) and Clippers (average 14 TOs) met somewhere in the middle — 16.

Breene Murphy, ClipperBlog: Over. There’s not just Tony Allen, but Mike Conley to pester the Clippers into turning the ball over. And with the Clippers playing on the second night of a back to back, I’d guess they’d be slightly tired and given to sloppier play.

3. Fact or Fiction: The Clippers get a double dose of Gasol and lose to the Grizzlies tonight.

Charlie Widdoes, ClipperBlog: Fact.  Paul was unable or unwilling to put the type of pressure on the Lakers defense that the Clippers need from him, and if that’s the case again, the Clippers should struggle.  Considering it’s the second part of a back-to-back and hamstrings tend to linger, I’m leaning toward the Griz, who come in having won 7 of 8.

Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: Fiction. Some may overreact to the Lakers’ loss, but the Clippers were ahead almost the entire game and were a couple possessions away from being 10-5. The Grizzlies have won seven of their last eight, but besides defeating the Bulls without Derrick Rose, they’ve yet to have an impressive victory in the streak. I expect Paul to bounce back from a lackluster performance and the Clippers to silence the noise from the growing doubters.

Breene Murphy, ClipperBlog: Fiction. If Blake were required to guard Gasol, I would say fact, but that’s not the case. Blake will probably see most of his minutes on Marreese Speights, who doesn’t exactly frighten me. Nor should Speights be an obstacle when Blake’s on offense. The bigger concern is whether Chris Paul plays as tentative as he did last night coming off a hamstring injury.
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Twitter: @charliewiddoes, @jovanbuha, @breenemurphy

Ed Note: I’ll spare you guys the Star Wars comparisons this time. You can hear me Jar Jar Binks the whole thing in the last segment of ClipperBlogLive. It was as awful as it sounds, but hopefully still entertaining. — D.J.

How you view this game largely depends on whether or not you’ve fully adapted to the new Clippers psyche. Let’s break this thing down with the two different viewpoints.

With Chris Paul back in the lineup, the Clippers lost 96-91.

Old Psyche: Sure, Chris Paul was back — but did he do anything? Paul was 2-for-8. He had 4 points. The majority of his assists came on the perimeter, not at the rim. The corpse of Derek Fisher outscored him, so you know he wasn’t himself. If he’s healthy, it’s a completely different story. Really, it’s promising the game was so tight without him playing well.

New Psyche: It doesn’t matter if Chris Paul wasn’t at full strength — he’s a better point guard than Fisher on one leg. It’s inexcusable that with all the talent on the perimeter, Andrew Goudelock put up more points than Paul and Billups combined. Why can’t the Clippers offense consistently create good looks? This is a coaching problem.

The Clippers shot 37-for-87 from the field (42.5 percent) for their 91 points.

OP: Hey, the Clippers are a jump-shooting team. Sometimes they just don’t fall. You know what’s great to take away from this game, though? The Clippers got up 21 more shots than the Lakers. They’re winning the possession battle just about every night because they’re rarely turning the ball over. If the backcourt doesn’t have an outlier of a night shooting the ball (11-for-41 between Paul, Billups, Williams and Foye), they probably win this game by 20.

NP: Relying on jumpers is not a sustainable way to win basketball games. What if they go cold for an entire week during the playoffs? Is that going to be the calling card for a Chris Paul/Blake Griffin led team? 19-foot jumpers? This is a coaching problem.

Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined for 42 points on 15-for-24 shooting.

OP: There’s no shame in this. Gasol is one of the most skilled big men in the game, and Andrew Bynum is a load in the paint. Not to worry — we’ve seen this song and dance before. Bryant will go into takeover mode when he doesn’t have to, and Bynum and Gasol will become non-factors. Tonight, they just played like elite talents who were finally properly utilized.

NP: Why have so many other teams figured out how to slow down Pau Gasol, but not the Clippers?  He was just coming off an 8-point game against Indiana! Why didn’t they double down off Fisher or Barnes and make those guys beat them? Why was human foul and rebound machine Reggie Evans left on an island to handle Gasol all by himself in the second quarter? It’s a concern that Griffin and Jordan are getting ran over by good frontcourts. This is a coaching problem.

The defensive lapses down the stretch came up again, as the Lakers came from behind and stole the win. 

OP: Defensively, the effort was there. Caron Butler made Bryant work and got a hand up on most of his shots. Of course, Bryant getting buckets was inevitable and it’s understandable that Bynum and Metta were going to get away with some things once the game became even more physical. History says that Chris Paul’s team will be better than Kobe Bryant’s team in the game’s final minutes 9 times out of 10. Look — the Lakers were just better tonight.

NP: Nope — that’s too many games in row where the Clippers have yielded open looks when their defense is supposed to be getting tighter. The need for a wing defender is still a glaring one. The crusty old Lakers found a way to get blocked shots and steals towards the end of the game — why couldn’t the Clippers? The defensive rotations are slow and often unpredictable, and the closeouts are half-hearted at best. This Clippers are 23rd in defensive efficiency and can’t cook up ways not to rely so heavily on Billups and Butler to be fresh and active defenders on the perimeter. This is a coaching problem.

It’s crazy to think that we’ve arrived to the point where no loss is acceptable and there are no moral victories, but here we are. Which side do you stand on? Are the Clippers in trouble or not? Is it no longer okay, given all the talent, that the Clippers get outplayed by a championship contender?

Yours in the comments section.

The setting is modern day Los Angeles, inside a building begrudgingly shared by diametrically opposed basketball teams.

Exposition:

After playing three games in four nights, the Los Angeles Lakers are a bit weary. They are carried into the game by their aging yet rejuvenated superstar, Kobe Bryant, who has scored at least 40-points in three straight contests and has looked dominant doing it. Their opponent — the Los Angeles Clippers — are on a streak of their own after defeating the league’s best team in the Miami Heat. Even without sharpshooter Mo Williams, morale runs high leading up to the battle for Los Angeles.

Rising Action:

Our protagonists (Blake Griffin and Chris Paul) come out absolutely on fire. Griffin displays his versatility in the Clippers’ first two scoring possessions by striking from distance with a jumper and then by attacking the paint with a sweeping, jumping righty hook over Pau Gasol on the very next play. Griffin and Paul continue to alternate control for the quarter (they assist on or score every bucket except one), but not before Griffin makes a statement of sorts on the defensive end. As Lakers rookie point guard Darius Morris flies in for a dead-ball dunk after a foul on the perimeter by Paul, Griffin stands near the hoop waiting. He’s taken exception to teams shooting in dead-ball spots this year (he’s our Kevin Garnett, just face it already) and so when Morris soars in for the dunk, Griffin gives him a little shove in the ribs. Sort of like a “what are you doing, rook?” push, nothing malicious, but enough to make Lakers coach Mike Brown wig out and almost get tossed from the game.

With the intensity raised a notch, Chris Paul restores order in the quarter’s closing seconds by connecting with a running, fadeaway bank off the glass, plus the harm. Just as the Clippers have seized control, Morris rips it right back with a heave from behind half-court that falls in. 31-24, Clippers after one.

Comedic Relief:

Sensing the audience needed things lightened up a bit, the Lakers and Clippers let their benches take the floor. Although many others contend for the laughs, no one steals the show quite like Brian Cook. After hearing boos upon his arrival, Cook’s improbable rise to prominence comes in the form of a big ol’ swat on Pau Gasol’s fingeroll. Sadly, his fifteen minutes of fame wouldn’t last nearly that long, as one minute later he rocketed a 3-point attempt off the front iron. Perhaps sensing his time in the limelight was coming to a close, Cook went for the glory and drove baseline from the perimeter (yes, this happened), attempting an acrobatic, highly difficult reverse layup in the trees. Blake Griffin was at the scorer’s table before the ball made it’s descent back into this solar system, and just like that, Brian Cook’s brief, hilarious yet saddening performance was done.

Buildup:

As Chauncey Billups rained in shots (4-for-6 from deep), Reggie Evans hauled in offensive rebounds (6 offensive boards) and Caron Butler played lockdown defense (11 points on 3-for-12 shooting for Bryant in the first half), the Clippers lead grew to double-digits with a minute remaining before the half. And just like the first quarter, Griffin found himself yet again in the middle of the fray. After blowing an easy putback chance, Matt Barnes picked up a technical foul for complaining about a push from Griffin that wasn’t called. Chris Paul once again immediately seized control of the game following the technical by nailing a jumper to give the Clippers a 55-42 lead at the break. Only in the movies does a 6-foot-10 monster of a man pick the fights, then let a 6-foot-nothing, tiny little guy settle the score for him.

Conflict:

Red Panda (AKA Bowl Flipping Lady) was not the halftime act.

Of course, there would be no drama if the protagonists weren’t confronted by an antagonist. Awesome montages can only last so long. Matt Barnes, while incredibly annoying, was not threatening enough to fill the role. Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are large and talented, but weren’t believable enough as villains. No — only one man would suffice.

You may be familiar with the work of Kobe Bryant. He routinely makes shots that are simply unfair — terrible looks that no player with a conscience should take. Ah, but that’s what makes Bryant so villainous — he has no conscience. He is ruthless, unbending, and at times, unstoppable.

As Bryant starts pouring in off-balance jumpers in the third quarter, the Clippers have no answer. Their stars (Griffin and Paul) can’t guard him. Caron Butler looks exhausted from chasing Bryant and can only do so much. The only answer is…

Randy Foye?

As Foye comes in to try and check Bryant, Kobe’s eyes get big and his jaw widens. The Blake Mamba has a mouse in the house, and it’s feeding time.

Butler checks out with 2:13 left in the period. Foye is left all alone with Kobe. So alone. So cold.

Kobe quickly rattles off 9 of his 21 third quarter points on Foye, and all of the sudden, the Clippers once seemingly insurmountable lead is down to four, 76-72.

Climax:

Kobe remains in the game — and so does Foye. Our protagonists (through no real fault of their own) look like they’re in an awful lot of trouble.

But then a funny thing happens. Reggie Evans chases down an offensive rebound (that’s not unusual) after a Randy Foye airball (that’s not unusual) and gives the ball to Paul with only a few seconds remaining on the shot clock. Most players probably don’t realize the situation, but this is Chris Paul. The Clippers have not had a single shot clock violation to this point in the season, and Paul doesn’t let them start now.

It’s a heave. Paul even does this funny leg kick, mainly because he’s chucking it from 34-feet. It’s just a prayer that Reggie Evans will run over three people and collect the miss off the rim or Blake Griffin will dive into the 17th row to save it and…

Splash.

It was a moment. Staples Center erupts, and the camera catches Paul turning to the opposite baseline, pointing and saying something. I have no idea what he’s actually saying, but I sat there wishing it’s like a kung-fu movie with terrible tracking and he’s saying, “I got this. Thanks for being patient. We’re not losing.”

Falling Action:

From that moment on, everything magically starts to click. Vinny Del Negro makes a great adjustment and has Foye front Bryant all the way around the court. When Bryant does receive the pass, the Clippers immediately double on the catch. Bryant, after all, is the adversary who still needs dispatching.

Tonight though, Bryant is not the hero — Paul is. When Paul gets switched up defensively and finds himself guarding Bryant in the corner on one possession, he puts his chest right into Kobe. He is going nowhere. He is all the same things Kobe is: relentlessly competitive and fearless. But what Bryant and Paul don’t share is the same tragic flaw. Instead of deferring or trusting anyone else to make a play, Bryant decides to do it himself by lowering his shoulder down and moving Paul out of his way. Offensive foul.

Right on cue, Paul delivers the dagger with a 3-pointer on the very next possession.

Of course, since Bryant is a vampire (blood transfusion in eastern Europe? Yeah, okay.) he needs a wooden stake drove through his heart, not a dagger. Bryant retaliates with another series of jumpers, but Paul and Griffin do the work on their end and finally put Bryant and the Lakers away for good.

Resolution:

Although he escapes as the winner, Paul doesn’t leave the battle with Bryant unscathed. He sits out the last few minutes with a pulled hamstring, but doesn’t leave the court until he knows the job is done.

Griffin, meanwhile, miraculously avoids another dust-up with the Lakers and finishes the night without feinting (45 minutes played). He proves yet again to be the perfect complement to Paul, carrying the Clippers offense with energy (22 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists) for the majority of the game, allowing Paul to do what he does best in end of quarter situations.

The Clippers win over the Lakers has plenty of significance, but it wouldn’t be Hollywood if this rivalry wasn’t “to be continued.” In fact, I bet they’ll make this a trilogy. And you know what? The Empire will probably Strike Back. Maybe Kobe will recruit a new adversary and the Clippers will have to scour the galaxy for more Reggie Evans ewoks.

Regardless of all that though, the Clippers (and their fans) deserve to celebrate. They struck a decisive blow tonight. No — the Clippers will never have the rings and money and banners and everything else the Lakers have, but what the Clippers do have is a new hope.

Paul wasn’t short on highlight-reel plays in last night’s win against the Heat, but we’re deeming this 2-for-1 opportunity the quintessential Chris Paul possession.

There are a bunch of different things to talk about from tonight’s game, a hundred different moments worth reliving, and plenty of stats worth poring over. But the one thing I keep coming back to is an immeasurable, a subjective thing, something you can’t really pin down.It’s frustrating — I want to talk about the brilliance of Chris Paul, the dominating defense down the stretch, or even Caron Butler’s second half offensive explosion. But I can’t, because all I can think about is toughness.

Mental, physical, emotional — each and every kind of toughness. It was the unifying bond for the Clippers against the Heat, the one thing each player contributed in their own unique way. Maybe I’m conditioned from years of watching a revolving door of players get their empty-stats in the coldest of ways, but the Clippers, to a man, looked as tough as I can ever remember them.

Chris Paul displayed the very macho type of toughness. The confidence, the bravado, the belief that he was better than whoever it was lined up across from him. Paul’s toughness is giving up 8-inches, 60-pounds, a speed and legnth advantage, and simply not giving damn about it. It’s the move at the end of regulation against LeBron, the bringing the fight to Wade with full-court pressure, the drawing out of defenders on mismatches and dispatching them effortlessly. In Paul’s mind, he’s tougher than you because no one is tougher than him.

Chauncey Billups draws his toughness from experience. You know how you can’t beat your dad in arm-wrestling, even though he’s pushing 50? (No? Just me?) That’s Chauncey. It’s the confidence that he’s been there more times than you, that he has more reps, that he’s forgotten more tricks than you’ll ever know. You could tell something didn’t sit right when Wade tried to beat up on Billups in the post. When you get older, you’re forced to sacrifice things. For Billups, he was just making sure that he held on tight to the one of the few things he haa left.

Caron Butler gets his from stubbornness. Rain or shine, Butler will shoot. Against the best player on the planet or a defensive sieve, Butler will shoot. Whether he scored 20 points in the first half or 2 like he did against Miami, Butler will shoot. Even as everything else changes around him, Butler remains the constant. There’s a toughness in knowing exactly who you are, and never doubting it for a second.

Blake Griffin becomes more and more unrecognizable as he drifts further and further away from the basket. It’s cringe-worthy to watch him complain to referees and even more infuriating when he lets opposing players have free shots at the rim. Balancing it all — the skill and the finesse with the rugged build — is understandably a tricky process. But you know what? This was Blake’s most promising game from a growth standpoint, simply because he didn’t back down. He went after loose balls, he carved out space in the paint, he contested shots. He got dirty (and bloody) again. Blake’s game against Miami had something that was lacking in previous contests — heart.

“To those we wish to fail, thrust upon them great expectations.”

DeAndre Jordan is constantly saddled with the burden of potential. He’s already weathered a lot as a young man — unreasonable expectations, a “bust” label, yo-yo type minutes, and now the dollar amount attached to his worth. But there’s a certain relentlessness Jordan has developed to counter it all. When Miami attacked him, DeAndre stood tall until the very end when his team needed him the most.

The Clippers nearly died a thousand deaths last night at the end of regulation. There was the offensive rebound off the missed free throw and the save out of bounds, the booted turnover that wasn’t, and a bunch of other plays that very well would have killed a lesser team. But against the league’s best team on the big stage, the Clippers proved they’re tough enough to withstand just about anything.

Here are five thoughts from the Clippers 105-97 loss to Portland on Tuesday night:

Nothing Regular

• This felt like a playoff game. You can credit the always excellent Rose Garden crowd for part of that feeling, but the play on the court was elevated to a level we haven’t seen from both sides this year. The see-saw nature of things when the teams were trading jumpers in the third quarter, the hostility towards the referees from both sides, the battle for loose balls…every possession had an air of importance as if one play could completely swing the game. Ultimately, thanks to some good defense and a few crafty plays by Chauncey Billups down the stretch, things did boil down to one possession — or so we thought.

Time Management

• Here’s the situation: Portland ball. Clippers are down 3 — a one possession game. There are 25.9 seconds on the game clock, a full 24 on the shot clock. Portland is inbounding from halfcourt. The Clippers only have one timeout left. What do you do? If you’re not exactly sure, take solace in the fact that Vinny Del Negro and the Clippers weren’t either. Blake Griffin elected to foul an 84 percent career free throw shooter in Wes Matthews (the best on the court for Portland) four seconds into the clock with a generous chest bump on a trap at center court. There seemed to be some mixed emotions from the Clippers bench when the foul happened — did they want to foul or not? After the game, Del Negro said that he was weary of Portland “dribbling out the clock,” collecting an offensive rebound and winning the game. The strategy of extending the game is a little questionable in that scenario, but the execution of that strategy by Del Negro’s guys coming out of a timeout is embarrassing. You simply have to force more than one pass, or at the very least get the ball out of the best foul shooter’s hands. The Clippers did neither. Matthews hit both his free throws, giving the Blazers a five point lead. And then, instead of immediately attacking off the made free throw in an effort to get a quick two, Del Negro burned his last timeout to draw up a post feed for Blake Griffin. Once the predictable off-the-ball action freed no one up, Blake turned to get the two…and got stripped. Game over.

Second Guessing

• Let’s move on from the Clippers choosing to overcome a five point deficit with 20 seconds left instead of electing to play it out and secure a simple defensive rebound. Ultimately that’s one possession — a mighty important one — but still only one possession. A better question is this: What is Del Negro doing benching Chris Paul for the last seven minutes of the first half when he had three fouls? Here’s a fun stat. Want to know how many times Chris Paul has fouled out over the course of his 431-game career? Three times. Two of those games went to overtime. That’s right — Paul has fouled out once in regulation in his entire career. But instead of trusting one of the smartest players in basketball and one of the league’s biggest stars (you think the refs want to foul out Chris Paul?) to play through three fouls, Del Negro sits him for a total of 11 minutes in the second quarter. Luckily for the Clippers they had someone to temporarily save the day…

Mo Williams

• Just look at what Mo Williams is working with. Against a team with depth like Portland (seriously: Nic Batum played 16 minutes tonight), his mismatched unit of Foye-Gomes-Evans-Cook should get absolutely ran off the floor. But yet again, Williams took control with his playmaking and shooting and carried his group. Del Negro’s line shifts are interesting, but it’s not a bad idea to let the starting unit play exclusively with each other to speed up the jelling process. Eventually, it will become too much to ask Williams (6-for-10, 14 points, 4 assists) to do this every night, but for now, he’s been huge at keeping the Clippers from getting blown out at the start of the second and fourth quarters.

Handling your stars

• Watching Gerald Wallace play basketball is one of the more exciting forms of entertainment available to man. Tonight he was everywhere. He battled with Blake, he made the extra pass, and he knocked down a bunch of shots to set the tone for what ended up being a very jumper-happy display put on by both teams. Here’s the thing about Nate McMillan — he lets his guys be who they are (I know, Rudy Fernandez, just stay out of this.) Instead of forcing them to crawl at Andre Miller’s old preferred pace, the Blazers get up and down the court now because that’s where Raymond Felton excels. Kevin Arnovitz explained why Portland and Wallace are perfect for each other, and a lot of that has to do with McMillan just letting Wallace be Crash. Wallace eventually fouled out of this game, but he was the key cog in the Blazers’ victory. Paul did not foul out, but his fingerprints on this game (11 points, 3 assists) are nowhere to be found. Is that all on Del Negro? No. But at some point Del Negro needed to realize that Chris Paul does not need a shepherd. He is a wolf, not a sheep. But if you’re going to act like the shepherd? At least make sure everyone follows your plan in the game’s most critical possession.

Here’s an excerpt of Kevin Arnovitz’s piece over at TrueHoop.com:

***

80 percent of life is showing up.

Of all of Woody Allen’s enduring punch lines, none is so practical as a life lesson. You don’t have to be a genius to achieve success — just show up. Those silly perfect attendance awards they hand out in school? They’re a better predictive measure than we think — and we can apply that lesson to basketball.

At its very root, a basketball possession is an opportunity for points. There are no promises you’ll score. But NBA teams that get a shot off at the basket score an average of 1.16 points per possession. Barring an illegal defense call or a foul away from the ball, teams that don’t get a shot off score exactly zero points on average.

The lesson here is fairly simple: Show up for the possession and you’re likely to pad your lead or narrow your deficit. That’s a primary reason Dean Oliver rates turnover rate as one of his “Four Factors of Basketball Success,” second only to shooting proficiency.

The Clippers have ranked as one of the three most efficient offenses in basketball since the outset of the season. They’ve accomplished this while running very rudimentary stuff in the half court. Much of the playbook consists of angle pick-and-rolls, some early drag screens and horns sets (bigs at the elbow; wings in the corners) that move into simple curls or ball screens. In recent days, they’ve added some second-side actions in which after an initial pick-and-roll with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the ball is swung quickly to Chauncey Billups, who will get into a similar action with DeAndre Jordan.

But as the Atlanta Hawks demonstrated during the latter seasons of the Mike Woodson era, you can rack up some nice efficiency numbers if you protect the ball — even if your offense is obvious and not remarkably innovative. The Hawks’ game plan was so utterly predictable that “Iso Joe” became a calling card. Yet when you’d visit any advanced team stats page, you’d find the Hawks near the very top of the rankings. How could an offense whose trademark set consisted of a swingman pounding the ball one-on-one possibly rate so high? The answer: Atlanta rarely turned the ball over.

The Clippers rank second in turnover rate, behind Philadelphia (which, not coincidentally, is the only team with a more statistically efficient offense). Wednesday night against Houston, they didn’t turn the ball over once in the first quarter while scoring 41 points on 26 possessions. Everything they threw at the basket fell through, though little of it was the result of brilliant choreography. As usual, the Clippers used very basic actions to find shots — and they generated at least one each time they brought the ball across the time line by simply being careful with their possessions.

Against Milwaukee on Saturday night, the Clippers turned the ball over 10 times in the first 18 minutes and looked dreadful doing it — trailing the Bucks 28-24 when a timeout was called at the 5:42 mark of the second quarter. From there, the Clippers went 16 minutes without a turnover. Over that stretch of 27 possessions, they scored 41 points.

The Clippers are getting the ball in the hands of the right people in the right spots for a lot of easy baskets. Like every good offensive team, they suffer lulls like the one they endured during the first half against Milwaukee on Saturday (and that drought was largely because of an uncharacteristic barrage of turnovers). But by and large, the Clippers are crafting a simple offense predicated, more than anything, on showing up. They aren’t even getting very many second chances — they rank 27th in offensive rebounding rate — but the likelihood they’ll get a first chance is very high.

Never has an effect had so obvious a cause. The arrival of Paul has completely transformed the Clippers’ attack, which logged the highest turnover rate in the league last season. A Paul team has never ranked below 8th in turnover rate, and it’s not hard to understand why. Paul exerts more careful control over a possession than any point guard alive. His teams rarely turn the ball over not only because he’s protective of the basketball, but because he has an incredible capacity to deliver the ball to teammates in low-risk, high-reward spots. Someone, somewhere will end up with a shot, and because Paul is capable as a distributor, he doesn’t need a lot of tactical help or fancy plays to find that someone.

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