The Magic present more than a fair share of problems for the Clippers on both ends of the court. Offensively, the Magic spread the floor with multiple three point shooters and are anchored by the post scoring of Dwight Howard. Don’t collapse on Howard and he’ll foul out all your big men and get a handful of easy buckets at the rim. Do collapse on Howard and those shooters will light you up from outside. Even for the best defensive teams in the league, the Magic are a handful.

On the defensive end the Magic can be equally imposing. Orlando employs a ton of rangy, athletic defenders who are afforded the luxury of relentlessly chasing shooters off the three point line because Howard is backing them up.

Without Eric Gordon, the Clippers are stagnant as an offense. Orlando’s guards play smart defense on Baron Davis all night, offering him plenty of space on the perimeter by going under on every pick and roll possible. With Baron’s penetration abilities taken away and Gordon sidelined, the Clippers play absolutely no one who can penetrate and score, and more importantly, penetrate and draw the Magic perimeter defenders in a bit. Without the Magic defenders moving and having to rotate, the Clippers pass the ball along the three-point line and are forced to settle for a ton of perimeter jumpers. The Clippers shoot 14 of their 21 shots from the field beyond 15 feet in the first quarter. To give you an idea of why this is bad, the Clippers shoot right around 36% on the season from beyond 15 feet. It’s not exactly the ideal shot location.

To beat the Magic, or at least stay within shouting distance, you have to at least attempt to get Dwight Howard in foul trouble. Marcin Gortat is a capable backup, but he isn’t much of a one-on-one scorer in the post or a big shot blocking threat. Get Howard on the bench and Orlando’s perimeter defenders can’t sell out on every perimeter swing of the ball. Minus Howard you can stay at home defensively on those shooters and made Jason Williams or Jameer Nelson beat you at the rim. Unfortunately, the Clippers never even come close to getting Howard in foul trouble. Howard doesn’t collect a single foul the entire game, which is preposterous from someone of his size and strength. You’d think at some point he’d accidentally crush someone like Lenny from Of Mice and Men, but it never happens. The Clippers only shoot two free throws in the entire first half.

Essentially the Clippers got themselves in a jump shooting contest with the best jump shooting team in the league. And of course, the results were predictable. The Magic shot 52% from the field, made 7 three-pointers, and scored a whopping 67 points in the first half. Meanwhile the Clippers only shot 42% from the field and scored 41 points. You’re not making up a 26 point deficit against a team like Orlando.

Watching Dwight Howard do most of his work in the post prior to the arrival of the ball, then finishing with a pretty jump hook, is a nice reminder of how even the rawest of big men can be polished into serviceable low post scorers with time and plenty of patience. When Howard first entered the league, he was all freakish dunks, blocked shots and rebounding. DeAndre Jordan, although not on the level of Dwight Howard, obviously, is much the same way. Plenty of size and athleticism, but just a lack of general skill and footwork in the post. Watching the two go at it in their early stretch of one-on-one time against each other late in the first quarter is fascinating.

After Dwight Howard makes a pretty post move and baby hook on one end [:47, 1stQ], DeAndre Jordan goes all Howard circa 2005 by rolling clean to the hoop and skying high to throw down a Baron Davis alley-oop with one hand that was up near the top of the square [:32, 1stQ]. At [8:22, 2ndQ] Dwight Howard starts on the left block against Jordan and sweeps across the lane with a big running righty hook that falls in. It’s a skilled shot, one that Howard’s been working on for years, and it finally looks natural and unforced. To his credit, DeAndre Jordan comes right back at Howard on the other end [8:07, 2ndQ], posts up and gets great position in the middle off the key, turns, and puts in a right-handed jump hook.

At this point, wins and losses don’t mean much of anything. It’s the small moments– the tiny, barely visible victories like DeAndre Jordan holding his own against Dwight Howard for a few series that mean something. It’s the development of the players we know will be Clippers come next year. It’s finding out who can fit with Blake Griffin and who can’t. In that sense, every game serves a purpose. The end result may not matter, but the games themselves still do. Even the 26 point blowouts.

From ESPN Los Angeles:

It’s DeAndre Jordan’s lucky day. Typically after practice concludes, Jordan continues his painful daily ritual of making 200 free throws. For a guy like Steve Nash that’s no big deal. Maybe an hour, tops. But for Jordan, a 36 percent career free throw shooter, that’s a pretty big chunk of the day.

This day, though, perhaps because interim Clippers coach Kim Hughes was a career 39 percent free throw shooter and empathizes with Jordan’s pain, they work on post moves. Bullet temporarily dodged.

As Hughes observes on the baseline, Jordan drops in a variety of left-handed baby hooks. When the natural southpaw switches to his right in an effort to be what Charles Shackleford would call “amphibious,” the results aren’t good.

The first attempt ricochets off the back iron. Perturbed, Jordan tries again from the same spot. Another miss. Now clearly irritated, Jordan softly floats a shot but watches in dismay as the ball dances around the rim before bouncing out.

Jordan incredulously stares at the hoop, almost as if it has offended him. He makes no effort to conceal his frustration. His massive shoulders slump, his gigantic hands flail at his sides and his eyes fixate on the ground in a manner that would make Charlie Brown look optimistic by comparison.

“I just really get into it,” Jordan said. “I get on myself because I know I can do better.”

It’s painfully obvious that Jordan is afflicted with a problem that has little to do with the proficiency of his right-handed hook shot. He loses confidence in himself far too easily.

It’s terrific stuff, and you can read the full piece here.

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.

DeAndre Jordan doing what he does best last night against the Bobcats:

For a team that’s dedicated itself to a more intuitive brand of basketball, I can’t recall one instant, apart from Bobby Brown’s alley-oop to DeAndre Jordan (3rd, 0:37), when a member of the Clippers creates a shot or makes a play for a teammate. You see basic entry passes (although even those present a serious challenge Tuesday night), an occasional reversal (usually prompted by Portland’s defensive pressure on the wing), but there’s nothing profound occurring in the Clippers’ offense. Sure, there’s spontaneity, but those impulses translate into nothing more than ad hoc decisions to confront defenders one-on-one. There’s no plan whatsoever, which explains how the Clippers throw away about a quarter of their possessions on turnovers, and how the Clippers generate only 15 assists.

Chris Kaman is entirely ineffectual, scoring four points and racking up seven turnovers. The good news? He’s looking to pass out of the double-team. The bad news? He’s incapable of doing so. Witnessing Kaman on nights like this, you begin to appreciate Zach Randolph on the low block. Better to be unwilling and unable than willing and unable.

I don’t doubt that Baron Davis truly believes he’s doing what’s necessary to establish his bona fides as team leader. What Baron doesn’t understand is that you can’t be undisciplined and indiscriminate and expect people to fall in line. You can’t launch nine of your 11 attempts from 18 feet and beyond — draining only two of the nine — without hurting your team. That’s not leadership. It’s gluttony.

The Clippers’ offense is incoherent, but their defense is atrocious. Portland scores 109 points on 90 or so possessions. As defensive failures go, that’s on par with the loss at Cleveland, the Christmas Day massacre in Phoenix and the Kaman-less loss to the Lakers a few weeks back. Martell Webster connects on seven of 11 from beyond the arc.  A sampling:

• [1st, 7:11] Andre Miller and LaMarcus Aldridge engage in a two-man game on the left side, with Martell Webster situated along the arc to Miller’s right. Once Miller feeds the ball into Aldridge on the left block, the Trail Blazers’ point guard clears through, then out to the arc to Webster’s right. Since Miller is no threat from there, Baron lingers around the foul line, primed to help on Aldridge if he spins middle. As Aldridge starts his dribble, Rasual Butler makes a curious decision. Even though Davis is hedging and would be the logical help defender to double Aldridge, Butler darts over to Aldridge and blitzes him. The instant Butler attacks, Aldridge kicks the ball out to Webster. Baron, who’s still positioned at the foul line, can’t close quickly enough. Webster drains the 3-pointer.
  
  Butler’s decision is questionable, but its risk can be diminished with good communication. There’s no evidence of that here.
• [1st, 2:59] Another faulty decision. Miller gets the ball at the left elbow on a hand-off from Aldridge, then dribbles across the foul line left to right with Davis trailing him. Davis has to fight through Aldridge. Meanwhile, Gordon accounts for Webster — who has already hit three shot from 3-point distance — on the right wing. As Miller moves laterally, Gordon falls off Webster to pick up Miller.
  
  Here’s the operative question for Gordon: How is Andre Miller most dangerous with the ball in his hands moving east-to-west across the court?  The answer: Finding open shooters for clean looks. Therefore, the best way to defend Miller in this situation is not by darting toward him, but by staying at home on the hottest shooter in the building who’s a quick, easy target for Miller just a few feet away.
  
  Gordon makes the wrong decision and Webster nails his fourth 3-pointer of the half.

When the Clippers aren’t allowing Portland to set up shop behind the arc, they’re fouling the hell out of the Blazers, who get to the stripe for 32 attempts. Smith manages to commit five fouls in 25 minutes of action.

Both Bobby Brown and DeAndre Jordan warrant some praise. Brown records five assists in 12 minutes, while Jordan does good work in the basket area on both ends. He continues to struggle when he’s lured defensively away from the box — where Aldridge likes to play — but his post defense and general awareness Tuesday night are promising.