From SlamOnline.com:

The 6-2, 225-pound guard Fred Jones has agreed to terms with the Italian team Biella Angelico. The American has officially agreed to a one-year deal.

In 2004 Jones won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, beating out ex-champion Jason Richardson.

Jones was a member of the Indiana Pacers, the Toronto Raptors, the Portland Trail Blazers,  the New York Knicks and last season he played in Los Angeles for the Clippers.

Last season  Jones appeared in 52 games for the Clippers and totalled 7.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

Another former Clipper may be looking to head overseas as well. Also from SlamOnline.com:

Former Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Clippers guard Alex Acker is looking for a new team in Europe. After an unsuccessful year in NBA, Acker wants to go back to Europe.

According to Greek media, the 6-2, 225-pound point guard is close to reaching an agreement with the Italian club Milano Armani Jeans.

Acker, 26 year-old-guard, averaged 2.9 points per game last season with the Pistons and the Clippers.

Jones was on the outside looking in once Telfair, Smith and Madsen were acquired this summer. Although short on size and skill, Jones brought a high level of energy and athleticism to the table last year for the Clippers. At only 6’2, Jones was often outsized but could never be falted for a lack of effort defensively.

Although Jones was never really in the picture for a roster spot, this move should further solidify that the 14th and final roster spot has come down to a two man battle between Steve Novak and Ramon Sessions. Novak has garnered a small amount of interest from contenders like the Nuggets and Cavaliers, who could both use an outside shooting specialist. Sessions is still being pursued by the Clippers and Knicks as well, but negotiations on all sides of the table appear to remain at a stalemate. With two viable options, Dunleavy and company are content on playing the waiting game to see who will fill the last roster spot.

Best of luck to Fred Jones as he continues his basketball career in Italy.

The Clippers extended Steve Novak a qualifying offer Tuesday, which makes him a restricted free agent. The Clippers will have the opportunity to match any contract offer made to Novak by another team. Novak’s number is $1,030,189. Given the reasonable price tag and the fact that there are only a handful of players in the league with true shooting percentages greater than 60%, it’s very likely Novak will get a bite from a team in need of some perimeter shooting.

Would the Clippers would match a significant offer for Novak’s services? That probably depends on what they get back/have to swallow in any deal they make with one of the frontcourt guys. According to sources, negotiations with Memphis could pick up again soon. The Grizzlies still need a scoring big man, and they’re now carrying Quentin Richardson’s $9.35M contract, along with the other superfluous pieces on their roster (Greg Buckner and Marko Jaric, both expiring in 2011). In most cases, a team can’t trade a guy for two months after they acquire him in a deal, but since Memphis is under the cap, they’re exempt from this rule in Richardson’s case.

Brian Skinner declined his $1.3M player option. It’s a gamble for the 33-year-old Skinner, until you realize that the minimum salary for a player with ten years of service or greater is $1,306,455. It’s unlikely that Skinner opted out without some confidence that there’s a deal out there for him somewhere — and there probably is, accompanied by more minutes than he’d get in the crowded Clippers’ frontcourt.

Rounding out the transactions of the day, the Clippers will have to endure Ricky Davis for another season. He picked up his $2.48M player option. The Clips declined their team option on Alex Acker. And Fred Jones is now officially off-contract. Jones put up a 10.41 PER last season, which isn’t all that horrendous for a versatile backup making league minimum. The Clippers have a $2M bi-annual exception, but it’s unlikely they’ll use it to fill out the back end of their roster — which would include Jones — until after Summer League, a possible trade, and when the market settles down.

Watching the postseason over the past couple of weeks has offered a reminder that the NBA, at its essence, is a game of exploiting mismatches in the halfcourt. Good teams do this effectively when their offenses are humming.  The standout defensive teams? They’re the ones who can recover from, compensate for, or avoid those mismatches altogether. They also have the capacity to withstand a defensive switch because they have smalls who can hold their own against bigs, and vice versa.

Among the Clippers’ many flaws, their ineffectiveness both offensively and defensively in this regard makes them a vulnerable team every night, no matter how much talent we perceive there to be on the court. When you watch how good Cleveland, Orlando, and Houston are at recovering defensively off the opponent’s action, it’s no wonder they’re playing basketball well into May. Orlando did incredible work on Boston’s flurry of picks and rolls Tuesday Monday night, and I haven’t seen the Cavs blow a defensive rotation in weeks. Some of their guys get beat off the dribble, but on screens — both on the off the ball — the Cavs choreograph defensive ballet.

The Clippers’ position defense poses problems from outset. Al Thornton and Zach Randolph are poor straight-up defenders, though Al has demonstrated that in simple isolation situations, he’s passable. Baron Davis, either because he’s gotten slower, stopped caring, or isn’t 1oo percent, is no better than average at the point, unless he recommits himself to on-ball defense. Though Marcus Camby excels as a team defender, he’s ineffective against both perimeter-oriented centers like Mehmet Okur, and isn’t a stalwart post defender one-on-one. Eric Gordon is undersized, which doesn’t hurt him every night, but creates problems against sharpshooting 2 guards. Chris Kaman, when healthy, has become a very serviceable defender down low, but not exactly Buck Williams or Hakeem.

Position defense is the foundation of team defense, but isolations represent only a fraction of halfcourt possessions.  Where quality teams pick apart defenses is on pick-and-roll action. I had a chance to spend some time with Rockets’ assistant Elston Turner on Monday night discussing how Houston’s defensive machine works. Turner cited “defensive flexibility” as one of the primary assets to Houston’s defense. Sure, Houston has outstanding individual defenders in Ron Artest and Shane Battier, along with Yao Ming protecting the basket, but dynamic offensive players are still going to beat those guys several times a night. What Turner likes about his squad is that, if need be, Artest can switch onto a 1,2,3, or 4. Battier can guard the ball and has the ability and instincts to rotate to the weak side on reversals. Turner even had the chutzpah to put Luis Scola on Trevor Ariza for significant stretches Monday night because he knew that, at any point, there was a defender who could rotate over to help out Scola. Because Houston features that defensive flexibility, chances are that rotation wouldn’t cost them. This dynamic allowed Houston to assign Artest to Gasol at the pinch post, where so much of the Lakers’ offense is initiated.  Artest could make a quick choice off that pinch post action: Does he stay on Gasol, or pick up the guy getting the handoff or pass? Either way, Houston wouldn’t be compromised all that much defensively.

What about the Clippers? Do they have guys who can defend multiple positions?  Eric Gordon can cover either guard, but how often do you see a 1-2 screen-roll in the NBA? Only when Mike Bibby is on the floor. Against less potent 3s, Mike Dunleavy isn’t entirely uncomfortable letting Baron try his hand on a switch, which I don’t have a big problem with.  To Dunleavy’s credit, he recognizes the team’s defensive limitations, and tries to keep them out of switch situations as much as possible.

The 2005-06 squad was masterful at making lemonade out of lemons in frenetic halfcourt possessions, and showed-and-recovered as well as any team in the West that season, save San Antonio. Cuttino Mobley, Elton Brand, and Quinton Ross were a big part of that — and Sam Cassell, challenged as he was, was heady enough to funnel the guys who beat him to the right spots. Unfortunately, this current Clippers defense doesn’t have the will or alacrity to do what’s necessary to avoid mismatches. They’re too slow [Baron, Randolph], too oblivious [Thornton], too unwilling [Camby], or still learning the intricacies of NBA defense [Gordon].

There’s a reason the Clippers haven’t beaten Utah in an eternity, got mauled against Denver post-Chauncey, and even lost that Toronto game by 70 points six weeks ago.  They simply can’t withstand teams that force mismatches as their primary offensive strategy.  I also think it’s not a coincidence they beat Boston when Fred Jones and Mardy Collins combined for 70 minutes.  Those two guys offer the Clippers Turner’s defensive flexibility, something the Clippers desperately needed that night against Boston’s rotating pick-and-roll schemes. It’s just too bad that Jones and Collins are woefully inefficient offensive players.

Offensively, the Clippers are pretty lousy at exploiting mismatches with a few exceptions. Zach Randolph’s offensive instincts are solid in this area and it’s one of the things that makes him a strong offensive contributor. On a nightly basis, we saw him put the ball on the deck against slower 4s, and muscle inside against weaker post defenders, whether they were his assigned defender, or a player he picked up on the switch. Baron used to make mincemeat off 1-3 through 1-5 pick-and-rolls back in his Golden State days, but he was extremely tentative in 08-09 when big men were in front of him, opting to fire a contested jumper rather than blowing past the big. I don’t ascribe that to laziness. He expressed an earnest concern in conversation in January that he’d lost some explosiveness and didn’t feel like he could get to the rim like he used to. Whatever the case, it’s a monumental problem for the Clippers the next four years if their point guard can’t take advantage of a small-big mismatch. In an increasingly PG-driven league, that’s most teams’ most powerful weapon. Without it, you simply can’t run an efficient offense.

Given Baron’s limitations, it’s vital that more S/R action be initiated for Eric Gordon, and that Gordon continue to improve his ability to take full advantage of the space afforded him off those screens. Kaman’s return to full health will help Eric, because Chris is far and away the Clippers’ best pick man up top.  That said, Chris still has room to improve his finesse on those screens in order to draw the mismatch for his guard — and for himself, too!  Did you notice in the Chicago series how good Joakim Noah is at running interference on a simple brush screen, thereby getting Derrick Rose an opposing big man to penetrate against?  You might not think of Dirk Nowitzki as a great screener, but watch how often Jason Terry ends up with a hulking big in front of him [and, in turn, how Dirk draws a small as his defender]. Other masters: Tim Duncan, Kendrick Perkins [though he's never set a legal screen in his life...still...it ain't illegal if they don't catch you], Udonis Haslem, Kurt Thomas, Lamar Odom.

Zach Randolph? Not on that list.

The Clippers finished 30th in offensive efficiency, and 26th in defensive efficiency last season. If they have any hopes of improving, they’ll need new personnel who can provide the sort of flexibility that will enable them to defend sound offensive teams, and an offense that’s more persistent at finding mismatches for its talent. They’ll also need their existing players to better recognize mismatches, something their small forward doesn’t do effectively.  Even more important, their point guard must rehabilitate physically to the point where he can penetrate, which is the single most productive way to scramble a defense, and force it into bad rotations which often result in mismatches.

Gutsy. That’s exactly how the Clippers played tonight. Absolutely, positively, undeniably gutsy. When presented with multiple opportunities to simply roll over and die, the Clippers refused and continued to scrap against a far superior team. One of the most disheartening things about this season is that the team often appears to have no desire. Good teams hit them hard, and they never get back up off the mat. Tonight, against our biggest rival, we pick ourselves off the mat and swing back.

Let’s get right to it. The Lakers use a timeout with 5:52 left in the game so they can rest their starters. Earlier in the second quarter, the young group of Mike Taylor, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Steve Novak, and DeAndre Jordan play even ball with the talented Lakers bench for about a 7 minute stretch. Now, with a 19 point deficit, some of the Clippers starters get their crack at the Lakers second unit.

Lakers 81, Clippers 62 with 5:52 remaining.

The two most unlikely starters, Brian Skinner and Fred Jones, are the ones who start the run. Randolph hits one out of two from the line. Fred Jones also hits one of two, but Skinner rebounds the miss and it turns into an Eric Gordon jumper that’s true. The lead is down to 15. Fred Jones draws another foul and this time hits both his free throws. The lead is 13. Bryant is now in to help stop the bleeding, but he misses a jumper that’s rebounded by Jones. Then, at the 4:18 mark, Jones nails a three. The lead is 10. Lakers 81, Clippers 71.

Phil Jackson calls a much needed timeout. Phil is usually known to let his team play through bad stretches, but he is so disgusted by his second unit that he pulls out every last one of them. Both teams now have their starting units on the floor. Out of the Lakers timeout, Bryant misses a jumper. Down on the other end, Baron nails a three off the dish from Gordon. The Clippers are now down 7, with 3:33 to play. The Lakers are in full-blown panic mode, and Bryant turns the ball over. Fred Jones, the hero of the comeback, nails another jumper. The lead is 5. On the other end, Derek Fisher tries to stop the run with a deep three, but it’s no good.

Then something strange happens. Baron misses a jumper (that’s not the strange part) and the ball ends up going out on the Lakers. So it is Clippers ball, with 2:30 left, and the team is riding the momentum of an unbelievable 14-0 run. So what does Dunleavy do? He calls timeout. When his team is on the good side of a 14-0 run. He essentially gifts Phil Jackson a badly needed timeout. I learn two things from this:

- Mike Dunleavy is prone to over-coaching at the worst possible times.

- My puppy is easily frightened by flying water bottles.

To be completely fair though, the Clippers do score out of the timeout, on a nice move and floater in the lane by Zach Randolph. 2:21 left, Lakers 81, Clippers 78.

Everyone on the planet knows that Bryant is getting the ball in this situation, and it’s Gordon’s job to slow him down. Bryant ends up drawing a foul and despite being 1 for 4 from the line, he sinks both free throws, mercifully ending what was a 16-0 Clippers run. Back on the other end Fred Jones answers yet again, and now the lead is down to 3 with 1:39 remaining. Bryant tries a contested three but misses. Gordon goes down, gets fouled and calmly makes both free throws to cut the lead to 1. Lakers 83, Clippers 82. On the ensuing Lakers possession, Pau Gasol goes right at Randolph with a great baseline move to push the lead back to 3. On the next Clippers possession, Baron dribbles idly and the Clippers have to settle for a shot clock beating heave from Zach Randolph. It misses. Ariza grabs the board and the Clippers curiously decide not to foul with 26 seconds to play. The clock finally stops when Bryant gets fouled with 10 seconds left. The Lakers crunch time experience is starting to show. Bryant steps up to the line and nails both the free throws to push the lead to 5 with ten seconds to play.

On the ensuing possession Eric Gordon, he of Sam Cassell like anatomy, sinks a three to keep hope alive. The Clippers, as is all night, simply refuse to go away. On the inbound, Fisher is immediately fouled. He misses the first free throw, but makes the second. The Lakers lead is 3 with 5 seconds left, and Dunleavy uses a timeout. It’s time for him to use the best play he’s got in that giant playbook.

Novak is in as the inbounder. This is a good move because he’s 6’10, so he has plenty of height to inbound the ball. Also, if the Lakers decide to double on the catch, Novak can step right back inbounds and have a clean look at a three.

5 seconds left. The Lakers come out and match up really well, putting Kobe on Gordon and Ariza on Baron. Fisher is covering the inbounder Novak. The ball finally goes to Baron near the corner baseline, and he is absolutely blanketed by the 6’9 Ariza. There’s a window for Baron to perhaps kick the ball back to Novak, who has an 8 inch height advantage over Fisher and would surely be able to get his shot off.  Baron is hounded however and turns his back to the opportunity.  Baron struggles for space and attempts to draw a foul, but Ariza’s defense is solid. Baron has to throw up a desperation double clutch three, and it’s no good. Ballgame. Lakers 88, Clippers 85.

If the play was to inbound the ball and give it right back to Novak for the three, I like it. Novak is the team’s best shooter, and he wouldn’t have a hard time getting a clean look against the much shorter Derek Fisher. This final play, like so many of the other ones tonight, just looked like poor execution. Give the Lakers their credit though; they are extremely tough to score on in end game situations. They have the luxury of having one of the best defenders in the game in Bryant, a mobile 7 footer of their choosing, and one 6’9 ultra-athletic defensive machine in Ariza.

Tonight Eric Gordon really stepped up to the plate. It was a nice bounce back game for him, even though he got off to a cold start in the first. There are shooters out there in the league who will continue to jack up contested shots even if they’re ice cold, and consequently end up killing their team. This is not of concern with Eric Gordon. If his shot isn’t falling, and it wasn’t again tonight, he’ll put it on the deck and try and draw fouls.  Because he has incredible confidence in his ability to score, he’ll still take the good looks he gets. Shooters do need to have bad memories, but they also need to have mental toughness, and Gordon has that in spades. Eric ends up scoring 24 points, despite having to spend tons of energy dealing with Bryant on the defensive end. Let’s put Gordon’s performance tonight in perspective. He’s a 20 year old rookie who’s on a cold shooting streak, and yet he still outscored the best player in the league. That’s impressive.

This game tonight reminded me a lot of the original Rocky movie. Stay with me. An unlucky, severely less talented contender gets a shot at beating the champion. No one thinks the contender can win. The champion is bigger, stronger and faster. But you know what happens? The contender comes out and knocks down the Champ. He makes it a fight. He wants his respect from the Champ, from the fans, and for himself. He gets knocked down, but he gets right back up and keeps fighting, because that’s what fighters do.

And yeah, maybe the contender could have actually won if they blocked less punches with their head. You might think my Rocky analogy is pretty stupid. Or maybe, you don’t care because you think there is no such thing as a moral victory. But you know what? In my mind, the Clippers did win something tonight, even if it will never show up in the standings.

They won some respect, if only for an evening.

In the first half the Clippers miss a ton of easy looks. In the second half they can’t find one. There’s no reason that these five starters — each of whom is traditionally a proficient offensive player — should have this much trouble generating shots in the halfcourt. The two least capable scorers on the floor — Dahntay Jones and Renaldo Balkman [though you'd never know from his line] — actually belong to Denver, but it’s the Clippers who finish with only 94 points in 102 possessions.  That adds up to 92.2 offensive efficiency, nearly seven points fewer than their league-low average of 99.1.

The Clippers don’t convert a field goal in the second half until their 11th possession, at the 6:54 mark when Eric Gordon drains a long 3PA.  In the preceding ten trips down, the Clips manage a trip to the line on four occasions, but come up empty six times.  What’s going on?  Are they missing easy looks?  Is the offense just stagnant? Are they settling for low-percentage stuff early in the shot clock? The six:

• [1st, 11:36] Eric Gordon brings the ball up, which usually means Baron is going to post up at the left elbow. EJ delivers him the ball there, then retreats to the left corner. Baron waits for Marcus Camby to sweep across the foul line and set a screen so Baron can drive right.  Camby slips the screen, but Balkman does a nice job cutting off the passing lane between Baron and Marcus. Besides, Nene is cheating off Kaman and has an easy rotation onto Camby.  This set basically fools no one — not Billups [Baron's man], not Balkman, and not Nene.  Baron changes hands and goes left into all that traffic.  He manages to get to about five feet, but his shot never gets to the rim — it’s swatted away by Balkman.
  
  The Clippers never look for Gordon in the offense, and it’s something Mike Smith hits a couple of times in the broadcast. It’s March now and aside from the fact that the Clippers are mathematically eliminated from the postseason, Gordon is their most efficient scorer on the floor, by an enormous degree. While it might offend Baron Davis’ sensibilities to defer to another guard, isn’t it about time to make Gordon the focal point of the offense?
• [3rd, 10:34] Denver is on a 7-0 run, and their five-point halftime lead has ballooned to 12. The first action is a pin-down for Eric Gordon, only Thornton’s screen down low is so ineffectual that Dahntay Jones never even has to brush Thornton to run through it. Baron’s eyes follow Gordon up to the arc, but Baron realizes there’s nothing there, so he goes to Plan B — feeding Kaman off the right elbow. Baron starts to dive toward the basket, but slams on the brakes at the foul line. This is news to Chris Kaman, who has already lobbed a pass into the lane. It ends up in the hands of Nene. The transition opportunity for Denver results in a trip to the line for Balkman.
• [3rd, 10:07] The Clippers inbound the ball on the left sideline after an early off-the-ball foul on Denver. The Clippers are completely disoriented. Camby and Kaman are both trying to occupy space at the right elbow. Meanwhile, Gordon and Thornton run a sloppy pin-down that ultimately turns out in the Clippers favor — Thornton gets the smaller Jones isolated in the left mid-post. Baron feeds him there. Help comes quickly — two defenders actually: One off Kaman at the right elbow, the other off Baron Davis out on the left arc. George Karl sends double-teams at Thornton on a few different occasions, something Al isn’t used to. Thornton hesitates for a moment, then kicks it out to Davis, though not without enough time for Billups to recover.
  
  Plan B — Kaman sets a high screen for Baron. The Nuggets trap Baron. Though Kaman yells for the ball [just before he plows into Jones and they both go sprawling to the floor. For some reason, it's visually hilarious. Good to have Chris back on the court], it goes over to Gordon with :05 on the clock. He can’t get much space to work against Carmelo Anthony here and fires a contested 3PA with the clock at :02. Camby’s tip-in off the miss is no good.
  
  I don’t want to pick on Thornton, because it’s not a capital crime or even a felony. But the ability to make that pass out to Baron a nanosecond quicker before Billups recovers, separates one class of pro player from another. If Al does that, then Baron has a wide open look. He still made a clean pass, which isn’t a foregone conclusion against pressure, so let’s credit him for that.
• [3rd, 9:15] Another isolation set posting up Thornton off the mid-left post. This time, Carmelo Anthony fights through the Gordon screen. Dahntay Jones is generally a very good defender, but here he gets distracted and lets Gordon float out to the perimeter. Nice recognition here by Thornton to see it and hit Eric with the cross-court pass. It’s as good a look as Gordon has all night, but he misses the 3PA. Still, the best possession in the series.
• [3rd, 8:21] Fred Jones is now in the game for Kaman, who picks up his fourth foul. Kaman fouls out tonight at the 4:58 mark of the 4th quarter. He has another dreadful night — eight points [3-7 FG, 2-2 FT], seven rebounds, four turnovers. His timing is off and his footwork is heavy.
  
  Fred Jones gets it on the right wing. In front of him is Baron Davis working hard to post Billups off the right block. Jones feeds Baron, who tries to back down Billups. George Karl defenses [always underrated; his team ranks 8th in defensive efficiency this season, 10th in 2007-08] double quickly in the post, and Nene darts over to harass Baron. As Baron elevates, he realizes he doesn’t have a target — he can’t get a shot off, but his open men are behind him and cut off along the baseline. He throws it away.
• [3rd, 7:30] The Clippers don’t initiate the offense until they burn half the possession. There’s some incidental action — Jones flashes the foul line, Camby offers Gordon a half-hearted screen at the right elbow for a curl — but it doesn’t yield anything. Finally, Gordon fades to the right arc with Dahntay Jones closely on him. For the first time all half, Gordon puts down a hard dribble after a ball-fake, then drives to the hoop. Nene steps out to challenge him, which forces Eric into an awkward, airborne jumper falling toward the baseline. The ball doesn’t draw rim.
  
  As good as Eric looks, his weakness right now is on these sorts of plays, when he’s forced to stop in traffic at mid-range. He’s small, which means he can’t see the court as well as most wings in that situation who need to pass out. Fortunately, he’s freakish enough to get off a shot in most instances, but Nene is both large and quick, so Eric has neither the space nor time to react.

After getting down 20, the Clippers put together a run toward the end of the third during which they score on their final six possessions. They get a good look for Marcus Camby along the baseline after Marcus rolls off a screen up top for Steve Novak. Camby gets to the line after a loose ball foul. Kaman gets to the line on a so-so move that draws contact from Nene. The next two, though, are very nice:

• [3rd, 1:38] Chris Kaman’s baseline screen frees Steve Novak to pop out to the perimeter. Novak loses Linas Kleiza, but Chris Andersen jumps out on Novak while Kleiza picks up Camby. Good help by Denver. Novak tries to drive against Andersen, but can make only lateral progress, so he sends the ball up top to Fred Jones. Only :05 remains on the shot clock. Fred drives right, drawing Andersen for just a instant — but it’s enough to get Novak the space in the corner. Jones immediately kicks it out to Novak for the 3PA, which falls through with :01 left on the shot clock.Novak brings the stroke, obviously, but this play is all Fred Jones — a bona fide assist. This was clearly a broken set, but Jones had the wherewithal to manufacture something, probably the only thing that was available to him. High IQ ball.
• [3rd, 0:54] The lineup is now Jones-Gordon-Novak-Camby-Kaman. While Jones holds the ball up top, Novak sets a back screen on the left side for Gordon, who makes a back cut. The Clippers get the switch — Gordon drags Kleiza with him across the baseline to the right side. Kleiza is too slow, and loses even more ground when Camby steps out to buy Gordon some more space. Jones delivers a sharp feed to Gordon just as Eric lands at the spot. Eric collects the ball and squares his shoulders simultaneously, then elevates for the 22-footer, finishing with a beautiful follow-through.
  
  Nothing monumental. First, there’s the premise: Hey, why not try to work a mismatch with our fastest guy and their slowest guy? Good idea. Second is the execution: Novak’s screen is solid [you don't have to be Tyson Chandler], Camby does what he’s supposed to do, and the timing of Jones’ pass is perfect.

We see the full costs and benefits of Steve Novak. The presence of Balkman gives the Clippers the opportunity to use Novak, and the team looks much better offensively with him on the floor tonight. Novak’s liabilities prevent him from playing a lot of minutes against good offensive PFs, but when opponents stick a less dangerous 4 on the floor, Novak should get some burn. The trade-off can be seen in the rebounding numbers, as well as Balkman’s career night. More specific and particularly ugly sequences can be seen at [3rd, 3:57; 4th, 2:03], and there are others.

I want to highlight one Denver set, because it goes to a much-discussed issue: How to keep a guy on the floor who’s an offensive cipher without it hurting the flow of the offense. Denver’s Dahntay Jones is an atrocious offensive player. His PER is 9.06, good for 60th out of 68 shooting guards. But here, he converts an easy two. How does the worst offensive player on the floor get a gimme?

• [3rd, 6:42] First comes a 1-3 S/R with Billups and Anthony. The Nuggets get the switch, and Anthony drops low to post up Baron Davis. Baron gets close on him. There are times when Baron is disinterested, but he seems to take any affront to his bodily strength more personally and will fight guys in the post on both ends of the floor. Billups feeds Anthony off the mid-left post, and Baron gets good defensive position on him.
  
  Up top, meanwhile, Dahntay Jones is drifting as far away from the play as possible — well beyond the arc on the weak side, where he’s a bigger threat to steal a nacho from someone sitting courtside than he is to hurt the Clippers offensively. Or so we’re led to believe. Eric leaves Dahntay Jones to help on Anthony — and who can blame him, because Anthony has a mismatch 18 feet from the basket, and Gordon is guarding Jones, a weak player on the weak side. Just as Eric arrives for the double-team, Jones makes a back cut to the basket. With the shorter Davis in front if him, Anthony fires a pinpoint pass that hits Jones in stride. Jones sidesteps Fred Jones, gets the shot up and is fouled.
  
  This is the perfect example of how you use an offensive liability in the halfcourt game: A guy like Jones doesn’t need to be guarded unless he’s on the move to the basket, so if you’re Denver, why not send him there?  Meanwhile, let the gifted players with the real skills handle the heavy lifting of creating the shot, as Anthony does here.

What Marcus Camby’s homecoming lacks in on-court exploits is compensated by the warmth of the crowd. The best moment comes just a minute before tip-off, after Camby exchanges daps and hugs with the Nuggets players and staff. There’s another wave to the crowd, then a little towhead girl in a Nuggets Camby jersey comes onto the court gives him a hug. There are few moments left in the production of an NBA game that aren’t choreographed or orchestrated in some cheesy way, but this was spontaneous, which made it real.

Posting an 87.7 offensive efficiency number against the league’s most porous defense requires a special level of bad execution and indifference.  The best illustration of this comes at the conclusion of the first quarter, when the Clippers watch a one-point lead evaporate, leaving them with a nine-point deficit at the quarter break.  They fail to score on 10 straight possessions. Sacramento establishes a double-digit lead fewer than three minutes into the second quarter and never relinquishes it. The loss is particularly dispiriting because the Clippers, by their standards, have been playing fairly well since Zach Randolph rejoined the team after serving a two-game suspension.  The victories against Golden State and Boston weren’t complete efforts, but the Clippers got the job done against a team that plays a style of ball that tests the Clippers’ strengths, and one that plays a style that’s generally fluent to the point of flawlessness.

Were the Clippers simply missing high-percentage shots?  How lazy was their execution?  The Clippers’ lineup is Baron-Jones-Collins-Randolph-Camby.  Let’s take a look:

• [1st, 4:57]  Davis, guarded by grizzled vet Bobby Jackson — who does great work on the Clippers PG all night — calls for a high screen from Camby.  The Clippers get the switch, though with Camby 20 feet from the basket, this isn’t exactly an exercise in shot creation.  Nevertheless, with :11 still on the shot clock, Camby deliberates, first with a shot-fake, then hoists a bad-looking shot.  The crazy thing is that the first look was considerably better than the second because the fake gives Spencer Hawes time to recover and close on Camby.  The shot barely grazes the rim.This might be a good time to discuss Eric Gordon’s absence.  What else does Camby have on this possession?  Not much.  He could kick it out to Fred Jones on the perimeter to his left.  Jones has Kevin Martin — a player I like a lot, but one who’s as responsible as anyone for Sarcamento’s defensive woes.

  No disrespect for Jones, but that option for Camby would be a lot more attractive if it’s Eric Gordon, who could take Martin off the dribble with an assertive left-handed drive.  One of the striking things about this game is how little of the Clippers offense is precipitated by penetration.  Eric Gordon is the catalyst for that, and much of the rigor mortis we saw at the end of the Boston game and in Sacramento is a byproduct of his absence.

• [1st, 4:13] The Clippers push the ball up after a long Jackson miss.  Baron draws Martin as his defender in transition, and wastes little time challenging Martin off the dribble.  Baron gets into the paint with relative ease, but hits traffic inside.  I haven’t seen a lot of Jason Thompson, but his defense hasn’t impressed.  Here, though, he does a good job on help.  By the time Baron reaches the basket area, there isn’t much for him.  Baron tries to draw contact against Thompson — and probably does –  but there’s no call.  Baron’s wild attempt floats in the air and is collected by Hawes, who delivers a perfect outlet pass to Francisco Garcia, and the Kings convert one of their easier breaks of the night.
• [1st, 3:56]  The Clippers go immediately into Zach Randolph off the right block against Thompson.  Randolph tries to make progress against the defender with his right shoulder, but doesn’t make much progress.  Randolph decides to pass out — credit the instinct — but his pass is atrocious.  He lobs the ball, intended for Camby, into a scrum inside.  It’s effectively a jump ball, only the Kings have 2.5 players to Camby’s one.  Predictable result, and the error ignites another Kings break that’s punctuated by an easy driving slam from Thompson.  The crowd is into it for the first time, and the Clippers call time.
• [1st, 3:34] Al Thornton checks into the game for Collins.  Ricky Davis replaces Baron, which slides Jones to PG.  Again into Randolph in the post, which is the best first option the Clippers have, so no fault there.  Zach gets doubled, and this time his pass out is a good one — to an open Ricky Davis at the top of the arc.  Ricky’s shot is long, but Randolph grabs the offensive rebound.  His chippy left hook putback attempt misses, though.
• [1st, 2:51] The ball quickly goes to Camby at the top of the arc.  Generally, I like Camby on the perimeter facilitating offense from there, but here he tries to force a tricky entry pass into Randolph in the paint.  There’s just too much traffic.  Another turnover, which gives the Kings another easy break.The Kings put up an offensive efficiency number of 106.7 in the first half and, as we’ve seen, it’s built largely on transition buckets off bad Clipper misses and turnovers.  The Clippers halfcourt defense is actually passable in the first half; it’s those easy breaks that pad that number.
• [1st, 2:34] Probably the best-looking Clipper offensive possession of the sequence, and one that captures the Kings’ atrocious defense.  After Camby slips a high screen for Jones and rolls, a discombobulated SAC defense sends three men to pick up Camby from 15 off the ball.  From the outset of the play, nobody has accounted for Al Thronton on the weak side.  Al makes a good decision here.  With nobody on him, he moves from the perimeter to an open spot at the foul line.  Jones makes a good pass to Al there.  Garcia recovers and picks up Thornton, but this leaves Randolph somewhat open on the left block.  Hawes closes, but Randolph is already into his baseline spin move.  He gets an easy, easy 5-footer — a shot he makes more often than not — but this one misses.   Randolph finishes the first half 3-9 from the field with a 33.9% TS percentage.  Ick.
• [1st, 2:08]  Jones pounds the ball into the hardwood, and the shot clock is already down to :11 before the Clips get into their offense.  We’ve said it a zillion times over the past couple of season, but this is one of the Clippers offense’s worst habits.  Futzing around for half the shot clock gives you fewer options, less margin for error, and causes players — when they finally get a look — to rush their shots.   The Clippers phone this one in.  The ball goes to Thornton on the left wing at about 17 feet.  He’s guarded by Garcia, but launches the contested 18-footer — a shot he has no business taking with :09 on the clock.Al is a woeful 36.4% shooter on 2-point jumpers, and I imagine that percentage drops considerably when the shots are contested. Why does a team’s offense hit the skids?  This is why — a bad shooter taking a worse shot.

  Fortunately, the offensive rebound comes out to the Clippers and they reset.  The ball goes into Randolph, against Hawes this time.  Zach passes out to Ricky Davis behind the arc, and Davis misses another uncontested 3PA that grazes the front of the rim.

  Regarding Ricky.  What are the Clippers accomplishing here?  He’s posted a 44.5% TS, 31.2% from beyond the arc, a PER of 7.10, a two-year adjusted plus/minus of -4.72, and an embarrassing offensive efficiency rating of 92.  In what universe does this help your ball club?  The problem is that he’s got a 2-year, so I’m afraid the Clippers are stuck with him.

• [1st, 1:03] Another wasted possession.  The ball goes to Thornton on the right wing early.  At :18, he launches an 18-foot jumper, this one barely contested, but it misses badly.It’s understandable that Al wants to get “back in the groove,” but he’s killing his team during a stretch when the game is getting away from them.  Worse is that the long miss gives the Kings another opportunity for early offense.  The Clippers don’t have time to get set defensively, and the result is an easy layup for Andres Nocioni.
• [1st, 0:48]  Jones and Novak run a pick-and-pop, only Novak can’t handle Jones’ easy pass because he’s already focused on the basket.  Novak doesn’t turn the ball over much — a TOR of about 5, which is very low — but here it hurts.
• [1st, 0:10]  Randolph collects the rebound on the other end, then dribbles the ball up the length of the court himself.  Despite the short clock, Randolph moseys with his dribble into the backcourt guarded by Hawes.  While the play certainly isn’t as bad as this, it’s still abominable.   The 35.6% three-point shooter launches a contested 3PA at the buzzer.  He never looks for anything else, including a much-better 3P shooter on the other side of the arc who’s pretty open in Novak.

Sacramento doesn’t play bad defense, but the Clippers have the wrong guys taking the wrong shots.  Along with the hellacious turnovers and failure to convert the easy looks, this absolves the Kings of having to do much of anything.   We also see that with bad shots comes easy transition opportunities for the other side, so what could’ve been a 4-0 run for the 26th most offensively efficient team in the league compounds into a 10-0 spurt.

It’s been a long while since we had a reason to take a close look at the final few minutes of a game between the Clippers and an elite opponent.  When you consider that the Clips feature Fred Jones and Mardy Collins at the wings for virtually the entire second half, it’s incredible they’re able to keep it competitive down the stretch against Boston, much less pull it out.

Collins v. Pierce? This can’t possibly be what the Clippers want to order up with five minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, trailing only by two.  But there they are, running a two-man game on the left side of the floor with Jones and Collins while Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, and Marcus Camby are bundled within five feet of one another on the right side.

• [4th, 4:55] Pierce tries to deny Collins the ball by fronting him way out on the perimeter. By the time Mardy gets the rock from Jones, there’s only :09 left on the shot clock.  As mentioned above, the spacing on the floor is perplexing.  You assume someone’s going to flash to the foul line or run a back cut, but nothing ever materializes.  Randolph drifts low and Baron moseys out to the arc, but it’s clear the play is a straight-up iso for Mardy Collins against Paul Pierce.   All of a sudden, the oddest thing happens:  Mardy Collins hoodwinks Pierce with an impressive little stop-and-go move — a slight flick of the head and right shoulder that commits Pierce, and yields Collins the baseline.   Collins gets all the way to the box, then has to absorb some contact from Kendrick Perkins underneath, as he tosses up a wild floater across his body, while falling to the floor.  Boston 86, Clippers 86
• [4th, 4:32] Pierce isn’t pleased. He calls for the ball at the top of the circle against Collins.  Pierce unwinds with a drop step, then takes a hard left-handed dribble past Collins, reaching the paint quickly.  But as he goes up for the layup, Collins swats it from behind.   The ball goes out of bounds and the Celtics call timeout.   On the inbounds, the Clippers force a five-second violation.  Boston is an improbable turnover-prone team, 28th in the league in turnover rate — one of only seven teams in the NBA that squanders a quarter of its possessions.
• [4th, 4:13] The Clippers are now officially initiating action for Mardy Collins.  Baron Davis runs a baseline screen for Collins.  Pierce runs underneath, but Jones hesitates dumping the ball inside to Collins.  In the interim, Pierce recovers and forces Collins all the way out to the arc, where he gets the ball from Jones.  That cut we were waiting for?  It finally comes — a deceptively agile Zach Randolph diving into the paint ahead of Perkins.  Collins feeds Randolph about seven feet from the hoop.  Zach uses his right shoulder against Perkins to get plenty of space for his left-handed hook.  Clippers 88, Boston 86 The Clippers’ spacing seems insane when it’s intended for a Mardy Collins isolation set — and he probably doesn’t score more than 75 points on a 100 possessions one-on-one against Pierce.  But it works here, primarily because it clears the space around the basket for Randolph.
• [4th, 3:55]  This set normally works wonders for Boston.  They run Ray Allen around a couple of big man screens  — the first a baseline pick from Glen Davis, the second a down screen from Perkins after he leaves the ball up top for Rondo.   It starts out nicely for the Celtics.  Jones gets caught, but ultimately squeezes over the screens. For whatever reason, though, Zach Randolph feels compelled to double Allen off the ball.  This leaves Perkins wide open at the left post.  Rondo finds Perkins quickly, prompting Camby to rotate off Davis, which he does.  The final pass is to a wide open Glen Davis under the basket, only Camby pokes the pass away and Collins runs it down.
• [4th, 3:35]  After an out-of-bounds deflection in transition, the Clippers inbound the ball to, who else, Mardy Collins in the post against Paul Pierce on the right side.  This time Pierce doesn’t give up an inch.  He smothers Collins, forcing Mardy to kick it out to Marcus Camby at the top of the circle.   Boston has been giving Marcus that shot all night, particularly in the first quarter.  Marcus’ eFG% outside of close range is 36.4%, which makes it a good strategy.  This attempt from Camby is no good.
• [4th, 3:26] It’s a S/R on the right side for Rondo/G. Davis.  The Celtics get the switch and, even better for them, Glen Davis has a nice seal against Baron Davis along the baseline.  To his credit, Randolph quickly drops down to pick up Glen Davis, who gets fouled by Baron from behind.   It’s important to note here I don’t fault Baron — and here’s why:  Among the many reasons to love Rajon Rondo is the way he scrambles the defense prior to the pick-and-roll.  Flash back about five seconds on this possession.  Rondo begins the set with a strong dribble-drive directly at Baron, then pulls back. This gets Baron off-balanced.  That’s when the screen comes from Glen Davis — when the defense is in the least advantageous position to absorb it.   Incidentally, Baby misses both free throws and the Clippers maintain their two-point lead.
• [4th, 3:16]  For the umpteenth consecutive possession, Baron Davis leaves the ball up top with Fred Jones.  Baron then immediately heads low because…it’s a pin down for the Clippers’ offensive juggernaut, Mardy Collins.  Mardy flashes to a spot about four feet inside the foul line, catches, elevates, and has his shot sent backwards by Perkins.  On the Celtics break, Marcus Camby knocks Ray Allen’s layup attempt out of bounds.  More good transition defense from the Clippers.
• [4th, 2:57]  The Clippers win this game on the strength of their defense, as the Celtics convert only one field goal from the floor in the game’s final nine minutes.  Here, the C’s run a S/R up top for Allen/Glen Davis.  Jones and Camby trap Allen as he comes off the screen left.  Allen has Pierce in front of him, but Collins is guarding Pierce tightly in the post.  So Allen swings it back to Davis way beyond the arc.  The Celtics have nothing working on the set.  Randolph rotates up on Davis and the C’s are now in their rotating pick-and-roll mode — Davis drops the ball off in Rondo’s hands, then sets a screen for his wiry point guard.   Rondo gets the switch, but Baron Davis and Zach Randolph recover about as well as you’ll ever see them as a defensive tandem.  It’s a thing of beauty, but basketball is a funny game — on one of the Clippers’ best defensive possessions of the night, Glen Davis drains a 20-footer the Clippers are more than happy to have him take. Clippers 88, Boston 88
• [4th, 2:40]  A more traditional set from the Clippers’ principal offensive players — a side screen-roll for Baron/Randolph on the left side.  Perkins’ length prevents Baron from hitting Zach with the pass, so the ball goes around the perimeter to the right — first Camby, then Jones, then Collins deep in the right corner.  Collins challenges Pierce off the dribble, but gets nowhere, and with :04 remaining on th shot clock, settles for a 22-footer that’s short.
• [4th, 2:14] Rondo uses a screen by Glen Davis to go left, then feeds Pierce against Collins on the left block.  Pierce gets Collins in the air, draws the foul, then recites a litany of his personal and athletic attributes — and Mardy Collins’ lack of any such qualities — about two inches from Collins’ face.  This display of self-expression earns him a technical.  Fred Jones attempts the FT — he’s 81% for his career, 79% for 2008-09 — but it’s no good.  Pierce hits one of two.  Boston 89, Clippers 88
• [4th, 2:01]  Again we have Fred Jones and Mardy Collins dancing circles out on the left wing.  Collins swings behind Jones for a handoff, but Fred holds onto the ball, because Pierce is tight on Mardy.  Finally, Randolph runs out to the far left sideline, where he bails out Jones.  With only :07 to work, Zach tries to back in Davis, but never has a good handle on the ball.  He fires up an airball at the buzzer.
• [4th, 1:37]  Defensively, Mardy Collins has some decent features.  For instance, he allows you to run switches and not worry too much about it — at least on his end.  The Rondo/Pierce S/R yields such a switch for Rondo, but Collins is undeterred.  Meanwhile, Baron is doing yeoman’s work on Pierce, forcing him out beyond the circle.  Rondo sees the mismatch and works the ball over to Pierce, who holds it against Baron.  Pierce tries to drive right, but Baron’s quick left hand knocks the ball away momentarily.  Pierce hastily picks it up, but is forced to call timeout when his thumb spurts blood.  Out of the timeout, the C’s run a S/R along the arc for Allen/Davis.  The Clippers trap and, again, there’s a swift rotation onto the roll man, this time by Baron.  Allen finds Rondo on the weak side.  Baron recovers and closes on Rondo, but not without fouling him with only :02 remaining.  Bad foul, which Baron fully realizes.  It’s his fifth.  Rondo makes one of two. Boston 90, Clippers 88
• [4th, 1:14] Offensive rigor mortis again for the Clippers.  There’s :16 left on the shot clock before Baron leaves the ball with Jones, then :11 before Jones even dribbles the ball.  Nobody moves.  Ultimately, Baron comes back for the ball at :08.  He gets a quasi-screen from Randolph, dribbles to the right of it along the arc, then fires an awful-looking left-to-right flailing 3PA with a little karate kick release.  It’s lucky to draw rim…but Marcus Camby collects the miss and kisses the putback off the glass.  Boston 90, Clippers 90 The Clippers’ orchestration of their last few sets should disqualify them from this game, but their gritty defense and some good fortune are keeping them in it.
• [4th, 0:48] The Celtics quickly execute a Rondo/G. Davis S/R.  The Clips trap Rondo, leaving Davis to pop out to the perimeter.  That’s where Rondo finds him.  Davis launches an 18-footer that’s short, but Rondo snags the rebound along the baseline.  Baron stands between him and the basket.  As Rondo makes a move to the hole, Baron grazes him.  It’s a tough foul call on Baron — not completely unfair — just tough, one that could go either way.  Rondo sinks one of two.  Boston 91, Clippers 90 Whatever injustice occurred on the previous play against Baron, the Clippers’ deities exact their revenge on a very, very questionable call off Rondo’s missed FTA.  Here’s what happens: Collins goes up for the rebound, with Glen Davis close-by.  Collins seems to call timeout without ever securing  the ball.  Upon hearing the whistle, my initial assumption was that Davis was being called for the foul, because the ball was clearly still loose.  A team may only timeout when they have possession.  Though it’ s the assumption of almost everyone in the building that Collins will come down with the ball, he never actually does.  In any event, the Clippers catch an enormous break from the officials.
• [4th, 0:33.6]  On the inbounds, the Clippers don’t screw around.  You don’t take on Zach Randolph’s contract and baggage to have him stand around on the weak side while Fred Jones and Mardy Collins force the action in the waning moments of a close game against a championship team.  The ball goes into Randolph on the right block, a little farther out than where he likes it.  He tries to force his way inside with a dribble, but can’t make the progress he wants against Perkins.  Randolph kicks the ball out to Jones at the top of the arc.   Jones fools Allen with a ball-fake, drives inside, has a perfectly clean look at the foul line, but opts to kick it over to Mardy Collins on the right wing with about :13 left on the clock.  Collins drives baseline, then airballs a floater from 7 feet — but Randolph is on the other end.  He collects the ball and lays it off the glass and in.  Clippers 92, Boston 91
• [4th, 0:19.4]  Pierce (ball)/Allen S/R up top.  Pierce gets Jones on the switch.  He dribbles to the foul line, stops, and pops, but misses the jumper.  Jones plays him adequately, but Pierce’s look is fairly clean.  Ricky Davis comes up with the rebounds.  He’s fouled, but the Celtics have one to give.  So the Clippers can chew off another second or two and insert another quality FT shooter, Steve Novak.  The next man fouled is Zach Randolph, at 0:05.2.  Randolph makes only one of two.  Clippers 93, Boston 91
• [4th, 0:05.2] The Celtics have no timeouts, so they must race the length of the court.  Rondo does a good job of eluding Mike Taylor.  He weaves upcourt along the left sideline, then brushes past Ricky Davis at about the 0:01.5.  Form about 20 rows up during live action, this appeared to be a foul.  Upon video review, the no-call seems like the right call.  Of course, this takes nothing away from Davis’ sheer idiocy for even touching Rondo 28 feet from the basket dribbling along the sideline.

If this were a college game, Clippers fans would rush the floor to celebrate a perversely satisfying home win over a far superior opponent.

Back to the defense for a moment: The Clippers give up precious few easy baskets tonight.  Even when the Celtics stop turning the ball over and fight back toward the end of the first and start of the second periods, the Clippers are stingy.  A Rajon Rondo 27-foot 3PA with :02 remaining on the shot clock when the Clippers have Pierce locked down low with a fierce trap [1st, 0:37]?  That’s a shot you can live with.  As is a Gabe Pruitt contested 3PA with the shot clock expiring at [2nd, 11:04].

How are the Clippers able to deny Boston good shots?  It all starts with the wing defenders.  Before he departs with a bruised left shoulder, Eric Gordon does good work running atop every screen he can to deny Ray Allen clean looks at the basket.  Allen is afforded few shot attempts, while Pierce is able to get only contested ones against a dogged Mardy Collins.

Al Thornton has been such a fixture in the lineup for the past two seasons that it’s odd to observe a game in which he plays no part.  Collins couldn’t be a more different player with a more divergent skill set from Thornton, but tonight Collins’ defensive presence gives the Clippers what they need against Paul Pierce, even as his offense presence is far too central to the Clippers’ halfcourt game.

Tomorrow, I’d like to look at what a Thornton-less Clipper team might look like in the long term.

Accept as an article of faith that the worst-shooting team in basketball isn’t going to win many basketball games when it turns the ball over 25 times.  Fred Jones has never looked less like an NBA point guard than he does tonight. He delivers a series of lazy passes off basic S/R action.  Even Marcus Camby, a center with a fairly low turnover rate and a good interior passer, coughs the ball up four times.   Throw in a horrendous 63.3% team defensive rebounding rate, and that’s a recipe for disaster.

Al Thornton finishes with five points [2-10 FG, 0-1 3PFG, 1-1 FT], two rebounds, and zero assists in 32 minutes.  Analysts, scouts — even fans — often speak about “basketball IQ”  What do they mean?

• [1st, 10:20]  The ball goes into Thornton on the right wing against Darius Songaila in isolation. This is a gift-wrapped halfcourt matchup for Al.  Songaila lacks the lateral quickness or athleticism to defend Al off the dribble.  So what does Al do on this clear-out?  He tries to shoot over Songaila, whose only advantage over Al is an inch or two of height.  Al is a 29.7% shooter from that zone of the floor.  The outcome here reflects that percentage.
• [4th, 10:35] After Thornton picks Caron Butler’s pocket on the defensive end, he dribbles the length of the floor on a Clipper break.  Javaris Crittenton picks up Thornton in transition, a strong mismatch for Al, but one he doesn’t recognize.  Instead, he pulls up outside the arc, then returns the ball to Baron and lingers in the right corner.  Baron Davis yells at Al to post up the Wizards’ point guard.  After Al finally realizes he’s got one of his best scoring opportunities of the night, he moves toward the post…and is immediately fouled by Crittenton.  With the fourth quarter only a minute-and-a-half old, Crittenton happily cedes the foul, because he knows the instant the pass goes into Thornton in the post, it’s a likely two points for the Clippers.  He knows it; Baron knows it.  Al?  Oblivious.

It’s one thing to be a black hole in the offense, incapable of passing out on drives or creating something for a teammate.  But it’s quite another not to have a basic recognition of what’s going on.   Matchups are the fundamental basis of the NBA halfcourt game.  An efficient wing should be able to size up the nature of his opposition.  Darius Songaila?  Take him off the dribble.  Javaris Crittenton?  Post him.  Shorter defender who’s still recovering from the curl screen?  There’s your opportunity for a high-percentage jumper.  A player who doesn’t understand how to maximize his limited attributes won’t help you win basketball games.

Eric Gordon has another strong game: 25 points [8-15 FG, 3-7 3PFG, 6-6 FT], four rebounds, four assists, and three turns in 38 minutes.  There’s a nice sequence toward the end of the third quarter:

• [3rd, 2:18]  The ghost of Sam Cassell visits the Clippers.   The offense spreads the floor perfectly, and the Wizards leverage themselves defensively when they double Baron off the pick-and-pop with Steve Novak.  Eric Gordon is in the left corner, guarded by Nick Young.  When the ball goes to Novak, Young rotates up from Gordon to close on Novak.  Novak recognizes this, and darts the pass over to now-open EJ.  Songaila has to step out to close.  Eric sees him coming, so he administers the ball-fake, gets the flailing big man in the air, then leans into him while launching the 3PA.  Three free throws.  3-3.
• [3rd, 1:55]  Gordon pushes the ball upcourt off the Antawn Jamison miss.  He gets a nice screen from Brian Skinner just inside the arc on the right side.  Once that screen comes, EJ dribbles left to an open spot at the top of the key, but hesitates for a moment to see how Songaila is going to play the recovery.  EJ wants to know [a] will he be able to draw contact if he goes to the hole? [b] how far inside he can get a shot?   When Songaila fails to show, EJ dribbles in to about seven feet where he gets off an easy, high-percentage, uncontested floater.  Patience pays off.
• [3rd, 1:02]  The Clippers run a curl for Eric, which gets him the ball one-on-one against DeShawn Stevenson out on the left-side perimeter.   Pretty simple:  Eric takes a hard dribble with his left, but Stevenson stays in front of him on the drive.  Despite the fact that Stevenson is playing EJ well, Nick Young makes a peculiar decision to leave Ricky Davis alone in the corner to collapse in the lane.  When Gordon sees this, he kicks the ball out of his drive against the double-team, and finds Ricky Davis for the 3PA, which is good.

Three things you like to see from a young guard:  [1] A willingness to draw contact to get easy points at the stripe. [2] Not settling for low-percentage stuff, when a little patience and an appraisal of the halfcourt will get you something better.  [3] The ability to exploit the double-team by making the necessary pass to find the open guy.  That’s high basketball IQ.

Baron Davis almost breaks his 50%-and-below shooting streak, going 5-10 from the field.  More important, though, Baron works himself three trips to the line [5-6 FT] by driving to the hole rather than settling for garbage on the outside.  I’m a little surprise the Clippers don’t work that pick-and-pop with Davis-Novak they had going in Cleveland, but Baron’s overall effort is his steadiest since his return.

There are back-to-back possessions early in the game that offer a glimpse of the Clippers’ prolific offensive night:

• [1st, 8:56]  With Jeff Green starting at PF for Oklahoma City and Brian Skinner suffering flu-like symptoms, Mike Dunleavy has inserted Ricky Davis into the starting lineup, shifting Al Thornton to the 4.  Eric Gordon inbounds the ball on the far sideline to Ricky Davis up top.  Al Thornton and Mardy Collins occupy the respective blocks.  Collins sets a little baseline cross-screen for Thornton, who moves to the low right block.  One of the benefits of having Al at the 4 — and I’m not sure there are all that many — is that he generally receives the ball closer to the basket, which diminishes the possibility that he’s going to fire a contested 19-footer.  Ricky Davis delivers a bullet bounce pass that hits Thornton perfectly as he swings around the screen.  Jeff Green trails him.  Thornton takes a single dribble, then forcefully carves out some room for himself with an assertive turn of his right shoulder.  Maintaining full control of his body, Thornton elevates — keeping the ball low — then fires a strong fadeaway jumper over Green from 12 feet.
• [1st, 8;23] A Kevin Durant missed shot pinballs beneath the hoop before landing in the hands of DeAndre Jordan.  Eric Gordon is the recipient of the outlet pass. He’s defended by Kyle Weaver from the very outset of the play, so what follows is not a case of Gordon having plenty of free space in the open court.  Weaver stays with EJ the whole way.  Eric races the ball upcourt in transition.  About seven feet beyond midcourt, Eric slows up to a stationary dribble in what looks to be evolving into a deliberate halfcourt set.  Weaver stops short, then turns around to set himself defensively opposite EJ.  As he does, Eric crosses over from his right. Then, with his left hand, EJ explodes right with a burst of speed.  He finishes with that acrobatic scoop layup that’s becoming familiar — where he’s facing the court, shoulders parallel to the baseline, as he kisses the ball off the glass.

The Clippers’ two primary scorers both operate efficiently tonight.   Gordon racks up a career-high 41 points, more than any NBA rookie has scored in a game this season.  His line is impressive: 41 points, 12-19 FGs [5-7 3PA], 12-14 FTAs on 81.5% TS.  The last bucket:

• [4th, 1:01] The Clippers lead by three with about a minute remaining in regulation.  Fred Jones brings the ball up slowly as Gordon runs down the right side of the court.   Steve Novak sets a baseline screen.  EJ runs around the screen with Russell Westbrook trailing, then pops out to the left wing where he gets the ball from Jones.   Westbrook can chase with the best of them, and he catches up to Gordon and coolly settles himself defensively.   Gordon feeds Al in the post against Jeff Green.  It’s a decent entry pass, but Thornton fumbles the ball before eventually getting hold of it — a tense moment in a crucial possession.  Al manages to kick the ball back to Gordon out on the arc.  Westbrook gambles for an instant, which gives Eric a slight opening to split the defenders.   Gordon finds daylight, but then is met by Nick Collison, the weak side help.  Collison elevates straight up to contest Gordon at the rim.  Eric avoids Collison by sustaining himself mid-air, while he whirls a scoop shot that he kisses off the glass for a layup.

Eric Gordon doesn’t complicate matters.  On most possessions, he’s either getting a nice look at a 3PA, or he’s exploding to the hoop — looking for either a finish, contact, or both.  Tonight, he rarely settles for anything less.

Al Thornton plays one of his more measured games of the season.  Unofficially, Thornton finishes 5-11 from beyond 17 feet [2-2 3PA], which means he takes almost two-thirds of his 29 shot attempts from inside 17 — a very good distribution for Al.

The team needs an offensive facilitator after Collins leaves with a strained right calf four minutes into the game.  They get one in, of all people, Ricky Davis.  Despite a woeful shooting night, Davis stabilizes the Clippers at point through much of the game, and dishes out 11 dimes in 30 minutes.  He makes a fantastic pass out of a baseline trap that finds Eric Gordon open along the arc for a 3PA [2nd, 2:35].  He also runs a nice set on a high S/R with Jordan, where Fred Jones fills space on the perimeter behind the screen.  Davis hits him with a good pass and Jones drains the 3PA [3rd, 7:58].  A few minutes later, Davis finds Jones again, this time on a perfectly orchestrated alley-oop [3rd, 2:30]. Jones and Davis each finish with a team-best +8.  There’s a bit of irony that on a night when the Clippers lose their pseudo-PG, they finish with only seven turnovers, tying a season-low.

When a guy is struggling with open looks,  the question becomes:  Will he compromise the team with his poor shot, or will he find something useful to do in the offense?  Tonight, Davis helps the Clippers immensely by moving the ball around in the halfcourt.

DeAndre Jordan has a rough night, and never re-enters the game after he leaves at [3rd, 6:58].  He gets discombobulated a few minutes earlier, during a strange sequence at the 9:28 mark.   Jordan tries to wrestle a rebound away from Al Thornton underneath the Thunder basket.  The ball squirts out, and ends up in the hands of Jeff Green, who scores on a putback.  The play clearly eats at Jordan, who shuffles slowly upcourt.  Ricky Davis yells an encouraging, “Come on, D!” before calling 3-Down, which prompts Gordon to cut underneath and pop.  The ball eventually goes into Jordan on a beautiful bounce pass from Ricky Davis, but Jordan drops the ball on his way up for the layup. He’s now really, really discouraged.  A minute later during a dead ball, Fred Jones goes over to console him.

When asked about it after the game,  Jones says, “I’ve been in his shoes.  I’ve been a rookie in this league.  One day you’re a superstar, the next you’re having a tough night.  I understand that.  I was able to be raised in this league by great vets like Reggie Miller and different guys like that who always told me to keep on an even keel.  The way they spoke to me when I was a rookie, I felt like I should do the same thing.”

Commenter Petey responds to the recap of yesterday’s Phoenix game with a very timely and appropriate reference to a post on Eric Musselman’s blog:

“I don’t have any answers. Maybe that high S/R should be run with EJ and Camby. Maybe you feed Thornton in the post and lure the Phoenix bigs out of the lane [though with Brian Skinner, there's little incentive for them to follow and, besides, Thornton probably can't execute the sort of pass necessary to exploit a rotation].”

Via Musselman’s interesting blog, an anonymous coach notes:

One of the first clinics I ever went to Hubie Brown talked about having to admit that he “couldn’t win with just anybody.” He had just come off a season with the Knicks where his star Bernard King was hurt and so were other key players. I tell young coaches the number one key to coaching is to have better players. I like the saying, “It ain’t the x’s and the o’s, it’s the Jimmys and the Joes.”

You folks could use use B-Diddy and Z-Bo on the floor during crunchtime.

I think Petey’s — and Brown’s and Musselman’s — basic premise is dead on, and one reason I wrote that “the Clippers simply don’t have the able-bodied personnel to get good shots against smart defensive team.”  Brian Skinner, while being a useful player in a reserve role, simply doesn’t force the defense to make difficult choices.  In the same vain, a defense will give allowances to Freddie Jones that they’d never afford Steve Nash.  And few teams will run under a screen for Baron Davis, even if he happens to be shooting 36%.  And nobody will leave Zach Randolph uncovered anywhere inside 20 feet.

Until the Clippers have the offensive talent on the floor that makes opposing defenses pick their poison, they’re going to lose a lot of basketball games.  But you didn’t need me to tell you that.