Perhaps understanding the excitement they have garnered across the NBA, the Clippers did their part to entertain the local fans in the state’s capitol on the way to a 100-99 victory over the Kings. During the start of the season, they managed to be fun to watch despite the near inevitability of defeat, but things have certainly changed since their tough start. And while they have been much more successful of late, they are still improving in many areas. Having won five of six games, the theme recently has been the Clippers outplaying opponents but not being able to sustain big leads. Even when they look like the better team, they have struggled to show consistent effort on defense and limit their own turnovers. On Sunday, the Clips allowed the Suns to come back from an 18-point deficit to tie the game before they eventually prevailed. Against Sacramento, it was Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin leading the way, but continuous lapses of effort on Kings shooters, combined with 19 Clipper turnovers, left the outcome undetermined until the final seconds.

With 5.1 seconds left, and the Kings down three, it looked like Tyreke Evans was going to have to make a contested three-pointer to tie the game and send it to overtime. Instead, with a foul to give, Ryan Gomes committed one at the top of the key. Evans, as you can do in the NBA, took another dribble and threw up a shot, giving the refs reason to call it a shooting foul and send him to the line for three free throws. After making the first two, he missed the third and, two frantic tips later, the Clippers emerged with a victory, their first at Arco Arena since December 7, 2007. It wasn’t “pretty,” but as Vinny Del Negro said, “We were fortunate at the end, but we’ll take it. We’re finding ways to win. You’ve got to learn how to win games like that in this league.”

Winning is better than the alternative, regardless of opponent, and it should be noted that the Clippers are doing it far more frequently these days. After starting the season 1-13, they have played .500 basketball (9-9). They have improved their efficiency on both ends of the floor (23rd in offensive and 20th in defensive) after starting the year at or near the bottom in each. But most importantly, have begun to form an identity by playing to their strengths. Primary among those strengths is rebounding. The Clippers who rank 2nd in the league in total rebound rate, outrebounded the Kings, 48-34, tonight, a huge key to the win. Obviously Griffin is a big part of this (14 boards to go with his 24 points), but the dominance on the glass has been a team effort. Al-Farouq Aminu, last year’s leading rebounder in the ACC, has proven to have a nose for the ball, despite shifting to the small forward from power forward, which he played primarily in college. On this night, he pulls down eight rebounds while chipping in 11 points, and showing the potential to be a viable third option to Gordon and Griffin. The newest Clipper, Ike Diogu, also came up huge in the win, battling hard, especially in the second half, for six big boards to go with eight points. And perhaps the most impressive number of all – one that had many Clipper fans (including the leader of this blog) concerned – was the starting backcourt of Gordon (six) and Baron Davis (five) combining for 11 rebounds to go with their 13 assists. It was, indeed, a team effort on the glass, and they needed every last one of them to compensate for their turnover issues, which assistant coach, Dean Demopolous, called, “insanity.”

Without a doubt, the star of the game was Gordon, who is playing like we expected he would now that he is back to draining threes like he has his whole career. He tied his career high with six makes on seven attempts, on his way to 31 points on 12 of 19 from the floor. He continues to amaze with his silky smooth touch, and ability to adapt his offensive game to the defense. On a night where he only got to the free throw line once, Gordon went to his old bread and butter to carry the team from deep. He has become so difficult to guard, in large part, because his approach, after the game saying he’s, “just letting it come to me. Teams sometimes try to go under a screen under me so I won’t be able to get to the basket so I gotta knock down the outside shot.” He did have three turnovers, including a costly one down the stretch where he just dribbled out of bounds, but his performance was a key for the team’s strong half court execution.

Griffin had another great game, tying Michael Cage for the franchise record with 19 consecutive double-doubles. He continued to show the diversity of his game, with a three-pointer and a couple of mid range jumpers to go with his usual paint dominance. He, along with Diogu and DeAndre Jordan, helped the Clippers to a 50-26 advantage in points in the paint. The Clips continue to show good spacing in their half court sets, and guys like Aminu, Baron, Foye, Diagu and Gomes are reaping the benefits of the attention defenses have to pay to Gordon and Griffin.

With a five-game homestand coming up against quality teams like Utah, Atlanta and Miami, the Clippers will have to tighten up their defensive rotations and limit turnovers if they hope to continue their winning ways. Against the Kings, they really didn’t commit to defending shooters like Francisco Garcia and Omri Casspi until it was almost too late, but they did turn in some pretty strong defensive possessions down the stretch that helped secure the win. Despite the best efforts of Evans (32 points) and his shooters, as well as the Clippers’ issues with protecting the ball, the Clippers appear to have become a team that can win close games. It is a step, with the next one being the ability to prevent games that shouldn’t be close from getting there.

For the most part, this current Clippers squad has looked like a generally improved team thus far, but tonight’s poor performance evoked some horrible memories of the disaster that was last season. The formula built by last season’s Clippers on how to lose is followed perfectly tonight.

• Was there poor rebounding? Check. Last year, the Clippers finished 27th in total rebounding differential. Tonight, the Clippers lose the battle 51-36 for a -15 differential. The overwhelming difference on the glass is inexcusable, particularly on the defensive end where the Clippers allow an incredible 19 offensive rebounds. Even more incredible is that the Clippers weren’t outsized tonight at all – they enjoyed a size advantage at nearly every position. Unfortunately this didn’t mean anything, as the Clippers let themselves get outworked by a scrappier team tonight.

• Are random role players going off for big scoring nights? Check. The Anthony Marrow’s of the world destroyed the Clippers last year for career games. Tonight, Devin Brown hits the Clippers for 16, and Marcus Thornton and Bobby Brown each chip in 12, well over their season averages. All night the Clippers perimeter defenders are either slow on closeouts or allow too much space for the young New Orleans wing players to get their shots off.

• Is Baron Davis chucking up bad shots? Check. Baron was terrible shooting the ball last year at 37% from the field and 30% from deep. Baron seemed to be on the road to recovery by distributing more and shooting less, and then tonight happened. Baron threw up a team high 21 shots tonight, with 12 of those 21 coming from three point land. Again, this type of performance is absolutely inexcusable, and Baron’s bad shot selection killed the Clippers down the stretch. Everyone in the arena except for Baron realized he wasn’t a threat from outside tonight. The Clippers essentially have no chance to win when Baron reverts back to the shot happy, poor decision making version of himself that he was last year.

• Was the offense predictable? Check. Last season, the Clippers offense was predicated around Randolph post ups and the occasional set for Gordon. While it’s understandable that Dunleavy wants to get the ball in the hands of his scorers on the block, tonight it felt like overkill. Too many post entry passes were forced, which led to many of the team’s 16 turnovers. There didn’t seem to be a ton of pick and roll being ran, and outside of the few plays designed for Novak there wasn’t a big enough emphasis on setting off ball screens to free up shooters. The Hornets caught on pretty quick to the Clippers gameplan and successfully collapsed on post players all night. Yes, Dunleavy has limited options available offensively right now, but the offense felt like it was pounding it’s collective head against the wall at times. I’m not sure you can win when the shot distribution leans so heavily on three players; Baron had 21 attempts, Kaman had 18, and Thornton had 17. The rest of the team combined for only 26 field goal attempts. To the Clippers credit, the team did shoot 47% from the field, which should have been good enough for the team to win. This was the 8th game in 12 tries where the Clippers have out shot their opponent from the field, and despite being 8th in the league in field goal percentage, the Clippers are 4-8.

• Did the team look lackadaisical? Check. The Clippers coasted through many a game last year, and they did it again tonight in New Orleans. The team seemingly carried the mentality that they were the favorite, and in result of that had no sense of urgency despite the Hornets pasting them by 28 just a few short weeks ago. The lack of respect given to the Hornets outside shooters combined with the lazy effort on the boards did the Clippers in tonight. Effort is the key component in playing good defense and rebounding well, and tonight the Clippers were just plain bad in those categories. The blame for this poor effort falls equally on the players and the coaching staff.

Other Notes:

The Clippers wasted an amazingly efficient offensive effort from Al Thornton tonight, who finished 12-17 for a game high 30 points. Al has seemingly figured it out on the offensive end, and while the transformation is nowhere near complete, it’s safe to say it’s starting. Al took only two shots from outside 18 feet tonight and was dominant around the rim.

Kareem Rush left the game with a knee injury, and the return on his status is not favorable. Rush has a torn ACL, and will be out for the rest of the  season. It’s a tough break for Rush, who showed he was capable of contributing with his performance on Monday against Oklahoma City.

The Clippers will look to rebound tomorrow night in Memphis at 5pm PT.

Anyone with a rooting interest in the Clippers would do much better to ignore wins and losses and segment the remainder of the season into a series of smaller goals. The Clippers are unlikely to win many basketball games between now and some point in the future when a combination of Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby, and Chris Kaman returns.  Whether you arrive at this conclusion with the requisite blame for whoever is at fault, or whether you’re just a Clipper fatalist, it’s important to get to that mental place as soon as possible.

The Clippers face the Lakers and the regenerative ring finger on Wednesday night.  It’s entirely possible there won’t be more than 20 minutes of meaningful basketball, but that doesn’t mean the Clippers shouldn’t go into the game with a few items on their to-do lists:

• Eric Gordon:  EJ’s Tour of Perimeter Killers continues against the league’s best scoring guard. Kobe Bryant has some height on Gordon, and will seek to exploit that advantage with his turnaround jumper.   Gordon faces the same problem every smaller guard must contend with against Bryant.  If EJ crowds him, Bryant will explode past Gordon en route to the rim.  However much that dislocated finger is killing Bryant, he’s playing through the pain.
• Al Thornton: Thaddeus Young and Al Thornton both shoot about 36% on two-point jump shots.  Here’s the difference: 54% of Thornton’s shots are of the two-point jumper variety, but Young makes the low-percentage shot only 35% of his overall selection.  Instead, Young opts for more attempts inside, where both he and Thornton shoot greater than 60%.  Thornton must resist the temptation to settle for stuff outside.  He’ll start the game against Vladimir Radmanovic, a defender he should be able to take off the dribble.  Al will still have to confront the Lakers’ stellar help defense, but penetration gives him a fighting chance.  Firing jumpers over the Lakers’ lanky defenders doesn’t.
• DeAndre Jordan: The Clippers’ rookie center did an effective job staying out of foul trouble on Monday while defending the post adequately against Al Jefferson.  The Lakers’ Andrew Bynum is a more athletic cover.  In addition, the Lakers’ bigs move around the halfcourt a lot more than Minnesota’s, which means Jordan’s most challenging task won’t necessarily be bodying up, but staying alert.
• Rebounding:  There’s one unintended benefit to the absence of Marcus Camby — it forces the Clippers’ wings to do some work on the glass.  They did so admirably against Minnesota, a decent rebounding squad.  The Lakers are the league’s 5th best team on the glass.   The Clippers likely won’t outrebound the Lakers overall, but they should aim to do so at two positions.

UPDATE: Upon further consideration, it’s likely Gordon will draw Fisher, with Mardy Collins, at 6′ 6″, the natural size matchup for Bryant.  For Gordon’s sake, a stint on Bryant would be instructive.

There’s little to say about this one other than it’s very apparent that the Clippers’ starters hit a wall early in the first quarter.  Coming into tonight, the Clipper starters have averaged almost 43 minutes per game each over their past six games.  Add that eye-popping number to the final game of a four-in-five-nights stretch; throw in the fact that Milwaukee has played quite well since Michael Redd’s return, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Missing easy and open shots — particularly from the perimeter — is often a sign of tired legs as much as it is carelessness.  The Clippers fall behind 8-0 coming out of the gate, as they miss their first six from the floor.  What’s strange is that none of the first five shots are all that horrible:  Randolph, Gordon, and Davis all get fairly open looks from beyond 20.  Al Thronton misses an easy layup after beating Richard Jefferson off the dribble from the top of the key for a clean dribble-drive to the hole. Camby airballs an easy 10-foot jumper off an offensive board.  Zach Randolph doesn’t score until [3rd, 9:22] when he muscles his way inside against Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for a 5-foot hook shot.  Zach finishes with 4 points on 2-11 shooting in 24 minutes.

Early in the 4th quarter, Mike Dunleavy retires his starters and inserts DeAndre Jordan and Steve Novak, along with the other reserves.  Jordan suffers a great indignity on an attempted dunk at [4th, 5:05], when Joe Alexander administers a spectacular stuff job that sends DeAndre crumpling to the floor.

The rebounding problems continue for the Clippers perimeter players.  Davis, Gordon, and Thornton combine for five rebounds in 82 collective minutes.   Baron Davis ranks 43rd out of 66 eligible PGs in rebounding rate; Eric Gordon ranks 69th out of 74 SGs; Al Thornton ranks 49th out of 58 at the small forward.  Overall, the Clippers rank 21st, which gives you an impression of the load Camby and Randolph are carrying on the glass.

UPDATE: From The Canadian Press: 

Los Angeles Clippers rookie guard Mike Taylor was expected to miss six weeks after fracturing his right thumb Friday night against the Chicago Bulls, coach Mike Dunleavy said Saturday night.

I’m neither a physicist nor a statistician, but I’m inclined to believe that if you randomly assembled a basketball team from the nation’s leading Yeshiva academies, it would — by sheer chance — collect more than three offensive rebounds in 34 opportunities against the mighty Grizzly frontcourt rotation of Darko Milicic, rookie Darrell Arthur, Marc Gasol, and Hakim Warrick.  The Clippers can’t accomplish that Friday night in Memphis.  In 83 minutes, their starting forwards combine for eight total rebounds…and nine turnovers.  In 82 minutes, their starting backcourt combines for a single rebound.

These data don’t suggest a team that is, in the words of the Clippers’ broadcast team, “getting better.”  Rather, this game attests to a team wallowing in debilitating self-pity. Clipper fans have been under the impression that while this current incarnation of the club would be less likable than the lunchbucket squads of recent seasons, the team would produce a better on-court product.  A collection of veterans like Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, and Marcus Camby is supposed to provide a baseline of respectability.  The talent will make the Clippers competitive every night; they’ll be in every game; etc.

The Clippers play another horrendous defensive game.  They give up 20 uncontested shots.  They allow a slew of early jumpers to Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo.  They apply no semblance of pressure on the Memphis point guards, and allow 5′ 11″ Kyle Lowry more comfort on both ends than a player of his size and caliber should ever get.  Watch the team defense on any broken Memphis set, and you’ll see a pitiful Clipper response (i.e. Hakim Warrick left alone on the baseline [2nd, 5:18]).  Though the Clippers initially defend the S/R effectively with a double-team on the ballhandler — they deny the Grizzlies points the first six such instances — the traps become lazy and ineffectual in the second half.  Off the ball, the Clippers are outright clueless on the defensive end, Camby [for the most part] excepted. If Baron Davis continues to apply as little care defensively as Zach Randolph does, there isn’t going to be a team in the league that won’t be able to score and rebound against the Clippers at will.

Keep in mind that none of the four teams the Clippers face on the current road trip rank higher than 15th in offensive efficiency, yet each has found easy ways to score against a Clipper defense that is confused and, let’s face it, lazy.  The guys who, theoretically, would like to defend don’t have the acuity or experience to do so.  The guys who have the smarts and ability to defend simply won’t.

This morning’s scouting report of the Clippers in the Dallas Morning News notes that the Clips “are a pitiful rebounding team.”  The Clippers have a rebound rate of 47.2.  That ranks them 29th in a 30-team league, ahead of only New York.  The Knicks have an easy excuse: Mike D’Antoni teams are notoriously small, and his better teams can overcome that disadvantage by shooting at a high percentage.  But the Clippers — even before the arrival of Zach Randolph — have been featuring two legitimate big men, a rotation of big, strong guards, and a freaky small forward who can jump out of the gym.  So what’s the problem?

For starters, the Clippers’ wings are killing them.  The team’s small forwards and shooting guards rank dead last in rebound rate.

[From 82games.com]

Al Thornton is collecting only 7.9% of missed shots.  To put that in context, Gerald Wallace’s rate is 12.9%, Linas Kleiza’s is 10.6%.  Among eligible shooting guards, Eric Gordon ranks 68th of 71 in rebounding rate at a paltry 4.0.  The now-departed Cuttino Mobley ranks 64th.

Gordon is only 6′ 3″ and was widely regarded as a combo guard when he got to Bloomington.  Most of the conversation about EJ’s NBA potential focused on whether he had the handle to be an effective point guard in the pros.  What was less discussed was whether or not he had the size to compete against NBA shooting guards.  Over the past week or so, we’ve seen that Gordon has the lateral quickness, strength, and hands to hold his own defensively at the 2.  The next item on his to-do list is figuring out how to become a respectable rebounder at the position.

The most surprising figure on the grid above belongs to the Clippers’ centers, who rank a collective 23rd in rebound rate.  Chris Kaman is enjoying the best season of his career shooting the ball from the floor, but has simultaneously seen his rebound rate drop from a career-high 19.7 last season to 15.0 this season — his lowest number since his rookie season.  Kaman told the LA Times that the injury he sustained against Oklahoma City has kept him “limited in my rebounding a little bit.”  The numbers bear that out:  Chris averaged 13.3 rpg in the three games prior to the injury.  In three games following the Oklahoma City game,  Kaman recorded 9, 5, and 7 rebounds respectively, despite playing 40 minutes or greater in each contest.  The following game, Chris played 12 minutes against Denver before shutting it down.

Zach Randolph is a monster rebounder at his position — 7th among all eligible power forwards — but his arrival won’t solve the Clippers’ problems.  So long as the Clippers’ wings rank among the league’s laggards in rebounding, the team will continue to give up additional shots to their opponents, while forfeiting second opportunities to score on the offensive end.  To win under those circumstances, the Clips are going to have to compile a better True Shooting Percentage than 49.6%.