(Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Buzzer Reaction
 Los Angeles Clippers |
 Washington Wizards |
MVP: Big nights from Blake Griffin are becoming commonplace. He was L.A.’s stabilizing force, scoring 29 points in a plethora of ways from the post: face-ups, fouls, righty hooks and of course, dunks. Griffin’s four assists understated his distribution, too.
X factor: The Wizards obliterated L.A. in the paint, to the tune of a 20-point advantage. The Clippers made up for it on the stripe, where they drilled 32 free throws to the Wizards’ measly 10.
Defining moment: Deck-a-DJ backfired. With the game winding down and the Clippers up by 3, the Wizards fouled DeAndre Jordan. He nailed both. On the other end, Bradley Beal — an 80.8 percent free throw shooter — missed both of his attempts.
— Seerat Sohi
Tweet(s) of the Night
Does John Wall still dougie? Do people even still know what dougie’ing is?
— Andrew Han (@andrewthehan) January 30, 2014
The Depth Charge
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Byron Mullens, C | DNP COACH’S DECISION | |||||||||||||
| Ryan Hollins, C | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 0 |
| Antawn Jamison, PF | DNP ILLNESS | |||||||||||||
| Hedo Turkoglu, PF | 10 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 1 |
| Total | 14 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +4 | 1 |
(Photo via NBA.com/Stats)
ClipperBlog Live’s Best Moment
Andrew and Seerat discuss John Wall’s ranking among young point guards, how similar Blake Griffin’s skill set is to LeBron James, and their favorite TV shows/characters/preferences.
Check Your Messages
Freedom To Initiate
One thing I’ve really enjoyed in this stretch of basketball without Chris Paul is the freedom of almost any player to take the ball up the court. Blake Griffin, J.J. Redick, Jamal Crawford and Hedo Turkoglu were all secondary ball-handlers that initiated things against the Wizards. An unexpected player bringing the ball up has befuddled matchups and got the offense flowing much more quickly and organically.
The initiation of the offense lacks the precision and consistency of Paul, but there’s a certain fun element of spontaneity and impromptu flow that has been lacking. Paul in the pick and roll is the best play the Clippers have, but it lacks the “make it up as you go along” excitement of Redick flying around screens and whirring Darren Collison-Blake Griffin give and go’s.
– Jacob Frankel
Ideal Jamal Crawford
Seven 3-point attempts. 12 free throw attempts. Crawford has the skillset to get to the rim and shoot proficiently from the 3-point line. So it’s always nice to see him not settle for the mid-range jumper, end-of-shot-clock hot potatoes excluded.
– Andrew Han
