(Layne Murdoch, NBAE-Getty)
It appeared that the LA Clippers were going to catch a break Wednesday night in New Orleans. PG Chris Paul got the start after a three-game absence due to a hamstring injury, Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry was ejected by Lauren Holtkamp, and the Clippers had a 9-point lead with 90 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. But ultimately, the Clippers dropped another game to yet another team under .500, losing 102-98 to the Pelicans. The Clippers were outscored in the 4th quarter for the 7th time in the last 8 games and have now lost 4 in a row for the first time since February 2015.
Top Performer: The Pelicans started Anthony Davis at center, and he led New Orleans with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field. Davis struggled in the 1st half, scoring only 6 points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field. But he bounced back to score a game-high 14 points on 6-of-9 from the field after halftime.
X-Factor: As the game went on, New Orleans got better shots. The Pelicans only made 39.1 percent from the field in the 1st quarter, but that number jumped to 45.8 percent in the 2nd. The Pelicans improved to make 10-of-20 FGs (50.0 percent) in each of the final 2 quarters of the game, finishing at 46.0 percent for the game. On the flipside, Clippers C DeAndre Jordan made 4-of-5 FGs in the 1st quarter, but only took one more shot the rest of the game. Jordan didn’t get a single attempt from the field in the 2nd half.
The last time DeAndre Jordan attempted 10+ shots was against the Pelicans this month. LA is 5-4 since then. Will a trip to NO rejuvenate DJ?
— ClipperBlog (@clipperblog) December 28, 2016
Major Moment: The Clippers were up 77-68 with 1:35 left to play in the 3rd quarter. From that point on, the Pelicans closed the game out on a 34-21 run, with Davis and backup SF Tyreke Evans dropping 10 points each in the last 13:30 of the game. Once again, LA had more turnovers (4) than assists (3) to close a game out while making only 9-of-27 from the field (33.3 percent).
Key Lineup: The lineup New Orleans had on the floor for just under 2 minutes to close out the 3rd quarter on a 8-0 run flipped the game in favor of the Pelicans: Evans, SG Langston Galloway, Terrence Jones, PF Dante Cunningham, and Davis. That group got Davis back on track and ignited Evans to attack. Then the Clippers started the 4th quarter with a lineup of SG Austin Rivers (starting for J.J. Redick due to Redick’s hamstring injury) with Raymond Felton, Jamal Crawford, Brandon Bass, and Marreese Speights. That lineup was destroyed in just under 3 minutes, compiling a -92.8 net rating. The Clippers never led again after that lineup was on the floor.
The Definition: Well, the Clippers had a nice schedule this past week with 4 straight sub-.500 teams, 3 of them at STAPLES Center. Despite leading in all of those games, LA lost all of them.
“I think if you look at every game at some point in the 4th quarter we were winning and were right there, so I think we have to be better in the 4th quarter,” said Crawford after the game.
“We have to be a better 4th quarter team, that’s all I can say,” Austin Rivers added. “We didn’t turn the ball over a lot tonight, it wasn’t any of that; we just didn’t play well in the 4th quarter.”
The Clippers are limping to the end of 2016, and everyone knows it – including Pierre The Pelican:
I feel fine. I hope you feel better soon #FourInARow https://t.co/UJvIY0b0Mn
— Pierre The Pelican (@PierreTPelican) December 29, 2016
You’d imagine continuity and familiarity would help you the most in 4th quarters. Nope.
The way the Clippers talk about 4th quarters you’d think they were a 37 win team trying to make the playoffs for the 1st time.
We used to hear this shit during the Brand/Odom/Maggette/Richardson/Miles days.
I thought this Clipper squad was on the doorstep? No? If you want to laugh and feel depressed at the same time go back and watch interviews when this team was 10-1 and they were walking and talking like they had arrived.
Those interviews remind me of that fake bullshit confidence they had after they beat the Spurs in the playoffs. They got humbled real quick back then and they got humbled real quick this year.
After the next couple of days play out, there’s likely to be a 4 way tie for the 4 – 7 spots. Then after that Blake Griffin will be out for another 4 weeks or so. It’s almost inevitable that during that stretch the Clippers will fall to the 7 spot. They might even fall farther. If they fall to 8, several teams are bunched together there, and then the Clippers could fall out of playoff seeding before Griffin gets back.
Even if that happens, once Griffin gets back, they’ll climb back into the mix before the season is over.
So the main thing is for them to get healthy. It’s the only chance they have.
It’s gotta be really demoralizing after that hot start to come back to reality.
The Jazz have been decimated by injuries all year long.
The Clippers started the season on a 70 win pace.
On December 30th the Clippers are 1 game ahead of the Jazz in the loss column.
And now the Jazz are getting healthy.
Memphis is pretty much the same as Utah in that way.
The first three playoff spots seem to be locked in. But the 4-8 spots are wide open.
It’ll be an interesting second half of the season. Some teams may get hot, some others may go cold.
Also the first round of the playoffs should be interesting. There are seven good teams in the West, and any of the seven might get to the second round.
Healthy players will be the key.
Do you live in Memphis? What is your obsession with Memphis?
Memphis has too many problems of their own to beat the Clippers in a best of 7 unless the Clips are injured.
Utah is better at playing Memphis basketball than Memphis. Utah has a better defense. Utah is 9th in offense. Utah has better depth.
The Clippers would lose to a healthy Utah in the 1st round.
People need to stop with the 2016 memes.
We live in a celebrity culture. We live in a social media culture. We live in a bicameral political culture. They echo one another.
There are 7 Billion people. 95% of human beings live outside the United States.
We get it.
Your team lost the election. Celebrities from your childhood died.
Your lives are meaningless. Your emotions are meaningless. This has nothing to do with 2016. This has everything to do with you. You don’t know how to live. So you reflect.
I listened to the latest Bill Simmons podcast where he put together a power rankings and talked about the top 10 teams in depth.
When he got to the Clippers he sounded exasperated and basically punted on talking about them.
He didn’t even find the Clips interesting enough to take shots at them, take shots at Doc, or even make fake trades.
This is what happens when the same team has the same problems for a 6th year in a row. People get bored. People shrug.
The best thing about Blake, Chris, and J.J. having nagging injuries is the amazing training staff the Clippers have.
They’ve never shown incompetence. They’ve never rushed guys back. They’ve never recommended the wrong treatment. Nope.
Jasen Powell’s got this.
J.J. leads the NBA in eFG% on contested 3’s shooting 70%.
Good thing J.J. rarely shoots in the 4th quarter.
You don’t want J.J. taking shots away from Jamal. You don’t want J.J. taking shine away from CP’s dribbling.
The Clippers have the best 4th quarter strategy. Use Blake Griffin, J.J. Redick, and DeAndre Jordan as decoys. Have Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford take 16 to 24 foot jumpers. That’s Championship basketball.
I don’t even know why Jamal is in the game when JJ is in.
Chris Paul is going to sit out tonight because his hamstring is acting up a little.
It was foolish for him to play against New Orleans. Now he’s going to be bothered by it longer.
Doc Rivers has to get focused on the Clippers being healthy for the playoffs. He is very shortsighted.
That was ugly.