(Layne Murdoch | NBAE via Getty Images)
There are 7 teams with winning records in the Western Conference. And at the end of 2016, the LA Clippers are ranked 7th out of those 7 after dropping their 6th straight game. On Saturday night, the Clippers were victims in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder led by 21 by the end of the 1st quarter and by as many as 35 points on their way to a 114-88 victory. Thunder PG Russell Westbrook got a triple-double by halftime, and he didn’t even play the 4th quarter. And on a night where the Clippers were missing PF Blake Griffin and PG Chris Paul, backup SG Jamal Crawford played the most minutes of his career (30:33) in a game where he failed to score. Sounds like a fun flight back to LA on New Year’s Eve.
Top Performer: Obviously, it’s Westbrook, who got his 10th rebound of the game in the final minute of the 1st half. It took this man less than 19 minutes to get a triple-double! At halftime, Westbrook had 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists – and he did it on 5-of-8 FGs and zero turnovers. Westbrook was also the last Oklahoma City starter to score, so you know he came out focused after getting ejected in his last outing. Westbrook finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 14 assists on 6-of-11 FGs and a season-low 1 turnover. His only blemish was getting hit with his 11th technical foul of the season in a 4th quarter that he didn’t even play in.
X-Factor: What kind of slow do you have to be to get murked 33-0 in fastbreak points?!?! And it was worse in the 1st half, with the Thunder scoring 25 of those fastbreak points. Thunder SG Victor Oladipo led the Thunder with 9 of those 33 fastbreak points, with Westbrook adding 7. And yes, it was bad even when the Clippers weren’t missing shots or turning the ball over, as Thunder C Steven Adams got a bucket in the 2nd quarter following a layup by Raymond Felton.
Major Moment: The Clippers were up 3-0 with 9:24 left in the 1st quarter. But then the Thunder went on a 9-0 run, with each Thunder starter excluding Westbrook scoring. It wasn’t even the best run of the quarter for the Thunder, as they went on a 13-1 run following a tip-in by DeAndre Jordan. In between 9:20 and 3:10 left in the 1st quarter, Oklahoma City outscored LA 22-3, a period that saw the Clippers miss 12 of 13 shots while the Thunder got made baskets from 6 different players.
Key Lineup: LA started Austin Rivers, J.J. Redick, Luc Mbah a Moute, Paul Pierce, and Jordan. That lineup got smacked in 10 minutes, getting outscored 21-13 while compiling a net rating of -41.7 and missing all 7 threes. The Thunder kept their starting lineup on the floor for 14 minutes and it outscored the Clippers 30-21 while compiling a 33.8 net rating.
The Definition: It can’t just be Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. This is now LA’s longest losing streak since November 2010, when the team lost 9 in a row. Doc Rivers last lost 6 in a row in January 2013, his last season with the Celtics. And the last team to win a championship in the same season in which they lost 6 in a row was the 2010-2011 Dallas Mavericks. The 7th seed sounds like an appropriate place to be for a Clippers team that looks incapable of stopping anyone now. The Clippers are the oldest team in the NBA, with 8 players aged 30 or older, and they’re looking like it. At this rate, you can expect some major changes in January 2017.
the clippers have become unwatchable. This coming from someone who has seen every game since 2009.
To get beat in such fashion isn’t about bg and/or cp. SB needs to act now. TS did wonders for Blazers even w/o LMA last year. Clips needs an overachieving HC. Blowing winnable playoff series in years’ past should not be blindsided.
The Clippers are 21-29 in the playoffs during the CP3 era.
The “Point God” is 31-42 in his playoff career.
Jamal’s out there hurting the team in 4th quarters or disappearing completely. I can’t wait for another year of Jamal playing SF in the 4th quarter of playoff games.
The Celtics will take back Pierce. There has to be a fringe playoff team that needs a guy like Jamal.
Unfortunately that team will trade for Lou Williams or Will Barton.
The Clippers wouldn’t be the Clippers without Jamal Crawford guarding Gordon Hayward, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, or LeBron James in the 4th quarter of a playoff game. That’s how you win Championships!
The Clippers are blaming the schedule. The Clippers are blaming the injuries.
There were red flags when the team was 14-2. There were red flags before Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was November 24th. The injuries started on December 20th. Did people forget that month of ugly basketball?
Don’t fall for this bullshit. The Clippers don’t have the balls to make changes. The Clippers don’t even have the balls to trade Paul Pierce or Jamal Crawford.
They’ve replaced their balls with excuses. The same f**king excuses they’ve been making for years. This isn’t Year 1 of this shit. This isn’t Year 3 of this shit. This is Year f**king 6 of this shit.
The Trade Deadline is March 1st.
The Trade Deadline is February 23rd.
The Playoff Eligibility deadline is March 1st.
Jamal and Austin are eligible to be traded on January 15th.
Good thing J.J. played these last 2 games. Were they trying to lower his trade value? Or were they simply disregarding his long term health?
J.J. doesn’t need a great PG to look good. He played good basketball in Orlando with Jameer Nelson and Rafer Alston at PG.
What did Orlando have that the Clippers don’t? A system they could rely on.
The reason J.J. disappears when CP’s injured is the same reason J.J. disappears in 4th quarters. The “system” breaks down. And the “system” breaks down whether or not CP’s on the floor.
So, nobody in the NBA media is going to call out the training staff for being negligent by letting Chris Paul play in New Orleans?
Nobody in the NBA media said a f**king thing last year when the training staff made Blake’s quad injury worse by misdiagnosing it and giving the wrong treatment.
The Clippers lied to the media for a month about Blake’s right knee. I was on here bringing that shit up since November 19th. It was December 20th when they admitted it.
Does it take a monumental f**k up like what Chicago did to Luol Deng to register with people?
How do we know Steve Ballmer has any f**king clue that his training staff is incompetent and bordering on negligent? Glen Davis and Jared Dudley would testify in that trial. But those guys are fat so they don’t count. They deserved it.
Not watching another game that doesn’t have CP3 in it. Probably should trade BG and CP3 now, tank the rest of the season and start the rebuilding process.
The two 1st round picks Doc traded away have lottery protections on them.
But there’s no way the Clippers would give up on the season. It would take season ending injuries to Blake and CP for them to fall into the lottery.
Personally, I think the Clippers are giving up on the season if they do nothing. But they’ve proven they don’t have the balls to make changes.
They’ll do nothing during the Trade Deadline and come July they’ll be giving Chris Paul $42M per year. Blake may or may not leave. His injury history might compel him to take the 5 year Max.
And then the fans will stop showing up. Nobody wants to see a Year 7 of this shit.
could probably get draft picks by trading cp3 and bg. Although I think you’re right BG will sign for the max and not risk free agency cus he gets hurt too much.
I want to see this team win a Championship. I’ve been a fan for almost 20 years now.
The Clippers were supposed to be the 2nd best team in the West this year. This was supposed the be the best team in franchise history.
People actually talked themselves into it.
A lottery pick equals hope. This roster equals hopeless. The Clippers are 21-29 in the playoffs during the CP3 era. Chris Paul is 31-42 in his playoff career.
On to the next game
The team and a few fans keep saying the Clippers will get back to being the Clippers. It’s only a matter of time and health.
The Clippers getting back to who they are is the problem. They’re a 50 win team that loses in the 1st or 2nd round.
They’re 8 games under .500 in the playoffs. They choke away 4th quarter leads.
The Clippers don’t need to get back to who they are. The Clippers need to become something better. The Clippers need to become something else.
2012. 2013. 2014. 2015. 2016. Same team. Same results.
2017. Same team. Different results? That’s delusional. The only thing the Clippers have done over the last 6 years is get older.
But, but, but, the 2011 Dallas Mavericks did it.
32 year old Dirk Nowitzki was a 7 foot freak of nature. Dirk was one of the most unique players in the history of the NBA.
32 year old Chris Paul will be a 5’11” half-court PG who has to flop to get to the FT line.
Dirk Nowitzki was MVP in 2007. Dirk Nowitzki had been to the Conference Finals twice and the Finals once before winning it all in 2011.
Chris Paul is 31-42 in his playoff career. Chris Paul twice led his team to a Game 7 in the 2nd round. Chris Paul gets injured in the 1st round every f**king year.
Do people understand why the Chris Paul led Clippers will never be the Dirk Nowitzki led Mavericks of 2011? I don’t think they do.
Jump off the bandwagon then superfan.
For me this is still gravy because we’re still a playoff team. Prior to Blake Griffin we could only say that twice over 23 losing seasons.
13 out of 15 teams in the Western Conference have made the Conference Finals since the year 2000.
Only New Orleans and LAC have failed to make the West Finals. Chris Paul was the PG for both franchises.
The Clippers are making the playoffs but the Clippers aren’t close to winning a Championship.
The 2004-2005 Clippers won 37 games but they played hard every f**king night. They played team basketball every f**king night. They were entertaining. They offered hope for the future.
The first year of Blake offered hope. The first year of Chris offered hope. The first year of Doc offered hope. Year 6 of the CP/BG era offers hopelessness.
The 2005 Clippers weren’t winning it all but they were fun to watch. The 2017 Clippers aren’t winning it all and they aren’t fun to watch. So, what’s the point?
The Clippers are 21-29 in the playoffs during the Chris Paul era.
If you find that acceptable as a fan that’s all I need to know about you.
All the bandwagon fans left once Blake stopped dunking and the Warriors started winning. The T.V. numbers and jersey sales prove that.
It’s about perspective. We’re not the “same ol Clippers” but we are having issues getting past the second round. We’re much better off compared to where we were before Blake Griffin and that is the ultimate point. We’re a winning ball club now, we just have to take the next step. I want more out of the club too, but I’m also thankful we’re not hopeless as you allege.
It’s better than scouting college prospects in January and trying to pick out who we’re going to take in the lottery every year like most of used to do when all fans had was long term existential hopelessness for this franchise.
The team still has a shot to win it all. Whether they are capable of putting it all together remains to be seen. They still seem to lose focus over bad calls.
CP3 out again. I’d usually say that the Clippers would still win against the Suns at home, but just doesn’t seem like they can do anything without him.
It was going to be tough to lose that one.
I can’t wait for Jamal or J.J. to miss two weeks because the training staff let CP play in New Orleans. Still no media members calling out Doc or the training staff for letting CP play in New Orleans, huh? Chris re-injured himself. No biggie, right?
I forgot, people would have to care about this team to criticize them. The Clips aren’t the Lakers or the Knicks.
For all the Bledsoe sycophants here and elsewhere he sure as f**k is a middle of the pack PG.
When Chris first tweaked his hamstring he thought it was a minor strain but he acknowledged it could have been worse if not caught in time.
Then the incompetent training staff lets him play in New Orleans and his hamstring gets worse.
So, the thing Chris feared when he first tweaked his hamstring actually happened once the negligent training staff let him play too soon.
And fans wonder why the media says shit like “Clips gonna Clip”. Jasen Powell is the living embodiment of “Clips gonna Clip”.
Things could get better now. The Clippers have an easy schedule in January.
They do play Memphis tomorrow but Memphis will be in the second game of a back to back so that should help some.
Then they mostly play a bunch of home games against teams that aren’t very good, and most of their road games also are against teams that aren’t very good.
They play Oklahoma City at home on the 16th and then Golden State on the road the 28th. But everything else is against teams that aren’t very good.
Then after that Griffin may be back.