The LA Clippers won their fifth straight game after defeating the Orlando Magic 105-96 Wednesday night at STAPLES Center. Clippers SG J.J. Redick led the team with 22 points, adding 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and a blocked shot. PG Chris Paul had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. C DeAndre Jordan had 10 points, 20 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Clippers head coach Doc Rivers also shared his thoughts on the feud between Chris Brown and Soulja Boy – something his players were much less interested in discussing.
Top Performer: Redick did most of his damage early, but he played a complete game, and he’s been focusing on the little things more lately. One game after grabbing a season-high 7 rebounds against the Heat, Redick put up his second-best rebounding effort of the season against the Magic. Prior to Sunday, Redick didn’t have a 5-rebound game all season. His blocked shot came on a 4th quarter fastbreak following Paul’s 5th turnover of the game, and Redick hit a three at the end of the sequence to give LA much needed breathing room down the stretch.
X-Factor: The Clippers continue to be more aggressive during the winning streak, and a part of getting back to that has been getting to the free throw line. Redick and Paul combined to make 10 of LA’s 18 FTs, and that was with Redick being charitable and missing back-to-back FTs late in the 4th quarter. Orlando made only 12-of-18 from the line as a team.
Major Moment: Following a steal and dunk by Magic backup wing Jodie Meeks, LA trailed 77-76 early in the 4th quarter. At that point, Clippers backup big Marreese Speights hadn’t even attempted a shot in the game. But Redick found him in the corner for a three, and after some hesitation, Speights let it fly and hit it. That keyed a 7-0 run that became an extended 16-8 run, and the Clippers never trailed again after Speights made his first shot. Speights scored all 13 of his points in the final period.
Key Lineup: Orlando held PF Serge Ibaka out for the first time this season, and Magic head coach Frank Vogel went with a starting lineup of PG Elfrid Payton, SG Evan Fournier, SF Aaron Gordon, former Clippers PF Jeff Green, and C Nikola Vucevic. Vogel may not want to use that lineup again after that unit was outscored 20-11 in 9 minutes, compiling a net rating of -56.4 while struggling at both ends of the floor. LA’s starting lineup of Paul, Redick, SF Austin Rivers, PF Luc Mbah a Moute, and Jordan got plenty of run, outscoring the Magic 51-36 in 22 minutes while compiling a net rating of 43.1.
The Definition: The Clippers are now 49-30 without Blake Griffin under Doc Rivers, and they get two more days off to prepare for the Los Angeles Lakers. For the third year in a row, the Clippers are at 27-14 at midseason; in Rivers’ first season as head coach, the Clippers were 28-13 at midseason. This is LA’s 2nd-longest winning streak of the season.
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Clippers are 49-30 in the Regular Season without Blake Griffin under Doc Rivers. Okay.
The Clippers won a road playoff game by 16 points without Chris Paul. In that game Blake Griffin had a triple double. In Game 2, without Chris Paul, the Clippers had a 4th quarter lead and Blake Griffin put up 34 and 15.
With Chris Paul, in Game 6, the Clippers blew a 19 point lead at home against the same team. They lost Game 6 by 12 points. That’s a 31 point swing in the final 14 minutes.
Chris Paul, as a Clipper, has never played a playoff game without Blake Griffin. The closest they came was when Blake sprained his knee and came off the bench in a Game 6 loss in Memphis. That team was in a free fall by then.
Chris Paul is 31-42 in the playoffs.
I keep hearing people crying about this team being the same team as last years team. Wait, was Aldrich knocking down 3’s last year??? I must have missed that game. Speights has a ring right? Which player on last years squad asside from The Truth (advanced age) had a ring? Crickets……
Hahaha.
Doc Rivers has a ring. Crickets.
Paul Pierce has a ring. Crickets.
Chauncey Billups had a ring. Crickets.
Caron Butler had a ring. Crickets.
Lamar Odom had a ring. Crickets.
Ronny Turiaf had a ring. Crickets.
Big Baby had a ring. Crickets.
Jordan Farmar had a ring. Crickets.
Jeff Ayres had a ring. Crickets.
Mo Speights played 6.7 minutes per game in the playoffs for the 2015 Warriors. So, the missing piece to a Championship has always been Mo Speights? The difference between 7 playoff wins and 16 playoff wins is a streaky 3pt shooting Center that plays 16 minutes per game?
For comparison’s sake:
Big Baby Davis played 11.2 minutes per game in the playoffs as a Clipper.
Spencer Hawes played 7.1 minutes per game in the playoffs as a Clipper.
Mo Speights was a garbage time/situational player in the playoffs for the Warriors. He was less valuable to the Warriors than Big Baby was to the Clippers.
But, sure, ring. Crickets.
The best thing about Mo Speights is he makes Jamal Crawford expendable.
I’d rather have Mo Speights chucking jumpers in the playoffs than Jamal Crawford.
But Mo Speights doesn’t get you 9 more playoff wins.
Speights has been good, but doesn’t change the overall team that much. He’s not even going to get that many minutes in the playoffs.
Doc wants Jamal to shoot more.
No better way to snap a 5 game winning streak than to have Jamal Crawford chucking.
Don’t worry, Doc. Jamal’s just saving himself for the 4th quarter of playoff games. That’s when Jamal takes shots away from Blake, Chris, J.J., and DJ.
You want to know one of the biggest reasons the Clippers fail in the playoffs?
Shot attempts Per 36 minutes in the Playoffs:
Crawford: 17.9
Griffin: 16.7
Paul: 15.3
Redick: 12.7
Jordan: 5.8
How f**king depressing are those numbers?
Don’t forget, Jamal plays the final 18 minutes of most playoff games. He comes in with 6 minutes left if the 3rd and plays the rest of the game.
Let’s look at some of the best 6th men of the last decade or so.
Shot attempts Per 36 minutes in the Playoffs:
(LAC) Jamal Crawford 17.9
(DAL) Jason Terry: 13.9
(SA) Manu Ginobli: 13.1
(LAL) Lamar Odom: 10.9
(OKC) James Harden: 10.7
(MIA) Ray Allen: 10.3
(GS) Andre Iguodala: 8.7
(LAL) Robert Horry; 7.3
Look at that list of names and remember that Jamal Crawford is the 5th best player on the Los Angeles Clippers.
How the f**k does that keep happening?
Kevin f**king McHale took 13.5 shots per 36 minutes in the playoffs.
Jamal f**king Crawford is taking 7.2 more shots per 36 minutes than James f**king Harden did with OKC.
Do people understand this madness?
As a preface to my Jamal comments below.
Jamal Crawford is shooting 38% from the field and 28% from 3 in the playoffs as a Clipper.
38% and 28% on 18 shots per 36.
The Knicks are imploding. Knicks fans want to rebuild around Porzingis. And Melo has a no-trade clause. He’d waive that clause for the Clippers.
Is it time to call the Knicks and lowball them for Melo?
If the Clippers are going to use Jamal Crawford like he’s Carmelo Anthony then why the f**k not just trade for Melo?
Melo, Young (waived) and Mickey (waived) to the Clippers
Pierce, Bass, and a future pick to the Celtics
Crawford, Johnson, Johnson, and a future pick to the Knicks
There might be minor adjustments to be made. Melo’s trade kicker complicates things.
I agree Jamal Crawford is a significant problem, especially in the playoffs. He’s a gunner and he’s often stone cold. Sometimes he gets hot, and the Clippers often win those games and those are the ones people remember. But people forget about all of the other games when he’s cold.
As I’ve often said, I doubt the Clippers can unload his contract. GM Rivers made another in a long line of terrible transactions when he gave Crawford that 3 year deal.
If you think Crawford is bad now and if you think he’s been bad in the playoffs in the past, just imagine how bad he will be in the playoffs in two more years.
I agree Speights is playing pretty well and so is Felton but neither is very significant to the overall success of the Clippers.
What the Clippers really need is what they’ve needed for a long time, a good small forward. Harrison Barnes would have been a great addition but GM Rivers didn’t pursue him at all. That’s another in a long line of GM Rivers’ displays of bad judgment.
As the team is now, the main thing is Blake Griffin and Chris Paul and how healthy they are going to be in the playoffs.
With the addition of Rivers to the starting line-up, and the pending return of Blake, the offense will be unstoppable. Rivers too quick for small forwards, if you switch the 2 guard onto Rivers, what small forward is willing to chase Reddick around through endless screens? Move the small forward back onto Rivers and its downhill dribble penetration to the rim, and Rivers has been finishing as of late, or kick to Blake or CP on the elbows, lob to DJ. The offense will be unstoppable. Move Luc to the bench with a healthy Wes J. and the wings are locked down defensively. Felton can defend his position, as can Speights and collectively those 4 can make up for Jamal. The 2nd unit offense will consist of fast break points, iso for Jamal, and 3’s from Speights, allowing space for Luc and Wes to rebound. Relax, Clippers? We got this! No trade at the deadline!! The Big-Ticket is on staff, another brilliant move by management.
With my light blue Buffalo Braves pencil in hand, ” dad what happened to my Braves” son? They moved to San Diego, my reply ” where’s that?” California son. Never did I realize I’d be moving to Cali a few years later, true story. Enjoyed the hell out of the Anthony Peeler, Zadell Threat, Pig Miller, Popeye Jones, Tony Campbell,Jeff Penbarthy, David Rivers, Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones, Cedrick Ceballos, Zlade Divac, pre-Shaq sorry ass Laker Era. Enjoying the current Clippers Era, we’re winning a lot of games.