(Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
Monday started with the announcement that Clippers PF Blake Griffin was named the Western Conference Player of the Week, after Griffin nearly messed around and averaged a triple-double in three games:
#Clippers PF Blake Griffin earns first Player of the Week award since December 2014 pic.twitter.com/VktJ6foU5J
— Law Murray 🙌🏿 (@LawMurrayTheNU) February 13, 2017
But let’s focus on the task at hand. The Utah Jazz had a half-game lead in the Western Conference standings entering Monday, and we’re at the point of the season where these types of matchups are potential postseason previews. And this matchup had a little 🔥 to it after Jazz play-by-play radio broadcaster David Locke implied that Utah C Rudy Gobert should have made the Western Conference All-Star team over Clippers C DeAndre Jordan:
Jazz play the Clippers on Feb 13. I'm taking Rudy Gobert that night
— David Locke (@Lockedonsports) January 27, 2017
Snubs are always popular in the NBA – Jordan’s been snubbed before, and now that he’s getting accolades like First Team All-Defense, First Team All-NBA, Olympic Gold Medalist, and now NBA All-Star, the snubbing has turned to shade. We asked the people about Monday night’s matchup, and the lightly received poll was in favor of DJ:
Clippers will play in 11th different arena in as many games tonight at Utah. Who do you have between the All-Star and the snub?
— ClipperBlog (@clipperblog) February 13, 2017
Anyway you want to put it, we hope you didn’t take the Jazz Monday night. The Clippers did what they had to do in Utah, holding them to a season-low 72 points. It’s the 2nd time this season that the Clippers allowed fewer than 80 points against Utah, and now the Clippers have beaten the Jazz 17 of the last 18 times, including a franchise-record 9 straight in Utah.
Top Performer: Jordan did his thing tonight as the Clippers allowed their fewest points on the road in nearly five years. In 31:09, Jordan had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, 13 rebounds, and a game-high 3 blocked shots. One of those blocks was a startling rejection of Gobert:
Overall, Utah made only 5-of-12 field goals attempted at the rim against Jordan (41.7 percent). That also mirrored Gobert’s shooting from the field on the night, while the Clippers made 4-of-7 field goals attempted at the rim against Gobert (57.1 percent).
X-Factor: The Clippers held the Jazz to 32.2 percent from the field – the lowest figure in Utah head coach Quin Snyder’s three seasons with the team. Utah’s All-Star, SF Gordon Hayward, had a remarkably poor night. Hayward was held to 7 points on a season-worst 2-of-12 from the field (16.7 percent), and he didn’t make up for it elsewhere offensively as he was held without an assist for only the 5th time this season. Hayward was injured when these teams met in October, but he was a non-factor in this one, as he missed 7-of-8 attempts from the field when defended by Clippers SF Luc Mbah a Moute.
Major Moment: The Jazz had a 21-18 lead 12 seconds into the 2nd quarter. But over the next 23 minutes, the Clippers outscored Utah 58-26. Mbah a Moute locked Hayward down on one end while Griffin dominated Utah on the other end, scoring 16 of his game-high 26 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field during this stretch. The Clippers made 60.0 percent of their 40 field goal attempts in the middle of the game, while Utah was held to 26.3 percent of their 38 field goal attempts during the run that led to a 29-point Clippers lead with under a minute left in the 3rd quarter.
Key Lineups: The starting lineup for the Clippers was on the floor together for 24 minutes, and that unit outscored the Jazz by 24 points (54-30). The other 3 lineups that the Clippers used for at least 3 minutes all had negative ratings, but the starters had a net rating of 55.0 while holding the Jazz to 26.1 percent shooting.
Utah’s worst lineup that played at least 3 minutes together involved Gobert, starting PG George Hill, and reserves Alec Burks, Joe Johnson, and Boris Diaw. That unit compiled a net rating of -104.8 in 3 minutes while getting outscored 12-4.
The Definition: The Clippers played 10 of their last 11 games on the road, and wound up splitting those road games. They’re on a 3-game winning streak overall while Utah is now on a 3-game losing streak, so now the Clippers are half a game up on the Jazz in the Western Conference standings. And it was shocking to see the Clippers allow a season-low points after they allowed at least 100 points in a season-worst 11 consecutive games.
“When you play 10-of-11 on the road, you are going to struggle a little bit, but if I had to say before the road [trip], of all the starts, the last three I wouldn’t have predicted winning,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “I mean, those are the ones you were worried about and we ended up winning them and we played just terrific. I think it helped having days off on this road trip down the stretch. That was a big bonus for us as well.”
Oh, look, Blake Griffin is still good at basketball. Even without being 100% healthy. Even without Chris Paul.
The Knicks are holding out hope that LeBron forces a Melo trade. Once they realize it’s not gonna happen Phil will call Doc. Who knows if Doc will have his shit together when the call comes. Who knows if Melo will sign off on it.
Regardless, I’d be calling around the league to gauge the value of a J.J. Redick centered trade. J.J.’s been traded for Tobias Harris and Eric Bledsoe. He has value.
Ok, so its safe to say the explosiveness to Blake’s game has returned. The between his own legs pass to JJ cutting baseline vs the Suns tells us #32 is having fun playing the game. We know some players struggle with injuries only to go extended periods with good health (the hated Steph Curry and his once thought to be glass ankles, come to mind). Bottomline, the way Blake is playing right now, there’s no way in hell you trade that guy!
Austin Rivers is out-performing his contract! As a GM, isn’t that the type of contract you want to sign? One where the player out-performs the dollars he’s making? Ask the Steelers how they feel about what they’ve been paying Antonio Brown the last few years, and the Brass of the Organization will smile and pat themselves on the back. GM Rivers hasn’t made all the right moves, but this was a small little W, recognize!
That’s a reach. He’s playing to his contract, but other players are performing at the same rate or better for less.
Ricky Rubio has a similar contract worth a little bit more, but he’s also got a higher PER and people would say he is underperforming his contract.
Isaiah Thomas is probably the best value for dollar in the league followed by Steph Curry.
Ray Felton and Mo Buckets are definitely out-performing their contracts. We made out like bandits based on their production.
In the end smart cap management is about value for dollars. An example of that is the Spurs.
The NBA media loves to mention when the Clippers lose without Chris Paul but is the NBA media interested when the Clippers win without Chris Paul?
Blake Griffin is good at basketball and the Clippers will still win around 55 games. This is the team they’ve been for 6 years now.
The Clippers have long needed an excellent small forward and last off season an excellent one was available but the Clippers made no effort at all to sign him
My personal opinion is that people soon will realize the Clippers made a big mistake not signing Harrison Barnes in the off season. After Durant said he was going to the Warriors, then the Warriors had to let Barnes go so they could sign Durant. They renounced his rights, making him an unrestricted free agent.
That’s when the Clippers should have signed him. But the Clippers didn’t even meet with him. Instead the Clippers’ GM immediately signed his son and Jamal Crawford, who will be 39 in the third season of his contract. The Clippers signed those two to a total of $24 million this season. In contrast Barnes signed for $22 million this season.
Barnes almost certainly wold have signed with the Clippers, because that would have given him a chance to play for a ring in LA instead of playing for a lottery team in Dallas. The Clippers blew it badly.
It’s true that the first choice would have been Durant, and the Clippers basically backed out of that pursuit, after announcing that Durant was “blown away” by their presentation. Then when Durant said he was going to Golden State, the Clippers then should have pursued Barnes, who is playing great for Dallas. But they’d already committed to the GM’s son and Crawford, so they couldn’t.
The Clippers easily could have manipulated the cap space in the exact same way as they were going to manipulate it to sign Durant. So arguing that cap space kept them from doing it is a completely false argument.
Dallas’ signing of Barnes likely will be eventually viewed by most people as the best signing of the off season. Could have/ should have been the Clippers, then they’d be set up to win the Championship.
In general, I think it’s a bad idea to spend $10 to $15 million a year for mediocre players like Rivers and Crawford, especially when other players who are just as good or better can be signed for the minimum. I think it’s much better to spend $22 million on an excellent player like Barnes and fill in the roster with minimum players, like Felton and Speights and some others who were out there.
Excellent players are what win championships. Mediocre players don’t. There are numerous mediocre players out there, many of them playing for the minimum, some of them not even in the NBA. Yes, some of the mediocre players are making $10 – $15 million a year, but they’re not better than many of the mediocre players getting the minimum. Some teams have to overpay just to get players to sign with them. That’s not true for the Clippers. They just overpay because they want to. Mistake!
Yep