(Jacob Gonzalez / LA Clippers)
In a game where both the Rockets and the Clippers appeared to have reached a mutual agreement to just have fun out there and not play any defense, L.A. could not make enough shots to keep up with Houston. And the Rockets made a lot of shots. Some were guarded, most were not.
From the beginning of the game, the Clippers played into the Rockets hands by playing fast, shooting early and shooting often. This strategy is optimal against most teams, especially when Blake has a size advantage against the opposing four and he can seal his man in the post early in the possession. But against the Rockets it’s not a viable option. They’re too good at scoring in bunches and, like with Golden State, ceding them more possession in a vain attempt to keep up with them leads to nothing but heartache.
When elite offensive teams like the Rockets and the Warriors go small against the Clippers, Griffin and Jordan have to bang with the opposing bigs down low and they have to do it all game long if L.A. wants a shot at winning the game. The Clippers had some success getting Griffin switched onto a wing and letting him go to work in the post in the first quarter, but Houston soon wrested control over the pace of the game. Far too many possessions ended with Luc Mbah a Moute taking a midrange jumper (which, admittedly he did a fair job of hitting in this game).
The defense was atrocious once again as this was the third game in the last six days where LA gave up more than 120 points. Houston got Jordan to switch onto Harden at the top of the key whenever they wanted and while DAJ did a fairly decent job of staying in front of him, Harden seemed to drill a three in Jordan’s face whenever he ceded an inch of airspace.
Also, as much as I love Russell Westbrook (and trust me I love me some Russ), James Harden is the MVP. The man moves around the court like an underwater aerobics instructor and yet the defense is helpless to do anything but react. He puts the defenders wherever he needs them to go. Harden’s a playwright and the gigantic athletic freaks paid to stop him can do nothing but play their parts, as the Clippers did tonight with gusto.
X-Factor: Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan combined for 13 rebounds. Patrick Beverly had 12. That’s all you really need to know about how effectively the Clippers leveraged their frontcourt’s size and strength against Houston’s.
Fun Fact: The game ended with the Rockets missing six consecutive three pointers and they still won the game by 19 points.
The Definition: This marks the third loss in six days to a Western conference team the Clippers came into the season measuring themselves against, and the second time the game has been over before the end of the third quarter. The games at the start of the season where L.A. looked to have achieved a mind meld on offense and a reliable defense seem a distant memory. The team hasn’t been fully healthy for long and many of these issues can be attributed to the lack of consistency. There’s still six weeks to fix it.
But if they don’t, there’s a very good chance the Clips may end up playing the team that just wiped the floor with them at home in the first round.
hmmmn. ominous shit. Clippers know Houston have their number
What happened? The “Point God” is back.
Oh, that’s right. The Clippers are 21-29 in the playoffs during the Chris Paul era.
No need to change the roster. Sign me up for another 5 years of this shit.
It’s gonna be fun in the Summer when the Clippers decide to go in a different direction from J.J. Redick.
And they’ll have nothing to show for it. Well, they’ll have another 1st or 2nd round playoff exit to show for it.
J.J.’s been traded for Tobias Harris and Eric Bledsoe. It makes perfect sense for the Clippers to lose him for nothing.
Good job, Steve. Good job, Lawrence. Good job, Doc.
Do CP3 and Blake have to play together at all times. We’ve seen plenty of sample sizes of either CP3 or Blake being effective as the primary playmaker while one of them is out nursing an injury. Can’t we have spread their effectiveness by having one play with the starters and the other play with the reserves and then play the two of them together to close out the game. As the Clippers are currently constructed, all opposing teams have to do against the Clippers is wait out the first quarter and pounce on the Clippers when they insert their reserves. The Clippers bench kills leads. Here is a radical idea: play a stretch four with the starters (Unsigned FA Terrence Jones would be nice fit) and bring Blake Griffin off the bench to play alongside the bench unit. This would give the Clippers the best of both worlds where they can have an effective space and pace starting five unit featuring a CP3 and DJ pick and roll with a legitimate stretch four, and a dominant second unit with Blake handling the majority playmaking duties and Austin and Crawford concentrating on scoring. The Clippers reserves would create huge mismatches with a power forward playmaker and guards who can kill you either with their shot or off the dribble.
The Clippers had the #1 offense in the NBA two years in a row with Blake and DJ starting together.
The Clippers consistently have one of the best 5 man units in the NBA with Blake and DJ on the floor together.
Bench Blake Griffin for a free agent off the street? Why not sign Jimmer Fredette and bring Chris Paul off the bench?
It’s always about the offense with these clowns.
In the playoffs they’ll be getting more minutes and they’ll be playing together most of the time anyway.
Well it’s possible Coach Rivers was correct in the LA Times today when he said the Clippers are still getting it together from Paul and Griffin coming back and they will get better. I still think if Paul and Griffin are healthy, the Clippers still can surprise people. But obviously they don’t look very good right now.
The 3 spot now seems to be gone, not that getting it was very realistic anyway.
In my opinion the Clippers best shot is to play Utah in the first round. Memphis will give them trouble because of their inside game. Oklahoma City is looking pretty good with their new additions and with Kanter back, which happened sooner than I was expecting. Houston and San Antonio just seem to be a level above them.
Utah will also be tough for the Clippers I think Gobert gives them problems.
Clippers just need to play CP3, BG, Deandre and Reddick 98% of the time in the playoffs. Luke is actually pretty decent at SF. I’d actually use A. Rivers switching off with him. Give a few minutes to Speights to give BG and DeAndre a tiny rest and thats it.
Then bench Crawford unless someone gets hurt.
Yes, I agree with all of that. Especially benching Crawford.
Hopefully this bad play won’t go on for more than another week. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for that long about it just being a temporary problem because they’re just getting their two main players back.
It’s not like they’re a lot of things they can do now to improve the team.
The Chicago game was interesting. Crawford was super. Occasionally he has games like this and those are the ones people remember. They don’t remember how he washes out in the playoffs.