Whew, well, that was interesting... in an incredibly frustrating and unsatisfying manner, the LA Clippers went out and played a game that was filled with mental errors, fuzzy math, and surprisingly, a palpable lack of energy.
Here's the boxscore. PopcornMachine has the gameflow here.
We knew going in Portland was going to give the Clippers a tough game. We knew they were a good team, long, athletic, and deep. And the Rose Garden has the deserved reputation of being a place that's tough for the away team. And Portland came out playing hard, determined to revenge their loss to the Clippers just last week.
Despite seeing Chris Paul collect early fouls and go to the bench with his fourth foul late in the third quarter, the Clippers did manage to hang in, falling behind by eleven point three times (I counted three anyway), and getting it back to four on three other occasions. Finally, with 26 seconds left, Chauncey Billups made a three point play and got the score to 100-97. But the Blazers made their free throws, the Clips turned the ball over, and the game was done.
Portland's defense was intense and well-designed. They continually frustrated Paul and Blake Griffin and the duo never got into any kind of rhythm all night long. Neither had much going in the first half: Paul had no points, 3 personal fouls (he finished with 11 pts and 3 assists). Griffin had just 4 points and 4 rebounds (but finished at 18/12). He did, in the second half score on a string of fifteen footers from the top of the key, where Portland showed little interest in guarding him. Unfortunately the Blazers matched his streak, trading baskets at the other end.
On defense, the Clips still have a long way to go. The Blazers moved the ball well, shot 51.4% for the game, and had all five starters in double figures... and Nicolas Batum and Jamal Crawford each had 9 off the bench. Balanced scoring, anyone?
DeAndre Jordan had a terrible game. He seemed constantly out of position, repeatedly failed to box out, and showed how much he still has to learn. The Ancient Ones, Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas abused their rich young foe. Curiously, and someone else can figure out why, the Clippers actually led in rebounds 39 to 34.
No lobs in lob city? I supposed I might have missed one, but the Clippers didn't throw up or score a single lob pass. The Blazers were simply not going to let that happen on their court.
Mo Williams giveth and Mo Williams taketh away. According to the boxscore Mo played well, scoring 14 off the bench, going 6 for t0 with 4 assists. But every time I looked up it seemed Mo was racing down the court, vaguely out of control and determinedly NOT looking for cutting teammates. I'm shocked to see that he had four assists, because the ball rarely seems to leave his hands if it isn't heading for the rim. Regarding those plays where the Clippers go for the last shot of the quarter (I'm thinking about the end of the third). Is the play supposed to be Williams dribbling down the clock and shooting a long three? That's the play? Really?!.
Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups seemed to play big when necessary, and scored 20 and 19 respectively. But Billups went 5-13 and Butler went 8-19. If they could get those percentages up, Billups in particular, Clippers probably win the game.
Reggie Evans played well, and covered for some of Jordan's errors. He's a welcome addition to the bench. Speaking of the bench, there was a terrible two minutes in the first half where Vinny Del Negro did something he should never ever do. At the beginning of the second quarter, after most of the starting lineup had gotten an eight-point deficit to lead by two, VDN put all his primary bench players on the court. Evans, Ryan Gomes, Randy Foye, Williams, and Brian Cook immediately laid an enormous egg. Within two minutes the Clips were down by six, Vinny called a timeout and re-inserted Chris Paul. Even on the first game of a back-to-back, with no one player in any foul trouble, I see no reason why the Clippers would go ten deep.
We spent the last couple of days talking a lot about the "three-guard-lineup" and we saw it last night for a few minutes around the seven minute mark of the fourth quarter. Evans, Griffin, Billups, Paul, and Williams staged a rally and got the Clippers to within two. So... pretty good results for the small lineup, if only they'd been able to hold onto the lead.
Turnovers: Fourteen. Two by Paul, five by Billups, two more by Williams. Bleh.
**An early morning note: I noticed Fearless Leader's fanshot referring to Brian Cook's -14 in 4:28. Just thought I'd put it on the top of the table. As Steve says, "How is that even possible?"
Finally, Mike Smith made no bones about his displeasure over VDN's decision to foul with the Clips down by three with 26 seconds on the clock. Frankly, I don't know enough to have an opinion one way or the other, but when Dane Blanton asked Del Negro about it in a post game interview, he said something like, "If you don't foul there, you allow them to run down the clock, if they score at the end of the clock, you can't get back in." Okay, I get that, but it seems to me, with some pretty good ballhawks in the backcourt, the Clippers might have wanted to see if they could hector the other team into a turnover or at least rely on your defense to get a stop and have a shot at a tie with at LEAST two seconds on the clock. I'm sure other citizens will check in on the wisdom of Del Negro's strategy.
I'm not going to belabor this. There's another game tomorrow and Steve will no doubt have the preview thread up in just a few hours. No rest for the wicked.
0 recs | 118 comments
Definitely a frustrating game. Refs calls were bad, pretty much taking cp out picture game. Butler was great among with billups.
Uh oh, heats lose also. I was hoping they win.
Edmund81 - January 10, 2012 via mobile
Even bill simmons said we cant win with vdn. Basically most of the west contenders have flaws, we have one fatal flaw (vdn).
Edmund81 - January 10, 2012 via mobile
VDN is a crummy coach. (Blazer fan here)
Look at what the Bulls have done since he was fired.
Granted Thibadeau is a great coach..so there IS that..but my God…VDN stinks.
Course that’s good for all of the opposing teams…
Butler is excellent. And Billups is no slouch..would take him in a hot second as a back up point guard.
And you have Griffen..and CP3….really..no excuse to keep VDN around.
I bet Paul DEMANDS a new coach.
He’s the reason NO got rid of their coach and hired Monty Williams.
So my bet is that this may happen again..CP3 just saying…“get rid of this tool”
Natsthecat - January 11, 2012
I'm with you on that.....
regarding the substitutions that VDN did,
this is where a good coach is needed in my opinion, seems that Vinny does this at least once a game, makes bad substitutions.
I kinda liked it in the fourth quarter when evans was in there instead of jordan, it seemed that better defense was being played.
portland outplayed the clippers there’s no doubt about that.
but as bad as the clippers played we still where in it till the last.
not understanding what’s going on with chris paul he doesn’t look that sharp least the last 2 games.
1 good thing I saw was blake knocking down his jumpers tonight. also not understanding why some games blake is a beast and other games like he’s a clark kent shell of himself.
have to give credit to portland for the a lot of that.
caron butler played a pretty good game. I’m not comfortable with jordan at the center spot.
we are still a work in progress we will get better!
I noticed when the fourth quarter comes we play much better defense than the rest of the game,
if only we could start the game like this that’s where a good coach what come in.
ThaFoX - January 10, 2012 via Android app
still need it edit button! :-(
ThaFoX - January 10, 2012 via Android app
auto correct sucks!
ThaFoX - January 10, 2012 via Android app
CP3 was all frustrated.
He did get better when he got all mad about a foul call…hey that should make up for the time out he called when freaking out of bounds in the 1st game against PDX.
And another player..Evans? I think…came into the court from out of bounds play and the refs completely missed this…an obvious HUGE rule violation that the Clippers capitalized on and got a basket at the other end.
Natsthecat - January 11, 2012
I think you're thinking of football
It’s not a violation to step out of bounds and then return to the court (unless of course that player has the ball).
ReignMan - January 11, 2012
It was Caron Butler inbounding the basketball after a made basket
Devenex - January 11, 2012
Yeah where he stepped his foot over the line
One of the Portland guards was pointing but the refs missed it. They missed a lot of stuff that game, on both sides. But being that I’m a Clips fan, I mostly remember the ones that went against us ;)
Erik O - January 11, 2012
I remember thinking at one point when Blake kept making jumpers and the Blazers kept responding (easily)
Damn, this team is good. Sure, the Clips played bad D, but the Blazers made it look effortless. It’s really hard to hate that team, even when they’re spanking us. Now that Andre Miller left, you guys are completely douche-less.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
They Still Have Oden
What a shame. He could have been really special.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Terrible call
I was shocked. The ref looked right at it, McMillan was going nuts – an obvious violation. But there were plenty of bad calls in that game. Paul had 5 fouls, and 4 of them I would consider borderline. That had a decent sized impact on the game.
Steve Perrin - January 11, 2012
Nightmare Game
Pretty much everything that could go wrong short of an injury went wrong tonight.
They came out slow. CP3 got in foul trouble early. Blake struggled to get going. Chauncey was chucking…again. Mo was chucking…again. DJ was invisible. Refs were blind. VDN was still the coach.
And yet despite all that the Clips were in the game the whole time and cut it to 3 in the 4th.
I have to admit that CP3’s play is concerning to me. He doesn’t look at all like the player we know him to be. I wonder if he actually is out of shape like some are speculating. I hope it’s that and not something worse.
Whether it’s VDN’s fault or someone else’s, I’ll say this – no way can this team contend playing this kind of defense. Just no effort on D whatsoever. It’s the single biggest issue right now.
madglove - January 10, 2012
Mo had one bad shot
He was 6-10, easily the best percentage on our team.
NewCavsfan - January 10, 2012
"Easily"?
Reggie Evans and his 1-1 say hello. ;)
Yeah he was hitting, and at times he shot us back into the game. But several times his tunnel vision hurt the team. The guy’s a chucker. No debate about that.
madglove - January 10, 2012
mo had a good game
chucking into the basket is a good thing
flightofthegriffin - January 11, 2012
yeah..seems like Williams hit about 10 shots in a row at one point during the game.
Natsthecat - January 11, 2012
but that's what you need off the bench
you need a chucker off the bench to bring some energy and keep up the scoring while starters are out. i surely wouldn’t want Gomes or Cookie chucking the ball.
dan73962 - January 11, 2012
I wouldn't say Mo is chucking per se.
He took 10 shots in 26 minutes of play last night. That’s really not bad. It’s even better when you throw out names he’s surrounded with: Gomes, Cook, Evans, Foye. Gomes and Cook are spot up shooters, Evans is zero offense, and Foye is wildly inconsistent.
dulciusXasperis - January 11, 2012
portland kept answering back everytime clips brought it close
tough game, but it happens. i’m glad that our division mates beat the Heat in overtime tonight though! With both teams flying back to LA tonight, it’ll be interesting to see which team has more energy tomorrow.
banandy - January 10, 2012 via Android app
After tonight's no show, CP better bring it tomorrow
Or ill be REALLY disappointed. Crazy home crowd+Heat+espn broadcast should motivate this team to play with extra swagger.
cassellmania - January 10, 2012
Yeah Paul needs wake the f--k up.
It’s extremely discouraging seeing 2 bad games in a row for someone of his talent. Superstars just don’t have that happen often.
dulciusXasperis - January 11, 2012
I can think of 16,359,805 reasons why CP3 should play better.
HVYDRT007 - January 11, 2012
Couple Quick Reactions
I have no problem with the Clippers fouling with 25.9 seconds left. 1.9 seconds is not a lot of time..if Portland winds the clock all the way down and then shoots the ball, there is less time left. Assuming the Clips can grab a rebound without the ball being tipped. They couldn’t get a stop anyway most of the time down the stretch. Extend the game and see what happens. 3 seconds or more of a differential and I think you have to play D straight up.
It didn’t look like VDN wanted the foul anyway.
Can someone please slip a screen when the defense is obviously going to trap on the pick-and-roll?
What’s up with the handles of Mr. Big shot? EJ would have gotten killed on this blog if he lost his dribble as many times as Chauncey did tonight.
Blake’s previous flopping may have cost him a pretty obvious charge against LMA..pretty blatant lowering of the shoulder, and the refs swallow the whistle…maybe the league has paid attention and won’t give Blake the benefit of the doubt on the defensive end.
Not one to blame refs..but oh me oh my. My favorite was the no travel on Crash when he got the ball around the 3-pt line, took 4 steps, and then missed the layup..of course there was a foul on Reggie Evans..
CP3 got the anti-star treatment all night.
Cookie has zero confidence right now. He has value on this team..but if he isn’t hitting his shot, he is going to kill the second unit.
Lastly, on a play where CP3 got hacked and no call on a drive to the basket..there is a fan in the 2nd row in a hat that is puffing his chest out and looks like he wants to fight CP3..I just don’t get some fans..reminded me of this tough guy…http://youtu.be/hEzp50sBvxg
MikeV7297 - January 10, 2012
No shame in losing to Portland in Portland
they are one of the best home teams for a reason. I thought it was pretty ballsy for VDN to leave CP3 in when he had 4 fouls in the 3rd and it payed off, although have no clue what VDN was thinking telling the team to foul when we would have gotten the ball back anyways. The only reason to foul would be if Felton or Camby had the ball.
bestclipfan - January 10, 2012
I wish we had a home crowd like they do
It’s not even the 10th game of the season and they are screaming so loud that Milph can barely hear themselves speak.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
What Else Do They Have To Cheer For In Portland?
more rain? LOL
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
lol that's cold
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Do you know the difference between an elephant and a lesbian in Portland?
About 50 pounds and a flannel jacket. Ok I said it.
PV Mike - January 11, 2012
Don't make me whip out Whoopi Odenberg.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
They Can Cheer For The Cold Too - LOL
sorry I forgot about that one.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
This team can't win in Portland with CP3 taken out of play due to foul trouble
Jax - January 10, 2012
It's going to be hard to win anywhere when our 3 all-star PG's have 11 assists to 9 TO's.
Every time we clawed our way back to make it a close game, it was turn-overs and sloppy play that resulted in what seemed like a quick 7 point run for the Blazers while it took us 7 minutes to make it close again. I don’t think our 3 all-star PG’s often have 9 TO’s themselves (when the rest of the team only has 5).
I do think we can win even if CP3 has foul trouble, just Mo & Chauncey need to control the ball better. The line-up with Chauncey and Mo in the backcourt and CP3 on the bench is actually what got us going on that first quarter run.
chrisd - January 11, 2012
It is easy to blame the ref's, crowd, weather, what ever BS excuse you what to use.
Fact is these things don’t go away in the Playoffs in fact they get worst.
If a Dude Sucks he Sucks, bottom line.
HVYDRT007 - January 11, 2012
I Wonder How Many Turnovers
they committed when Reggie was on the court?
I don’t know but it is not encouraging when he says, “Learn the plays on offense? I don’t have to learn the plays on offense. All I have to do is rebound” or something like that.
Being out of position on offense even if you aren’t one of the scoring options can lead to all kinds of problems with the offense including a higher team turnover rate.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Maybe John Raffo can answer that with the popcorn machine...
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Reggie had 0 TO last night
But it’s really more about how much the team turned it over when Reggie was in vs DJ. I feel ya… maybe I’ll check out the popcorn machine too.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Lame
It’s blocked at work. wtf.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
I don't think it's a popcornmachine stat.
I love the gameflow chart but there’s some deets in there I haven’t figured it out. Overall Evans was 4 and had a “help value” of +9 (rebsblocks+assts+steals-to).
For the record, the three guard lineup (Griffin, Evans, Mo, Billups, Paul) did get the lead down to -2, then reversed themselves and dropped to -9. Overall the unit was -4.
In fairness, Del Negro only used the tiny-men lineup to rest Butler. He didn’t dare go back to Brian Cook in the second half. Interesting, Butler (surgically-repaired knee and all) was the minutes leader last night with 38.6. This worries me.
Let’s see how Butler looks tonight. Sometimes he looks heavy-legged out there.
Good grief, I’m becoming a stat geek.
John Raffo - January 11, 2012
On becoming a stat geek
Muahahaha
Erik O - January 11, 2012
a few things
-butler continues to be a great addition to this team, but he had a few plays tonight where he isolated a little bit. tbh, i generally don’t like that. he should get his shots in the flow of the game and practically only like that, he needs to make sure he remains this team’s luol deng. get the ball off quality rotations, either take open shots, or move with some rhythm to the killer midrange.
-billups needs to calm down man, some of these shots he takes with ages left on the shot clock and 30 feet out… he hits them sometimes but that doesn’t make them good, they’re more often than not bad, too. outside of that, im getting comfortable with billups at the 2. but his shot selection is a bit of a problem at times.
-it’s incredible how good blake is while having such few consistent moves like, in general. he likes that one spin move and he’s settling a little too much for perimeter shot at times when he doesn’t really consistently make that shot, but he’s so strong and fast that it feels like he’s improv-ing so often. you put a good defender against him, particularly one of length, and it gives him problems. someone like gasol even, who is pretty slow but just long enough to make up for the half a step griffin has on him.
-i love mo off the bench, he’s a great spark plug. i feel like right now, our biggest concern might still be a big man, but rather a scoring big man to pair with evans. mo is often out there by himself with people staring, often putting a little too much pressure on him to create absolutely everything. one more scorer, maybe even trey thompkins, would help him a lot with the second unit. either that or maybe bench blake earlier in the first to bring him back with mo for some time in the 2nd.
-evans is a great addition, he’s very notably giving us spare opportunities and helping the team’s rebounding so much. but when he’s out there with the second unit, he’s another player that can’t create, again putting a little too much onus on mo williams.
-the blazers are damn deep and damn good, wouldn’t be surprised if they challenged for homecourt. it’s like they have one very good franchise player and like 7 incredible role players. camby came out to play tonight, not surprisingly. guy always has a little extra against us. batum is like the new battier.
shap - January 10, 2012
Some big shots kept us in, but Blazers never faultered
I’d have to say Felton outplayed CP3 tonight, and this wasn’t really so much a foul trouble thing, he consistently made things happen. Granted, he was playing against the Clippers defense while we were playing against Portland.
Where we excelled tonight seemed to be was one on one play, where Portland seemed to have a knack for easily creating open shots for guys who could hit them. Good teams have a way of doing this. San Antonio comes to mind.
The offense was humming in the third quarter, it would’ve been an awesome time except they matched us stride for stride.
We actually fouled on purpose there at the end? Couldn’t believe we wasted all of that effort battling back to just throw it all away. We showed some resolve there fighting back, but think the Blazers have a little psychological edge.
Plus, this is one of those matchups where Blake looks very mortal indeed, and may just be running in to a better player at his position in L.A. Was good to see him hitting his outside shot tonight though.
Reggie Evans was great.
ghost_ride - January 11, 2012 via mobile
Felton pushing the ball
When that Blazers fan was talking about how great an addition Felton has been because he pushes the ball (in the preview thread) I thought he was just exaggerating. But holy cow, Felton was definitely a difference maker last night.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
I mostly agree
Aldridge has experience and is at the top of his game. He’s better than Blake at this point in time, which is nothing to feel bad about. The guy is tough.
I don’t think we should have fouled either. Put the pressure on Portland to make a shot. Our guys had fought back and deserved a chance to win it on the floor. Our coach needs the pelotas to make the right call (along with the math ability).
Paul may deserve some criticism, but they were double teaming him all night, which isn’t the case with Felton. I can more or less see why CP3 is looking to pass is these circumstances. DJ is probably open sometimes; I’d actually like to see more lobs! But I don’t think a comparison with Felton is an easy one. Felton’s pretty good, in any case.
Portland has a very good team. Except for the first part of the game, I thought we stood toe to toe with them. Raffo is right that we should never have all 5 starters out.
SilverClip - January 11, 2012
Concur
It should be noted the main reason why it was frustrating was that we hung in there. They kept their nose in front though impressively.
Instead of splitting with GSW like last year, if we split with teams like Portland, that’s a step up.
ghost_ride - January 11, 2012
I don't understand why Vinny keeps putting in Cookie
How does he help the team? Seriously, I am ready to start the “Fire Vinny” chants.
Jayq - January 11, 2012
vinny is a joke, he's really getting on my nerves
particularly after watching nate mcmillan completely changing his team’s philosophy because he realizes what players he has
shap - January 11, 2012
cookie looked horrible
first touch, he shot it with hands all over him? and looked so slow on his rotations. Sure Trey looks lost on defense, but I can’t imagine him looking worse than Cookie.
osamu - January 11, 2012
The great thing about cookie
is teams have a good track record of getting deep into the playoffs after they rid themselves of Cookie. Didn’t the lakers get trade him to orlando in 08, and make the finals, then go on to win the championship in 09. Orlando acquired him in 08, got rid of him in 09’ and made the finals. I guess it didn’t really work out well for Houston when they waived him in 2010. Maybe the key is to trade him. Think we can trade him for like Daniel Orton?, or maybe a bag of balls (for Reggie)?
osamu - January 11, 2012
+1
dulciusXasperis - January 11, 2012
I don't like Cookie but he's the least of our problems
Cookie only played 4:50 last night. He played mostly when BG needed some rest and yes I know he looked horrible during those 4:50…. ok as I am writing this, I just realized that I have no defense for playing Cookie at all.
dan73962 - January 11, 2012
I see 2 major problems right now.
The clippers swing the ball on offense, but the passes have no speed, or are not on target and it gives the defense a chance to reset so we wind up going too much 1 on 1 having our players pump fake and try to take the defense out of position…. if we get some quick passes going we could be a dangerous team.
The second issue is defense, but that’s been beat to death.
The clippers have the players to win on talent alone every night so they should be in most games. The clips will regret this loss later in the season.
cantthinkofagoodname - January 11, 2012
yea, i'm over the foul
while still not sure if it was intentional, yea, if they shot as the clock expired, even if you secure the rebound and call TO, it’s probably a second left at the most. One tip of the rebound and the game might be over. I thought it looked intentional, since no one looked remarkably upset when the foul was called. Thought vinny said after the game they were going for the trap, but so maybe it was a mistake by BG.
Most of my concern was with VDN’s decision after 1 shot to put in Reggie, DJ, and Blake, and call his last time out. Call a time out, to what…. draw up a 5 point play? Wouldn’t you want to advance the ball for a last second shot, not one with seemingly 20+ seconds left on the clock. Feels like there have been SOO many instances when VDN’s team is left with like 4 seconds and no timeouts and have to go the full length of the court, most notably in the playoffs, when I think Chicago was playing the Celtics.
All in all though, I’m not sure what to make of this game. It’s fine to blame VDN at the end, but seriously, it was a close game on the road in a VERY tough place to play, with seemingly no one playing well, and CP3 on the bench for huge stretches of the game due to ticky-tack fouls. I know no moral victories, but this one, i’m not too upset about. At least there’s not much time to stew over it, and I’m soo excited about the game tomorrow, although even more nervous about playing the heat on national TV.
osamu - January 11, 2012
I had the same thoughts about the foul at the end
There was a two-second differential between game clock and shot clock. Even if the Clips force a missed shot and battle and secure the rebound — which may take additional time off the clock — they only get less than two seconds left to hoist up a three pointer.
On the other hand, if they chose to not foul and Portland scores, then the game is effectively over with Clips down by two scores.
hadouken! - January 11, 2012
Vinnys use of timeouts and player substitutions continue to frustrate me
I’m overseas but was only able to catch the end of the third and fourth, but was practically screaming at my tablet every time he subbed or made a time out. Even the Blazers announcers were like, “well…that was an odd time to call a timeout…he’s going to wish he has that one later.”
Newton Pham - January 11, 2012 via mobile
Double teaming the SandR
i’m sure the heat is checking out the tape…doubling the pg on the SandR did wonders for the blazers…Look for Wade and lbj to do the same tonight.
Lawler's Law - January 11, 2012
So...
so that’s where the coach makes adjustments. Oh wait. Our coach doesn’t do that.
Steve Perrin - January 11, 2012
He does...it just leaves our heads scratching.
Jerry Sloan anyone?
Newton Pham - January 11, 2012 via mobile
yup VDN knows how to make adjustments
Cookie got a mismatch on everyone in the league
osamu - January 11, 2012
Cookie is pretty awesome for making people (various owners/GM's/coaches) believe he's a good player.
chrisd - January 11, 2012
Our coaches, CP3 and Chauncy, will make the adjustments.
All that needs to happen is that the guy who sets the screen doesn’t roll until it’s clear that the double team isn’t happening/successful. Last night, the screener kept rolling too early and leaving the guard on an island. I mean hell, Mo had to burn a time out and he’s one of our best ball handlers. [insert Reggie joke]
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Reggie’s offense is a joke. LOL
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Kinda hating on Reggie a lot, huh?
He was one of the few who played well last night. Why all the haterade?
Erik O - January 11, 2012
I Don't Like His History
Fans tend to get really sucked into him as being good. He can rebound good but if you look at his career he has played most of it on lottery teams and has not made them better teams with his play.
He does not make the team better. I had this argument over at Raptors HQ when Reggie played for the Raptors.
Reggie did play fairly good last season until he got injured but shooting which he can’t do one lick is a lot more important than rebounding when it comes to winning. I am not saying rebounding is not important, of course it is.
However look at the Raptors this season. Despite losing key players to injury they are one of the leading teams in FG% plus minus and their rebounding differential is better this season than last.
if you consistently out shoot your opponent, (think Boston over the last several seasons) through good defense and good shooting you will get more rebounds simply by the numbers of missed shots by your opponent and made shot by you.
Shooting percentage differential is a lot more important to winning than rebounding is. Reggie does not help when it comes to improving a teams shooting percentage differential because he doesn’t help the offense and his defense other than rebounding is only average at best.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Shooting > rebounding?
I think a lot of people would disagree with this… Reggie isn’t very efficient for a big, but he’s barely less efficient than Chris Kaman. And unlike Chris, his offensive usage is so low, his inefficiency barely hurts the team. So even if shooting percentage differential is more important to winning than rebounding (which is debatable), Evans isn’t hurting your shooting percentage very much at all because he’s having such a small impact in that category (12.4% career usage). DJ shoots a fantastic percentage, but he also has a low usage rate (12.9% career usage) so he doesn’t bring it up that much. Brian Cook’s dumb ass on the other hand has a much higher usage rate (19.7% career usage), yet he’s barely more efficient than Reggie. Cook brings the team scoring efficiency down, while Reggie doesn’t. What’s more, Reggie’s usage is all the way down to 6.8% this year, so he’s really doing a good job of getting the ball to the efficient scorers.
It’s not about scoring a lot of points, it’s just about scoring more points than the other team (to quote John R), and that means you want possessions. Possessions gives you more chances for buckets, so a guy that can pull in 10 boards in 20 minutes gets you a lot more extra possessions (and it prevents the other team from getting possessions too). We already have plenty of scorers on the team, and as long as Reggie isn’t out there at the same time as DJ, you’re probably fine offensively.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
we need chris paul to win too many fouls- bs win for them
I’m suprised this game was so close. Great work by mo, butler, and evans to keep us in the game. We are best with blake as the focal point. We have 3 guys who can make the open shot and DJ down low for the putback/lob. Need to open the court for blake to start creating more, too much of billups and paul trying to create for each other. The offense needs to be focused around blake who can post up or drive and kick or hit an open shot. He is the key to the offense and we need to run it through him and force the other team to double and go from there.
flightofthegriffin - January 11, 2012
I honestly believe we are best when CP3 is the focal point
As long as he’s aggressive and working his magic. I don’t like it when he takes the backseat and let’s others do the driving.
Newton Pham - January 11, 2012 via mobile
if he's driving and scoring then yes
it seems like he’s feeling out the team most games and being a bit timid about scoring. We need to establish ourselves inside with guard penetration and establishing blake before billups becomes a factor. Billups should come into play later in the game when the defense starts collapsing leaving him open for 3s. Paul needs to realize the key to winning games is establishing himself and blake early then getting everyone else involved.
flightofthegriffin - January 11, 2012
also to be fair
we were constantly close in this game but i never thought we were going to win at any time, the blazers had control throughout
shap - January 11, 2012
i agree
we were constantly 7 points behind and it just seemed like the Blazers were in control the whole game
dan73962 - January 11, 2012
I was following the game on my phone at work.
We trailed the whole game pretty much (except end of 1st). We just needed a good run at the end and we probably would have won. Glad I didn’t see this one, really frustrating. Play Jones if not Trey. Jones has length. Why keep going to Cook? I don’t understand this.
tenkaistar - January 11, 2012
For his "offense"
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Dj
I knew it and I’ve been saying it all along we should’ve kept Kaman I don’t care if it meant bit getting CP3, having DeAndre as our only C is a joke. This is a team that just three yrs ago had Camby, Randolph, Kaman, Griffin, and Dj at the same time. Dj is an absolute joke, if I had his body I think I’d be a better player. He can’t play the high post, and he isn’t shooting so why is he not all over the offensive rebounds? His FT shooting is atrocious, he simply is a waste of money at this point. He is capable of bigger things and yes I know we don’t need him to average 16 pts but at least get us 10 rpg.
javyg70 - January 11, 2012 via mobile
team would of choked harder and lost more games with Kaman
Had a bad game still take his effort and energy over the big stiff.
KillaClip - January 11, 2012 via mobile
1 bad game, man
He just had 8 blocks the other night… and he’s still shooting 60% from the field.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
eric what's shooting 60 percent if you can't shoot!
that’s the reason he shooting 60 percent, and when you only dunk 60 percent is not that good if you think about it.
ThaFoX - January 11, 2012 via mobile
60% is good enough for 4th in the league behind Marcin Gortat, Spencer Hawes, and Amir Johnson.
He’s not the most creative scorer, but the few times you get the ball in his hands, he scores more often than most in the league.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
kaman will be out with a pinky toe injury later this week
just wait for it
flightofthegriffin - January 11, 2012
Total rebounds is an incomplete stat
If you play great defense and force lots of turnovers/blocks you’ll have fewer rebounds. If your opponent shoots a high FG% or gets to the line a lot then you’ll have fewer rebounds. There are many factors that affect the number of rebounds you have, so having a high number of rebounds is not always a sign of good play. It is better to look at FGA and FTA.
shay - January 11, 2012
agreed shay!
ThaFoX - January 11, 2012 via mobile
Shot selection
I think one of the downfalls last night was poor shot selection by the Clippers. Too many 3’s and forced jumpers. I really like what Butler has brought to the team this year but there’s no way he should be taking 19 shots. He’s too inefficient. It really all comes back to CP3. He HAS to be the 2nd scoring option on this team. I know he wants to be a facilitor first but the opportunties he creates for himself are just too good to pass up. The Clippers will be at their best when he’s scoring around 20 points a game. Until Paul realizes this we’re going to see more poor offensive games like yesterday.
Beasel - January 11, 2012
paul has to get better is he outta shape? what is the deal?
ThaFoX - January 11, 2012 via mobile
Felton has not missed many meals lately either.
PV Mike - January 11, 2012
But he was still the aggressor
Perhaps the difference between In and out and whatever vegan fast food they serve up in Portland?
ganima - January 11, 2012
I've got a question that has nothing to do with the game.
I’m becoming obsessed with PopcornMachine’s gameflow charts. But where do they get their data? I can’t see half the substitutions on tv. Is it from published data? And the charts are up as quickly as half an hour after the games.
John Raffo - January 11, 2012
closing 26 seconds issue
I actually had not issue with fouling there because if you think about it, Portland has to take a shot with 2 seconds left on the game clock or its a shot clock violation. They certainly arent going to take a shot until the very end of the shot clock so let’s say they do shoot it with 2.5 seconds left, the ball has to travel through the air, clang off the iron (hopefully) and then someone’s gotta rebound—assuming its not a high bounce/long rebound. I dont think there is enough time for all that to happen and then have ENOUGH time for a 3 pt shot.
djmccaslin - January 11, 2012
I'm not sure about this.
I don’t think Portland’s actually going to let the clock get down to zero. And, if you play good defense, you might get a turnover. If you play aggressive and foul, that’s okay, you’re getting the ball back anyway.
John Raffo - January 11, 2012
Yea
I like the “gambling on the steal but probably fouling” type of fouls rather than Blake hugging some dude at the halfcourt line.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Reggie and DJ
Late in the game when the Clippers still had a chance to pull it VDN was going to send DJ in for Reggie. Reggie however, grabbed an offensive rebound and as I recall scored. VDN then changed his mind and left Reggie in. The Blazers immediately opened up a bigger lead.
VDN did eventually replace Reggie with DJ but the Clippers as I recall never got seriously close again.
At the time I questioned VDN’s decision to leave Reggie in after that play he made (see game thread). While it may have seemed reasonable at the time it didn’t lead to a Clippers victory.
I wonder if DJ is having trouble accepting the fact that VDN will have Reggie in the lineup on the court in situations where DJ, is not in foul trouble or needs a blow and used to be on the court.
Reggie brings a a certain toughness that DJ doesn’t and is a better rebounder than DJ. However DJ is IMO an overall better defender and a better scorer and offensive player. DJ can roll the basket a heck of a lot better than Reggie and create more opportunities to score for himself this way than Reggie. DJ also opens up the court more on offense for other Clippers players when he does this than Reggie can.
Reggie other than an occasional offensive rebound and rare put-back and rare assist does almost absolutely nothing on offense.
If it was up to me I would only play Reggie when DJ needs a blow or is in foul trouble. I would never ever give any of DJ’s regular minutes to Reggie. This IMO is a big mistake.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
I saw the same thing - interesting issues
Jax - January 11, 2012
If Reggie Were 23 or even 25
I would be more open to it but DJ still needs more experience especially with CP3 and Mr. Big Shot. Those additional minutes during the regular season could pay big dividends come playoff time.
Reggie on the other hand is over 30 and has a recent history of major injury problems. I would hate to see Reggie get 20 – 25 mpg and then crap out in late March or April before the playoffs or even during the playoffs due to another injury.
Reggie has some qualities that will help the Clippers. However, IMO taking regular rotation minutes from DJ is not one of them.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Reggie
I think he moves his feet a lot better than DJ and is less vulnerable on switches. But more importantly, Reggie was playing well last night and DJ was playing like a rookie. DJ’s rotations were turrible, while Reggie was doing a great job closing out on shooters. I agree overall I think DJ is the better defender (gives an inside presence to the drives) but Portland was mainly scoring on outside buckets from bad rotations.
Still, never know if it was the right call, not bringing DJ back. I think other things lost us the game, not that sub call, and Milph seemed to like it.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Taking DJ's Minutes
will not help him correct the problems that you have identified.
If this were the beginning of April and the Clippers were making a serious push for a playoff spot or to improve their playoff seeding I could agree with you.
However, playing Reggie more and DJ less now is not going to make the Clippers better come playoff time.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
DJ less? When did I ever say that?
I want them to play Cookie 0 minutes and give all that time to Reggie. Leave DJ at his current 32-35mpg.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Sorry For The Confusion
I don’t think I said that you said it or anyway I am now saying that I didn’t say that you said it.
I was just saying I hope VDN isn’t thinking that way.
Hope what I just said says it clearly enough so that you are clear on what I intended to say when I said it.
That is all I am going to say on said subject. LOL
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Oh yeah I agree with that for sure
I hope VDN isn’t going to make it a trend to keep DJ on the bench in favor of Reggie. Reggie’s better off the bench to terrorize and create havoc, not to try and deal with crafty starters.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
I saw toughness with evans when he was in there..
and it seems like we were playing better.
ThaFoX - January 11, 2012 via mobile
True He Does Tend To Have
a certain Bill Laimbeer style to his game in the paint.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
This was against a good team and a stressful game
I couldn’t help but feel that Paul’s off-game was key to this loss, but of course there’s several factors. He was held to really low numbers, especially in the realm of assists. The foul trouble helped, but only 3 assists? Really? It just seemed that the Blazers were better at setting up shots and making opportunities than the Clips. I hope that they use this loss as fuel for tonight’s game. I want to see the Bob Loblaws in full aggression mode.
I’m honestly surprised we got so close, despite “Poetland” being in control.
Chris McD - January 11, 2012
While I appreciate you not mentioning the officiating, since it's kind of a lame excuse, I was extremely frustrated during this game.
Yes, we occasionally got away with a few violations (e.g. double dribble by Mo, travel by Foye), but any time we double teamed a guy it was a foul, and any time they double teamed one of our guards, the refs considered it flawless defense. The “charge” by Paul on Camby at the baseline made no sense and looked a lot like a flop, and the no-call on the other end when Aldridge very clearly lowered his shoulder bothered me too. Chauncey “kicking his leg out” seemed to me to be nothing more than incidental contact, though admittedly I’m unsure of the rules on this type of foul. I wonder if he hadn’t gotten Matthews square in the nuts, would it have been a foul at all? I don’t think Matthews was faking because he just doesn’t seem like that kind of player (when we accidentally had 6 guys on the court, rather than rushing the FT routine to ensure we got a tech called on us, he laughed, stepped back, and gave us time to figure out our subs… I really liked that).
Anyway, despite the fairly even fouls and FTA, I really think there were a lot of meaningless make up calls and stuff to even out the box score. Paul gets mad that his 4th foul is called on him, yells at the ref, and they call an off-the-ball-practically-useless foul on Kurt Thomas or something. I don’t think it’s some conspiracy or anything, but I do think that sometimes these refs play to the crowd, especially the louder ones like at Portland or Utah. Such is the nature of the 6th man, though, right? At least they’re consistent, which is all we can really ask for.
Bleh, just wanted to vent because last night’s game totally ruined my night. Add in the fact that I missed watching the Warriors beating the Heat, only to find out through hundreds of Facebook posts from my friends back home, and I’m kind of grumpy today.
One thing that made me happy was how great Reggie looks on the team. Sometimes I like him more than DJ. We need to really solidify the front line rotation and just give a ton of minutes to Reggie to help relieve Blake and DJ. Just taking last night’s numbers, if you give Cookie’s 5 minutes to Reggie, he plays 21-22 minutes and you’re not -14 for a stretch.
Hopefully the lack of bench production outside of Mo and Reggie will pressure the FO to try and add another bench player that doesn’t suck. Keith Bogans may not be the answer since our problem seems to be offensive production from the bench, but a move still needs to be made. There’s not a lot out there, and while Gilbert Arenas still has some scoring ability, the last thing we need is another guard. Likewise with Eddie House (I think still a FA). But wouldn’t Al Thornton be an improvement over Ryan Gomes? Or Joe Smith an improvement over Brian Cook? JR Smith would be the greatest bench player we could ask for, but that’s probably a pipe dream.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
The refs were terrible and very one-sided
Every losing team says this, but this time we are being totally accurate.
Raining Buckets - January 11, 2012
I can't tell if it's just my bias
But it felt really bad last night. I am still very, very annoyed by last night’s game, and somehow it has nothing to do with the Blazers.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Refs Have A Tendancy
to favor the more aggressive team when it comes to the calls. That doesn’t mean that the more aggressive teams will have fewer fouls called on them than the less aggressive team. What it means is that the more aggressive team will tend to get more of calls that maybe could have gone either way.
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
Aggressiveness
Seriously lacking from the Clippers last night.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
agreed
we are missing a younger wing. billups and caron are savvy vets that win games but during the season are going to need someone who can fill the void while they rest. Gomes ain’t it, he’s decent for rebounding and that’s about all. We need a wing to come in along with mo so our offense doesn’t go cold with the bench. Cook, foye, gomes,evans are getting heavy minutes and aren’t providing any scoring. Mo is our single offensive bench option and this is killing us.
flightofthegriffin - January 11, 2012
My thoughts
1. I do not have faith in VDN as a coach, both in terms of his play calling (does he call plays?) and substitution patterns. Just so you know, I felt this way during the games that the Clips actually won.
2. I love Blake Griffin’s game, but he has shown little interest in or aptitude for playing defense. I don’t care if he’s got “short” arms; a guy with that kind of athletic ability should not be getting torched like that on a nightly basis.
3. I love Blake Griffin’s game, but he needs to stop settling for jumpers and go to the basket more. Even though his J was falling last night, I saw Blake camping too much on the perimeter and not using his incredible quickness and ball handling skills to get past slower defenders. Also, he often ignored opportunities to cut to the basket after setting picks, choosing instead to spot up for the long deuce. I thought this season was going to be all about pick and rolls, and I haven’t seen a lot of rolling yet. Also, does anyone else think that Blake sets really weak screens? I’m not trying to dog the guy because I think he is the man, but I am just wondering why he isn’t beasting on guys who shouldn’t be able to stop him.
4. Reggie Evans is awesome.
5. The rest of our bench (aside from Williams) is useless, especially Cook and Foye. I actually think Gomes can pull it together if utilized properly, but that would require actual coaching. It was nice to see Cook playing minimal minutes, but he should really be relegated to victory cigar status as soon as Thompkins or Jones get their acts together in practice (hopefully soon).
Raining Buckets - January 11, 2012
Bench
I may be crazy, but I’m really starting to wonder why we aren’t bringing back AT. He’s always had around 12 PER, but that’s Ryan Gomes’ career high. And AT’s shown that he can take limited minutes (14mpg last year) and still maintain his somewhat limited production. I’ll take somewhat limited over total chump (Ryan Gomes has 9 PER last year, 6 PER this year…WTF).
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Gomes is bad
but I rather have him than AT.
Gomes is being misused as a SF (http://www.82games.com/1112/11LAC8.HTM). He’s at least capable of not killing a team in 8-10 minutes at PF.
Because of the schedule you can’t really afford to go just with 8 rotation players during the regular season (no excuse of lack of energy last night, the Clips had a ton of rest between games) so you have to play more than Reggie and Mo off the bench but Cook shouldn’t get any minutes. In fact only Gomes should get some spot minutes at PF, Bledsoe should get some minutes when he comes back(at least to see if he’s improved at all) and the Clippers need to add some more guys because Foye, Cook, the two 2nd round rookies and Jones aren’t worth playing.
ClipperChuck - January 11, 2012
I was very annoyed by Gomes' hesitation to do anything last night.
He had this one jumper from the FT line, and it just looked horrible (even though it went in) because he hesitated like 3 times before he finally shot it.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
Jerry Sloan wants to come back to coaching...
just saying
phitePSEF - January 11, 2012
We lost...
to a GREAT team. Pack up and move on to the Heat. We can’t win them all and with CP3 in foul trouble, we were still competitive. And I thought about VDN’s decision to foul when we were down by 3 with 26 seconds left. He was playing against the clock. If we didn’t foul, the Blazers would have waited to shoot the ball with like 4 seconds left and it’s either it goes in or missed and both teams would had to fight for the rebound which will drain the clock even more. Overall, the Clippers should learn from this and play better tonight and the rest of the season.
Hengtime81 - January 11, 2012
Thanks for this.
I needed a little dose of Club O.
Erik O - January 11, 2012
+1
Thanks
Hengtime81 - January 11, 2012
Anybody want this guy back? (Larry Brown still wants to coach in the NBA)
"I want to get back badly. I just don’t know. The direction the NBA’s going, it seems like they just want to get young ex-players and if you look around the league, there’s not a lot of older coaches anymore. ‘Pop’ [Gregg Popovich] and maybe [Rick] Adelman, but most of these guys are younger, so I don’t know if I fit that mold, but I still believe that I have something to offer and I was disappointed the way Charlotte ended. We go to the playoffs and then, 14 games later, I’m fired.
"They get rid of Raymond [Felton] and get rid of Tyson [Chandler], and I have Kwame Brown, Gerald Henderson and [Dominic] McGuire, all of those guys hurt, missing training camp. So, I’m disappointed the way that ended, but I’d love to get back if somebody gave me a chance. But I won’t politic for it. I hope it happens, but I don’t want to see somebody lose their job to get another job, so that’s always sensitive."
PV Mike - January 11, 2012
Larry Brown
Did you say Larry Brown the only coach in NBA history who knew when he was going to leave a coaching job before he signed his new contract.
That Larry Brown. I would rather have Hubie at this point. At least he doesn’t bail on you even before the ink is dry on his contract. LOL
Buddahfan - January 11, 2012
1st world problem
Wish VDN had the same philosophy…
ClipperChuck - January 11, 2012
I was at the game
I’ve been to at least one Clipper vs Blazer game since I’ve moved up here and have always made a bet with my friend when we go. To date, I’ve only won one such bet.
Anyways, the rotations on defense were terrible, that stretch with our 2nd unit made me want to gouge my eyes out, and I couldn’t believe we didn’t try to play defense and attempt to tie the game with 26 seconds & one timeout left.
My friend kept asking me why I was slumped in my seat when the Clippers were just down single digits for most of the game. To me, there was no reason for this game to be so close.
PDXClipper - January 11, 2012
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