I know it’s early, but I believe there are crucial games in the season that determines the fate of the team; games that reveal the character of the squad and what they’re made of. This way a must win game in so many ways. And ClipperSteve is completely right; they played the whole game without any intensity whatsoever, as if we were going to walk all over these guys even though we’re the team that’s 1-6.

On paper, we are much better team, but it was Sacramento that played the game with passion and executed their plays flawlessly. We look like five guys that just met at a park and never played with each other before. Guys didn’t know where to go, and we ran isos after isos after isos. Ricky Davis, Mobley, and TT made some bailout shots or went one on three and forced a shot in to keep the game somewhat close. But realistically, this game was never close. We did not deserve to win this game, much less be in it. If Kevin Martin and Garcia were playing we would have lost by 20.

I never thought much of Reggie Theus before this game. But after watching the two teams today on the offensive end, it is clear that the Kings is an actual NBA team and we are not. Whether it’s Dunleavy’s brain-dead offensive sets or the players unable to execute any of his plays; our team looks lost and confused.

Something has got to give here. Mobley, TT, and Ricky Davis being on the floor at the same time may have something to do with our stagnant ball movement. But the personnel decisions are Dunleavy’s so the ultimate blame must be his. Our last offensive possession was a joke. Did we actually call two time outs to waste all of 23 seconds before having Baron force a desperation 3 with 2 hands in his face?

Watching the players’ body language on the bench today and it seems that they’ve already given up. When we were getting hammered in the third quarter and early in the fourth, TT and Ricky Davis were having a good laugh and gave each other a fist pounding when TT missed a three pointer. It was embarassing. We have absolutely no pride.

With the effort we put out tonight, even Golden State without Maggette, Monta Ellis, or Al Harrington can destroy us. Nellie can enjoy a good laugh at our expense. San Antonio is much too disciplined, they can probably beat us even without Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker. Oberto can probably score 40 on us and grab 20 boards.

If this team loses the next two games to go 1-9 before hitting on the road, the season is over. We would have to play .600 ball the rest of the season to even finish near .500. And if this team have shown us anything so far this season, it’s that they’re not capable of that. There won’t be any reasons to go to the rest of the games this season unless you’re there to see NBA superstars dunk on the Clippers like in the bad old days. Maybe we can challenge the Clippers record for futility…and win less than 12 games this year. That’s a more likely scenario at this point than us making the playoffs. The only intrigue will be whether Dunleavy is fired by then or Baron demands a trade. Maybe the bookies should start a bet on that.

Half Empty: We got one win against Dallas, and maybe everyone (for the most part) got their hopes up. The truth is, we could easily be 0-8 right now. Dunleavy doesn’t have control of his team. Baron can be a great leader when he wants to be, but he will give up or have lapses at times. Which leads us to the Dunleavy/BD chemistry we all feared could blow up. It looks like they better come together fast, or this could real ugly.

Half Full: We could easily be 3-5 right now, with an abundance of beatable teams coming up on the schedule. The team is understandably yet to form an identity and is a work in progress. Give it time, and we’ll start that creep toward .500

This team has NO passion right now. Baron Davis appeared to be going thru the motions last night…and he still finished with 11 assists. And didn’t we all see the “clash” with Dunleavy coming?

I am soooo tired of the Cat Mobley post up play. The offense should be Baron and Kaman/Camby pick and rolls, mixed in with Thornton/Ricky Davis isos. Mobley, Thomas and Gordon should just hang out on the perimeter.

You would think at some point that, without Kevin Martin, the Clippers would just double Udrih. Perhaps this is a game where a Q. Ross could have helped.

it is not panic time, because the talent level is there. The bench produced. It was effort that let them down last night.

Hmmmm…I know Q didn’t give us alot offensive options but he could have really helped on the defensive end

Home loss against Sacramento without Kevin Martin.

Utterly disgusted…I don’t even want to spend a long time posting. I’m at a loss for words. I really am starting to believe in the curse.

Look…I know 3 pointers got us back into the game, but once we were there we needed STOPS.

Take the weak defenders OUT. Ricky D, thanks for the 3 point barrage and coming back to life. Take him out! Take TT out!

Slide over Camby, put Kaman back in, slide over BD, put EJ on Beno, and Al.

This would have good mix, someone who can keep up with Beno on defense, interior defense. On offense everyone on this lineup can score.

Why was Kaman on th bench the entire second half?

I’m disgusted.

This game singlehandedly deflated all of Clipper Nation’s spirit. We’ve had excuses all season and reason to hope. This game, we had none, and lost the game along with all our hope.

The atmosphere has become instantly stale and negative.

Let’s see how BD responds to this challenge. Good thing I put my jersey order on hold because if things continue he may not be here for long.

How about BJ Mullins?

Time to surf NBAdraft.net and Draftexpress.com

Thats what I think about on a morning after a game like that. Why am I so grumpy this morning? Why does it feel like I just left work and am now back? Oh thats right, I wasted 3 hours watching the Clips lose to Sacramento, just like I’ve wasted 21 hours of my life in since the season started.

Just a pathetic performance by Kaman. Starting center benched for the 2nd and 4th quarters…just unacceptable.

I hate to throw the season in at this early junction but we need to get a harsh dose of reality. It is time to start playing our rookies and plan for a massive trade in the coming weeks or months. Let’s get Eric Gordon, Deandre Jordan and Steve Novak into the starting lineup. Over time they will become the backbone of the franchise along with Thornton and Baron. Sit Kaman, Thomas and Mobley until they can be traded. These three players have no intensity and do not deserve to play basketball for a living.

PG = Baron / Taylor
SG = Gordon / R.Davis / Mobley
SF = Thornton / Thomas
PF = Novak / Skinner
C = Camby / Jordan / Kaman

Let’s face facts – we can’t get any worse. If we are heading for a top level draft pick, let’s get our young guys more time on the court. Maybe next year we will have a better team. At least if we get annihilated every night it will be against our young guys and not our veterans.

…..kind of performance anymore. And from the attendance at games, it looks like the entire fan base isn’t settling for it either.

The excuses aren’t workable anymore. This team was put together primarily by Dumbloony and he’s the coach. From his track record, it’s unlikely he’s going to be able to motivate the players and get them on the right track. The future of this team is looking very bleak right now.

I know it’s one game in an 82 game season, but I think the significance of this one game is very telling, and this loss is going to be monumentally difficult to recover from.

Keep in mind that the 06-07 squad featured, cassell, mobley, maggs, brand , Kaman QRoss and TT…that team finished 40-42. Can we truly say that this team we have now is better? Camby is a step down from Brand, and Maggs’ reliable scoring has yet to be replicated by Thornton. I think the Clips can still attain a similar record. We’ll see. Our old guys are too old and our young guys too young.

In many ways, this was the most discouraging loss of the season so far. ClipperSteve hits the nail on the head with his analysis. My two cents:

- Beno Udrih scores a career-high 30 on the Clips. Shameful. He looked like Tony Parker the way he was getting to the hole for easy layups. Dunleavy emphasizes playing defense. Oh, really? Let’s say you’ve got an opponent killing you with dribble penetration. How about you play a little zone defense to shut-down the lane. Duh. Not that I approve of intentionally hurting someone, but it wouldn’t hurt to lay a “hard” foul on someone like Udrih when you’re getting burned so bad. Just rattle his teeth a bit to let him know that you are still there and care.

- Hey Kaman, just DUNK the damn ball!

- Al has got range, but he’s much better when he attacks the basket. Hey Al, take it to the hole!

- It was nice to see Rickey D get hot. We’ll need more of that. You could also see him working hard on defense.

- Tim Thomas is a much better player when the Clips run. He really sucks in the half-court, match-up, post-up style offense that Dunleavy loves.

- Baron was AWOL and got punk’d by Beno f’ing Udrih.

- It’s amazing how fast Jason Hart has lost his job to Mike Taylor. Even with his current lack of experience, Mike Taylor is clearly a better athlete with more potential upside than Jason Hart. Given their contract positions, Taylor is a bargain.

- When the Kings played zone, the Clips offense ground to a halt. Again, exactly what kind of offense do the Clippers run? Well, it’s not working very well.

- This loss makes the Dallas win seem like a fluke. Yes, the Clips played well in that game, but really Dallas was kind of lame.

- Watching the game on TV, I always gag when I see those Clippers ads where the players swear that they will “bring it” every night. Yeah, right.

- The next few games are the real measuring stick for these Clips. They are all games that the Clips should and must win to stay relevant. We shall see.

Go Clippers!

After last night’s agme, I told myself I was done with the Clippers… I’ve been a fan for close to 20 years, a season tik holder for a few of those years, so I’ve experienced the downs and the waaay downs, but for some reason last night’s performance just disgusted me more than any I can remember. This was an absolute must win for the Clips at home, against basically a JV Kings team… it’s one thing to lose to Kmart, Bibby, and Artest, but Udrih and Jason Thompson? Brad Miller probably woke up thinking it was 2004.

It was good to come here to see that people felt similarly and were not just accepting this as another loss and moving on, but it doesn’t help me shake the feeling that I’m already sick and tired of this team… tired of supporting a lifeless team that just goes through the motions… tired of Dunleavy’s boring a$$ stale offense, (imagine what D’Antoni could do with this squad)… tired of hearing crap from all my Laker buddies and trying to defend the indefensible… tired of Cat Mobley who is one of the worst 5 starters in the league… tired of seeing Kaman lumber aournd the court like the village idiot… tired of burning my hard earned money… tired of getting outworked night in and night out… tired of the Donalds cheesy ads in the LA times which somehow seem to always remind me of how much the Clippers suck… tired of watching Granger put up an MVP type year and wondering what could’ve been.

I’m sure somehow I’ll eventually get sucked back in as I always do… but for now, I’m just tired of investing my time and money into a team that gives me nothing but frustration and aggravation in return. Let me know how the rest of the season goes… you can find my tickets for Saturday on Craigslist.

I will definitely back you if you use your eerie and depressing commentary now, after last night’s game.

Eerie – it as like watching the old – “never had a chance to win anyway” Clippers.

Depressing – They lost when they could have won, if Dunleavy had only punished those lacking effort, and laughing and smiling while losing. He should have benched those guys early on and played Taylor, Gordon and Davis way more minutes.

I feel your pain Clipper nation. I still feel it today. Not good.

I get it—I didn’t want to check in here last night or this morning, didn’t want to look at the paper, didn’t want to think about the whole thing. It’s an ugly time.

But let’s hang in there. Go out and get the next one. It’s just one game.

Go Clippers!

we lost a very winnable game. However, this team is far from falling apart and it is still to early to give up.

…horrendous loss, the Clips are simply going to have to win about 16 or 17 of the next 20 games. Can they do it? I doubt it, but in my mind, that’s what it going to take to begin to salvage the season.