in 8 starts zach randolph is averaging

26 points (next best = 23.7)
10.5 rebounds (career high = 12.5 in 11 games with knicks)
53% from the field (next best = 46.7)
50% from 3 point range (8/19) (next best = 29.2)

@ Oklahoma City Thunder
@ Chicago
@ Indiana
@ Milwaukee Brew
Toronto

I can see the Clippers winning 4 more.

that Zach Randolph was this good and could shoot this well, especially from downtown. Whereas guys like Kaman will brick a 2 foot bunny, Zach is just about automatic near the rim, and if he does miss, he finds away to get back in there and rebound it. He is quite amazing actually. Ralph and Mike were talking about it last night. He just has great hands, and even in the absence of other athletic and fundamental skills, great hands will take a player far in this league. But Zach is pretty athletic, too, even though he doesn’t look it. Growing up, I had a fat friend that was just super athletic and coordinated. He was fast, could hit baseballs, shoot basketballs well, dance. Z Bo sort of reminds me of that. He really handles the ball well, and though I have seen a few errant passes and turnovers, I don’t think they are happening at an alarming rate, especially given the amount of touches he gets. The two man game with Zach and Baron on the right side is just pretty, even more so than the Cassell/Brand left block S/R. And I don’t really think he defense is as bad as was advertised. He does seem to make an effort at least.

I also had no idea that Eric Gordon was as good a defensive player as he is. He seems to know where to put his body to disrupt his man’s shot or block his path to the baseline without fouling him. Active hands. Strong. There was a play where he blocked a shot near the rim, then took the ball all the way down and converted, in traffic. He was very steady last night. Certainly doesn’t look 19 right now. I think he will be a very solid NBA player.

Al Thornton is un-guardable when he is on. He hit a turnaround fade late in the fourth that only a handful of NBA players could hit. And this was mostly against Shane Battier. I like the aggressive, take it to the rim AT a lot. He really hustled last night.

I love it when Marcus Camby blocks his shots with roundhouses and haymakers. His timing is amazing, and is mostly attributable to his age and experience. He combines this experience with great athleticism. He has worked his way back up to the top of the block and rebounding lists for the season (ZBo is right behind him in rebounds). He has certainly done his job in the absence of Kaman, and it is apparent that he is a much better center than PF. Kaman may be looking at a sixth man role when he returns, which I think would work great. I still agree with Zhiv that Kaman would make a fine PF. But either way, always having two of Camby/Kaman/Randolph on the floor will be a step up over bringing in Paul Davis, who has played well lately.

I was surprised by Mike Taylor’s struggles last night. Hart did a nice job in the 3rd and 4th, except for that ill-advised Pujit. But at least he got back on D and blocked the transition layup that resulted to make up for it.

We will see how the next few games play out, but I like what I have seen over the last two.

The clippers have played well, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. Looking past an opponent is not a good idea as we’ve seen from Portland and Houston looking past us. A couple of comments on the win streak though… Th clips have won 3 of their last 4, but if you include games they were leading in the 4th (Orlando and dallas), they SHOULD have won 6 of their last 8…

I don’t mind the PUJIT from hart that much because it’s much better than the clippers trying to run the clock in the 4th and wind up taking last second long shots like they have in the past.

Hey Clipper Steve,
What’s your take on Al Thornton’s offense? I’m talking about that play where the first pass goes to him, he holds it, turns, backs up, stutters, backs up, stutters and then takes a VERY OUT OF CONTROL shot.
Is that actually a play designed and approved by MDsr?
When Thornton runs his “iso” play the rest of the team just stands there. And Thornton rarely backs in and then dishes off to the open man.

Now contrast that with the very few running plays from last night where somebody like the Baron passes him the ball on the run, allowing Al to take flight and do his magic going to the rim.

Does this Al “iso” play frustrate you as much as it does me???

Thanks.

From not really ever seen Zbo play when he was with the knicks and all the bad things i heard about him, this is a completely different Zach that what i heard. Things such as bad defense but as i watched him guard people like Yao and Howard and Oden and he definitely give it his all and keeps those guys from being close to the rim, plus he is like at least 3 4 inches shorter than those guys. so great effort to him

what we could do if we had ricky davis…

Four points from the bench – that will not cut it long term. I know we have two guys injured, but the last few games our bench has been non-existent.

Randolph may be the best player I have ever seen. I can’t wait to see how he thrives in an offensive system that is so devoted to the PF position. It looks like the Clippers finally have their superstar. I just hope Baron, Kaman and Al realize the “on the court” implications of this.

Great games – finally a splinter of light in a dark tunnel.

Memphis has been playing pretty well lately? It seems that might not have been such a horrible loss. Also, the Kings have been playing the Lakers tough. Even OKC played the Spurs tough tonight….seems there are no easy wins in the association right now.

Or does he only come out when the Clippers lose?

If it wasn’t clear before, it should be clear now that what the Clippers lacked from the start of the season was a true #1 option on offense. It’s tough for a PG, no matter how great they are to operate without a legit 1st option. Chris Paul has David West. Deron Williams has Carlos Boozer. Nash has Amare, Rondo has the big 3, Calderon has Bosh, Cassell had EB, and on and on.

As tough as we were on Baron, he just just didn’t have a chance to succeed in terms of help. As much as we hoped Kaman & Thornton could be that guy, neither were even close to meeting the challenge.

Enter Zach Randolph. BD finally gets his go to guy, and order is restored on offense. BD can assume the #2 scoring roll if he needs to, but when Thornton assumes the #2 role, which he has been doing more and more, the offense clicks along much better. Eric Gordon is content to be a 3 or 4, can space the floor and make big plays on both sides of the floor, and Camby of course, just picks up the slack. It’s amazing how much one player can make such a big impact, but the dreaded Randolph has done just that. What a horrible GM Dunleavy is for such a proud franchise.

Even our defensive intensity and committment (as some of us guessed might happen) has picked up tremendously now that the team has something to play for again. The bleeding has stopped somehow. I liked the LA Times power rankings from today’s paper…we moved up from 27 to 24, with the appropriate comment: “They’re Alive!”

The bench is obviously vulnerable, and very workmanlike right now. You cross your fingers at no matter who spells the starters, though Davis(3) is looking like the most capable off the bench. But with the way the starting five is clicking right now, they look like they can creep closer towards .500 until reinforcements come (Kaman, Davis(2)).

the Clips when two big games in a row. Good point Ghost about the legit 1st option. Hopefully things will continue to improve.

It’s nice to see a little spring in the step of ClipsNation. Everybody has been remarkably patient and hasn’t gone completely nuts during a horrendously difficult and troubled start, and it’s nice to get a couple of wins and to see not just a few positive signs, but a whole lot, and a much brighter outlook for the road ahead.

It’s truly amazing that the Clips are doing this without Kaman, who was so clearly their best player last year. Pretty funny to put this last sequence into the frustrating mix of never having the chance to see Kaman-Brand. I’m going to say that we never really got a good look at Kaman-Camby either, based on Camby’s injury and slow start as compared to the way that he’s playing now, plus Kaman playing a couple of games on a bad foot. And now we’re still waiting to see how Kaman-Camby-Randolph will work, but the great thing is that we’re getting this phenomenal Camby-Randolph run as a sweet little bonus. More accurately it’s really a phenomenal Randolph run, with a very strong and solid Camby run that is meeting our optimistic expectations for him.

I’ll say it again and say it another 100 times: let’s remember how much better this team became when Tim Thomas was no longer on the roster and no longer an option for Mike Dunleavy. And the same goes, to a lesser extent, for poor Cat Mobley. Gordon would be nowhere near where he is today without that trade, and the injury to Davis2 as well, for that matter. In all of the analysis and details of how Gordon plays and what he can do, we would only know and have seen 10-20% of it if there was no trade.

And I’ll remember again how much I hated the trade.

Another bonus that we’re seeing play out is the way in which Baron Davis is playing with energy and heart and he seems to be happy. This seems to be a result of playing with Randolph, a healthy Camby, Gordon and Mike Taylor, along with Thornton. The team works and has good chemistry and the talent suits BDavis very well. As CS noted, hitting the shot against Portland, right after making such a horrible mistake, might have turned things around.

The 1st option comment is a great note. It’s going to be absolutely fascinating to see what this team is like when Kaman comes back. We’ve talked a fair amount about how there will be adequate minutes for all three of them. Kaman will come off the bench in his first couple of games back and he’ll probably play some limited minutes. That in itself should be interesting, and we’ll have to see who the backup big men are on some of the not-so-great teams that the Clips will be playing when Kaman returns.

Another thing is that, after the Camby trade, we talked about how Kaman and Camby would complement each other, Kaman inside and Camby outside, both good rebounders and shot blockers, both able to play center but having the athleticism to fit as PFs as well. And now that we’ve watched ZBo play a bunch of games, it’s obvious that he’s the PF, no two ways about it; he’s just an excellent player at the position, and he’s been playing it at an all-star level for the last 5 games. So what does this mean for the rotation and potential of the triumvirate?

I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but has anybody else noticed how Milph keep talking about how Camby is really a 7-ft small forward? Just saying. There may be a few extra minutes there, with all three guys on the court. When the trade was first made, before Kaman’s foot injury, there was some discussion about this with the idea that Randolph might play some SF. But now that we’ve seen ZBo it seems obvious that he’s going to get his 35 minutes a night at PF, and we wouldn’t want it any other way. And the Camby-ZBo combo is working; it’s excellent, and good things happen when Camby is out on the floor. Like I said, it’s going to be fascinating to see what happens when Kaman comes back.

CBlog is as bullish as any of us, and had a nice breakdown of the Clipper defense and a few of the other good things that are happening right now. A big part of it is the fact that there are no negative players on the Clips now, few empty minutes—the closest is Baron Davis when he’s in a funk, but when he and the team are riding the wave like this he’s the guy who can put the Clippers up into the higher levels of excellence. Even the Mardy Collins addition seems like a significant upgrade, giving the Clips an excellent perimeter defender and athlete, and it was good to see that Dunleavy didn’t overuse him against McGrady and that Gordon did such a good job defending TMac. Thornton needs to learn the CS jab step rule and get the ball moving but he’s going to prosper riding the wave as well, and he provides a lot of highlights.

Good times. GO CLIPPERS GO!