I’m pretty sure we were all worried we’d get blown out tonight. After going down 15 points in the 3rd quarter, it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen, but I credit the guys for battling back. Cutting it to a 1 point game at the end of the third was a pleasant surprise, even if you knew they weren’t going to get over the top. Al Thornton has probably had the best three game stretch of his career (averaging 25 & 9), after bottoming out against New Orleans and Denver. Randolph looks to really be freeing him up, and hopefully Kaman will enjoy a similar benefit.

In fact, we may not have much of a bench right now, but when Kaman comes back it looks like we’ll have 5 players capable of going for 20 points on any given night. In order of most likely, Randolph, Thornton, BD, EJ, Kaman. Camby’s also proven capable of threatening 20 points once in a while. So we know we can score. Defense & rebounding is another story…

What are the chances we can sweep Minnesota & Memphis right now? Tough to say, but if we had a 50/50 chance to win each game, our chances of winning both would only be 25%. Since we seem to be playing much better than our record indicates, taking care of these next two games would be the time to prove it. Minnesota hasn’t been playing very good after their big home win against Detroit, but should still be the tougher matchup. Memphis seems like a true 4 win team as none of their losses look like they were very close to being wins. We get an off day tomorrow before another back to back, but it will be the same deal for Minnesota on Saturday. They’ll be traveling back from New Jersey to host us on Saturday.

Houston had McGrady out and Artest isn’t playing that well these days.

Detached tone in CS’ post.

Memphis probably has this game circled and isn’t going to make this game easy.

Clippers are number 14. Thank you Dunleavy!
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/features/worstteams

Notice how they don’t show any teams who’ve rebounded to respectability after a slow start.

I have to say that I am really enjoying watching the Clippers right now. I’m sorta used to losing, which is never easy, but super-low expectations can be liberating. What’s the difference between a 3-13 team and a 3-14 team? Not that much.

But it’s really fun to watch the new parts as they try to come together. What I’ve seen thus far from Randolph is nothing but joyful and exciting, a really nice prescription for a major Clipper ailment. And the young guys are all fantastic—Thornton and Gordon and Taylor are all playing major minutes and they’re exciting to watch. Camby blocks shots and rebounds. And I love Baron Davis. I can’t wait for Kaman to come back.

Really, it’s a great time to be a Clipper fan. We took the hit and the team is still out there playing hard, and this team is about 1000% more fun to watch than seeing Tim Thomas, Cat Mobley, and Ricky Davis. The Clips were stabbed in the heart by Brand and gutpunched with injuries to Camby and BDavis and RDavis and who knows who else, and they’re not going to win anything any time soon. That’s just the way it is. But the big personnel changes have taken some exciting twists and we should be seeing some results eventually. I was as skeptical of the Randolph trade and I could possible imagine, but the sheer joy of getting to see Eric Gordon hit shots and make plays, and seeing BD playing with Mike Taylor, all of it instead of the plodding, steady—and steadily disappointing—play of Mobley, not to mention never having to see TThomas again, and getting to watch Randolph hit shots and grab rebounds instead, it’s all awesome. I thought that the Clips would be okay and be competitive hanging on to Thomas and Mobley for two years and then getting a great free agent, but now that feels like it would have been a horror show. This is fun. Let’s hang in there and see where it goes.

Clippers on the list 3x

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/features/worstteams

Never thought I would be doing this, but I’m very intrigued by the guy. As CS says:

“Randolph has an uncannily soft touch. It’s really astounding how many shots he gets up on the rim that just bounce around and eventually fall in. When he’s near the basket, he just gets it up there, and it doesn’t have to be a perfect shot, but he somehow gets the ball in the hoop.”

And you know what else? For all the times that the uncanny soft touch results in kind bounces, how often does he get nothing but net? When he sets up on the right block and you’re watching on TV—the Clippers attacking left to right on your radio dial—it’s really something to watch: perfectly on line, perfect rotation, nice little arc, right into the net. It’s pretty sweet. I’m not sure that he’s going to continue to be able to shoot as well as he has the last three games, but I’m impressed. He seems to be able to get the shot off pretty well too, and then there’s also the junk he picks up around the basket. I think he really likes playing with Camby too, not to mention BD and EJ and Thornton.

It’s good to have great shooters on your team. Gordon’s shot is amazing. He’s going to have growing pains, but the kid can shoot, and he can do other stuff as well. Randolph’s soft touch and sweet shot has been an unexpected surprise. We knew he had a strong offensive game, and we’ll probably find all sorts of reasons to be frustrated over time, but at this point it’s all good.