Kings Squeak By Clippers, 92 - 90
by moKi
on Dec 31, 2008 2:30 AM PST
5 comments
In an ugly battle between two of the lowliest teams in the Western Conference, the night ended with the Kings at 8 - 24 and the Clippers, despite the loss, at an insignificantly better 8 - 22.
The game started in typical fashion for the Clippers as of late, the team barely scoring 12 points in the entire first quarter, putting them in a 15 point hole in less than 12 minutes.
While Baron Davis, Al Thornton and Marcus Camby struggled offensively, mostly missing outside jump shots, Eric Gordon and Paul Davis provided the Clippers' only consistent offense of the night.
Gordon deftly mixed up his arsenal of strong drives to the basket with a sprinkling of his 3 point sweetness, going 4 of 6 from behind the arc and recording a game high 24 points to lead both teams. He even had a comeback-motivating slam dunk, that put the Kings on their heels and had Beno Udrih ducking to avoid the destruction of the rim and possible posterizing.
Paul Davis, getting the start ahead of Skinner in place of the injured Zach Randolph, consistently cut to the basket and attacked the rim. Impressively, he got to the foul line 10 times and made all 10 free throws. He posted a career high 18 points, adding 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in the contest. His best game as a Clipper was diminished only by the fact that he could not get an 18 footer to go down with time running out at the end of the game. His last shot would have sent the game into overtime. Instead, the miss gave the Kings the gift of a win.
The Bad
- Baron Davis continued his poor shooting only making 3 shots out of 17 field goal attempts. It seems he is and maybe has been playing with a bad back. He was also the center of controversy this week as his former Warriors teammate was quoted as saying that Baron wants to go back to Golden State. Baron then denied it Monday at practice, to the LA Times.
- Al Thornton also continued his poor shooting (albeit with fewer mind boggling jab steps) matching Baron with 3 shots made. He only took 12 attempts, netting him a whopping 8 points in 32 minutes. Also extremely disappointing was his botched unnecessary double-pump slam dunk attempt at the 2 minute mark of the fourth quarter. Had he made that dunk, the Clippers would have been up 92-90 with momentum on their side. They probably would have won.
- Injuries: Kaman is still out indefinitely with a bad foot, Ricky Davis is also out indefinitely with a bad knee and will have to sit out 5 additional games even after he is cleared to play (due to violating the NBA's anti-drug policies), Zach Randolph is supposedly out 1 - 2 weeks with a bruised knee, and Mike Taylor is said to be out with a broken right hand for 4 to 6 weeks.
- The Clippers bench still looks weak...although tonight's combined 14 points from Skinner, Hart, Collins and the newly acquired Fred Jones seems like an improvement considering how decimated the team is by injuries and in comparison to some of last weeks games.
The Good
- Eric Gordon continues to improve, playing veteran type offense and defense. At 20 years old his decisions and execution are notably far smarter and crisper than that of sophmore Al Thornton. He bothered Kevin Martin significantly in tonight's game, even drawing comparisons by Ralph and Mike to Q. Ross' stifling past performances. On the offensive end, I am starting to notice that he is running very hard around screens (not unlike Richard Hamilton or Reggie Miller of old). His energy and effort shine very brightly during these dark days of Clipper losses.
- Paul Davis is not chopped liver. Given more minutes to develop, Davis provided impressive interior play (4 offensive rebounds, 3 assists) and showed that despite his appearance of not having hops, he can get up there and get tip dunks on opposing centers (he jammed a miss back so hard on Brad Miller that even Sac fans gave up the nasty sound as Miller crumbled to the deck).
- Without Kaman and Randolph, with Baron and Al playing so horribly, with a new guy thrown into only his second game with them and getting significant minutes, and even with the Kings getting back their star player in Kevin Martin, the Clippers still had a chance to win this game. Yeah, there are no more moral victories but it does show that there is still potential for the Clippers to be a good team.
0 recs |
5 comments
Email
Print
Comments
Great job
Tough game. Glad to see at least some of the guys show some heart. Camby’s 24 boards were impressive, but he did do a very un-Camby like thing in the 2nd quarter. After an ugly miss in which he thought he was fouled, Marcus just kind of stopped and hung his head while the Kings went into transition. Sacramento scored on the play. Normally, Camby gets back in this situation, but there is some obvious frusturation mounting. Still, for him to grab 24 boards is truly awesome.
Baron Davis game was stunningly bad, perhaps his worst as a Clipper, coming on the heels of his previous worst. Perhaps with Zach out he has decided to just give a minimal effort, and that just plain sucks.
AT is clearly regressing in many phases of the game. So to be worth his minutes, he has to score. He didn’t do that last night.
Paul Davis is proof that effort and fundamentals are good for something. And he does have some talent, too.
Fred Jones was a nice FA pickup. Hard to believe he didn’t have a job.
The team just can’t catch a break health wise, but I expect that they will get back to playing some decent ball once they get healthy.
F-Elton!
by mikey p on
Dec 31, 2008 7:26 AM PST
reply
actions
0 recs
Additional Good
Thanks Mikey P. Tried to keep it short but your good points bring up more stuff I thought about.
More Good
• Marcus Camby has been my favorite Clipper this year. Effort, effort ,effort every night. 34 years old and does everything a team could hope for. No wonder he’s been hurt so many times in his career! He plays HARD and I totally appreciate it. Diving for loose balls, blocking on one end and then running back on the fast break to finish a missed layup, the ability to pass into the post or throw an alley oop lob, the ability to make a 12 foot jumper, hit free throws, leading a team in FG% (51.5%), Rebounding (12.7) and Blocks (2.9). Wow. Wow. Wow. I feel so badly for him that his efforts go wasted in so many losses. I wish I could tell him that I appreciate his play regardless of the outcome. What a great player.
• Eric Gordon is my second favorite Clipper this year. How smart is this 20 year old kid?? He puts Al Thornton to shame. EJ goes hard to the basket and finishes or gets fouled. He has developed an amazingly solid outside stroke. He can effortlessly put up threes running off screens with a hand in his face. He has guarded some of the best backcourt players in the NBA and has done decent to very well defensively against them. He makes steals but doesn’t gamble foolishly. The best play from him last night was when he had the ball in the halfcourt and looked to be doubled. He went down the sideline, around a man baseline and right into two defenders. He was trapped. What did he do? No stupid foot jabbing. Without hesitation he lofted it toward the rim knowing he had two teammates in rebounding position. That’s right. A soft little rainbow shot. Why is that so smart? Well, if he tried to shoot it in over the defenders it probably would have bounced off at a bad angle, maybe even towards their basket starting a fast break for them. With the soft lob that he tossed up, there was a much higher chance of his teammates getting the ball if it didn’t go in. Sure it is totally up to chance, but a smarter play nonetheless. He didn’t make the shot but Camby got the rebound and put back. Awesome. Smart, smart kid.
• Most Clipper fans will agree with you Mickey P. I do. Fred Jones is a good pickup. Why? Look who he’s going to replace. Mardy Collins. Put those two side by side and you have to think that Jones is going to be better. Better range (though he is still rusty), smoother drives to the basket (Mardy always looks like a turnover waiting to happen as he drives hard), better finisher (just thinking about Jones’ previous play with Indiana). Although unproven at this point, I like Jones to improve the bench a lot. He may need 10 games or so (as he has not played organized 5 on 5 basketball in months). He’s going to need real game time to get his stroke back and his timing, so let’s not get on his case for his 1 of 9 shooting last night. Give him some time. At this point, the Clippers have all the time in the world.
What Needs Attention
• The Three Spot. The Clippers’ have no one solid at Small Forward. Unfortunately I think Thornton is not showing very much promise. I was hoping he could be a better version of Corey Maggette but he looks more and more like James Singleton. An ok player but not a starter in this league. Sure, he’s still a sophomore but he doesn’t seem to be grasping what he should be doing on the court to help his team instead of hurting them. I do think he’s a nice guy and I hear he works hard. Hopefully he can figure it out.
So who do the Clippers have coming off the bench when AT is struggling at the Small Forward spot? Nobody at that natural position. Dunleavy has been using Collins, who is 6’6" but listed as a guard, or Novak, who at 6’10" doesn’t seem to have enough mobility to guard opposing SFs. Ricky Davis seems like an obvious fit, but being injured and suspended leaves the Clippers with nothing now.
Some think that the Clippers will somehow waive Ricky Davis, especially with the pickup of Fred Jones. But at 6’2" I don’t know how realistic it will be to ask Jones to play at SF. I think no matter what you think of Ricky regarding his “injury” and suspension, it seems like the Clippers need him badly. And unless some other offensively proficient, defensively decent SF suddenly becomes available, I think the Clippers will have to rely on RD.
by moKi on
Dec 31, 2008 2:41 PM PST
up
reply
actions
0 recs
Nice recap
I am thoroughly disappointed in Baron’s play now. He essentially gave the game to the Kings last night in the fourth quarter. I don’t know if he is hurt or what, but if he ever starts playing and acting like the leader and veteran that he is (or supposed to be), the Clips will be alright. Lets just hope he can turn it around some time this season and give us all a little hope.
I was impressed with Fred Jones last night. I suspect once RDavis comes off his suspension, the Clippers will just waive him. It was nice knowing ya buddy!
Injuries are killing this team right now. Are we ever going to see the team at full strength this year? That is my new years wish.
by Clip Show on
Dec 31, 2008 8:31 AM PST
reply
actions
0 recs
Tough One
It’s amazing that we still should have won this game despite BD’s 3/17, Thornton’s 3/12, and Fred Jones going 1 for 9, but the Clippers did find a rhythym towards the end of the 2nd quarter into the 3rd quarter. It was looking a lot like the 1st OKC game there for a while until we ran out of gas toward the end. Camby put the team on his back for a while there in the 4th, but we needed for Gordon to be more assertive down the stretch to pull it out, god forbid we could ask Thornton to convert on a simple dunk.
BD played a lot better than the stat line indicated I thought. Horrible start to the game for him, but when he got in there later in the 2nd quarter he was a big part of the come back, and you could tell he was actually trying. Still took too many shots though…the thing is, who else was supposed to take the shots? The only guy I can think of is EJ. When you make a play for Camby, you totally lose your offensive rebounding potential, and everyone else was cold, including Davis(3) in the 4th, he did just about all his damage earlier in the game.
Disappointing from the standpoint that a lot of us thought we could win these last two games before 09’, and that right now we’re just trying to get back to respectability. The schedule gets tougher after Philly…
by ghost_ride on
Dec 31, 2008 1:34 PM PST
reply
actions
0 recs
This one hurts.
It really sucks to have to go through those three 20+ point losses in a row, but to lose this one where things were looking good late in the third really hurts. We had a 73-65 lead in the third before the Kings finished the quarter by scoring the final seven points, setting up a tough fourth quarter that left us a mere two points short.
Almost everything about this team frustrates me. With no Z-Bo, the team is going to go as Baron does. They made it a ballgame with his play in the second and third quarters, but couldn’t quite get the W with his poor performance in the fourth. I realize his back might have been hurt, but he needs to display much better leadership qualities than he has been. I hold him to such a high standard because of his past play and his price tag. So far, he has shown that he is nowhere near worth what he is getting paid. The attitude/swagger isn’t there. He’s just mailing it in, whether he thinks he is or not.
Al Thornton seems to be the only person (other than possibly Dunleavy) who doesn’t realize how much better he is when he drives to the hoop, which is starting to piss me off, and I’ve been a big supporter of his. There was a particular play in the second half which exemplified this where he missed a nineteen footer, but Camby got the rebound and found AT streaking down the lane where he got fouled and made the bucket. It showed me, at least, the two sides of Al Thornton. That missed dunk at the end of the game just killed me, though. Why in the world was he double pumping that? It seems like he is always anticipating contact around the basket instead of going to the hoop with no regard for what might be coming. Aside from all the other things that we’re waiting on him to develop (defense, basketball IQ, etc.), the killer instinct is still not there for Al.
You just can’t win a basketball game where you don’t score in the final 3:03, but the Clippers sure did try to. In typical Clipper fashion, the team found themselves relying on a rookie in Eric Gordon and a third year man who doesn’t play much in Paul Davis. Both EJ and Davis(3) had great games and really kept my hopes up throughout, but Baron and AT really need to step it up if the Clippers are going to get a win without Z-Bo. I saw a lot that I liked out of Gordon and Davis(3) which I do hope continues. EJ is far more impressive than what I saw out of him last year at Indiana, when he had that wrist injury. Paul Davis is starting to grow into his own with a performance like he had. These two guys were really giving it their all and I appreciate that.
Lastly, I’ll end on a good not. Marcus Camby is quickly becoming my favorite player. When he was on other teams, I acknowledged his talent, but never really saw the way that he changes games. He gives it his full effort in every single game. I wish that Baron would take a page out of Marcus’ book. It’s cliche, but rebounds are desire, and with 24, Camby shows you that he really just wants it more than the other guy (it helps if you’re freakishly long as well). He hustles down the court after every play, as seen with that block in the third which he turned into a putback dunk. The rest of the team is supposed to reward the big guy when he makes a good defensive play, but on the Clippers Camby has to reward himself, and he does a damn good job of it. I feel terrible for him that he has to go through all of this. I know that I would pick up my game if I played on the same team as Marcus, getting to watch the way he plays. Unfortunately, it seems to me that Baron’s play is simply unaffected. I want players to be calm, but c’mon. Something needs to light a fire under the rest of this team so that they play with some sort of a sense of urgency (or even 10% of Camby’s effort for that matter). And it’s getting to the point where I hope that somebody in the organization literally lights a fire under them. Maybe then we’ll get some results.
Anyways, Happy New Year to all at Clipper Nation. Here’s to not realizing that some of the best teams in the NBA have yet to face the Clippers. Great post, moKi.
by WestsideBrandon on
Dec 31, 2008 3:53 PM PST
reply
actions
0 recs
New FanPost
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
