And I had to miss several chunks of it. But I see that Kobe only went 3-11. Can we attribute that to Butler’s D, someone else’s (Gordon?), or just Kobe himself?

Do you suppose Thorton was kept out the whole time for a reason?

I’m kind of worried about these “replacement” refs. Some of those calls looked really biased towards the Lakers. Sure these new refs might have undergone a lot of training but how many of them have personal opinions on the Clippers? How many of them will give in to the fear of the home crowd and give the “champs” the benefit of the doubt while having nothing to fear for calling fouls against the “lowly” Clippers?

I am curious to see how well these new refs hold up in the regular season.

I’m doubtful of their ability to remain unbiased and call fouls fairly. Seems like some coaches don’t like the level of officiating they have seen so far either.

Magic, Van Gundy fined $35,000

NEW YORK — The Orlando Magic and coach Stan Van Gundy have been fined $35,000 each for his criticism of referees earlier in the week.

The fines were announced Friday, a day after Van Gundy’s comments about the replacement officials were published.

Van Gundy became the third coach in three days to be fined. The Charlotte Bobcats and coach Larry Brown were each fined $60,000 on Wednesday for Brown’s verbal abuse of officials and refusal to leave the court in timely manner after he was ejected during a preseason game, and his subsequent postgame criticism.

Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins was also penalized $25,000 on Wednesday for his critical comments.

I’m sure some of the old refs had biases but at least maybe the coaches knew that and could prepare the players for it? With the new refs there may be so much uncertainty that the final outcome could be seriously affected by them…

Pre-season is great, because you get to enjoy the wins and solid play, and you can write off the poor play and losses and say “it’s just the pre-season.” There were a few good signs in this game, like the way that the Clippers built a nice first half lead, with some nice play by a number of guys. But the team’s failure to show up in the second half was worrisome. The Lakers really had no business winning this game, but the Clippers gave up too much to Bynum and then Farmar and Morrison.

Officiating was a factor, but it was pretty minor. The offensive foul on Griffin actually might have been an okay foul, as he was turning as Farmar smashed into him. But there were earlier calls on Kaman and Griffin that limited their minutes, especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Just unfortunate. But again, the Clips have enough depth and talent to overcome that type of thing, but they just weren’t playing well.

I just don’t like it. It’s a sort of Laker mojo, made worse when Joel and Stu are calling the game from on high. Farmar runs over Craig Smith and throws in a shot and they celebrate how he’s seeking contact. But that’s not a big deal. The problem is that the Clips have to break through, like they did in 05-06, and give anything away. Baron seemed on the verge of doing that at one point, after a call didn’t go his way. For about a minute he played with the intensity that turned around the GSW game so quickly. Last year when he tried to turn it on like that he was ineffective, and he didn’t have the higher gear. Now he’s got it, but the trick is getting it going and keeping it going. This is where the pre-season is funky, especially a back-to-back with his backup on the shelf for the 3rd straight game. I would have been very happy for Telfair to have played those minutes, and Baron to have been sitting this one out.

Bynum’s success was distressing. Kaman made three or four good plays, and he got some rebounds, but Bynum was longer and more athletic and more effective than he was. And then when Kaman had fouls, DJordan threw down a couple of nice passes, but he missed another one right at the rim, and he was back in his “you get two, and I’ll get one” mode with Bynum from last year. The Clips need to be able to stop Bynum, or at least be a little bit more effective against him. Both Kaman and DJordan should be able to answer that challenge. It’s not easy, but they need to win some of those battles. Artest and Kobe were disinterested and well-guarded, and it you stop Bynum the Lakers are down to weapons like Farmar and Morrison. And when those guys hurt you, when Adam Morrison gets hot and Ricky Davis, guarding him, is nowhere in sight, it’s a little depressing.

And while we’re on Morrison, for just a moment, no Steve Novak? No Al Thornton, no Steve Novak? If Morrison is getting all those minutes and scoring points, no Steve Novak as an answer? I realize that Craig Smith/Rhino was giving an impressive showing, which makes it trickier. But Camby was out too. And it’s the preseason. The question is whether there’s any time that Novak is going to play. It’s hard to tell when that might be. But what do I know.

The big thing in this game, of course, is who didn’t play. In the first half, the whole time when Joel and Stu were talking about how the Clippers look good on paper, but they never get it together, and the Clips were up by 15 and they could give Kobe plenty of attention, I kept thinking about what it would be like if, say, Pao Gasol was out for the season and Lamar Odom missed 50 games. The Lakers don’t have much depth at all, because they’re spending so much money on four guys. Some of the other players are complementary, but the team is pretty mortal when one or two guys are banged up and out. And that’s another reason why you don’t want to let players like Bynum, let alone Morrison, get any sort of confidence.

Pao Gasol may be one of the best players on the planet. Odom sounded like a different human being when they interviewed him (missing a bunch of action while showing him and other Lakers), confident and decisive, a champion. It’d be nice if having Camby, Thornton, and Telfair out was an even swap, but it isn’t. Still, the Clippers have enough talent that they should be able to match up against most teams, even the Lakers. But they don’t have much margin for error, and they don’t need to be increasing the confidence of the Lakers marginal players. They need to be building their own confidence.

But hey, it’s just preseason. Much preferable to play well and give them a better shot next week.

The Shannon “Chris” Brown dunk was called a half court dunk by Spiro. “He took off from halfcourt for that dunk”.

not mention the poster dunk on Mbenga.
.

From the LA Times -

Air Griffin

Telfair and his Clippers teammates were almost giddy in the aftermath of rookie Blake Griffin’s spectacular flying dunk over Lakers center DJ Mbenga in the fourth quarter on Sunday.

“His nickname is Amazin’,” DeAndre Jordan said of Griffin. “His new nickname is Amazin’.”

Jordan shouted over in the locker room to Telfair, saying: “Bassy! Bassy! Amazin’, right?”

Telfair: “Amazin’.”

“It was a good pass, I just tried to go up and finish,” Griffin said. “I don’t keep track of a personal highlight film. Something like that was fun. Still gotta get better.”

He drew kudos from Kobe Bryant and Lakers Coach Phil Jackson. Telfair declared that was only the beginning for Griffin. “Just showing everybody what he’s going to be doing all season,” Telfair said. “That’s his nickname. Amazin’. That’s what we gave him, the first day he walked in.”

Who came up with it?

“Me,” Telfair said. “The first day.”

Haven’t the Lakers always had a vulnerability to undersized power forwards? The Houston Rockets definitely come to mind when I think about this statement.

It was very smart for the Clippers to keep pounding through Craig Smith if that was the case. What other teams have a weakness towards players like Craig Smith?

Maybe this can be a topic for a new post, but what is the play style of an undersized power forward, and why can they cause so much havoc to certain teams?

Additionally, I think there is a downside towards being undersized in a position, but if you can implement an offensive and defensive strategy that really makes the upsides or advantages shine (Craig Smith and Eric Gordon), and minimizes the impact of the downsides or disadvantages you will have done a great job as a coach in making your team competitive.

Thank you for your time.
-Clipper Theorist.