Clippers @ Golden State - Game Preview
by Steve Perrin on Nov 5, 2009 11:27 PM PST
in Game Previews
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2009/2010 NBA Regular Season
@
1-4 1-2
Oracle Arena
November 6th, 2009, 7:30 PM
FSN Prime Ticket, 980 AM
Probable starters:
Baron Davis
PG
Monta Ellis
Eric Gordon
SG
Stephen Curry
Rasual Butler
SF
Kelenna Azubuike
Al Thornton
PF
Stephen Jackson
Chris Kaman
C
Andris Biedrins
The Back Story:
First meeting of the season. Golden State won the season series last year 3-1.
The Big Picture:
After playing five games in seven nights to open the season, the Clippers have had three full days off, which is pretty rare in the NBA. Of course, after being overworked in the first five games, they'll probably be rusty in this one. You just can't win (almost literally). The Clippers opened the season 0-4 against teams that won 45 or more last season, then beat the first losing team the faced, the Timberwolves, on Monday. The Warriors also had a losing record last season, so hopefully that trend will continue. I was pretty lukewarm on the Wolves win, but maybe I should feel a little better about it after Minnesota came within two of Boston Wednesday night. As for the Warriors game, Baron Davis seems to like playing his former mates. In a season in which his overall scoring was way off, he averaged 26 points per game against the Dubs last season. In fact, Baron scored 25 or more 7 times last season, and 3 of those came against the Warriors. Given CMDsr's penchant for matching up to the opponent, I am guessing that Al Thornton will get the start at 'power' forward, since too-old-and-too-crazy-to-care-what-people-think Don Nelson is now starting Stephen Jackson at the four. Either way, it's clear the Rasual Butler will get his second start of the season. Thornton missed practice on Thursday due to illness, so he may not be able to play.
The Antagonist:
The Warriors, aka the Clippers-North, are the only team in the NBA that can consistently rival the Clippers in levels of dysfunction. In fact, Clipper trauma this year has been limited to rather mundane things - injured saviors and fourth quarter collapses, big deal. The Warriors have disgruntled stars, trade demands, players openly questioning their roles and their teammates, minutes controversy - all the really good stuff. It's too bad too, because there's talent on the roster, but I don't think anyone believes the season can be a success given all the turmoil. Stephen Jackson doesn't want to be there, Monta Ellis doesn't want to share with Steph Curry, Anthony Randolph just wants to play - it's a soap opera. But between the guys that were supposed to be good (Jackson is flawed but talented, Corey Maggette is who he is, Curry and Randolph and Andris Biedrins were lottery picks) and the guys they just sort of found lying around (Monta Ellis was a second round pick, Kelenna Azubuike was in the D-League, Anthony Morrow was undrafted) they've assembled quite a lot of young talent. They can win some games this season if they can keep from self-destructing. They got their first win of the season Wednesday versus the Grizzlies.
The Subplots:
- Clips Nation Viewing Party! Stop by the Beach Club, 5755 E. Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach, at the intersection of PCH and Bellflower. We'll be there from pre-game to post-game, out on the patio. Just stop by and ask them for the Clips Nation party. We got a few responses on the earlier post, but I'm hoping that a bunch of people will stop by.
- Butler and Thornton. The small forward position looked weak going into the season, and so far it has been worse than we feared. Thornton is shooting 33.3%; Butler 38.5%. Thornton has at least rebounded well. Between the two of them, they've had one decent game in 10 chances (Butler versus Phoenix). At least one of them needs to step up - preferably both. As I mentioned above, Thornton sat out practice Thursday with an illness, so it remains to be seen if he'll play in this one. If he can go, I expect he'll get plenty of minutes at power forward.
- The Matchup Game. Continuing the theme of matching up to the Warriors, there are some things we can expect from this game. (1) DeAndre Jordan will not play. (2) Eric Gordon will play a LOT. (3) With Butler playing the three and Thornton playing the four if he plays at all, Sebastian Telfair, Baron Davis and Gordon will take the vast majority of the backcourt minutes, with Bassy and Baron playing lots of minutes together. Basically, take away minutes from the bigs (except possibly Kaman) and add minutes to Telfair, Baron, Gordon and Butler. That's your rotation. I'm not saying it's what I would do, but it's what MDsr is going to do.
- Kaman 3.0. Chris Kaman has been on a tear. Particularly in the first half recently, Kaman has been putting up incredible stats. He scored a career high 27 Saturday against Dallas, and followed that up with 25 on Monday. He had never before in his career scored 20+ in three consecutive games, and he's got a streak of four going at this point. I fully expect him to make it five tonight. In year's past the pace and general peskiness of teams like Phoenix and Golden State have bothered Kaman, but this season he just seems immune to it. He's prepared to take advantage of them where he can, without allowing them to disrupt his game. Now, Andris Biedrins is no slouch, but Kaman's got his entire arsenal working right now, and I don't think Biedrins can stop him. And certainly no one else on the Warrors can slow him down, especially if Ronny Turiaf is out (he's got a gimpy knee and is listed as day-to-day).
- Eric Gordon. Eric Gordon has had some nice games so far this season. But he hasn't really had a big game yet. You just have the feeling that he's going to hang 30 on someone pretty soon here. How about tonight? Against Ellis and Curry, expect MDsr to run some post ups for both EJ and Baron in this game. (Note that the Clippers sometimes get into trouble with this kind of thing. They get so focused on the matchup that they will use most of the clock just getting started. It's a function of suddenly doing something that's not really in your nature. EJ's not accustomed to establishing and holding post position, and the Clippers aren't the best team in the league at making entry passes. The net result can be twelve seconds of struggling to get the ball to the guy in the right spot, and three four seconds on the shot clock by the time he's finally got the ball. Not the most beautiful thing to watch.)
- Anthony Morrow. Morrow scored 37 in his first NBA start last November against the Clippers. He scored 21 and 32 in the two pre-season meetings. He scored 24 in the Warriors first win Wednesday night against the Grizzlies. The guy is a scoring machine, and I'm still shocked that nobody drafted him last year. I mean, if you're a scout, how do you miss that this guy is the best shooter ever? It's not like he's one of those intangibles guys. What is does is pretty effing tangible. He's the best. shooter. ever. Or maybe he's only that good when he plays the Clippers. MDsr told me that he wants guys to close out on Morrow's shooting hand and chase him off the three point line, make him put the ball on the floor. Yeah, seems like a good idea.
- Anthony Randolph. After leading the summer league in scoring, and being on pretty much everyone's short list for having a 'breakout' season, Anthony Randolph has taken 14 shots in 3 games so far. He played 7 minutes Wednesday. This guy is an absolutely massive talent. Why won't Nelson just play him?
-
Movie Quote:
Lt. Aldo Raine - Inglourious Basterds (2209). Tarantino. Haven't seen it yet. Want to see it. Haven't seen it. Anyone have a review for us?That's what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y'all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin'.
- Get the Warriors perspective at Golden State of Mind.
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Inglourious Basterds
was frigging fantastic. Classic Tarentino, if you like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Grindhouse you’ll like it.
FA in 2010.
I actually have a bet on this one
well sort of. My archenemy is a season ticket holder for the Warriors (this makes him the Clipper Chuck of the North I believe) and we have a standing annual bet for a expensive steak dinner for the team that is less awful.
Unfortunately for yours truly we’re in the midst of a three year losing streak, so I’ve thrown away quite a few bucks buying dinner. Hopefully this is the year the Clippers finally do something thoughtful for me.
FA in 2010.
Think of it this way ...
LA is downstate, SF/Oakland is upstate, so he can be UpChuck.
Unless he lives in the woods ….
Does that make me DownChuck?
I sound awfully depressed then :(
FA in 2010.
by ClipperChuck on Nov 6, 2009 10:39 AM PST up reply actions
Last Season I Bet the Clips to the Playoffs and Had to buy 6 Ruths Chris Steaks
I did the same thing albeit 100x more foolish (this was right after the announcement of BD and before EB bolted mind you), I bet the Clippers would make the playoffs with six of my friends.
Yea
being a Clippers fan is never easy on the wallet. Maybe that’s DTS real financial secret, he’s obviously not a fan of the Clippers and is a billionaire…
FA in 2010.
by ClipperChuck on Nov 6, 2009 10:40 AM PST up reply actions
Man thought about this some more
and you didn’t even get much entertainment value… I mean the bet was over after the first nine games. Definitely a bummer.
FA in 2010.
2007 must have been pretty tough for you
when it came down to the very last game of the season between the Clips and Warriors
Yes, damn those Mavs for benching their starters
I got some redemption when the Dubs upset them in the 1st round but still I rather have a excellent steak over revenge.
FA in 2010.
by ClipperChuck on Nov 6, 2009 12:38 PM PST up reply actions
I remember that time all too well.
Just love how Avery Johnson rolled out the welcome mat to the post-season for his old mentor by benching the starters that game, only to be bounced in the first round for it. Poetic justice at its finest.
by Gordon for President on Nov 6, 2009 2:35 PM PST up reply actions
Yeae
but the Warriors had beaten the Mavs all 3 times in their previous meetings with 2 different rosters too… one with Dunleavy and Murph the other with Harrington and Sjax,
I don’t see your point? In the very next game against Seattle he used Dirk, Terry, Howard, and CO.
by Gordon for President on Nov 6, 2009 4:06 PM PST up reply actions
should be entertaining
though I can’t fathom why we CAN"T punish them on the low block…I mean, how is Biedrins an imposing low post player we should be afraid of? I really think we should see some deandre jordan for about 10 minutes tonight, as I think he’s got the youth and the hops to disrupt a lot of what Golden State can muster around the rim. And if we get Baron and Bassy at the same time, a few well timed alley oops could do a lot for us on the road as far as our momentum…just hoping here…
We should try to play at a slower pace
Running and gunning with the Warriors only gives them the edge, we should punish them inside with Craig Smith and Kaman. If we start shooting too many jumpers its going to lead to long rebounds which leads to fast breaks. I we had Griffin I’d entertain the idea of playing Nellie Ball but why play into the Warriors strength?
FA in 2010.
by ClipperChuck on Nov 6, 2009 12:36 AM PST up reply actions
Briedrens does alot on the low block
i wouldn’t be surprised if kaman’s flow is disrupted by his quickness this game…Clips HAVE to win the rebounding battle or it’s over…
Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"
Breidrens is injured
He’s like half dead. He might not even play. How can he even stop Kaman? He might be able to slow him down, but not entirely.
Clippers 09-10. Prepare for a revolution.
Nellie Ball
The Clippers need to play their own game, whatever that is. Dunleavy’s constant match-up playing style of basketball hasn’t been working for the past couple of seasons and against GS I don’t think we should try to play so small when thus far into the season our bigs are performing better.
I saw somewhere that he's going to put Caman on the bench to start the game to match up
Disappointing but not surprising. Kills me.
by Jax on Nov 6, 2009 8:15 AM PST up reply actions
Now that would be weird...
Let’s hope it’s not true. Doesn’t even make much sense. It’s not like Biedrins isn’t going to start.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
once again mdsr playing match up to the other team's strenght
instead of his team!
Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"
Thanks for clarifying
I wasn’t sure if you meant Kaman, or Camby or if you went the Brangelina approach and meant both of them weren’t starting.
by Michael White on Nov 6, 2009 9:36 AM PST up reply actions
Oh, that's different
If you saw that somewhere, it might have been here. That’s what I would expect. He doesn’t want Camby guarding Stephen Jackson, and frankly he may be right on that one. I’m guessing Thornton will start, but we’ll see. Smith might be an option also – not that he can guard Jackson, but he’d kill him on the other end. Camby doesn’t have the post game to punish the Warriors for being so small.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Nov 6, 2009 10:16 AM PST up reply actions
Playing matchup
Doesn’t this go against what we’re always complaining about? Yea we don’t want Camby guarding Jackson, but the Warriors will get absolutely dominated on the boards if Jax is supposed to box Camby out. It should allow for countless second chance opportunities.
If Jax is white hot from beyond the arc, then fine, make a change. But I’d rather start the game with OUR starting lineup and see who hurts who first. Jax could just as easily kill his own team by shooting poorly and continuing to jack up shots. Even if he’s really hot to start, once we bring in Thornton, we all know he’ll continue to jack up shots to his team’s dismay.
Yes and no...
Yes, I complain about playing the matchup games. But some matchups just look bad from the start. Camby doesn’t like to defend away from the basket, and he’s not a post up threat on offense. So other than rebounding, he has no advantage over Jackson, and several disadvantages.
So yeah, I’m being inconsistent, I can see that. You’re approach is probably best. Start your starters, and see what happens.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Nov 6, 2009 10:45 AM PST up reply actions
To be clear
I’m not totally against a lineup change. But I don’t like it in general. It just bothers me that Dun runs the team that way. Like I’ve said in the past, I think players do better when they know their roles and know what’s expected of them.
I agree Camby doesn’t have a good post game to directly take advantage of Jax, but I can think of few things more discouraging and frustrating to an opposing team than getting 2, 3 even 4 possessions every time down the court. If Jax runs up the court and shoots a 3, even wide open he’s going to miss a good number of them. Then we go down the court and his team has to struggle to play D and rebound several times in one possession. That’s gotta tick off his teammates.
No, I saw that somewhere else
But why is MDSr right? Shouldn’t Nellie be thinking “hmm, not sure if it’s a good idea for SJax to guard Camby?” How could SJax keep him off the glass ?
by Jax on Nov 6, 2009 1:06 PM PST up reply actions
Nellie will be better at Nellie Ball
His teams are designed for it, the Clips aren’t.
Why can’t we just form an identity and play with it rather than constantly changing to adapt to other teams. We should make teams adapt to us.
FORM AN IDENTITY.
I will be at game
Hopefully a few more bay area clipper fans or people traveling from LA make it up here.
I read in the paper today that biedrins may not play and mikki Moore will get the start if he is out. AB was gimpy against the grizz the other night and the warriors generally played a front court of Corey Jackson and Moore.
My x factor of the night is Novak. We know MDSR loves to match there small lineup so I’m not expecting much Camby or Kaman.
Hopefully the clipps pull it out so I can proudly where my jersey and hold my head up on the Bart ride home.
by The Blake Griffin Era on Nov 6, 2009 8:59 AM PST via mobile reply actions
i'll be there too
sec 112, come say hi if u have a chance
i’d advise taking the jersey off on the bart ride home if we win the game, i’ve almost gotten into trouble once wearing an angels shirt when they beat the A’s at Oakland a few yrs ago. plus let’s just say the bart train isn’t the safest place in the bay area
I'm in 109
I’ll definitely look out for you.
I will be sporting a red Gordon jersey and my brother will have a red BD jersey.
Nice to know you are an angel fan also, I’ll be looking for u at the coliseum.
Let’s go clippers let’s go.
by The Blake Griffin Era on Nov 6, 2009 4:13 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Tonight, we throw a Smack Down in the Bay Town.
Kaman will start and keep on kicking ASS also I think we will see AT start and Bassy too. BD has another Bruised Tail Bone. So I think we may see EJ slide to the 1 when we go to the Bench and see Sool come in off the bench at the 2 spot.
Inglourious Basterds was a Windbag, Lame, Long Winded, Sub Captioned, Crappy Movie that Brad Pitt is hardly in. Complete waste of 3 hours, just think of Deathproof but add Cheap Costumes, Bad Acting, Germans and Sub Captions.
Everything starts out New, Gets Old and Dies or is Destroyed.
Tough game for the clippers
GSW style tends to bait other teams into playing their style. Most disciplined teams would not fall for this, but these are the clippers. And with Baron Davis, he will play into the hands of the GSW scheme.
Don't get Morrowed...AGAIN
This is my biggest concern. This kid lights us up! Like some said before, if he played the Clips for 82 games, he’d be up their with Jordan.
Just stick EJ on his hip and tell him not to leave his side. No help D, no rebounding, nothing. For this game, EJ wears Morrow’s #22 like it’s his own.
LOL CN cited as the "source" for Camby's benching.
Go check out Rotoworld. It has a heading of Camby being benched and the source is Clipsnation.com.
Awesome!
I can see the logic in rotoworld reporting that. Absent official news by the team of the starting lineup, the next best source would be someone like Steve who knows Dunleavy’s tendencies regarding starting lineups. For someone who has Camby on their fantasy team, but doesn’t know that this is a vintage Marcus Camby not starting game, that info would be quite helpful, even if it is only an educated guess at this point.
by Michael White on Nov 6, 2009 11:03 AM PST up reply actions
It's not the first time
rotoworld put clipsnation as a source a couple times last year too. I know cause i’m on rotoworld at least twice a day, but glad to see they’re sticking w/ the CN love.
I agree that it's funny...
Citizen mwhite is right that it’s a useful educated guess… but it still seems strange. all the other sources listed are newspapers.
I do wish they’d gotten the name of the site right. they called it Clippers Nation (though the link is correct).
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Nov 6, 2009 12:02 PM PST up reply actions
Maybe maybe not
Its a good hunch plus who knows maybe MDsr is on these boards getting tips from fans. Quite a few of us were convinced the Clippers scouting department for drafting players was just buying a subscription (just one) to ESPN Insider and using Chad Ford’s cheat sheet.
FA in 2010.
This makes me so sad because I know it's true....
Basically, take away minutes from the bigs (except possibly Kaman) and add minutes to Telfair, Baron, Gordon and Butler. That’s your rotation. I’m not saying it’s what I would do, but it’s what MDsr is going to do.
by DoubleTechnical on Nov 6, 2009 11:40 AM PST reply actions
JA Adande prefers EJ to OJ
Didn’t want to put up a new fanshot for this but it’s still worth sharing:
From JA Adande’s chat today:
rob (laredo, tx) J.A., if you ha a choice between eric gordon or oj mayo, who would you want for your team?
J.A. Adande (3:17 PM) Eric Gordon. Quietly effective, don’t have to worry about him wanting anything more than he gets.
Nice to see EJ get some national love.
have a bad feeling...
ricky davis will get some minutes tonight instead of novak!!! c’mon dunleavy!!
by whyamiaclippersfan on Nov 6, 2009 12:46 PM PST reply actions
From Hoopsworld
Los Angeles Clippers @ Golden State Warriors: Andris Beidrins is questionable for this one due to a back injury, meaning the Warriors might be even smaller than usual. Al Thornton is questionable with the flu, and that could really hurt the Clippers’ ability to match-up with the running Warriors. No other new injuries to report.
Everything starts out New, Gets Old and Dies or is Destroyed.
is this your blog? looks like your pics....
Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"
Bruised Tail Bone
Do we know anything more about this? Did Baron practice the last couple of days?
The play where he did it was pretty obvious. BD was smiling after hitting the deck, but he seems to do that when he’s masking moderate pain. He really doesn’t want to be banged up and hurt this year, but this is already his second tweak in as many weeks—and that’s assuming that it’s just a tweak. The same injury last year hung on for a long time.
I’m sure he’ll play through it, if only because he seems determined to set a different tone from last year. If it’s serious enough that he misses the game, that would be bad news, and it would create problems against the Warriors.
I doubt he misses THIS game
But who knows how it’ll affect him going forward. This is the same injury that derailed him last year after the game vs. the Nuggets…which we were winning until Baron fell and got hurt.
Let’s hope this one is a lot less significant.
To the basketball gods
This is our little prayer around 7:30pm tonight (please basketball gods enlighten the
clipper players to make little mistakes and to play well enough to keep this win streak
going.)This should be the 2 win of their 7 game win streak. Positive waves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ENJOY THE GAME.
Win 2 in a 7 win streak sounds real and I am on board the Clippers Ship for that ride.
Everything starts out New, Gets Old and Dies or is Destroyed.
Haha speaking of which
What does everyone thing of the little video they made this year?? I couldn’t find the video on youtube anywhere but I’m referring to the one with ships and stuff. It’s Friday, I don’t feel like being overly descriptive.
FA in 2010.
We've gotta win this one...
1-4 is not a good start, but at least our losses came against good teams. The only way to make up for that is by beating the teams that are worse than the Clips. I have confidence, but that’s never a good thing with the Clippers (at least in my experience).
Inglorious Basterds was great in my opinion. I love Tarantino’s stuff, and anyone who likes Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, etc. will love it.
"If a Clippers fan is reading a newspaper in his living room and the ceiling falls on him, he'll just shrug and move to another room." -Bill Simmons
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