Atlanta 103 - Clippers 97 - The Hawks Made 4 Runs, LA Responded 3 Times

kaman lost the game on the 1st 4 plays of the 3rd quarter…3 bonehead plays made by “mr. potato” errrrrr…“mr. bonehead” a/k/a chris kaman…for someone with unquestioned talent, he plays a very bad game…whether its flipping the ball up instead of slamming it, not recognizing double and triple teams, throwing the ball away, not playing defense (he needs to man up on defense) , “my feet hurt” or he didnt take his vitamins…its always some excuse…i can see why the coaches kept him off the all start team..he doesnt deserve it…he has ebnough talent that everyone hopes he has “that break through” when the game becomes clear, but im afraid he is what he is, “a big goofball” who doesnt have the ability to play championship ball….every game is the same thing, either the clips come out as though they are a division 3 team or you hold your breath for the moment when they start doing “stupid stuff” and give the game away.

Yes, the Clips looked good and seemed to be at full strength before the funk caught up with them, for mysterious reasons. And yes, the trip would have had a very different complexion with good road wins against Chicago and Atlanta at the end of it, partly making up for ridiculous losses against NJ and Minnesota.

And as much as I don’t like watching the Clips stumble and play badly and give games away, I think that where the team is right now is pretty much what’s expected at this point. They’re not going to make the playoffs. They’re going to shuffle their way to 30 wins, and they’ll try to get close to .500. They’re a good, talented team with a lot of nice pieces and a strong starting lineup that can gel at any time. They’re going to win a lot more games, but not too many, and they’ll be fun to watch. That is, unless there’s a new piece of adversity up ahead that we don’t know about, and who knows what will happen or what they should do as the trade deadline approaches. It’s important for them to keep playing hard and to compete, to continue to build habits of winning and closing out with their core group. They’ll be good at home, perhaps very good with some big wins, and they need to get some wins on the road.

But letting last night’s game get away is kind of par for the course for this season, unfortunately. As hard it was to watch Kaman go into doofus mode at a terrible, critical time to start the 3rd quarter, I disagree with dellago and think that the game was lost during run #3, the blistering comeback by the Hawks at the end of the third. The Clips had the game in hand and just didn’t stop that attack quickly enough or respond in kind. It was a tight, close game going into the 4th quarter, though it shouldn’t have been, and even though the Clips built up another smaller cushion, it was going to be tough on them to close out and win that final quarter.

How about DJ’s tidy little drop step move though? That’s the thing. We’ve seen Kaman get funky so many times that it’s old hat. We know it will happen on occasion. At the end of such a long trip, with the lead gone, it was a little sad to see how BD was so frisky to start the game, and kept the Clips going for awhile, but he just didn’t have the spring in his step and on his shot towards the finish. Gordon continued his improved play and hit some 3s, but he was off and came up short too. Camby is fun to watch and phenomenal as always. It’s an incredible asset to have a player who gets his hands on so many balls and gets so many rebounds—it’s extraordinary, and shouldn’t be taken for granted in any way. He missed 2 big free throws, but the Clips weren’t exactly in good shape at that point.

C’est la Clipper vie. It’s okay. Nobody got hurt, guys like Gordon and Kaman are mending too. They’ll be better, and fun to watch, at home. With our lowered, modest expectations, they’re in pretty good shape.

that JJ would leave that good young team for an okay young team? So let’s cross LeBron, Wade, Bosh, and now Johnson off that list. Hello Rudy Gay we are going to overpay you!

Have to disagree with zhiv Kaman was not a factor in this game the ATL bigs limited him and it was sad to watch.Great work by ATL and another por effort for the clippers. Iknow Steve was on limited time but some things that were big that just shouldn’t have been ignored:

-Al Thornton played 21 mins and only took 6 shots and made 4. Why in the hell was Al not in the game when in a rare even Al was on and creating for himself and his teammates. It’s was utterly mind blowing stupid that Thornton dind’t have the offense ran through him and we constantly forced the issue with Kaman. Team should have mad some adjustments and got Al more involved.

-DeAndre Jordan played 04:34 mins during a night when Kaman is playing terrible why does DJ remain on the the bench while he was having such a strong prodcutive game. Most of what DJ was doing can’t be put in stats as he was able to keep ATL out the paint and use his athleticism to throw shots with 2 blocks in 4 mins.

-The rotation you can throw all the stats you want out there playing the starters for the entire third and expecting them to come back early in the 4th is dumb not only does it fatigue the starters in case the bench breaks down, the bench hasn’t played since mid second after going through late second, halftime, and 3/4 of the third quarter without any game time. Espcially on back to backs switch it up already give the starters the whole second give the bench most of the third and allow the starters to finish the third and get into the fourth with a mix of both.