Sacramento 116 - Clippers 94 - The Season Can't End Soon Enough

by Steve Perrin on Apr 8, 2010 11:04 PM PDT in Game Recaps

What can a fan do while watching a display as painful as the Clippers giving up 116 points to a 25 win team? There's not a lot you can do but hope and pray that next season will be different. This team is playing out the string in embarrassing fashion. They'd better hope that the free agents out there have better things to do than to watch their games, because it's hard to imagine that anyone would want these guys as teammates.

Is it delusional to think that things could be different next season? Probably, but maybe not. Putting aside the not very realistic dreams of signing a major free agent, the Clippers still have a chance to start relatively fresh next season. They'll have a new coach. They'll have Blake Griffin. They'll have another lottery pick. And they'll have probably 7 or 8 new faces. For the right coach, it could be a chance to say "Nothing else matters but what we do from today forward" and actually have the team believe you.

As for the current team, it's an embarrassment to the league. You could accuse them of tanking, but I think it's worse than that. Playing to tank would at least have some purpose. The Clippers are so purposeless, tanking would be a significant upgrade. For the OK opponents (like Portland Wednesday night) they sort of kind of half show up. For the bad teams, they shouldn't even bother to play the games.

Consider that Sacramento has two wins in their last dozen games - and both of them came against the Clippers - by 13 and 22. Consider that the Kings have scored over 100 points twice in their last dozen games - both against the Clippers. Consider that they have only one six times since the last day of February - and they are 3-0 against the Clippers in that time. And consider this in particular - playing without their starting center tonight, the Kings outrebounded the Clippers 29 to 13 in the first half. How is that possible? Well, it starts with the fact that Jason Thompson and Carl Landry seemed to sort of, you know, care, which is more than can be said for any Clipper players other than DeAndre Jordan. (DJ had as many rebounds in 21 minutes as Chris Kaman and Drew Gooden had combined in over 66 minutes.)

The Clippers were not particularly bad on offense tonight. They made almost 48% of their shots, they turned the ball over only a dozen times, Kaman scored 23, Eric Gordon scored 21. But they were so horrifically bad on defense and rebounding the ball that it didn't matter. Is it a coincidence that defense and rebounding happen to be the hard work categories of basketball? No, it's not.

This season can not end soon enough. Will the next era be better? It couldn't be much worse than this.

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Yea

I hope I don’t end up booing these guys out of the building on Saturday.

FA in 2010.

by ClipperChuck on Apr 8, 2010 11:11 PM PDT reply actions

fuck…and i already bought 5 tickets to the clipsnation night.
All I want to see is good old fashion basketball where they TRY!! I might as well just watch the WNBA, they at least have some hustle.

by Fan of the Game on Apr 9, 2010 2:20 AM PDT reply actions

Another organization's perspective

This morning’s Indianapolis Star featured an interview of Herb Simon, owner of the Pacers. Contrast his perspective to that of the Clippers’ organization.

Q: Is it frustrating that you’re winning meaningless games for the third straight season when you could be increasing your draft odds?
A: The wins mean a lot for the players, they mean a lot for the coach, they mean a lot for the franchise. The crowds are very excited when we win and people are starting to feel that there’s hope with this team. I think it gives us hope for next season.

Q: What about these wins hurting your draft chances? Teams that are in the playoffs got better with high draft picks.
A: There’s no guarantee the first pick is going to work out. Look at some of the previous picks. You definitely like a high pick, but you never sacrifice losing—at least in this franchise we won’t—to get a better pick. That doesn’t feel good and it’s not the right way to do it. The fans who come out every game expect us to do our best and try our best and play our best. That’s what this franchise stands for.

Comments anyone? Can you imagine Donald Sterling saying this with a straight face?

by Mike Wr on Apr 9, 2010 5:29 AM PDT reply actions

Since mid season is this the worst team in the NBA?

Considering that most of the wins came in december and january under Dunleavy. Nets-Twolves-Wizards are close to miserable. Next year will be no different. Griffen is untested and comes off of major surgery. Did you forget about Shawn Livingston or Danny Manning.There are no core players to build a team. Last year injuries could be the blame. What was the excuse this year.Bottom feeders forever

by dontex on Apr 9, 2010 7:05 AM PDT reply actions

i might just bail after the 1st qtr on Clipsnation night...i can't handle watching this stuff...

Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"

by Lawler's Law on Apr 9, 2010 8:20 AM PDT reply actions

Hmmm everyone is saying Baron is quitting

but to me it seems that every single big man doesn’t care to contest a shot.

EJ and Baron are the only ones who are playing anything remotely close to resembling defense

by bacek on Apr 9, 2010 10:44 AM PDT reply actions

Make it stop

Do not worry. (Matthew 6:27)

by mikey p on Apr 9, 2010 10:46 AM PDT reply actions

There is so much to be done with this team to change it for the better

and I hope the situation is not hopeless. Truly embarrasing during the last 3 months and with all the changes that happened within this time, we can only blame Sterling himself who seems not to care and has left the organization headless. Now they are even using tanking as an excuse-simply pathetic! I agree that they are just going through the motion without any purpose. At least at this point of time they should be trying something new in their defense, like perhaps, their zone defense and try to improve and see if it works. But here is the truth, if the employer does not care why should the employee care. Unfortunately, there are those who care -like us the fans.
Never the less, see you all next year!

by nelsan2 on Apr 9, 2010 10:47 AM PDT reply actions

I don't mean to be discourteous to you all

But the Clippers really haven’t earned your support. What I find amazing is how much I like the roster otherwise despite all of the ills that truly ail this franchise. (I won’t rip on DTS again. You guys do that plenty and say it much better that I ever could.)

The only reason I half cared about the game last night was to see Tyreke Evans get his numbers. I’m glad I didn’t much of the game last night, and I’m sorry you had to.

EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985......

No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Apr 9, 2010 10:56 AM PDT reply actions

I didn't see much of the game^

EvilCowtownInc: Screwin Suckaz over since 1985......

No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Apr 9, 2010 10:59 AM PDT up reply actions

Not true.

I believe there are a lot of supportive fans who’ve been there- through thick and thin-but are pretty much embarrassed of the Clippers efforts or lack of it!

by nelsan2 on Apr 9, 2010 11:23 AM PDT up reply actions