Clippers Beat Jazz the Old Fashioned Way

by Steve Perrin on Feb 1, 2012 11:24 PM PST in Game Recaps

The Los Angeles Clippers exorcised the demons of nine straight years of losses, of 22 years of futility, when they finally got a win over the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City tonight.

Citizen johnnyoc21, now on a roll with big wins, will be along with the full recap soon, but I feel compelled to toss out a few key items from the win.

The Clippers won:

Without Caron Butler, who sat out with a sore back.
Without a small forward to speak of, as Ryan Gomes scored zero point and grabbed zero rebounds in 21 minutes. (What the hell happened to this guy? He was never this bad.)
Without making three pointers. After raining threes on the Nuggets and Thunder, making those wins seem perhaps a little flukey, the Clippers were 5 for 22 tonight. Chauncey Billups was 0 for 5 and Mo Williams was 2 for 8, on the shots they've been making consistently.
By executing down the stretch. Of course a team with Chris Paul will have a tendency to do that.
By making their free throws. This is huge news of course, for one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the league. They did it by getting the ball into the hands of their shooters, but then those guys made the shots. The Clippers were 10 for 11 in the crucial fourth quarter, with the lone miss coming from Chris Paul early.

This win is big. This team is real.

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Signature win

After the euphoria of beating Nuggets and OKC blowout, and with no Caron and cold shooting nights from Billups and Mo, this team could easily have laid down in Utah but our stars would not let it happen. Griffin and CP led this team to victory with monster games, showing they have what it takes to compete at the highest level. Clippers are indeed for real.

by cassellmania on Feb 1, 2012 11:46 PM PST reply actions

hopefully we can beat a hungry Denver squad tomorrow

give ourselves a full game of cusion for 2nd place headed into the trip

by LJ Hann on Feb 2, 2012 12:36 AM PST up reply actions

Gomes was always that bad

by KillaClip on Feb 2, 2012 6:27 AM PST via mobile reply actions

No he wasn't.

The stats say otherwise, my friend. I have never been a Gomes fan, but he has contributed in key points last season, and his numbers on the Wolves were all right. Must be something in the LA water cuz he’s done nothing but go downhill since coming here.

Hyperbole is the internet’s best friend.

"Fact One: Races are won or lost in key moments. Fact Two: Success in the sport is, above all else, about enduring suffering." - Chris MacCormack

by Chris McD on Feb 2, 2012 9:07 AM PST up reply actions