This was never much of a basketball game. The Charlotte Bobcats came in having lost 13 straight, and playing without their two leading scorers, Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin. The Los Angeles Clippers, led by North Carolina native Chris Paul playing in front of about 150 friends and family, put them away early and efficiently. The Clippers led by 34 briefly near the end of the third quarter, 84-50. Some particularly garbage-y garbage time made the final score a little loss lopsided.

Continue reading this post »

Use this thread for comments during the second half of Clippers-Bobcats.

2011/2012 NBA Regular Season
	vs.
16-8		3-23
Time Warner Cable Arena
February 11th, 2012, 4:00 PM
FSN Prime Ticket, KFWB 980 AM
Probable starters:
Chris Paul	PG	Kemba Walker
Randy Foye	SG	Reggie Williams
Caron Butler	SF	Boris Diaw
Blake Griffin	PF	Tyrus Thomas
DeAndre Jordan	C	Bismack Biyombo

The Back Story:

First meeting of the season. The Clippers swept the two games last season.

• January 29, 2011 in Los Angeles - Clippers 103, Charlotte 88 Recap Box Score
• March 7, 2011 in Charlotte - Clippers 92, Charlotte 87 Recap Box Score

The Big Picture:

The Clippers got a very ugly win in Philadelphia last night, but it looks just fine in the W column. The team could not make a jump shot and they were 2 for 19 on three pointers, but they took care of the ball, they rebounded, they played defense, and they got the win. Hopefully it won't be quite as big a struggle tonight, against the worst team in the league. The Clippers of the past were certainly well known to lose these types of games -- they lost to a Cleveland team on a record breaking losing streak last season after all. Hopefully, the lapse the team experienced on Wednesday against an undermanned Cleveland team was their one mishap this trip, and it will serve to focus them for the Bobcats. It would be nice to get some players dialed back in after tough nights, like Caron Butler and Randy Foye and even Blake Griffin. But first things first -- win the game. Hopefully they won't have to rely on a Chris Paul last second shot tonight. The starters could use a little rest heading into the final stop of the road trip in Dallas, so a blow out would be especially nice.

Continue reading this post »

This was not a pretty game. Far from it. I think you could probably count the offensive possessions that went as planned in the fourth quarter on one hand. And I'm talking about both teams combined. Even when a team got a basket, it was on a completely busted play -- as was the case with the game winner, a Chris Paul fall away over the defensive menace that is Andre Iguodala. But you know, if you're going to have a broken play, it's nice to have Chris Paul around -- I might have to start calling him Super Glue, because he fixes stuff that's broken. Like that final possession; like the Clippers offense; like the hearts of the citizens of Clips Nation.

The Los Angeles Clippers shot 39 percent from the field, 2 for 19 from deep ... and still managed to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, 78-77. This was a game that will do nothing at all for the offensive numbers but great things for a team's defensive ratings -- not to mention their confidence. The Clippers will take the win ugly or not, against a good team on the road. They move to 3-1 on the current road trip, 6-5 on the road on the season, and 16-8 overall. Sure, it's too bad that they lost Wednesday in Cleveland, as they could be undefeated on this trip. But they'll take 3-1 on the trip.

Continue reading this post »

Remember the 70s basketball movie, One on One? Robby Benson plays a small town high school baller, recruited to the big city school with the big time hoops program, where he clashes with the hard-nosed coach. He finally gets a chance to play and has a huge game helping the team win a big game.

I always hated that movie (despite the presence of Annette O'Toole, who looked uncannily like an old girlfriend of mine). Why? Because it was so unrealistic. If this guy was so good, why did it take injuries to the rest of the team to get him in the game? If the coach wanted to win, he would have played the guy if he was that good, right?

All this is to say, if you made a movie about Jeremy Lin right now, no one would ever believe it. It does not happen. A guy who played ball at Harvard, who was in the D-League two weeks ago, just finished a week in which he scored 25, 28, 23 and 38 points, leading a once proud franchise that had fallen on hard times back to prominence? And he only got on the floor because of injuries and ineptitude of the players in front of him on the depth chart? And he capped the week with 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers? Then you add in the whole "only American of Asian descent in the NBA" subplot? Too much. Too much. No one would buy it in a million years.

Stupid Hollywood. So unrealistic.

Use this thread for comments during the second half of Clippers-Sixers.

OK, let's give this topic the comprehensive ClipperSteve treatment it deserves.

The addition of Kenyon Martin to the Los Angeles Clippers addresses a need for quality and especially front court scoring off the bench. That's good. Martin looked better than anyone had a right to expect in his debut Wednesday night in Cleveland. He's not a center, but I'm becoming less concerned with that. If they can beat Orlando on the road with Reggie Evans defending Dwight Howard for long stretches of the game, then who really cares if they have another seven footer behind DeAndre Jordan? Martin was the best available front court upgrade, they got him, so the needs lie elsewhere now.

Continue reading this post »

2011/2012 NBA Regular Season
	vs.
15-8		18-8
Wells Fargo Center
February 10th, 2012, 4:00 PM
FS West, KFWB 980 AM
Probable starters:
Chris Paul	PG	Jrue Holiday
Randy Foye	SG	Jodie Meeks
Caron Butler	SF	Andre Iguodala
Blake Griffin	PF	Elton Brand
DeAndre Jordan	C	Nikola Vucevic

The Back Story:

First meeting of the season. The Sixers dominated the Clippers twice last season.

• December 15th, 2010 in Philadelphia - Philadelphia 105, Clippers 91 - Recap Box Score
• March 16th, 2011 in Philadelphia - Philadelphia 104, Clippers 94 - Recap Box Score

The Big Picture:

The Clippers suffered their worst defeat of the season on Wednesday night in Cleveland. Sure, losses at San Antonio and Utah and at home against the Nuggets were by a wider margin, but they were also to good teams. Cleveland is a non-playoff team in the East, and were playing without their leading scorer not to mention two other key members of their team. It was the first game the Clippers played without Chauncey Billups after learning that he was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, so that may have contributed to the poor performance -- but they need to get over that. If it was on their minds in Cleveland, so be it, but the season's too short to allow that injury to affect their performance for long. Philadelphia is a much tougher opponent than Cleveland, and a team that shut down Blake Griffin in two games last season. The Clippers haven't lost back to back games since games 2 and 3 of the season -- they've been coming back strong after losses for a while now. I expect them to be focused and sharp in this one. I don't think Chris Paul will allow them to be anything less. But will it be enough against a very deep Sixers team?

Continue reading this post »

I might just leave early to watch the entire game...Early starts - another reason to hate Grammy Trips!

Continue reading this post »