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.

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So far this season, the Los Angeles Clippers have had an available excuse for almost every loss. Not that they've made excuses mind you, but Clipper apologists like myself would willingly make excuses for them. Losses to San Antonio and Chicago in games 2 and 3 came against good teams before the newly formed Clippers had had a chance to jell. Two losses came while Chris Paul was out of the lineup with a strained hamstring, and a third came in his first game back in which he shot 2 for 8. The most recent loss at home against Denver was 'schedule' loss, as the Clippers slogged through their fourth game in five nights.

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On the face of it, this is nothing but good news for the Los Angeles Clippers. An away win against a tough, big, unfamiliar opponent, against a team with one of the two or three best players in the NBA. They used their skill, and their guile to construct an unlikely, hard won, overtime victory against the Orlando Magic, a foe who seemed to have them stopped on multiple occasions.

But then there is reality. With 5:48 remaining in the fourth, Chauncey Billups, who'd hit five three-point shots already, went down untouched in the open court while turning to chase after a change of possession. The play went on, but Billups didn't get up. Time out was called, the Clippers gathered over their veteran teammate and finally they carried him from the court.

Slowly, as the game battle wore on, we learned that Billups had an "Achilles -related injury". After the game, Steve Kyler (from Hoopsworld) and later, ESPN delivered devastating, if somewhat incomplete news... Chauncey Billups has suffered what looks to be a tear in his Achilles tendon. Now, we have to be careful about this: all of our info, at this point, is conjecture. Until an MRI is performed tomorrow, we don't really know anything. But apparently, despite a rousing Clippers victory, the demeanor in the Clipper locker room after the game was...somber.

The box is here, the gameflow is here. More after the break.

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The Los Angeles Clippers started their six game Grammy road trip in the best possible manner, with a 27 point victory over the hapless Washington Generals Wizards. The Clippers led by 11 after one quarter, by 24 at halftime, and by 34 heading into the fourth. The best part of the easy win is that the starters were able to rest the entire fourth quarter at the beginning of the road trip.

The Clippers were outstanding in the first half, though it must be noted that the Wizards put up little resistance. In fact, the Wizards were so bad, that even though LA was sloppy and unfocused in the third quarter, they still managed to expand the lead another 10 points. As an indication of how bad the Wizards are, the Clippers committed a season high 23 turnovers and shot 35% from the free throw line -- and still finished the game with a season high margin of victory. Usually the Clippers need Chris Paul to score in order to win games -- tonight he was 1 for 9 for 2 points and it didn't matter a bit.

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If you want a serious analysis and expert opinion, I ran out of that...check out the box score here.

The competition can be found here.

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What a game. The box score is here for anyone who wants to see it.

The Clippers struggles in Utah over the last two decades are well documented. The tandems of John Stockton and Karl Malone, Derron Williams and Carlos Boozer are long gone, but the Jazz still always manage to put out a competitive team on the floor. The last time the Clips came into Energy Solutions Arena, they were without Chris Paul and Mo WIliams, in the 2nd of back to back to back games on the road. The result was an embarassing blowout loss. Tonight, the Clippers unquestioned leader was back along with Mo, and it was clear from the outset that the Lob Angeles Clippers was on a mission to put an end to the Jazz domination at home.

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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.

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When you you recap a blowout loss your first time out of the gate, you brush it off as unfortunate. When it happens again the second time around, you start to get nervous. The masses will begin to turn on you at 3 recaps and three losses (Clipper fans are prone to believing in curses and jinxes). So naturally, I figured I would write recap number 3 of the year for a game on the second night of back to backs against scoring champion Kevin Durant and the league leading Oklahoma City Thunder. Luckily for me, things worked out this time, with the Clippers pulling out a fantastic win in front of their home crowd, defeating the thunder 112-100. Check out the box score here.

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