Kind of an encouraging outing for the Clips.  Kind of.  I listened to the first half (thinking why am I listening to this scratchy alarm clock radio for a preseason game--what's wrong with me?).  And the Clips played very well in the first quarter.

The big news is not that Thornton started, but that Knight did, and he did a good job in getting the ball to scorers Maggette, Thornton, and Thomas, and he kept Nash in check.  The Clips were doing everything right and had an 8 point lead at one point.  Kaman was even contributing in the first 5 minutes with a few rebounds.  I think that Dunleavy might have pulled Kaman a little too quickly in that first quarter, in order to put Patterson in.  But it was good that he started him.

Dunleavy also made a good effort to keep Maggette out on the floor.  He kept him in through the first wave, and then brought him back pretty quickly.  The problem, unfortunately, is that Maggs got off to a fast start and then missed a few shots as the roof caved in.  But I also think, though I'm not sure, that Maggs was taking his short break right in the middle of your 450 second meltdown.

And you know who was on the floor, with a horrendous +/=?  Who else but QRoss.  The killer on the Suns--or one of the scariest killers--is Barbosa.  For a big chunk of the 450 seconds Dunleavy brought in Cassell, along with Diaz and Ross.  Barbosa got things started and helped cut the lead from 8 to 3 or 4, and then Grant Hill started killing the Clippers, his point total steadily climbing, while Marion was rebounding and Nash cruised along quietly adding to an assist total that any mortal would be excited about.

So Diaz got a very early call, and it seems that he and Ross failed to distinguish themselves.  Please get healthy, Cuttino Mobley. My guess is that cutting Korolev is already a foregone conclusion, but Dunleavy would love to see Diaz hit 3s and keep up with Barbosa.  Only it didn't happen.  And a variety of suspects could have been trying to guard Grant Hill (including QRoss) and it probably doesn't matter that no one got to see what Korolev would have done against him on defense.  Was it not Ross but Patterson guarding him?  Thornton?  Maggette?  And by the way, Raja Bell didn't hit his shots or do anything when Maggette was at SG and presumably guarding him, fyi.  That changed too in the 2nd quarter.  My guess is that Korolev got to play against good ol Pike.

Not sure how Kaman picked up so many fouls so fast.  Like I said, he started okay, and his line is about what it should be on a weak night--what you would expect against the Suns.  On the other hand, Sean Marks was getting a lot of minutes, and Kaman should be able to do some damage against him, and he didn't.  But at least he's playing and not getting hurt, getting some preseason action, and let's hope that he gets better every game up to opening day.  

And playing the Suns back to back should lead to some interesting adjustments.  We'll see if MD continues to start Knight.  Sam is old enough that he doesn't mind coming off the bench, I don't think.

The Clips did a good job of punching the Suns, taking their first punch, and then punching them back again.  The fact that the Suns were able to bring in Barbosa while the Clips didn't have Mobley anywhere in sight made a big difference, and the 2nd round knockout was swift and brutal.  But this is one of the best teams in the league.

   

will have to stick around if clips are serious about up-tempo. he can run at center while kaman sits on the bench and gets distracted by shiny objects in the crowd.

...off of 710 for Trojan football, basketball, basket weaving, women's field hockey, any reason whatsoever. If they were on 710 for 50% of their games last year, I'd be shocked.