Clippers at Sonics - Game Preview and Open Thread

by Steve Perrin on Dec 5, 2007 1:05 PM PST in News Comment 6 comments

	vs
6-10		3-15
Key Arena
Dec. 5, 2007 - 7:30 PM
Probable starters:
Brevin Knight	PG	Delonte West
Quinton Ross	SG	Kevin Durant
Corey Maggette	SF	Damien Wilkins
Tim Thomas	PF	Chris Wilcox
Chris Kaman	C	Kurt Thomas

The Big Picture:

Oh man, does this game scare me. The Warriors started the season 0-6 before getting their first win against the Clippers. The Bulls were got their first and only road win in Staples Center. And the Sonics are currently 0-10 against Western Conference opponents. Yikes. They're also 3-15 overall giving them the second worst record in the NBA, and 1-8 at home, tied for the worst home record. But, as it happens, they have a better record in their last 10 games than do the Clippers. Ick. Meanwhile, the Clippers have some negative superlativity of their own. Their 6 game losing streak ties their longest last season, and a loss tonight would be the longest losing streak since Feb. 05. They will once again play without Sam Cassell, and probably without Al Thornton, and who knows how Cat Mobley and Dan Dickau and Corey Maggette will play on the second game of back to backs. Sacramento has recent home wins over San Antonio and Utah, leaving the Clippers in last place in the Pacific Division, and looking like they belong there. And then there's the question of symmetry - the Clippers magical, long forgotten 4-0 start featured wins over the Warriors, Sonics, Bulls and Pacers. 8 losses in their last 9 games included defeats at the hands of the Warriors, Bulls and Pacers. A loss tonight in Seattle would officially erase any vestiges of the great start.

The Opposition:

Take the two best scorers off any team, and they won't be as good. It's true of the Clippers sans Brand and Cassell (and Livingston and Thornton and Mobley and...) and it's true of the Sonics. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis were Seattle's two best scorers for several seasons. Absurdly so. Allen averaged over 26 and Lewis over 22 - the third leading scorer, Chris Wilcox, averaged 13. Allen and Lewis were half the Sonics offense last season. (More than half if you consider shot creation.) They got nothing in return for Lewis, while they got a rookie (Jeff Green) and a prospect (Delonte West) for Allen. By the way, it seems like maybe Allen and Lewis were actually pretty good players - they are currently playing for the 14-2 Celtics and the 16-4 Magic respectively. The Sonics future is bright (although Seattle's NBA future is far less so). Kevin Durant is going to be one of the best scorers the league has ever seen, and Green looks like he's the real deal as well, and they have oodles of cap space on the horizon. But these guys are way too young and way too inexperienced to be expected to win games now. Which is why the Sonics are 3-15.

The Subplots

Please, please, please, please let the Clippers win this game. That is all.

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2nd night

2nd night of a back-to-back with travel. Kaman, Maggette and Thomas played big minutes.

The story is almost already told.

by John R on Dec 5, 2007 3:52 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Thank goodness

for our contineous sucky service from AT&T/Yahoo DSL! I would have regretted trying to blog while watching this frustrating game!

by Lawler's Law on Dec 5, 2007 10:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why

Unbelievable. Truly, truly unbelievable. Soon the Clippers will be like the 3-16 teams, and the other teams will look at us as we do the Sonics.

by LAC on Dec 5, 2007 10:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Soon?

A seven game losing streak and 2-11 since the 4-0 start? The future is now my friend.

by Steve Perrin on Dec 6, 2007 8:34 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Okay

I was blissfully ignorant of this game until I saw the result in the morning fishwrap. Not sure how I forgot/missed/repressed the whole thing, but I'm pretty happy about it.

Looking at the boxscore, the problem looks to be pretty simple:
Thomas 35 min. 2-14
Mobley 29 min. 2-10.
Sonics 49 rebounds/Clippers 39 rebounds.

At least Ross started once again, but that apparently didn't prevent Dunleavy from getting a substantial lack of production from the injured Mobley in extended minutes off the bench. No change to the power forward situation, while Collison gets 18 points and 17 rebounds.

All of that is on Dunleavy. We all know who Tim Thomas is and what his game is like. We know that Mobley is hurt. The obvious thing to do would be to put Maggette into the SG rotation, behind Ross, especially with Thornton coming back to play some minutes.

The point guard situation is okay, Center is in very good shape, and Maggette is playing and scoring. SG and PF are the obvious problems, but it's been the same thing for 13 straight games and 11 losses, since Mobley was hurt.

This type of stubborn, inflexible pursuit of a failed strategy is how you end up on pace for 20 wins or less. But Dunleavy is happy to have the excuse of injuries to Cassell, Maggette missing 4 games, and Thornton's ankle tweak (but he wasn't using Thornton correctly before his injury). He can't really use the Mobley excuse effectively, I don't think, because he should have sat him down 3 weeks ago. His handling of Thomas now seems to be officially horrendous. The initial response to Brand's injury seemed pretty good, bringing in Powell and Patterson. But sticking with Thomas much too long has restored Dunleavy's doofus status, and he has squadered all of the surprise bonus of Kaman's new status.

Aaargh.

by zhivclip on Dec 6, 2007 11:20 AM PST reply actions 0 recs