Nets Give Clips a Black Eye on Black Friday 86-76

The Nets and Clips went toe to toe in Brooklyn's brand new Barclay center on this Friday after Thanksgiving... and the Clips played what was probably their worst game of the season. Yechh!

I had a bunch of game notes, brilliant observations, magnificient turns of phrase, all that kind of stuff, all ready to drop in the victorious game recap, but... well I think we'll just skip all that and focus on a few bullet points:

• Baby steps. Clips and Clip fans need to forget this one and the last one and move on. Let's see if the team can regain focus and win tomorrow night's game with the Atlanta Hawks (4pm Pacific) Two and two on an early roadie for this young team would be just fine.
• Wha' happened? Clips came out looking okay, but after grabbing an eight point halftime lead seemed to dissemble. The highly vaunted bench had its worst game. Team defense seemed lacking. Not a single Clipper player had a good second half. The fourth quarter told the tale. Clips scored a whopping 13 in the quarter... 29 in the half.
• DeAndre Jordan regressed. Brook Lopez pulled him apart on the defensive end. He sat for too long on the bench and when he was in he missed several jams at the rim. Have our expectations grown too fast, too soon?
• Eric Bledsoe regressed. Overly aggressive, too loose with the ball. A bad night.
• Matt Barnes regressed. We were probably expecting too much from Barnes. 1 point, 5 rebs. He's a nice bench player who brings heart and soul. That's gotta be enough.
• Lamar Odom still can't play. He seemed to be running underwater in his five minutes on the floor. That's right... 5 minutes.
• Chris Paul wasn't Chris Paul. Out of sync, out of sorts. He hoisted up a bunch of long desperation shots even when desperation wasn't required. And he fouled out (!) with a couple of minutes to go. The last couple were frustration fouls. (Note: In an interview after the game, Paul took much of the blame, even observing that he "probably held on to the ball too long." You gotta love his introspection.)
• Jamal Crawford likes to shoot. And sometimes that's not a good thing. I thought the ball got stuck in his hands too often.
• Blake Griffin had twelve in the first half... and fourteen for the game. I can't explain it.

Oh well, for the Clips, tomorrow is another day... literally. The game in Atlanta starts less than twenty-four hours after this one began....