Clips Nation

On Dwyane Wade, Flagrant Rules And Whether Any Foul Is Truly Necessary - SBNation.com

2012-05-17T17:50:01Z

On Dwyane Wade, Flagrant Rules And Whether Any Foul Is Truly Necessary - SBNation.com

Here's the column I wrote for SBNation today.

The Daily Clipper for May 17, 2012

2012-05-17T16:17:43Z

Good Morning Clips Nation.-

Sorry for the delay in posting this Daily Clipper. I hope we are ready for tonight's game. The one that bothers me is how the media has said that the Spurs dismantled the Clippers, which to some extent it may be true. But what the media is not saying is that the two stars of the Clippers are banged up and not playing 100%. We know what a healthy Chris Paul and a healthy Blake Griffin can do when playing together. Having said that, other guys on the team need to step it up.

And for crying aloud, can someone please get Charles Barkley off the air? Does he dislike the Clippers for some reason? By the way, thanks Dr. Shaquille O'Neal for your support.

Anyways, here is your Clipper and NBA fix. Enjoy!

Clippers

How San Antonio Contained Chris Paul - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
Despite having the best regular-season record, the San Antonio Spurs had some problems on defense — particularly containing ball handlers in pick-and-roll situations.

Can Less CP3 Be More CP3? " NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
When the practice session was over, guard Nick Young headed straight to the dentist for a root canal.

Parker vs. Paul no All-Star showdown so far - NBA - SI.com
Hours before turning 30 years old, Tony Parker grinned Wednesday as though his lowest-scoring playoff game since his early twenties was an early birthday gift from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Paul, Clippers try to bounce back in San Antonio | Fox News
The San Antonio Spurs have been perfect through the postseason so far as they get ready to host the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.Chris Paul and Company will take another shot at solving what's looking like a juggernaut...

Blogtable: Spotlight On Blake Griffin " NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
Blake Griffin has been a little banged up, but we’re going there anyway: He can dunk, sure, but is he ready for the postseason spotlight?

Betting Lakers and Clippers to advance can make you rich
If you have faith in Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin there is money in your future.

Blake Griffin responds to flopping charges - CBSSports.com
How does Blake Griffin feel about flopping? He's not too worried about it.

Clippers' Vinny Del Negro faces uphill coaching battle - latimes.com
A loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of their NBA playoff series has put some added pressure on Clippers' Coach Vinny Del Negro.

Injured Chris Paul, Blake Griffin remain Clippers' wild cards - latimes.com
The problem is it's not clear whether Chris Paul and Blake Griffin can regain the top level against the Spurs as they battle the pain.

Bledsoe must start to give Clippers best chance against Spurs - NBA - Sporting News
In Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs dismantled the Clippers with stellar execution. They even slowed down Chris Paul, who managed only six points on 3-13 shooting. If the series continues like this, the Clippers will fall in four without much of a fight.

Around the League

Rondo doesn't pass up opportunity to show growth - Christopher Gasper's Blog - Boston sports news - Boston.com
Rondo sent a message of his own, not just to Philadelphia, but to the rest the league that the days of identifying him as just a pass-first point guard have passed.

Staples Center Gets No Rest With Lakers, Clippers and Kings in Playoffs - NYTimes.com
Staples Center in Los Angeles will be home to six postseason games in four days starting Thursday, as the Lakers, the Clippers and the Kings seek to advance.

Only NBA team needed for Seattle arena to move forward - seattlepi.com
Chris Hansen, the Seattle native who wants to build a new multipurpose arena in Sodo, would need to secure only an NBA team before the city contributes public money help construct the new venue -- a departure from original reports that NBA and NHL franchises would both need to be secured.

NBA appoints new Competition (Rules) Committee - WSJ.com
Coaches Doc Rivers of Boston, Rick Carlisle of Dallas and Lionel Hollins of Memphis have been named to the NBA's Competition Committee.

Lakers' Ebanks, Bynum fined by NBA - Yahoo! Sports
The NBA has fined Lakers forward Devin Ebanks and center Andrew Bynum for separate violations during the team's second-round series against Oklahoma City.

Larry Bird Wins Executive of the Year, But Neil Olshey Was the Right Choice

2012-05-16T20:05:54Z

Not that it matters a bit, but I can't help musing about the NBA Executive of the Year voting. Larry Bird of the Indiana Pacers won the award with 12 first place votes and 88 points, R.C. Buford of the San Antonio Spurs was second with eight first place votes and 56 points and Neil Olshey of the Clippers was third with six first place votes and 55 points. From there it was a pretty steep drop off to Gar Forman of the Chicago Bulls with two first place votes and 16 points.

And my reaction to all of this is, really?

Now you have to realize that the execs themselves vote for this award. And when I say the execs, I mean an unpaid intern somewhere in the office in most cases. At any rate, each team gets a ballot, and they vote for their first, second and third choices for Executive of the Year. What are the instructions to the voters? Beyond the name of the award, "Executive of the Year", it's totally up to the imagination. It could be best dressed. It could be easiest to reach on speed dial. It could be best career as a player.

The logical inference from the phrase "of the Year" in the title of the award is that it is referring to concrete things the Executive did to improve the team during the season in question. If that's the case though, how exactly did two voters justify making Forman their first choice? The Bulls had a fine season, tying the Spurs for best record in the NBA, and Forman deserves some amount of credit for that success. But the Bulls winning percentage this season (.758) is essentially identical to their winning percentage last season (.758). More to the point, the top ten Bulls players in terms of minutes played this season were ALL with the team last year. Forman's big off-season move was to sign Rip Hamilton, which frankly doesn't look like a particularly good move when you consider that the 34 year old missed 58% of the regular season. Forman would have been a fine choice for Executive of the Year for 2010-2011 (and in fact he shared the award with Pat Riley last year). This year? Did voters just re-send last season's ballot? Are they paying any attention at all?

Now consider Bird, Buford and Olshey. Here are the winning percentages for the three teams from last season to this season:

2010-2011

2011-2012

Bird/Pacers

.451

.636

Buford/Spurs

.744

.758

Olshey/Clippers

.390

.606

The Spurs were good last year, and they were good this year. The Pacers and the Clippers each made nice progress, with the Clippers taking the bigger leap.

So which executive did more to remake the roster from one season to the next?

Buford has done some nice work on the Spurs, that much is clear, but it's all been around the edges. The Spurs are the big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, all coached by Gregg Popovich. The rest is incidental. So Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw, these are all nice additions to the roster. But they're role players. Are they significant upgrades over the role players they replaced? Looking at the Spurs record the last two seasons, evidently not. Buford has never won the Executive of the Year award, which is a joke. He's the executive of the decade, the executive of the century, the executive of a generation, but unless this is a lifetime achievement award, it's difficult to justify him as executive of the year in 2011-2012. Ironically, the Spurs failure in the 2011 playoffs is undoubtedly contributing to the impression that they made major improvements this year. They had the best record in the Western Conference last year, but happened to lose in the first round. This is a good team that stayed good.

Two of Bird's new acquisitions in Indiana are starting for the Pacers in the second round of the playoffs, George Hill and David West, and that's significant. In addition to Hill and West, role player Lou Amundson was signed in the off-season and Leandro Barbosa was acquired at the trade deadline. Hill, West and Barbosa are all key contrbutors to the team's current playoff success. Amundson is a minor character in the postseason, averaging 8 minutes and 2 points in the playoffs. It's worth noting in this discussion that one of the biggest changes for both the Pacers and the Spurs was a transaction between them, when Hill went to Indiana for first round pick Leonard. Usually we view these trades as having winners and losers -- did Bird and Buford both win that trade? I'm willing to stipulate that the trade may have worked out for both teams, but it's worth recognizing that each executive gave up something very valuable in that trade. San Antonio wound up playing the season without a backup point guard in the absence of Hill; Indiana traded away a player that was fourth in rookie of the year voting.

As for the Clippers, the roster has undergone major renovation. On opening day the team featured three starters that had been acquired between the end of the lockout and the start of the season, and a fourth that had to be re-signed after signing a rival offer sheet. Half of the ten players in the playoff rotation were acquired this season, two of those in mid-season, and that doesn't include the injured Chauncey Billups. Olshey used every avenue available to an executive to improve this team -- trades (Chris Paul, Nick Young), free agent starter (Caron Butler), free agent role player (Reggie Evans), free agency from China (Kenyon Martin), restricted free agency (DeAndre Jordan) and even the D-League (Bobby Simmons). The Clippers have been completely transformed in the course of less than six months, and went from the lottery to the second round of the playoffs (and counting). Sixty percent of the roster, and the best player on the team, are new to the team this year. No other successful team can make either of those statements, let alone both.

Like I said, it doesn't matter. Who knows what the interns filling out the ballot are actually thinking. There are any number of agendas one might imagine here. For instance it's likely that neither the Lakers nor the Rockets (teams that had a trade of their own vetoed before the Clippers acquired Paul) were very motivated to vote for Olshey. And Larry Bird is still Larry Bird after all, and plenty of execs are no doubt inclined to vote for him. Olshey is an outsider in the clubby environment of NBA Execs, dominated by ex-players and ex-coaches, and that is clearly a factor here. And none of it matters.

But if these awards are worth having, surely they're worth getting correct. And there was really only one reasonable choice for Executive of the Year this season, and that was Neil Olshey.

Clippers Need To Realize That Spurs Are The Anti-Grizzlies - SBNation.com

2012-05-16T17:58:46Z

Clippers Need To Realize That Spurs Are The Anti-Grizzlies - SBNation.com

Here's my latest column on SBNation, about how the Spurs offense is very different, and much better, than the Grizzlies.

Spurs 108, Clippers 92 - Not That Bad, Really

2012-05-16T05:11:56Z

The San Antonio Spurs opened this Western Conference Semifinals series with a 108-92 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Spurs took the lead in the second quarter, took control in the third, and held off a fourth quarter rally by the Clippers to secure the victory.

But if you're a Clippers fan looking for indications that L.A. can compete with the Spurs over the course of this series, they were there.

First things first, the Spurs were playing for the first time in eight days and the Clippers were playing for the sixth time in 11 days. Adrenaline kept the Clippers in the game early, but the fatigue factor caught up with them as the game wore on. Chris Paul made three shots and scored six points in the first quarter -- and never scored again, missing his final nine shots. The Clippers just aren't going to beat good teams when Paul shoots 3-13; ain't gonna happen.

They also aren't going to beat good teams if they allow the oponent to make 13 three pointers on 25 shots. Actually, that 52% success rate represents a major cooling off for the Spurs, who were 7-11 (64%) at halftime and 11-16 (69%)midway through the third quarter. The Spurs led the NBA in three point percentage, but 13 is still a pretty crazy number, and it ties a Spurs playoff record. The Clippers must do a better job rotating to shooters, but it would also help if the Spurs would miss a few shots.

The Clippers must also do a much better job on the boards. The Spurs outrebounded them 47-34, and statistically speaking the Spurs are no better a rebounding team than the Clippers. Hopefully that's just tired legs and will get better as the series wears on. There's no excuse to get beaten that badly on the boards, and the Clippers have no chance if it happens, given how good San Antonio is at all other aspects of the game.

So there's a the two big items on the to do list: defend the three point line and rebound.

The Clippers also did some things well. They defended Tony Parker very well, holding him to seven points on 1-9 shooting. Some of that was Parker missing shots, but Paul and especially Eric Bledsoe did a fantastic job keeping him out of the lane, and the bigs did a good job of collapsing on him when he did get in. Unfortunately, when they tried to trap Parker on the pick and roll, he usually found the roll man, and Tim Duncan and Boris Diaw are very good at making plays once that happens. But on the whole, it's hard to complain with how they defended Parker.

With Paul looking tired and Blake Griffin looking both tired and beat up (he took a knee in his upper thigh just above his right knee on a play in the first quarter to make a mate for his sprained left knee), Bledsoe was by far the best player on the floor for the Clippers tonight. He tied his career high in scoring with 23 points on 10-16 shooting to go along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals all in jut 27 minutes. It felt like he could be an X-factor for the Clippers heading into this series, and that certainly seems to be the case after one game. He's the best defender on the team to put on Parker, and he's probably the best defender on Manu Ginobili. The Clippers are going to have to find a way to play him if they are going to win this series.

Like Paul, Griffin started off the game well enough, but then the ball stopped going in the hole. He made his first three shots in the game, and was then 4-14 the rest of the way. Griffin and Caron Butler each had 13 points and Nick Young finished with 13.

The good news there is that it seems as if the Clippers will be able to go small often in this series. Tonight they went not just small, but tiny, as they were trying to come back in the fourth quarter, playing Paul, Bledsoe, Mo Williams, Young and Kenyon Martin together for the first four minutes, and that group went on a 10-0 run. Of course, that's also part of why the Clippers were outrebounded by 13, but at least the Spurs showed no inclination to take advantage of the Clippers lack of size through isolations and mismatches. In contrast to the Grizzlies series, this one is likely going to see a lot of the Clippers small ball lineup. Forget about Reggie Evans, get ready for a lot of Randy Foye or Nick Young at the three, Young or Caron Butler at the four.

Realistically the Clippers were going to lose this game. The Spurs were too rested, the Clippers too tired. But at the same time they served notice that they're not going to go down without a fight. The trimmed what had been a 19 point lead to 8, and might have gotten closer if a few more shots had dropped down the stretch. The Clippers shot close to 50% through the first three quarters, but then went cold in the fourth making just a third of their shots.

Thursday night the two teams will be playing on a more level footing, with a day of rest between games. The Clippers absolutely must do a better job on the boards and defending the perimeter, but if they do that and continue to do the other things they did tonight, they've got a real chance to steal Game 2.

Clippers 92, Spurs 108 Postgame Thread

2012-05-16T04:20:10Z

Well, I think that this will be forever known as the Bledsoe Game. Not game 1. The Bledsoe Game. I decree it.

Clippers vs Spurs coverage

Clippers vs Spurs boxscore

Pounding The Rock

Leave your postgame comments here.

Roll Call: ClipperBEAST, indy818, JackduhSun, ColBlahHa, Jayq, ThaFoX, howboutthemclips, DannyDodger, Champ Crawdaddy, NewCavsfan, CB1Fan, the new Bradfather, phitePSEF, jfraj, Oh WTF, My dukie twinkles, 82-0, shap, ClipperFon, Divine Beast, L.AClipperFan, RamonGonzalez, SurfinQ00, Hengtime81, LancerEvox2k, therunningcow, fanoftheunderdogs, LJ Hann, nauticazn25, yaggiefresh, osamu, Pawn, Guitarzan, oLiViNGSToN, Rakelds79, DieterDeux, halosfan4ever, bc56274, Bui Himself, dulciusXasperis, inphinity, mustang6944, d2s4ui1, Archon, ILL Eagle, Final692, BelgianClipper, 1fan, lbclips, chargerclipperfan, AudioDope, UC.Clipper, Christian Vielman, edk3, mTumi, Xfactor26, Akram47, dc5dugg, KillaClip, jonnto, muckduck, TheLobTHEJAM, baron_davis needs a fro, zac4president, Charles Ha, XXDC2XX, wilriv21, Guyver423, ENCUEROMAN, crazyj, Jonee, Clipperoo, Valdeezy, tenkaistar, Nuuri, chrisd, Newton Pham, danobaseball, Lawler's Law
Total Users: 79
Total Posts: 2521
Total Threads: 4

Name	# of Posts
Jayq	215
JackduhSun	167
shap	148
LJ Hann	115
Divine Beast	114
yaggiefresh	105
My dukie twinkles	88
the new Bradfather	80
Hengtime81	77
ClipperBEAST	75
82-0	71
SurfinQ00	71
NewCavsfan	66
LancerEvox2k	61
Oh WTF	59
osamu	55
UC.Clipper	50
mustang6944	47
DannyDodger	46
DieterDeux	45
nauticazn25	45
bc56274	44
fanoftheunderdogs	42
Guyver423	41
jfraj	38
phitePSEF	38
CB1Fan	38
Rakelds79	37
Champ Crawdaddy	30
Guitarzan	29
Akram47	29
indy818	28
oLiViNGSToN	25
Jonee	24
ClipperFon	23
halosfan4ever	19
Bui Himself	17
Christian Vielman	17
wilriv21	14
crazyj	14
howboutthemclips	13
muckduck	11
L.AClipperFan	11
Xfactor26	10
ColBlahHa	9
Clipperoo	8
ILL Eagle	8
BelgianClipper	8
Newton Pham	7
Charles Ha	7
dulciusXasperis	7
Final692	7
Pawn	6
Valdeezy	6
ThaFoX	5
RamonGonzalez	5
AudioDope	4
edk3	4
d2s4ui1	3
KillaClip	3
lbclips	3
Nuuri	3
1fan	3
XXDC2XX	2
inphinity	2
Archon	2
zac4president	2
mTumi	2
TheLobTHEJAM	2
baron_davis needs a fro	2
chrisd	1
chargerclipperfan	1
danobaseball	1
Lawler's Law	1
dc5dugg	1
ENCUEROMAN	1
therunningcow	1
jonnto	1
tenkaistar	1

Clippers Vs. Spurs - WC Semis - Game 1 Open Thread

2012-05-16T01:15:04Z

2011/2012 NBA Playoffs - WC Semis
	vs.
40-26		50-16
Game 1 - May 15th, 2012, 6:30 PM, San Antonio, AT&T Center
Game 2 - May 17th, 2012, 6:30 PM, San Antonio, AT&T Center
Game 3 - May 19th, 2012, 12:30 PM, Los Angeles, STAPLES Center
Game 4 - May 20th, 2012, 7:30 PM, Los Angeles, STAPLES Center
Game 5 - May 22nd, 2012, TBD, San Antonio, AT&T Center *
Game 6 - May 25th, 2012, TBD, Los Angeles, STAPLES Center *
Game 7 - May 27th, 2012, TBD, San Antonio, AT&T Center *
* if necessary
Probable starters:
Chris Paul	PG	Tony Parker
Randy Foye	SG	Danny Green
Caron Butler	SF	Kawhi Leonard
Blake Griffin	PF	Boris Diaw
DeAndre Jordan	C	Tim Duncan
Key reserves:
Eric Bledsoe	PG	Gary Neal
Mo Williams	SG	Manu Ginobili
Nick Young	SF	Stephen Jackson
Reggie Evans	PF	Matt Bonner DeJuan Blair
Kenyon Martin	C	Tiago Splitter

New quarterly open threads will be published at quarter breaks by Citizen LJ Hann.

Chatting with the Enemy: Pounding the Rock

NOTE that JR Wilco from Pounding the Rock and I have discussed the need for both communities to be on their best behavior. PtR is one of the best communities out there, and if you want to hang out on their thread and talk serious hoops, then you are by all means welcome. But if you are being a jerk, I will hear of it and there will be repercussions. Got it? So play nice.

Clippers Vs. Spurs - If You Want to Read More Previews

2012-05-15T21:53:25Z

Here are some links to a bunch more previews for the Western Conference Semifinal Series between the Clippers and the Spurs. If the Spurs are as overconfident heading into this series as the people who write about basketball, the Clippers will have a real chance.

This may be my favorite quote, from Chris Sheridan:

Statistically, the Spurs have advantages everywhere: Points per game, 103.7 to 97.5. Field-goal percentage: .478 to .455. Rebounds per game: 43.0 to 41.6. Assists per game: 23.2 to 21.0. Free-throw percentage: .748 to .680. Three-point field goal percentage: .393 to .357.

My goodness, they really do have advantages everywhere. Or at least everywhere that Sheridan cares to look. I can make self-serving lists too, it turns out. Here are categories where the Clippers have advantages:

Points allowed: 95 to 96.5; Turnovers committed: 13.3 to 13.6; Turnovers forced: 14.6 to 13.7; Steals: 8.4 to 7.4; Offensive rebounds: 12.1 to 10.3. Blocked shots: 4.8 to 4.4.

Turns out, far from "everywhere" the Spurs have advantages in some statistical categories and the Cippers have advantages in others. You could argue that the Spurs categories are more important... but then again, points allowed is pretty important, right? Not to mention that it's disingenuous to imply that the Spurs are a better rebounding team. The Spurs play at the league's seventh fastest pace while the Clippers play at the fourth slowest. In fact, during the regular season the Spurs and Clippers were tied in rebound percentage and in rebound differential so they are essentially completely equal as rebounding teams (though the Clippers are better on the offensive glass). Man, nothing gets me more riled up than a dishonest statistical argument, especially from someone who knows better. Everywhere indeed.

Anyway, here's a list of previews:

Preview of the second round playoff series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs
Sheridan's full review.

No. 1 Spurs vs. No. 5 Clippers - Paul Forrester - SI.com
From Paul Forrester at Sports Illustrated.

Spurs - Clippers Series Preview | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS
This one comes from Spurs.com, so it may be excused for having a bias.

Playoff Preview: Los Angeles Clippers vs. San Antonio Spurs | ProBasketballTalk
From my Long Beach neighbor Kurt Helin at ProBasketballTalk.

‘Deep Thoughts’ and Cheap Thoughts: San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Clippers | Ball Don't Lie - Yahoo! Sports
From Dan Devine at Yahoo!'s Ball Don't Lie.