OFFICIAL 2015 LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS OFF-SEASON THREAD (Lance, PP, Josh Smith, Aldrich - pretty nice l

[HIM]

We blew Orlando out last night but was it just me or did it still not feel like a good game? Hard to nitpick at 20+ point win on the road but I still felt our weaknesses stood out; namely opponents offensive rebounding and poor closeouts/rotations on 3's. What I really did like though, was how CP3 came out aggressive in the 3rd. He took like 8 shots that quarter. He should do that every single 3rd quarter. I can see trying to get people involved and in a rhythm to start the game but when the 2nd half starts it's time to either blow the game open if we're up or close the gap if we're down. 

We're 2nd to last in percentage of contested rebounds won. I would say 90% of that has to do with Blake leaking out early after the opponent takes a shot. It's so frustrating to see 3 opponents on the offensive glass while DJ is by himself and Blake is at halfcourt 

 

[lawdog1]

^^^ I hear you. It was far from a perfect game. I felt we were still too jump-shot reliant and didn't move the ball enough. The jumpers just happened to be falling last night.

And I completely agree about CP being aggressive on offense. We rarely lose when he scores in the 20s or above, so it's infuriating to me when he has games where he barely shoots.

 

[djlunchbox]

yooooooooooooooo! Clipset I'm back. took a NT hiatus but back in full effect.

Man team is looking bummy :-/ I've been sadly uninitiated to watch games. After we got washed by the Bulls the other day i was like maaaaaaaaan....

 

[lawdog1]

Unexpectedly excellent start to this road trip. Real test is coming Sunday. We better have saved some of the hot shooting from these last to games if we want to have a shot of beating the Grizz in Memphis.

 

[shoeking2101]

Unexpectedly excellent start to this road trip. Real test is coming Sunday. We better have saved some of the hot shooting from these last to games if we want to have a shot of beating the Grizz in Memphis.

Shooting well definitely helps but more so than anything I'm just enjoying the ball movement and player action. Everything is crisp and swift, ball isn't sticking and most importantly, the ball is getting below the free throw line and back out multiple times in a possession efficiently, which is normally the indicator of really good offensive action. (cc. Spurs here) A team like Memphis however will definitely test this ball movement but hopefully it continues.

 

[lawdog1]

Los Angeles Clippers ‏@LAClippers · 13m13 minutes ago
Doc Rivers said no Matt Barnes tonight (calf). Reggie Bullock to start.

Hopefully, Reggie cooks in his return to North Carolina. I like starting him better than starting Crawford at SF. We need a bounce back W tonight.

 

[shoeking2101]

I can't get a read on this team at all. The memphis game really dissapointed me. Thought they would perform much better than that. Marc Gasol just used DJ and made him look pathetic.

Gotta get this win against Charlotte. Really every game against the East are games I think we must have. West is too damn tough.

 

[shoeking2101]

Don't remember the last time Blake was rebounding like this.

 

[lawdog1]

^^^ Me neither. Was nice to see. He needs to be aggressive on the boards like that more often.

And congrats to JCrossover for hitting 10th all time in 3s made.

 

[you big dummy]

View media item 1274980

 

[shoeking2101]

Quiet as it's kept, our bench has been awful this year. Constantly giving up leads and forcing the starters to come in prematurely to save them.

 

[shoeking2101]

Solid win. Taking care of business on the road and having a great road trip so far. Still hurt over the Memphis game but overall I'm pleased somewhat with the output and effort on the road. Chris Paul is finding his groove and Blake's playmaking has been something to marvel at. Playing in the west, gotta eat up all of these east coast games whenever we get em.

Jamal Crawford did a fantastic job carrying that second unit but man that second unit is going to be problematic, namely that backup PG position. Don't like what Farmar is bringing at all although Hedo has been a pleasant surprise. Expected more out of Hawes, Farmar, Glen Davis. Do like having Reggie Bullock in the starting lineup though, hopefully we keep that. That'll pay huge dividends come end of the season / playoff time. He can be a knockdown 3 point shooter (corners especially) and can be solid on defense. Like him a lot more than barnes.

On to Houston.

 

[xtianp]

Need to see a solid effort against a Western conference team. We're winning the games we're supposed to and not even close in the others.

 

[shoeking2101]

Need to see a solid effort against a Western conference team. We're winning the games we're supposed to and not even close in the others.

Not true. Supposed to have beat SAS, beat Portland, and beat phx. Will be a good win against Houston if we can get that one though.

 

[lawdog1]

Was happy with the game last night. For whatever reason, I had a feeling it wouldn't be easy. CP and Crawford were great and everyone else played well enough. @shoeking2101 - the bench must have read your post from yesterday because they actually played well in the second half. The funny thing about the bench is that, as individuals, a lot of them are performing well. (I don't really count Crawford as a bench player). Hedo and Baby have been good. Both Hawes and Farmar have been a little disappointing, but not bad. Its just the bench, as a unit, has not really put it together consistently. Still plenty of time for them to improve on that.

Also, last night was one of those games where Blake spent way too much time pouting and worrying about the refs. 17-7-7 is a decent line for him, but he could have been better. There was also one exchange late in the game that really irritated me. He took a shot and thought he got fouled, complained and loafed getting back on defense. As a result, the Pistons got an easy bucket and cut our lead to two. Blake needs to cut that kind of **** out. Seriously.

 

[HIM]

Clippers bicycle?

Would be so great to take this game in Utah and finish the trip 6-1. History is against us when it comes to playing in Utah tho 

 

 

[shoeking2101]

Hell yeah knock em out early

 

[shoeking2101]

*sigh* Bench please don't do this...

 

[shoeking2101]

Way to take care of business on the road against Orlando. One of the losses last year that came to bite us big time was to them. The hope is that this road trip can get this team into some type of rhythm, some type of synergy. Let's get a streak going, if we can get out of this road trip 5-2 then I would be extremely happy.

Did me one better and went 6-1 I'll take it

Winning on the road in the NBA is always a challenge. Still in the first quarter of the season, and the Clippers obviously needed to work out some kinks, and get back in sync with each other. It's always good to do that while playing against the East, which is why this stretch of games came at a perfect. It's hard to get better when you're playing the Bulls, The Spurs, The Blazers, The Suns, almost consecutively so it was nice to be able to essentially practice and work on some stuff while improving your standing in the conference. Road wins are pivotal and they'll pay off big time down the road.

 

[lawdog1]

Despite the momentum the team built on the road, the game tonight against Minny has trap written all over it. The first game back after a long roadie is often tough. I predict the team will have to fight through a ragged first quarter/half. but will handle business in the second half. Basically, I think we'll win, but it won't be easy.

 

[lawdog1]

Despite the momentum the team built on the road, the game tonight against Minny has trap written all over it. The first game back after a long roadie is often tough. I predict the team will have to fight through a ragged first quarter/half. but will handle business in the second half. Basically, I think we'll win, but it won't be easy.

Um, so I was sort of right. The first quarter was kind of tough

 

[lawdog1]

I like this ad. Pretty cool.

 

[shoeking2101]

We could be on the verge of a huge win streak or winning binge here for the month of december. For the last 3 years, this team always hits it's stride in december, and this month is littered with games that we should win. Especially with the way we've been taking care of business against teams that we should beat, this month could be epic in a great way. We literally don't have a loss on the schedule for awhile. (Saturday against PHX could be a challenge though)

Through 17 games, I have to say I'm pleased. 12-5, the exact same record that we had at this point last year. We've played Chicago, Memphis, San Antonio, Golden State, Sacramento, Portland, Phoenix, and have come out of this stretch pretty good. We're playing better, the ball isn't sticking, Chris Paul is playing at an MVP level right now, and I feel really confident going into the next 10 games or so.

 

[HIM]

Yea, the only issue I've had so far is that we've lost against all the true tests so far but we definitely have been playing better. Like Doc said last night, a lot of our offensive struggles came from simply missing open shots. When JJ is hitting wide open shots it makes our offense so much deadlier. We've had the most difficult schedule out of any playoff team in the west while Memphis and Especially Golden State have had easy schedules. It will be interesting to see them play tougher opponents while we grt a chance to beat up on inferior teams.


I left the game at the end 3rd Quarter last night and I don't eem regret it . Shaved some time off my commute.

 

[lawdog1]

Yeah, I don't have any big problems with our record in the abstract, but when I think about the games themselves, we should be better. We blew the Sacramento and San Antonio games and punked out during the second quarter of the Bulls game. We should be at least 14-3, but oh well. Things are looking better and I'm excited about the next time we play a team that's ahead of us in the standings, whenever that is.