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Puzzling Clips look to get rolling
January 22, 2015
With apologies to the surging Atlanta Hawks, the NBA’s best team, both record-wise and aesthetically speaking, leads the West. It resides in a Pacific Division that it paces by an impressive seven games.
You’ve probably talked about them this morning following their thorough dismantling of Houston in Wednesday’s marquee matchup. Stephen Curry is the current MVP favorite. As of right now, Steve Kerr has to get the nod over even Mike Budenholzer as Coach of the Year. Draymond Green is going to be on the short list for Most Improved.
The Golden State Warriors are the NBA’s “it” team. They’re the current favorite to get out of the league’s toughest conference, currently priced at +280 (Bet $100 to win $280) at Sportsbook.ag.
They’re everything the Los Angeles Clippers were supposed to be.
L.A. was 4-to-1 to win the Western Conference when the season began, behind only defending champ San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Gregg Popovich’s Spurs have been banged up and understandably uninterested with their standing this early in the season. The Thunder have only had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook play 19 games together.
What’s the Clippers excuse?
Although they’ve won two-thirds of their 42 games entering Thursday night’s home date against Brooklyn, Rivers’ team is running sixth in the West. Watch them play. They often look like they’ve regressed, appearing disjointed.
Given the distractions former owner Donald Sterling tripped the team up with last postseason before being barred by the league, the Clips got a well-deserved pass for failing to reach the Western Conference Finals. Doc Rivers was in his first season, still learning his team. They still finished with a franchise-record 57 wins, one more than Vinny Del Negro managed the year prior. They won a second straight Pacific title and got out of the first round for only the third time since moving to L.A.
With former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer providing a steady hand atop the organization, it’s strange to Rivers being upstaged by Kerr’s Warriors in his second go-round.
Basically everyone is back from last season. Darren Collison departed, but Spencer Hawes came aboard, upgrading the team’s frontcourt depth. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick have started all 42 games. Matt Barnes has made 38 starts at small forward. Top reserve Jamal Crawford has participated in 41 of 42. The continuity has been there. It’s the overwhelming success most expected would be a given that has been missing.
“Is it personnel, or is it personal? Here's the unvarnished opinion of someone who knows that team well: 'They don't like each other,'" wrote veteran NBA.com insider David Aldridge late last month.
You might be thinking, 28-14 isn’t bad. They’re on pace for 55 wins. While that’s true, keep in mind that the Clippers haven’t really dealt with any physical adversity. Paul has seen a slight dip in his numbers, but still ranks third in the NBA in assists and is on pace to set a personal best for 3-pointers made, shooting just shy of 40 percent from beyond the arc. Griffin is averaging career-highs of 23.0 points and 5.0 assists, although his rebound clip of 7.8 in a career low. Jordan helps make up for that dip, leading the league in that category and shooting 72 percent from the field, a career-high that’s also the top mark in the NBA. Once again, he’s averaging 10 points, 13 rebounds and roughly 2.5 blocks.
So, where are the resuls? What happens if they do lose any of their key figures for an extended period? Why are the Clippers on their third streak of three or more consecutive ATS losses? They opened the season failing to cover their first seven games, going just 4-3 straight up. They went through a December stretch where they went just 2-9 against the number. Last week, both the Heat and Cavaliers came into Staples Center and won outright. Cleveland scorched them for 126 points, the most they’ve given up this season.
The bench has been a major area of weakness despite the presence of Crawford, since Hedo Turkoglu is past his prime, Glen Davis is out of shape and Jordan Farmar ended up being cut after failing to adequately replaced Collison. Austin Rivers and Dahntay Jones were added this week, while plans are in the works to add a veteran or two over the coming weeks.
No one should be writing the Clippers off yet, but whether they’re able to hit their stride prior to the All-Star break definitely bears watching. They’re a double-digit favorite against a Brooklyn team that won in Sacramento on Wednesday, but it’s worth noting that they’ve covered just six of 15 games where they’ve been favored by 10 or more. The Nets were outscored 54-41 in the second half of their 103-100 win over the Kings and are just 3-7 SU on the second night of back-to-backs. We’ll see if L.A. can take advantage. Based on what we’ve seen thus far, don’t count on it.
Spurs at Bulls – 8:05 p.m. ET
A potential Finals preview between teams that haven’t seen each other this season loses a little luster since Joakim Noah remains sidelined with an ankle injury that has been an issue for the past month. As a result, Tim Duncan is likely to see more of Pau Gasol, while other terrific individual matchups here include Derrick Rose squaring off with Tony Parker and Jimmy Butler battling Kawhi LeonardM. Heck, just the fact that Popovich isn’t resting starters for a TNT Thursday night showcase is cause for celebration.
Celtics at Trail Blazers – 10:05 PM ET
LaMarcus Aldridge missed his first game after injuring his left thumb in last night’s 118-113 loss in Phoenix and is listed as out indefinitely. It looked like the Blazers were going to steal one without him before they surrendered a late Phoenix run, so it’s important to take care of winnable games like this one against rebuilding Boston. The next five games yield a visit from Washington and stops in Brooklyn, Cleveland, Atlanta and Milwaukee, a tough stretch they may have to brave without their All-Star power forward.
January 22, 2015
With apologies to the surging Atlanta Hawks, the NBA’s best team, both record-wise and aesthetically speaking, leads the West. It resides in a Pacific Division that it paces by an impressive seven games.
You’ve probably talked about them this morning following their thorough dismantling of Houston in Wednesday’s marquee matchup. Stephen Curry is the current MVP favorite. As of right now, Steve Kerr has to get the nod over even Mike Budenholzer as Coach of the Year. Draymond Green is going to be on the short list for Most Improved.
The Golden State Warriors are the NBA’s “it” team. They’re the current favorite to get out of the league’s toughest conference, currently priced at +280 (Bet $100 to win $280) at Sportsbook.ag.
They’re everything the Los Angeles Clippers were supposed to be.
L.A. was 4-to-1 to win the Western Conference when the season began, behind only defending champ San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Gregg Popovich’s Spurs have been banged up and understandably uninterested with their standing this early in the season. The Thunder have only had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook play 19 games together.
What’s the Clippers excuse?
Although they’ve won two-thirds of their 42 games entering Thursday night’s home date against Brooklyn, Rivers’ team is running sixth in the West. Watch them play. They often look like they’ve regressed, appearing disjointed.
Given the distractions former owner Donald Sterling tripped the team up with last postseason before being barred by the league, the Clips got a well-deserved pass for failing to reach the Western Conference Finals. Doc Rivers was in his first season, still learning his team. They still finished with a franchise-record 57 wins, one more than Vinny Del Negro managed the year prior. They won a second straight Pacific title and got out of the first round for only the third time since moving to L.A.
With former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer providing a steady hand atop the organization, it’s strange to Rivers being upstaged by Kerr’s Warriors in his second go-round.
Basically everyone is back from last season. Darren Collison departed, but Spencer Hawes came aboard, upgrading the team’s frontcourt depth. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick have started all 42 games. Matt Barnes has made 38 starts at small forward. Top reserve Jamal Crawford has participated in 41 of 42. The continuity has been there. It’s the overwhelming success most expected would be a given that has been missing.
“Is it personnel, or is it personal? Here's the unvarnished opinion of someone who knows that team well: 'They don't like each other,'" wrote veteran NBA.com insider David Aldridge late last month.
You might be thinking, 28-14 isn’t bad. They’re on pace for 55 wins. While that’s true, keep in mind that the Clippers haven’t really dealt with any physical adversity. Paul has seen a slight dip in his numbers, but still ranks third in the NBA in assists and is on pace to set a personal best for 3-pointers made, shooting just shy of 40 percent from beyond the arc. Griffin is averaging career-highs of 23.0 points and 5.0 assists, although his rebound clip of 7.8 in a career low. Jordan helps make up for that dip, leading the league in that category and shooting 72 percent from the field, a career-high that’s also the top mark in the NBA. Once again, he’s averaging 10 points, 13 rebounds and roughly 2.5 blocks.
So, where are the resuls? What happens if they do lose any of their key figures for an extended period? Why are the Clippers on their third streak of three or more consecutive ATS losses? They opened the season failing to cover their first seven games, going just 4-3 straight up. They went through a December stretch where they went just 2-9 against the number. Last week, both the Heat and Cavaliers came into Staples Center and won outright. Cleveland scorched them for 126 points, the most they’ve given up this season.
The bench has been a major area of weakness despite the presence of Crawford, since Hedo Turkoglu is past his prime, Glen Davis is out of shape and Jordan Farmar ended up being cut after failing to adequately replaced Collison. Austin Rivers and Dahntay Jones were added this week, while plans are in the works to add a veteran or two over the coming weeks.
No one should be writing the Clippers off yet, but whether they’re able to hit their stride prior to the All-Star break definitely bears watching. They’re a double-digit favorite against a Brooklyn team that won in Sacramento on Wednesday, but it’s worth noting that they’ve covered just six of 15 games where they’ve been favored by 10 or more. The Nets were outscored 54-41 in the second half of their 103-100 win over the Kings and are just 3-7 SU on the second night of back-to-backs. We’ll see if L.A. can take advantage. Based on what we’ve seen thus far, don’t count on it.
Spurs at Bulls – 8:05 p.m. ET
A potential Finals preview between teams that haven’t seen each other this season loses a little luster since Joakim Noah remains sidelined with an ankle injury that has been an issue for the past month. As a result, Tim Duncan is likely to see more of Pau Gasol, while other terrific individual matchups here include Derrick Rose squaring off with Tony Parker and Jimmy Butler battling Kawhi LeonardM. Heck, just the fact that Popovich isn’t resting starters for a TNT Thursday night showcase is cause for celebration.
Celtics at Trail Blazers – 10:05 PM ET
LaMarcus Aldridge missed his first game after injuring his left thumb in last night’s 118-113 loss in Phoenix and is listed as out indefinitely. It looked like the Blazers were going to steal one without him before they surrendered a late Phoenix run, so it’s important to take care of winnable games like this one against rebuilding Boston. The next five games yield a visit from Washington and stops in Brooklyn, Cleveland, Atlanta and Milwaukee, a tough stretch they may have to brave without their All-Star power forward.
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