There’s no arena in the country in which losing to the Thunder is some sort of crime, particularly when the final margin (four points) wasn’t big. Afterward, though, there was a sense the Clippers had definitely fallen behind the big boys of the West.
Not that they’re doing anything wrong, really. The Clippers sport the NBA’s fourth-highest point differential at plus-6.7, and after Wednesday’s blowout of Milwaukee have the same number of wins as Miami and OKC, despite Paul missing 12 games. At 20-12, they have among the league’s best road records, and have more victories over teams with .500-plus records than any group in the NBA. Despite concerns over the quality of their halfcourt game – a necessity in the playoffs as things slow down – the Clippers rank seventh in points per possession, via Synergy. Hardly a disaster.
Plus, they do things like this:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLJVA80Tn9o&w=560&h=315]
Still, the holes are fairly obvious, starting with any ability to generate points in the frontcourt when Griffin is out of the game, and what could be considered an over-reliance on jump-shooting and the creativity of Paul. As the OKC game showed, when Paul is off, it’s hard to drum up a viable Plan B, particularly against good competition. How they exited last season’s playoffs – swept at the hands of San Antonio – also influences people’s thinking. But no team is without flaws.
I’m sure Clippers fans feel their squad isn’t getting the respect it deserves, despite the 17-game winning streak earlier in the season and the MVP-caliber point guard. They could be right, but ultimately it’s not so much about what the Clippers aren’t as what OKC and San Antonio are. It’s difficult – not impossible, but difficult – to see them running through either or both of those teams (or perhaps Memphis) en route to the Finals.
–BK
LOS ANGELES LAKERS (31-31)
Because it wouldn’t be a week in Laker Land without Dwight Howard creating some form of controversy, eyebrows were recently raised by an exclusive interview Howard gave to Kristine Leahy of KCAL9 and CBS2 in L.A. During the conversation, Leahy asked about Howard’s jovial persona – which doesn’t really exist much these days, but why kill a good narrative – and the perception his smiles reflect indifference towards winning.
This was Howard’s response:
“I understand coming here to L.A., Kobe’s here and for 17 years, Laker fans, they just see Kobe as somebody who’s serious. He seems like he doesn’t fool around or whatever it may be. That’s his personality. And just because I don’t necessarily make a [snarling face] or do all that during games or on the bench, that doesn’t mean I don’t care about succeeding or wanting to win. I always tell people, my team in Orlando was filled with people nobody wanted. And I was the leader. And I led that team with a smile on my face.”
Howard’s ex-point guard Jameer Nelson didn’t take kindly to this sentiment.
Per Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel:
“At some point, when are you [Dwight] gonna as a man, when are you going to take ownership and stay out of the media in a professional manner?” Nelson told the Sentinel after Wednesday’s shooatround in Miami.”
kilgary I see what youre saying about Anaheim, and as a city it has a huge money per capita with an arena to boot, not sure how old it is. But if the NBA and investors wanted to be successful the best way would be for them to carve out their own hungry fanbase elsewhere, and California already seems to have its fair share of NBA teams.
For them its not about trying their luck in seattle, they already have feelers and supposedly also have financial backing which was what they needed to begin anew. There is no guarantee a new team outside of L.A. would have been as successul given the Clippers/Lakers recent successes to get ‘Kings’ fans there, that seems more like a risky move to me than moving to a city with no team at all, and an equally rich city,… smells like coffee.
The Warriors need a center on the floor at all times, not necessarily Bogut although he is certainly the best. The thing that started killing their defense was overplaying the Lee-Landry frontline. This team has always overvalued offense which they have plenty of. Until they change that focus, the dismissal of the W’s as a serious challenger will remain.
I don’t know why the conventional wisdom remains that the Warriors need Bogut on the floor. Hasn’t anyone noticed they started losing when they worked Bogut into the rotation? They were winning at an astounding clip the first half of the season while Bogut was rehabbing. With two games against the Lakers and one against Houston remaining, the Warriors are going to have a tough time not falling to the #8 seed. I’m still putting money on Utah at #9. As for the Kings, what happened to Anaheim? Orange County fans will support a NBA team if it puts a decent product on the floor. Look how many turn out in the pre-season. Turning Anaheim into a 3 sport team with the Kings seems to be smarter than trying their luck in Seattle. Isn’t there a good reason the Thunder reside in OKC?