Staples Center experience- Spurs @ Clippers 11/17/08
Posted by: TheCalmInsanity on Nov 18, 2008 - 02:59 AM
Clipper_Blog
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I think it's time to stop pointing fingers at individuals.
The only time we are allowed to point fingers is if we do it to the whole team. This wasn't Baron's fault- This wasn't Dunleavy's fault- This wasn't Kaman's fault- This wasn't Ricky Davis' fault- This wasn't Britney Spears' fault (we've been pointing fingers at random people, so why not)
Dunleavy's last second plays aren't guaranteed, but who's are? Last second 3's are the hardest plays to run, especially if your confidence got deflated by a role player bombing a 3. (There was nothing wrong with the defense they played during that last play, give credit to the great Tim Duncan for setting a perfect screen for Roger Mason, who perhaps was a little lucky with the last second 3 as he is not known as a clutch performer.) The play was run bad by the players, not by the coach. It was a well designed play but credit the Spurs' defense and the fact that the Clippers took so wrong to run it, and ran it awkwardly.
All that said, let's keep in mind Baron is still injured. (whether it says so or not, Baron is not Baron. He's not as bouncy as he usually is, he doesn't sprint the ball up anymore.. Barely jogs. And his shot hasn't looked so good.) But with streaky players like Davis, you keep shooting. People criticize Kobe for taking too many shots, and for taking ill advised shots, yet consider him the best player in the game. Had Baron not taken too many shots, we would criticize him for not stepping up and being a leader.
Camby is still injured. Officially- I heard today from a source that they planned to limit him to 25 minutes. (He played 33). He's supposed to get some rest, and I think Baron needs some rest as well. Those aren't excuses, but just reasons why they're doing so bad. Just to keep everyone hopeful that Baron won't be this way for the whole season.
The crowd was really bad, I was the only one cheering. There were two Spurs fans right next to me so I made sure I would yell alot of trash talk towards the Spurs the whole time. You don't know how much those fans irritated me, it was unreal. But the last few minutes of the game, the crowd was absolutely ballistic. Why couldn't they be like that for the whole game?
The last 2 minutes of this game was what is supposed to be the real Clippers. Having a crowd backing you up, while you play motivated defense and offense.
Here's the thing I think- Clippers home court is plagued right now. I think it's getting to their heads that the fans aren't cheering for them... I think a road trip is going to really help this team. I think hearing the opposing fans cheer against them will motivate them more than their own home crowd cheering against them. When your home crowd cheers against you, you get deflated. When the road crowd cheers against you, you play hard to make them shut up. I really think a road trip is what this club needs right now.
Mark my words right now, I believe Clippers still have not got a LEGIT win. I think the one against the Mavs was either a fluke or just energy, but I think once they get a real win (because of their skill and teamwork) it's going to snowball. I'm calling it now- I'm on the optimistic side but I see a 10+ game win streak once we pick it up. Partly because of our team's talent, and partly because we will catch all the teams off guard like Portland did last year.
As for the trade rumors with Randolph, let them die down. Kaman and Camby had 6 blocks between them. I think this duo is going to get better over time, and today I saw Camby's good passing rub off on Kaman (like how Gasol's good passing has rubbed off on Bynum). And similarly to that duo, they've had a bad start. Bynum and Gasol looked like a huge bust even against preseason competition. And yet pretty quickly they picked it up. Just wait- it's going to be great for those two. But that's not what killed us tonight, it was perimiter defense. It wasn't Kaman's fault Roger Mason had 21 points and the game winning 3.
As for the people who think we need change, don't you think we had enough change already? Change is what has put us in the toilet. Change is what made us from a bad season team to an awful start to this season. We're not losing because our players aren't talented, we're losing because we changed so much of the team from last year that they're unfamiliar with each other.
Last year's horrible team, against a GOOD western conference, started out better than this one. Not only has the west been weak this season beginning, but they've had many many injuries that we couldn't capitalize on. That alone should show you that talent is not our downside. So if trading and free agency made us horrible, why would we go back to it and try to change even more of this team? Even if you can argue that Zach Randolph is better than Kaman (which I wouldn't), you can argue that Baron is better than Brevin Knight (LOL), and we pulled that "trade" didn't we? Didn't make us better, yet. So we have to stay away from all trades and things that screwed us over, and look forward to a cohesive future.
That's all I got for tonight, if you have any questions or comments feel free to argue with me. Tough loss tonight, I know alot of people are angry and want to vent, but I would appreciate respectful debates.
Feel free to hit discuss and talk about it.
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