Monthly Archives: December 2012

Notes and quotes

Posted on by
Reply

The Clippers’ victory Wednesday over the Charlotte Bobcats was their eighth in a row, tying their longest winning streak in 21 years. (Nov. 30 through Dec. 15, 1991). They need three more victories to match the longest streak in franchise history (11 consecutive from Nov. 3 to Nov. 23, 1974 while playing as the Buffalo Braves).

What’s more, the Clippers are on pace for their first 50-win season. Their best was 49 victories as the Braves in 1974-75. Their highest win total in Los Angeles was 47 with Mike Dunleavy as their coach and Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Corey Maggette, Sam Cassell and Cattino Mobley as their top players in 2005-06.

“It’s cool,” guard Chris Paul said after the Clippers beat the Bobcats 100-94.. “It just means we’re playing all right now. But we’re not satisfied. We have to keep playing the right way and keep this thing going. Sometimes you’re going to win and play bad and sometimes you’re going to play well and lose. For us it’s all about being consistent.”

The Clippers go for their ninth straight win Saturday against the Bucks in Milwaukee.

Clippers hit the road with some big goals in mind

Posted on by
Reply

The last time they had a six-game winning streak, the Clippers went a little haywire for about a week before they regained their confidence, their rhythm and their winning ways. They don’t want a repeat of their earlier four-game losing streak when they hit the road to start a four-game trip Tuesday night in Chicago.

Matt Barnes, a backup small forward, sounded an optimistic tone after Sunday’s rout of the Toronto Raptors gave the Clippers their second six-game winning streak of the season. He said nothing short of a 3-1 record on their trip to Chicago, Charlotte, Milwaukee and Detroit would be acceptable.

“We know what our ultimate goal is right now,” Barnes said. “We have a very talented team and guys have to make sacrifices. That may be playing time or shots. But whatever it may be, everyone has bought in and the more time we have together, the better we play.”

The Clippers departed for Chicago in first place in the Pacific Division with a 14-6 record. They routed the Bulls in their first meeting at Staples Center by 21 points Nov. 17. These will be their first games against Charlotte, Milwaukee and Detroit this season.

“We know we have something special here,” Barnes added. “It’s a long season and we want to continue to build and continue to set good habits and be healthy at the end of the season and be ready for the playoffs. … This is the most talented team I’ve played on, period. Our ultimate goal is to win a championship.”

Blake Griffin named Western Conference player of the week

Posted on by
Reply

Power forward Blake Griffin was named the Western Conference player of the week, not an easy honor when you consider he didn’t play in any of the last three fourth quarters because the Clippers were so far ahead of the opposition.

Griffin led the Clippers to win over the Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors. He had 30 points and 11 rebounds against Utah, 19 points and 13 rebounds against Dallas, 24 points and eight rebounds against Phoenix and 19 points and nine rebounds against Toronto.

For the week, he was ninth among players in the West in scoring with an average of 23 points and seventh in rebounding with an average of 10 per game despite sitting out the fourth quarters of blowout victories over the Mavericks, Suns and Raptors.

Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks was the Eastern Conference player of the week.

Eric Bledsoe makes his mark on another Clippers victory

Posted on by
Reply

Eric Bledsoe had his hand in another Clippers victory, this time a 102-83 win Sunday afternoon over the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. That wasn’t exactly front page news, as far as the Clippers were concerned.

“I really think he’s going to be a star,” teammate Chauncey Billups said before Bledsoe scored 14 points, grabbed four rebounds and added six assists in the Clippers’ sixth consecutive win. Billups also called Bledsoe “a freak athlete,” adding, “I haven’t see many players with the athleticism he has. I see something new from him every night.

“It’s a gift from God.”

Bledsoe always had the physical part within him, as evidenced by his raw skills.

What’s new this season is his ability to think the game a little better.

“Experience is always the best teacher,” said Billups, a guard playing his16th season in the NBA.” I can tell him to look for this. Be ready for this. Or they’re going to do this. He’ll come back and say, ‘Dang, Chauncey, you know what they did?’ And I’ll say, ‘I told you to look for it.’

“The more minutes he plays, the more situations he’s in, in games, he sees it for himself. Because he’s waiting on it. Maybe he missed it. (But) he’ll pick it up and he won’t get beat again. It’s been a joy to see his development.”

Bledsoe, who turned 23 on Sunday and is playing his third season with the Clippers, continues to develop a sound earth-bound game to go with his high-wire act. His perimeter jump shot, like teammate Blake Griffin’s, is something of a work in progress.

“When he gets more consistent with it, he’s going to be impossible to guard,” Billups said. “He’s going to be a nightmare matchup. You get right up on him, and he’ll just go right by you.”

Point guard Chris Paul put it this way: “I play against him every day in practice. When you get in a game and it’s not ‘EBled’ on you, it’s almost like you’re in a rocking chair.”

 

Lamar Odom making strides, rewarding Clippers faith in him

Posted on by
Reply

Lamar Odom’s statistics were modest again Saturday for the Clippers. He scored a season-high eight points on 4-for-8 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds and added three assists in 20 minutes, 36 seconds during a 117-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

To be sure, the versatile 6-foot-10 forward has had better and more productive games during his career. But not this season, not after he arrived at training camp out of shape, not after he sat out almost three weeks in October because of sore knees.

Slowly but certainly, Odom has worked himself into shape and rewarded the Clippers’ faith in him and his potential. He’s shed 12 pounds and recently displayed a vague resemblance to the player who was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year while with the Lakers in 2010-11.

Odom has plenty of work still to do, including dropping additional pounds, before he can claim to be as fit as he should be at this point in the season. When he does, when he gets in better shape, the Clippers hope he’ll be as productive as he can be for them.

“It takes time,” Odom said. “I had so much time off. Sometimes, as an athlete, you slow down. It’s important for me to keep after it in practice, get extra work in so I’m comfortable on the court, comfortable on defense and making moves and coming out of them. It just takes time.”

After a season in which his mind and body seemed to be elsewhere after the Lakers traded him to the Dallas Mavericks, Odom insisted from Day 1 of training camp with the Clippers that his head was in the right place. He vowed to return to the form that made him the league’s best bench player.

“My body is starting and my mind are starting to attach, so that feels good,” he said. “My body and my mind, they have to be together. My body is starting to catch up to my head.”

Others have noticed his physical improvement.

“He wants it and I believe in him,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “I’m going to keep pushing him. I’m going to keep making him work and he’s going to keep doing work. His teammates support him because we know that he gives us an element we need.”

Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry says Clippers should be thinking championship

Posted on by
Reply

Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry said before Saturday afternoon’s game at Staples Center that the Clippers are “a really, really good team,” and “there’s no reason they shouldn’t be thinking about a championship.”

“They have the best bench in the league and really, really good starters,” said Gentry, a former Clippers coach. “I’ve seen games when their second unit has gotten separation for them (over the opposition). They’re that deep. They’re loaded. I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be talking about playing in June.”