Game 18: Los Angeles (3-14) VS Houston (11-7)

[thanumba2clippersfan]

We gotta get it rolling at some point. I'm still trying to be patient but I know none of us are happy with this start. I'm pissed about the loss last night because I know it's hard to win on the send night of a back-to-back.

Maybe we might have some luck against Memphis. They have a lot of young players and we should be more rested for that one. I'll try to bring us luck for Friday since I'm doing that game.

[JJ LoDuca]

3-15. Can't imagine too many teams in NBA history have had worse starts. Especially with 11 of those 18 at home. What are they, 11 or 12 games out of first place in the Pacific divison. Unbelievable.

Well, that's because the lakers are freakin' unconscious. The Rockets at 12-7 lead the Southwest, so if we played there, we'd only be....oh, jeez. Well, I guess 3-15 won't get you much no matter where you play.

I'm still counting on a big run to get us back in it, mid-late December maybe? It can't come soon enough, that's all I'm saying.

[playaloc916]

So, Baron goes 3-6 from 3pt land. If only he had saved one of those for yesterday. And once again, a weak 4th quarter, outscored by 6, and we end up losing by 7. Davis had a much better game today, but it just wasn't enough. Rafer looks like he had nearly the game of his life, almost got a triple double. On the bright side, ZBo had another good game, as did Thornton. And no Stevie Franchise?! I was looking forward to him getting some minutes for the first time this season.

If we don't win Friday's game against Memphis, we might just have to pull a Colangelo and fire Dunleavy, lol.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I think you guys would have much better success with Al Thorton or someone fronting Yao Ming. I mean Zach Randolph? Clippers are the only team in the NBA that plays Yao this way, every other team in the NBA fronts him. You guys lost because the coaching is horrible....

That's why we've lost many games this season. We've been in some games but have just fallen short. All of us want to see Dunleavy step down as head coach but it's probably not going to happen right now.

[GuyverX]

I'm going to be honest...I'm getting sick of Baron Davis. How many bricks does he have to jack up until he realizes he has Eric Gordon who's a better shooter wide open on the other side of the 3 point arc? I knew he had a big ego but I didn't think he was this selfish. He's being guarded by two guys from behind the arc and still keeps chucking away.

This guy can only be happy under Nellie ball and Mike Dunleavy is the anti-Nellie. Either Dunleavy needs to be removed completely or Barren needs to go. Those two are like oil and water.

[cinnamon]

All of us want to see Dunleavy step down as head coach but it's probably not going to happen right now.

You seem to be absolutely right on this, numba2clippersfan, but I don't understand why this is the case.
It's only the first few days of December, and heads have rolled for three head coaches in the league already this season.
Surely our record this year calls for it, loud and clear.

[playaloc916]

I'm afraid I'm starting to feel the same way about Baron. I mean, just looking at his career stats, he's a 32% 3-point shooter, but he averages 5-6 attempts a game. Why does he love hoisting up the 3's so much? If he would just lower that to about 3 or 4 attempts, I'd be much happier. He doesn't really have to alter much else, just reduce the 3-pt attempts.

And Gordon really needs to get more touches. I don't really follow college hoops, but I heard at one point before his wrist injury, he was lights from any where on the court. At this point, I'd rather have Gordon taking the three instead of Davis.

[JJ LoDuca]

And Gordon really needs to get more touches. I don't really follow college hoops, but I heard at one point before his wrist injury, he was lights from any where on the court. At this point, I'd rather have Gordon taking the three instead of Davis.

Absolutely. When Gordon releases the ball, I immediately expect it to go in. As for the situation with Baron, I think its hard to argue against him taking less 3-pointers. A max of four 3-point attempts per game sounds perfectly suitable, and like someone else pointed out, distance has never been his fortè, so I don't know why he's shooting the long ball so much.

As for heads rolling and Dunleavy being on his way to the chopping block (we hope), I'd be perfectly content with Kim Hughes coaching the team for the remainder of the season, even though the pool of unemployed head coaches keeps on growing. If we lose the last two of the road trip, it wouldn't make any sense at all to keep Dunleavy as the coach.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Baron slowly becoming the next Tim Thomas.

[illastrate]

I'm going to be honest...I'm getting sick of Baron Davis. How many bricks does he have to jack up until he realizes he has Eric Gordon who's a better shooter wide open on the other side of the 3 point arc? I knew he had a big ego but I didn't think he was this selfish. He's being guarded by two guys from behind the arc and still keeps chucking away.

This guy can only be happy under Nellie ball and Mike Dunleavy is the anti-Nellie. Either Dunleavy needs to be removed completely or Barren needs to go. Those two are like oil and water.

Warrior fans warned us, we didn't listen:

[GuyverX]

All of us want to see Dunleavy step down as head coach but it's probably not going to happen right now.

You seem to be absolutely right on this, numba2clippersfan, but I don't understand why this is the case.

The reason is Donald Sterling. Dunleavy has 2 more years, around $10 million on his contract after this season is over. As far as I know, Sterling has never, ever fired a coach with that much money left on their contract and certainly not mid-season. In addition to paying Dunleavy his money after letting him go, Sterling now needs to go out and pay another coach millions to replace the guy. This is not happening in DTS land.

Dunleavy is also GM so it's not like he's going to Sterling to get rid of himself. The best case scenario is that this coach/GM role will give him enough rope to hang himself. If Sterling thinks this is hurting his overall profits, maybe, just maybe Dunleavy will get the pink slip in 09/10 but I doubt it.

Either that or Dunleavy's comment that "firing me would be the biggest mistake he'll ever make" actually spooked Sterling. I'm still LMAO on one.

[PlinkingPanda]

Baron slowly becoming the next Tim Thomas.

I was thinking the same thing this morning during my class..

Warrior fans warned us, we didn't listen:

Man.. That's a horrible picture.. I never even noticed EJ wide open..

And yeah Warriors fans did warn us about Mr. Chucker.. Let's trade him to the Knicks for Duhon and um.. Lee.. and some filler..

[GuyverX]

LOL, there were two guys on Baron for that shot....somebody had to be open. The pass was a simple one and Mr. L.A. didn't make the play. I have no problems with him taking the game winning shot but that thing had no chance of going in.

[mkwest]

Memphis is up next. I've been looking forward to seeing Mayo in action. I would say it's a very winnable game, but I'm not quite sure what's winnable at the moment. Tonight we played great in the 3rd and had a less than stellar finish. I'd like to see us attack more and cut back on the jumpers. Chuck Davis was 3 of 6 from the arc, but finished 5 of 15 from the field. I know he was feeling under the weather and I commend him for going out there, but we need better decisions from him. If he wants to he can practically get to the basket with ease, but maybe he likes the challenge of the long ball

I'm satisfied with the front court play once again. Something has clicked with Thornton and in the last 2 games he shown some serious aggressiveness and I hope he keeps that up. Camby hustles and I love his help defense. Zach has been playing pretty well for us since his second game with the team. I don't like every shot of his, but he fills a need that we desperately needed filled. I was in and out and missed quite a bit of the game, but I'm assuming his minutes were reduced to as he continues to heal. He has a rookie mistake here and there, but he plays defense and is willing to do whatever it takes on offense. I would have loved to see him get more involved tonight, but his teammates have to get him the ball.

[JJ LoDuca]

I don't think we've seen the best of Baron Davis yet. I do understand the frustration, but I don't think it's time to go chasing him with torches and pitchforks yet.

Yet.

[GuyverX]

I don't think we've seen the best of Baron Davis yet.

Wow I hope so because all we've gotten is Barren not Baron.

The guy was supposed to put the team on his back, be a superstar, make the superstar plays, make the clutch shots...he's done nothing so far. He shoots 39% from the field and 26% from 3. He can't even defend guys like Udrih or Barrea. The best he's played was his first 5 minutes against the lakers opening night and we lost by 40. So yeah, I hope this isn't the real Baron Davis because this guy is overrated right now.

[JJ LoDuca]

Guyv, I can't argue with that...he hasn't been what we paid for so far. But it's that so far part that has me optimistic. At the start of the season, we had zero chemistry. Then the trade came, then the injuries. I don't think Baron has worked with the full potential of this team yet, and therefore we haven't seen Baron's full potential here either. He's dropped 30 for us before, and has had 10+ assists in a few games, so we know that Baron is better than...well, Barren.