Game #34: Clippers(21-12) @ Suns(15-20)

[Kyle]

Good thing hitting a shooter's hand isn't a foul anymore......

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Well we lose this one 81-78. We really didn't play that well at all tonight. Suns mostly beat us out. There were some questionable calls down the stretch, but I still feel like we could have played better to win. I hate these loses because we usually suck and that leads to us losing. Just not happy about this one. Lastly I'm not sure why Grant Hill went for the layup. He just should have dribbled it out. I'll be thinking about this game for a bit.

[Sofia]

We half a game back on the Lakers now?

[mkwest]

It's always going to be hard to win when you're outrebounded, shoot 37% from the field and the other team takes 20 more free-throws.

We half a game back on the Lakers now?

We're up by .007%

[og15]

Well that sucked

[TheNewEra]

Very poor game DJ has to shake out of this crap fatigue should not be a factor. Everyone else stop shooting so many jumpers and for the love of god someone get us a playmaker SG

[SunsRback4Good]

I'm surprised too didn't think Suns would play defense like that. Oh well you guys are going into the playoffs while we'll be stuck around 10th-11th seed

[Kapono's Sweatband]

Don't get me wrong, I love what Chris Paul has brought to this team, but I am getting SICK of watching him dribble between his legs till the shot clock gets to 7 seconds and then put up a contested 2 with nobody else ever touching the ball. Or option two: run off two or three picks without really using the screen or being aggressive, then end up in the same position 35 feet from the hoop in another iso-contested-jumper. Best of all: option number 3! Pass to Griffin, get it back, re-seal, pass again and repeat failed post move. At least in this instance two players touch the ball...

People are hating on VDN but Paul needs to consistently bring it on offense. I think he got to the hoop once or twice tonight and made AMAZING finishes. Why not do this more often? It's like he's afraid of the paint. I think he is the best point guard in the game, but he killed SO many offenses tonight by dribbling down the shot clock as the defense got to sick back and rest. Time to start earning your value consistently over ALL four quarters Chris. I'm sure everyone is sick of watching us put up a half-assed effort till the 4th and just pull it out against poor teams. Sure as hell didn't work tonight. SMH.

[Angel strike1]

we need new blood.
GET RAY RAY PLEASE!

[og15]

Don't get me wrong, I love what Chris Paul has brought to this team, but I am getting SICK of watching him dribble between his legs till the shot clock gets to 7 seconds and then put up a contested 2 with nobody else ever touching the ball. Or option two: run off two or three picks without really using the screen or being aggressive, then end up in the same position 35 feet from the hoop in another iso-contested-jumper. Best of all: option number 3! Pass to Griffin, get it back, re-seal, pass again and repeat failed post move. At least in this instance two players touch the ball...

People are hating on VDN but Paul needs to consistently bring it on offense. I think he got to the hoop once or twice tonight and made AMAZING finishes. Why not do this more often? It's like he's afraid of the paint. I think he is the best point guard in the game, but he killed SO many offenses tonight by dribbling down the shot clock as the defense got to sick back and rest. Time to start earning your value consistently over ALL four quarters Chris. I'm sure everyone is sick of watching us put up a half-assed effort till the 4th and just pull it out against poor teams. Sure as hell didn't work tonight. SMH.

It's not less effort, it's him trying to get the other guys involved. The problem is that in the offense, the sets ran for other guys don't give the greatest options in terms of ball movement.

I've been mentioning it all year that when off ball screens are ran, there's little to no curling / diving towards the hoop, it is always seemingly to pop out to the three point line.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE60U1iyveI[/youtube]
-Watch the Utah offense here
-Watch how Deron uses the screen at 0:53, a little earlier, Raja does a similar thing, but he's cut off and then makes a pass
-Hayward at 1:10, you would never see a Clipper cut like that or get easy baskets from the offense
-1:34, Kirilenko curls off the screen
-2:14, they are trying to run a post up, but there's an off-ball spy by OKC with Harden, loading the strong side, so the Jazz swing. Remember Harden was loading the strong side, so he's a step behind his man (CJ Miles). Watch as the Jazz swing, Miles who was the man cutting through goes across, then the opposite man Kirilenko dives like he's making a cut (so his man follows him) but then sets a screen on Harden who was preventing the post up, and is now a step behind. Kirilenko's man follows him because he think's he's cutting, and Harden gets caught behind the screen, so Miles is open.

In the Clippers offense, that screen down doesn't happen and you just have three guys standing around the perimeter with their defender one step away from them. The swing will get a semi-contested shot as opposed to an open one if the defense isn't sleeping

Notice that the Clippers also get the ball in a similar position to the high post play run by Millsap at 1:10. Blake in the high post, but when this happens, movement is halted and the play call is just for Blake to isolate. Blake is a good passer, don't make always him have to dribble to create something, have some people move and give options first.

Butler needs to be run off plays like this to get him open mid-range jumpshots and also to get him going to the basket. Caron is actually a good passer and is capable of making plays for himself and others off that set.

The offense does not create easy baskets, everything that is created, someone has to do it off the dribble or by drawing double teams. Now of course you need that, but you offense also has to be able to work for you and give you some easy ones once in a while.

I'm not saying their offense was perfect, but the Clippers offense right now is one of the most efficient in the league, but all of us know that is isn't really one of the best. It is working because the team has a really good and efficient isolation scorer (and low turnover guy) in Paul, and enough PG play to create some baskets.

[LOJ]

Mmmmm, beautiful break down og. I agree 100%

And lets not even get into defensive rotations.

[og15]

Always fun to watch some Chicago Bulls defense:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP5ui2CxM6A[/youtube]

Some of it is due to the team not being together for too long, and the short training camp, the rest of it is due to not having the best defensive scheme out there. Poor close out on three point shooters, players seemingly confused about where to rotate when a big hedges on the screen, too easy penetration to the middle allow, and poor discipline in terms of fouling opponents. It's also hard to know if the system calls for something or the player is missing a rotation in some instances because I haven't payed enough attention to know exactly what the defense is trying to do.

I really like the "ICE" that the Bulls run against the side screen and roll in which the primary defender jumps the screen and essentially renders the pick useless. I think it is a principle that would help to Clippers in terms of preventing the bigs from getting out of position too much when hedging on side pNr. Hedging with the big hasn't been extremely successful in all scenarios because it seems like a lot of defensive breakdowns result from it, mainly due to the big hedging too far when they shouldn't, or someone missing a rotation. ICE (or guard hedge) on the sideline pNr in addition to hedging high screen and rolls would be very beneficial.

The other thing is ball denial in the post. K-Mart and Reggie (he sometimes fouls without reason) are good at doing this, but Blake, and I'd say more so DJ don't seem to do much in terms of fighting guys for position. Again, I'm not exactly sure what Vinny's philosophy on this is, so I can't conclude whether it's fully the players or it's the system. DJ and Blake have had VDN in their early years and are more lax in doing that, while the two guys who have played in other systems seem more likely to do it, so I'll chalk this one up to defensive philosophy.

The biggest thing that I like is closing out hard on three point shooters. Blake is one of the worst if he's playing a stretch big, he does what I call fake closeouts. Just kind of jog up to the guy with a hand up and maybe touch him a little. This is actually where I think Blake is the worst on defense, closing out on spot up shooters. He's actually not too bad everywhere else and good in some areas. Overall as a team though, the 3PT defense is poor. 4th worst in opponent 3PT% and 6th worst in opponent 3PTM/G.

If you watch the part examining the Cavaliers defense, it might give you flashbacks of the Clippers defense. The difference between the defenses is basically just better personnel for the Clippers. Clippers hedge with the big on side pick and roll and spread out the defense, slow close out on shooters, Blake and DJ many times use athleticism instead of boxing out on the glass

[LOJ]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjCL130wqAk&list=UUSpvjDk06HLxBaw8sZw7SkA&index=1&feature=plcp[/youtube]

I do like me some coach Nick.

[Kapono's Sweatband]

^^ First two plays 'Coach Nick' calls Kevin Love Pekovic and next play calls Mo Williams Chris Paul haha.