Preseason Game 1: Clippers vs Nuggets in Las Vegas

[mkwest]

Lawson lays it in at the buzzer for the 106-104 win.

Our bench players held their own against their starters at the end of the game. It was an exciting finish with a lot of big shots from both teams down the stretch.

Bledsoe was amazing. We have to find a way to keep this guy, even if we have to start the smallest backcourt in the league a couple years from now. Best player on the court tonight hands down imo. Fans were penciling him in for about 15 minutes a game, but that may not be enough.

DJ looked impressive on the offensive end. He had a couple of hiccups, but his post play is much improved and can very well become a weapon for us this season. He just has to take care of business at the line or they're going to really be fouling this guy.

JCross turned it on late in the game and showed us just how key he can be for us when the game is on the line. He'll be a nice offensive weapon off of the bench. Ralph and Mike made mention of Crawford saying that this was the first off-season that he actually trained. In the past, he played basketball, but didn't really work on the specifics of improving his game/condition.

Barnes showed to be a difference-maker. I don't like all of the turnovers, but things are going to be much different when the rest of the guys are all playing.

Odom has to improve his conditioning period. He has to get quicker and more fluid. His mind wants to do things that his body isn't as capable of doing atm.

Griffin didn't really show too much tonight. We got to see his new shooting form. He made his last 2 after missing the first 4. Hopefully it was just nerves. What he is going to need to get used to is shooting in rhythm.

Butler looked good. He's in much better shape this season and it's showing.

Green may very well be the starting shooting guard entering into the season. He was mostly a liability tonight. If he does end up starting, I hope that Vinny keeps his minutes down (waaaaay down).

Hollins had some good plays and some pretty bad ones. His minutes will be insignificant throughout the season, so it is what it is.

Turiaf is about as expected.

I'm happy that Thorns got an opportunity to play in front of his hometown crowd. I'm sure he had family and friends in attendance.

Overall, too many turnovers, inconsistent on defense and our shots weren't really falling. I did like the increased movement. Off-ball movement was lacking last season and it looks like it'll be much improved this season. The guys will have 5 days until their next game, which will be against the Heat in China.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

That was an exciting finish, too bad we lost the game. I was hoping Lawson would miss so we could go to OT. The tea goes to China next, that should be exciting.

[mkwest]

That was an exciting finish, too bad we lost the game. I was hoping Lawson would miss so we could go to OT. The tea goes to China next, that should be exciting.

Overtime would have been nice, but it's all good. I like that the team continued to fight and didn't give up even though things weren't looking too likely for us. The Nuggets are going to be a tough team this season. They were deep last year, but adding a player like Iguodala just takes it to another level.

[mkwest]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUkBNzKsQMc[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBylkKix23s[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt1jf7MALu0[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KBd2_YHY4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-lehKomqQ[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atRHzXHs73s[/youtube]

[jflipclip]

I liked Barnes effort overall. Very solid pickup. I only watched the last 7 minutes + the highlights. He started grabbing boards over our own bigs Hollins + Turiaf. Hope our backup bigs do a better jobs next time. Including Odom. DJ is a threat offensively now. It's scary and could be even scarier if he develops a passing game on the high block or low post. Griffin can kinda do it, but if DJ can do it too-- our offense will look super scary.

Bledsoe showed he can be a starter in this league, but he needs starter minutes. Such a dilemma because if you put him alongside CP3, will he still be as effective without the ball in his hand (minor issue)? Will defensive schemes be a liability (major issue)? You can put CP3 on the least productive wing, Butler on the 2, and Bledsoe ball-hawking the PG, but let's just say against the Lakers, how would that work out? And finally, you can't really trade him because of his good contract value and you don't cut CP3's minutes because of how valuable he is to the team as a whole. Who would you trade him for anyways?

Crawford will play pretty much the exact same role as Mo Williams-- carry us when the rest of our offense can't do crap. Not really surprising there.

[mike3]

Does anyone else really like our blue uni's? look awesome.

Some nice highlights! No highlights on NBA.com so thanks mkwest.

Surprised Griffin did so little but I'm not worried, this preseason is more about chemistry and the new guys, getting them in the system. Just by looking at the stats, Bledsoe was a gun. Hopefully he sees a great increase in mins this season. And DJ with great blocks against McGee. Always nice to finish with Blake being Blake. That fast break alley-oop reminded me of his first season getting assisted by Baron.

[Don Tommy]

The plays where DJ had back to back blocks, the crowd was going crazy. The second play, as soon as they started backing DJ down, the crowd started chanting DJ DJ DJ, and when he got the block, it almost blew up!
The thing with the clock at the end, I'm not sure how it came out on TV, but the scoreboard clock said 1.9 seconds, the clock over the baskets had the right time. They even announced to ignore the scoreboard clock. The other thing, this is not an NBA arena, the scoreboard was a screen in the corners of the arena above the 200 section. (No 300 section) So the players shouldn't have looked at that anyways. I think it was just a breakdown, but a hell of an exciting finish to a preseason game.
Overall, the main thing I am taking away from this game is how comfortable DJ looked in the post. He knew when he got the ball he wanted to score, and he knew he could score. He really worked on his game this summer and his contract might end up looking like a bargain at years end.
Also, EBled... man doe he have game. I love CP3, but if anyone knew how good Bledsoe would become, if we could have kept Eric Gordon, had Kaman's expiring contract and Minny's pick... no, forget that, we have the best PG in the game, and the best backup PG. That will be HUGE in the playoffs! Also, we will be able to play Paul less and keep him fresher for the postseason.

[krazyclipperfan]

We played a really go od game overall. This is preason so the wins and loses don't mean much.

[Don Tommy]

Also fellas, we are all in the wrong profession. The players wife I was sitting next to? Nope, she was a REFEREES wife! Her bracelet cost more than Neddy makes in a year, and I am guessing he's #1 on the list here. So when you see Rodney Mott (ref #71), know he has a beautiful trophy wife, and a pretty cool little kid!

[Don Tommy]

I had a few others but uploading them from photobucket.com cropped the pics, and to be honest, at 0230, I am too tired to fix it!

[jflipclip]

Use imgur next time.

[mkwest]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TagQ1qo_VFI[/youtube]