Preseason Game 7: Clippers (3-3) vs Lakers (0-6)

[mike3]

I like the move just to play our bench (basically) tonight besides Caron/Griff/Dj who didn't really see a ton of mins. Really made our bench play well and hard and we got the win.

Love what I saw from Bled especially, surprised to say this but really like Barnes game as well, I get why he's one of those guys you love to have on your team.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Bledsoe is a monster off that bench.

Barnes is easily our best backup SF right now.

[mkwest]

I'm a little disappointed that EB didn't get the triple double It was great game for him and a nice way to bounce back. He and Barnes are great off the bench together. For years, I could not stand Barnes, but he's made it impossible for me to not root for him.

From a team perspective, it's amazing how many free-throws we can make when it's not BG or DJ at the line. The rest of the team shot 90% (18 for 20) from the charity stripe. Turnovers were a little higher than I would have liked, but at least it wasn't in the 20's again. Glad to get through another game with health and hopefully I can say the same after tomorrow. The season is almost here

[mj_shoefanatic]

Can't forget the energy, hustle and defensive presence that hollins brought too. Great job!

[TheNewEra]

I'm guessing Bledsoe may sit the next game for some rest

[playaloc916]

Really nice effort by the guys. Barnes played well out there. I can see him getting solid minutes and being really productive off the bench. And I won't even mind if he pulls a goon move every now and then, especially since it won't be on us, lol.

[apet8945]

I've really been impressed with our backup bigs. Both Hollins and Turiaf are showing that they can actually contribute and so far have been playing well enough to warrant some minutes.

I know Hollins has been picked on for his inability to rebound, but I'm seeing him doing a great deal of good rebounding so far in the preseason. He can make his FT's and we don't lose any athleticism with him on the floor. Plus he likes to mix it up.

Turiaf was out there being a play maker in this game. He had some really nice passes and seemed to be making all the correct reads and decisions. And again, another big who can make FT's. I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable knowing that if Odom decides to slack off or one of our starting bigs hits the injury bug, that the team won't tilt much in the wrong direction with the backups coming in.

[og15]

Hollins rebounding has been okay. 4.1 rebounds in 17.4 minutes is 8.5 Rebs/36 minutes, still not great for a guy his size and athleticism, but better than his career 6.3 rebounds per 36 minutes. Still, too few games to say anything. He had a 24 minute / 1 rebound game, but also 4 and 5 in 13 and 10 minutes.

If he rebounds well defensively, I can live with mediocre offensive rebounding, though that is his better trait, and I don't look for miraculous transformations like that. He has a career 3.7 defensive rebounds / 36, Bargnani does 4.7 defensive rebounds / 36 on his career, and he's the prototype poor big man rebounder right now, so Hollins is even worse, ayy...

I've liked his energy though, and he's been blocking shots, finishing through contact, but best of all, hitting FT's. a big man that can hit FT's would be nice, but again, small sample size, but at the least, he's a career 65% FT shooter, which beats all the other Clipper bigs from last season.

He still fouls too much though, and I think that will just be the case, he's always been that way. His 3.6 fouls in 17.4 minutes in the pre-season would be 7.4 fouls / 36, so he would foul out in about 29 minutes of floor time each game at that pace. Sadly for him, fouling is not good defense, so some of his energy, etc on defense gets killed by a high foul rate by directly sending opponents to the line or getting them in the bonus.

[mkwest]

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