Arnovitz: The Clippers' D isn't as bad as you think

[azncorruptedo17]

sorry... that's all old news to me.

[TucsonClip]

The Clippers defensive problems were with the bench. We all know that Blake and DJ are not good at defending the paint, which is exactly why Rivers' strong side defensive concept is going to help in the playoffs against teams like the Grizzlies.

[QRich3]

Yeah the shots at the rim numbers are still not looking good, but there's no need to get obssesed with that stat just cause it's a new one, it's not the be all end all of defensive statistics.

From what I've seen this season, I think the reason for those numbers being as bad as they are is (most of the time) the big man not defending the pick and roll is not quick and decisive enough to rotate when the ball handler splits the pick, leading to that big man getting late to contest possible layups or 2 against 1 situations at the rim, and a lot of times DJ and Blake haven't even been trying to contest in those situations for fear of fouling. It's been happening a lot, specially against PG's that are quick to turn the corner when they're being trapped. It also doesn't help that our big guys don't have the reputation of being good defenders, leading to refs blowing the whistle quicker when in doubt, and opposing players not having any fear to bring it to the hoop. It'll get better with time and repetition, I hope Rivers is stressing that at every practice.

Also, unrelated to this, but there's been some effort issues, I don't know if it's because we are in the middle of a long road trip and the guys are tired, but yesterday Blake failed to even try to contest 3 or 4 Bass jumpers from the elbows, most of which went in. And DJ has also been failing to even put his hand up a few times. That there is completely unacceptable, even if it's a long shot that you're gonna block it or even disrupt the shooter.

[Quake Griffin]

what are u guys's thoughts on DeAndre's defense?
team defense?
man to man is blah imo

i thought he looked pretty good last night outside of some great moves by duncan.

thoughts?

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I'm just happy that the defense is improving. We caused a lot of turnovers last year and those are leading to easy baskets. That was a big key to our huge win streak last year. I don't know how consistent our defense will be right now, but I'm happy that it has gotten a lot better.