Houston Rockets (35-16) @ Los Angeles Clippers (34-19)

[Neddy]

I can already see those 12-year old Clipper haters taking a **** on the Clippers because of CP3 giving DJ a "cheap" rebound to DJ.

i see more of 42 year old flaker faithful rather than a 12 year old fresh start B Ball fan of LA taking a dump on us.

[mttwlsn16]

Houston is a fraud team. One of those teams I actually want to face come playoff time. Imagine how badly "MVP" Harden would play from the combination of his usual Clippers choking and his usual playoff choking.

Agree. Houston, Portland, Dallas do not concern me whatsoever. GS, Mem, SA make me nervous.

[Forte IV]

idk, the more I watch San Antonio, even with them being injured, they just don't scare me that much anymore. Maybe that'll change by the end of their rodeo trip, but even last year when they had injuries they were still a scary team. Now not so much.

[nickhx2]

ESPN sucks.

frontpage talks only about 3 clippers scoring 20 points. nothing about dj's 20/20 game until you go to the nba page.

[mkwest]

I don't think they're bad, but we definitely match up very well against them. Harden has been killing it as of late, but he has struggled against the Clippers for the majority of his career. 13.4 ppg on 34.9% shooting in 31.2 mpg over 18 games.

[LACtdom]

Why do we need to lose Blake for the rest of the team to play with energy?

[QRich3]

I know he gets enough flack here about how bad he is as an executive (some of it by me), but I just wanna point to how f*cking awesome of a coach Doc is. He's basically the only coach in the league that knows how to consistently shut down Harden and Curry year after year, and some of it is match-up related, but most of it is just great game planning. He does stuff like putting Redick on Harden and having DJ be basically ready to go at him all the time, so when we get a stop and we go out in transition, Harden is forced to guard JJ and chase him around, tiring him up and attacking his defensive flaws. Harden is basically abusing every team in the league game after game, yet every time he plays against us he becomes an inefficient chucker that gives up easy baskets on the other end. It's happened too many times for it to be any sort of coincidence.

Props to DJ too, cause he was really good closing the paint. The Rockets play a style of bball that only looks for shots in the paint or outside the 3PT line, and those are our strengths defensively, that's because of our gameplan mostly, and because it plays to DJ's main skills.

Let's see if Blake can get healthy soon and we have everyone ready for the last stretch of the season so we can peak in late April. I still have a lot of faith in this team.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Hey all I watched some of the game last night but happened to fall asleep. SMH I was so tired. Anyways glad to see that we won and my prediction of another monster game for DJ came true. I don't know what he has to do to make the all star team. Maybe have back-to-back 30/30 games. I hope he keeps up the pace with Blake out.

So now everyone can rest and we can cheer on CP3 and JJ this weekend.

[Quake Griffin]

So is DJ any better defensively than before?

Is he more than just a shot blocker?
yesterday it looked like his job helping Redick in the paint and then his rebounding were key in the win.

but every time I feel like he's doing a good job, the stats (facts) say he's not that great of a rim protector/ defender.
OG…anyone care to go thru the numbers?

[QRich3]

He always looks great against the Rockets. DJ's problem is not that he's not able to protect the rim, is that he's so inconsistent at it, some days he looks like the best rim protector in the game, some days he looks like Javale McGee. Not even days, remember the game we lost against the Hawks in the middle of their winning streak? in the 1st half he looked like a perennial DPOY shutting down everything that got on his way, then in the second half he had a dozen brainfarts that led to easy baskets for the Hawks. If he ever gets it and is able to play like those times consistently, he'll be a rich man prime-Dwight Howard on defense. Not sure how realistic that is to happen though.

[MartinToVaught]

idk, the more I watch San Antonio, even with them being injured, they just don't scare me that much anymore. Maybe that'll change by the end of their rodeo trip, but even last year when they had injuries they were still a scary team. Now not so much.

Spurs are repeating this year, regular season means nothing to them.

[og15]

Clippers 22-8 vs WC, second best record behind GS (26-7).

So far 2-0 in Blake's absence, both against WC playoff teams, this is a great start as it doesn't get any easier.

[illastrate]

Nice win. Having Redick back makes all the difference. And DJ is on a rebounding tear.

[Forte IV]

idk, the more I watch San Antonio, even with them being injured, they just don't scare me that much anymore. Maybe that'll change by the end of their rodeo trip, but even last year when they had injuries they were still a scary team. Now not so much.

Spurs are repeating this year, regular season means nothing to them.

I'm willing to put money down that they won't. They're more beat up this year then last. Duncan wouldn't be able to handle a beating from the Memphis bigs.