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Last season, it took us 5 games to notch our first win. We sit atop of the Pacific Division at least for tonight.

My vote goes to CP3. He played excellent to close the game.

CP3 at the end,is/was the reason the Clips gave up so much for him. 2 steals & 6pts in about a minute. I also like that it didn't take 15 games to post our 1st "W" of the season.

Obviously Paul. He carried the load in the 4th and came through for us.

I'm expecting many more of these threads this year!

brian cook? haha.

pretty much the easiest poll in the world. chris paul played well throughout the entire game and torched the warriors in the 4th. it's hard to believe that he's only 26 years old sometimes.

I have to give it to Paul, those 3 shots at the end completely deflated the Warriors.

There are 3 things that concerned me though, and I'll start with the most concerning one.

1. Our rebounding was terrible. At times it looked like our starting bigs had good position, and somehow the ball would just slip between their fingers, I have no idea how to explain this, but I almost blew my brains watching it.

2. DeAndre Jordan is SO bad at the line. I mean, this is not even Shaq bad, this is historically bad. Teams will exploit that if he doesnt AT LEAST shoot 50-55%. 4-12... REALLY?

3. Chris Paul before those 3 shots in the 4th looked sluggish, and wasn't really playing at a superstar level. I'm not too concerned, we know Chris Paul isn't as explosive as before, and that it doesn't really hinder him much since he's still brilliant and his jumper is money. Maybe he was trying to get our other players more involved, trying to get a good flow in the offense going, but I don't know, it was kind of concerning.

Guys, we were fortunate. Steph Curry went 2-12, and Ellis went 6-19. They are both bonafied scorers who do it pretty efficiently. In the end we came out with the win, and got some positive momentum going. I'm sure the team will work on the things that they saw here tonight, remember this is almost a new team, these guys need time to gel.

Other than that, WE WON mofo's!

I went with Paul as well. He started slow and the ball wasn't in his hands as much as it should of been, but he took command of the game in the 4th and blew the lead open. The Clippers had left the door open for the Warriors to creep in, but he slammed it shut.

Pandam00nium wrote:I'm expecting many more of these threads this year!

Yes!

LionOfJudah wrote:3. Chris Paul before those 3 shots in the 4th looked sluggish, and wasn't really playing at a superstar level. I'm not too concerned, we know Chris Paul isn't as explosive as before, and that it doesn't really hinder him much since he's still brilliant and his jumper is money. Maybe he was trying to get our other players more involved, trying to get a good flow in the offense going, but I don't know, it was kind of concerning.

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but Paul tends to try to get his teammates more involved early in the game. Then he takes matters into his hands as the game goes on.

I don't like Billups being our full time SG. Billups takes away posessions from Paul. You don't want Billups directing the offense at times when our superstar elite PG can be doing it. I would love Billups off the bench, but would he accept that? If we were to make a trade for an actual SG Mo would have to go, packaged with Bledsoe to get a nice return.

mkwest wrote:

LionOfJudah wrote:3. Chris Paul before those 3 shots in the 4th looked sluggish, and wasn't really playing at a superstar level. I'm not too concerned, we know Chris Paul isn't as explosive as before, and that it doesn't really hinder him much since he's still brilliant and his jumper is money. Maybe he was trying to get our other players more involved, trying to get a good flow in the offense going, but I don't know, it was kind of concerning.

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but Paul tends to try to get his teammates more involved early in the game. Then he takes matters into his hands as the game goes on.

Yeah that's what I figured, but at times I just wanted him to do something instead of watching Billups chuck a 3.

My vote goes to CP3 as well.

It was a typical game for us in Oakland, until the last couple of minutes when Paul took the ball and closed out the game. And that's exactly why we traded for him.

BTW: If DJ could only manage to convert about 50% of his free throws...
This will be vital for us, cause we can't play during the final minutes of close games, if he's not able to hit at least 1 out of 2 from the line.

I think we should all chill a bit with the DJ free throw situation. Am I right in saying this is the first time he's come across the technique? he'll adjust, probably practice his free throws more than anything and i have a feeling guys like Paul, Griffin, Chauncey, Mo and Butler will have the right things to say to get him motivated to not worry too much about it. He's getting treatment like Shaq out there haha thats a step up in a way

^No, it happened a few times last season as well along with Blake Griffin. Blake eventually got his FT shot going, but it looks like he lost it again this season. DJ never really improved his FT shooting.

I voted for CP3. He pretty much took over when he went back in the 4th quarter. Also, I pretty much agree with all three of the points LionOfJudah said. Rebounding was horrendous and our interior D was lackluster aside from DJ's block party. Our defense just looked terrible and we were lucky GS didn't take full advantage. I thought Gomes did a decent job with boards when he was in. Mo definitely looks uncomfortable leading the second unit. I'd rather have Foye handle the ball over Mo at times.

It was easy to see GS's gameplan. They clogged the key and put pressure on CP3/whoever the ballhandler was. Luckily this Clipper squad can make three pointers and even though Billups' shot selection was a little off at times, he had some really tough shots that went in too.

but yeah.. win number 1. It's gonna be a fun season.

LionOfJudah wrote:I don't like Billups being our full time SG. Billups takes away posessions from Paul. You don't want Billups directing the offense at times when our superstar elite PG can be doing it. I would love Billups off the bench, but would he accept that? If we were to make a trade for an actual SG Mo would have to go, packaged with Bledsoe to get a nice return.

I agree. I hope VDN scales back Billups' minutes, and increases Mo's. I think a CP3 and Mo backcourt would be pretty exciting to watch.

Handling Billups' will be tricky. There are a few players that start games, only to play less minutes overall to the backup. I can't remember any specific players, but I think we should do this with Billups and Mo. Or at least split their minutes in half.

But star of the game? CP3 for sure. It seems like we've been on the other end of superstars taking over at the end of the game. It's nice to be on the winning side for a change.

As of now I don't think Billups minutes are the problem. I think its his failure to understand his role on the team. He was picked up to be a shooter and space the floor as well as create on offense on occasion. Maybe even for a little veteran leadership.

Last night he played like he was the big offseason acquistion. There were too many times he looked of Paul and Griffin or dominated the ball dribbling to force up a tough jumper. He seems to have it in his mind that the offense should run him or he can carry the team. Instead of cutting his time it would be more productive for VDN and Paul to have a sit down with him to get him to buy into his role. He is a more reliable shooter than Foye and Mo gets out of control sometimes and can gaurd the 2 spot at all. So unless they get a new wing Billups is still the best option. He just needs to calm his a$$ down.

I voted for CP3. He was really the difference late in the game. Though, I would give DJ an honorable mention. He was an absolute beast with his blocked shots.

Billups - Paul duo didn't work quiet as well IMO. It seemed liked they were just giving the ball to eachother to make the play, and Billups was chucking a 3.
If you include horrible rebounding, bad foul shooting and making Biedrins look like an elite center I'm not very happy with the win.
Still, its only the first game, and its actually nice that we have couple nights off before facing Spurs in San Antonio.

Voted for DJ and its not close Paul came on late and was so passive that if it wasn't for the defensive effort of DJ we would of been getting blown out by half time.

don't disagree with cp3, but i threw a vote to mo. I thought his numbers were better than what they actually were. He hit some timely shots and got a few steals at key points of the game when we needed a score or stop, and another half a dozen deflections too.