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Where: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX

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PGuard: #3 - Chris "CP3" Paul * SGuard: #4 - J.J. Redick

SF: #1 - Lance Stephenson * PF: #32 - Blake Griffin

Center: #6 - DeAndre Jordan

34 - Paul Pierce * 11 - Jamal Crawford * 5 - Josh Smith

* 25 - Austin Rivers * 33 - Wesley Johnson * 45 - Cole Aldrich

9 - Pablo Prigioni * 22 - Branden Dawson * 30 - C.J. Wilcox

12 - Luc Mbah A Moute

DeAndre Jordan Ready For The “Fun” In Dallas

“It’s going to be fun,” Jordan said. “At the end of the day, it’s a basketball game. It’s a competition. We’re trying to go out there and beat them, just like they’re trying to beat us.”

“Clearly, there’s going to be more energy from the crowd, maybe a playoff atmosphere or something like that,” Rivers said. “But at the end of the day, their job is not to cheer for us anyway. That’s how I’ve always felt.”

“It’s our job as teammates to make it easier for him,” Griffin said. “Sometimes when you want to beat a team really badly and have a lot of extra motivation and a lot of stuff going on, sometimes you force it…It’s our job to make sure he stays even and he stays who he is. We need him to be who he is.”

Rowan Kavner, Clippers.com

24 Seconds With…Austin Rivers

What’s changed for you from a defensive mindset?

AR: “I took pride in it. I’ve always been quick. I have gotten stronger, I’ve gotten better, I’ve gotten wiser. But at the end of the day, I just take pride in it. I want to be a two-way player. I want to be a guy that can go out there with high energy, go out there and be a defensive stopper, somebody who makes it extremely tough every night. Every night this season, every game, you’ll see me play defense.”

Have you always had that mentality?

AR: “No, that’s something that’s grown, that’s grown, that’s grown…My coaches tell me every day, they’re like, ‘You could be one of the league’s best defenders,’ because people are starting to notice it now. That’s how it starts. People don’t play defense because they don’t get notoriety for it and they don’t care…First off, I play defense to help my team win. That’s the only reason I play. It’s a way for me to help my team win. I’m making it tough on somebody. Whenever I’m in the game, I’m guarding the best player.”

What are the toughest aspects about adjusting to a new defense, and is that something that takes time?

AR: “Absolutely. It’s just communication. Everybody has different defensive schemes and ways of rotating. I already know all that. That’s behind me. That’s way behind me. Now it’s about being elite, the elite defender. I want to be one of the best defenders in the league this season.”

Rowan Kavner, Clippers.com

24 Seconds With … Doc Rivers

How valuable has Blake Griffin been to start the year?

DR: “Blake has come back a better player. No one really gets to see the work that he puts in during the summers and now. I mean, he’s always the first guy in the gym. He’s so comfortable now with his shot that I think he’s no longer just looking for his shot, which is a strange thing to say. He’s mixing it up better and that’s because he has great confidence in it.”

What do you think about the way the wing rotation has looked?

DR:“It’s been good. I’ve liked it pretty well. We’ve played up and down, honestly, but I do like where we’re at with it. Closing games, we’ve gone everywhere. We’ve gone defensively in the Golden State game, we’ve gone with Paul (Pierce)—he’ll be on the floor most of the time. I guess the only thing I would say I don’t know if we underestimated is the fact that Paul plays so much with the second group, yet at the end of the game he’s with the first group and we’re trying to find time whenever we do have a practice to put him on the floor with that group so he can get more comfortable with that.”

DeAndre Jordan’s assist rate is up this year, is that something you’ve been cognizant of?

DR: “I have probably been blinded, but he’s a heck of a passer and I honestly didn’t notice it as much. We have found with him on the post when you throw it to him, we worked on it all camp and his patience, he’s very patient. He’ll wait until a guy gets open. He made a backdoor pass on a bounce to J.J. (Redick), which a lot of people can’t make. And so the more he does it, the more we’ll use it. It gives us another weapon, and he’s been great at it.”

Rowan Kavner, Clippers.com

nickhx2 wrote:sometimes you get the feeling that dallas is having one of those long cries that kind of just keeps going on.

Texas Chuck wrote:I think the plan for Dallas tonight is to rest some guys as we have 4 games in 5 nights and we are an old team with several players on strict minute restrictions. So this should be a fairly easy win for the Clippers.

Of course the real fun will be the fans relentlessly booing Jordan and I'm sure there will be some amusing signs in the crowd that sort of thing. Nothing like some mindless sports hate to get the home crowd riled up.

And I expect Jordan to be thinking something along the lines of, "thank God I came to my senses in time" when he looks at the Mavs lineup.

I'm anxious to get another look at that Clippers bench. I really liked a lot of it on paper this off-season and still think it can become a strength once Doc figures out the right rotational mix.

nickhx2 wrote:so what do they get if they complete their mission

Ranma wrote:Geez...Josh Smith looks like an oaf in the post. There is no reason for that given his skill level, athleticism, and size. Dude plays like he's just collecting a paycheck.