Game 5: Los Angeles (2-2) vs Houston (2-3)

[mkwest]

Los Angeles Clippers VS Houston Rockets
Where: STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA
When: Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 @ 7:30PM
TV: FSWEST / NBATV
Radio: KFWB News Talk 980



PG: #3 - Chris Paul SG: #1 - Chauncey Billups

SF: #5 - Caron Butler PF: #32 - Blake Griffin

C: #6 - DeAndre Jordan

Reserves

Williams | Foye | Gomes | Cook | Thompkins



PG: # 7 Kyle Lowry SG: #12 Kevin Martin

SF: #10 Chase Budinger PF: #4 Luis Scola

C: #27 Jordan Hill

Reserves

Flynn | Dragic | Williams | Parsons | Dalembert


Inactive List:

Eric Bledsoe (Lateral Meniscus, Right Knee) and Reggie Evans (Sprained Ankle, Right Foot) are out.

Courtney Lee (Right Calf Strain) is doubtful.

Team Leaders



Blake Griffin - 26.0 Points (3rd) and 9.8 Rebounds

Chris Paul - 9.8 Assists (3rd) and 2.5 Steals (1st)

DeAndre Jordan - 3.8 Blocks (1st)



Kevin Martin 19.3 Points

Jordan Hill - 8.3 Rebounds

Kyle Lowry - 11.5 Assists (1st) and 2.5 Steals (1st)

Samuel Dalembert - 2.5 Blocks (4th)

The Rockets will be on the second night of a back-to-back after playing against the Lakers on Tuesday. It would be nice if they tenderized them for us, so that we could pick up our 3rd win. The Rockets have gone through some major changes since the last time we played them. They have a new coach in Kevin McHale, Yao is officially retired, Jordan Hill is playing and actually starting, Sam Dalembert is coming off of the bench, Kyle Lowry is now undoubtedly their best player and Chuck Hayes is now a King amongst men.

Imo, the biggest positive from the changes is that Chuck Hayes is no longer on the team. He gave Blake fits. Sure, Blake still averaged 17.8 points and 13.3 rebounds against Hayes, but he shot a miserable 39.4% from the field.

The Rockets are searching for their 1st win on the road. They have protected home court with wins over the Spurs by 20 and the Hawks by 11. They have not faired as well when not playing at the Toyota Center, losing to the Magic by 9 and the Grizzlies by 20. We have had some trouble closing out on perimeter shooters. The Rockets have averaged over 25 three pointers per game while making just under 9 a game. They have either matched or outrebounded each opponent except one through their first 4 games. They have the 6th lowest turnover average in the league. We're just below them at 7th.

Offensively, we're at the top of the league and our troubles can be pinpointed to our defense (interior, exterior, man, weakside, etc.) and in failing to get defensive rebounds. In our previous game against the Blazers, we showed an increased activity on the defensive end for the first 3 quarters before slipping in the 4th. Our rebounding showed improvement early before losing that battle as the game drew to a close. These are going to be our keys to victory almost every game until we can show that it is not an issue. We've added size and our players (Billups & Evans) are either ready to return or will soon be returning to action. My hope is that as these players make it back to the court that we're able to decrease our inefficiencies and play to our strengths. Although we have had tough opponents (5th hardest schedule so far), it has been favorable in terms of having a light schedule with no back-to-backs. It's going to get a whole lot tougher and we're going to need everybody to chip in, because our main guys are not going to be able to play 38-40+ minutes a game like they have been.


Clipper*Joe created and posted this video in another thread. Check it out if you haven't already. If you seen it, watch it again. It's that good.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ9zAt3WgB8[/youtube]

[mj_shoefanatic]

Our small ball backcourt and super thin frontcourt will not beat this team alone. CP, BG, DJ(pls stay out of foul trouble) and CB need to put up similar #'s that they did on Sunday night. Whatever Mo, Gomes, Trey and Foye can chip in would be nice too. Also, if Billups/Evans are available and can play I have full confidence in us going 3-2. Otherwise we might have to settle for a hard fought L. This team is scrappy good just like Minny, GS/Sacto, etc.. and Lowry is playing like a 10-11 Rajon Rondo. Still...
GO CLIPPERS!!!

BTW DeAndre is #6 now!

[Det the Threat]

Great game thread mk

I expect a pretty hard fought game as the Rockets always seem to give us fits.
We'll have to try to win the battle on the glass and keep the turnovers low, if we want to win this one.

Also, having Billups back would be big for this one.

Here's hoping for the Clippers to make it two in a row.

[TheNewEra]

Hopefully Jones is ready by tomorrow can get him flowing this game scares me because of K.Martin and Lowry those two are balling and could play something like the Manu and Parker game.

Clippers can take this with tight d and strong rotations.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

First of all I want to say that I'm surprised that we have so much time between games so early in the season. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's gonna suck once we play 3 consecutive games or 4 games in 5 nights.

Anyways defense and rebounding is always key. I'm not worried about us on offense. Chauncey has been resting for awhile so I would expect he's be ready to go. I hope that Evans will be ready to go as well. We should be the fresher team and hopefully we capitalize and pick up a win against the Rockets. They've given us problems in the past, but like MK stated this is a different Rocket team.

[Forte IV]

Off topic, but where on espn did you get the small pictures for the key bench players?

[mkwest]

Off topic, but where on espn did you get the small pictures for the key bench players?

The small pictures came from the player profile pages. The measurements of each pic is at the end of the url. The default size 350x254.

Code: Select all

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/nba/players/full/3442.png&w=350&h=254

You can edit the size as you see fit. Just try to keep it proportional.

Code: Select all

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/nba/players/full/3442.png&w=100&h=73

BTW DeAndre is #6 now!

Thanks

[LOJ]

Nice gamethread mk.

This is going to be another game that is going to drag out to the last few minutes..... This Rockets team is dangerous, and Kyle Lowry is on a tear. I liked the improve D that we saw from the Portland game, I'm sure it had to do more with the Blazers being a bit cold, but I still saw significant improvements.

[og15]

It would be nice to see Reggie out on the floor for this ae

[azncorruptedo17]

i really hope DJ has a break out game this game... he SHOULD be able to dominate jordan hill... I wish DJ coulda worked on his post game more cuz he has no moves =X imagine him with a sky hook? dude jumps over everyone!!

[og15]

Imagine him with just a jump hook, really any semblance of a post move would work for him due to the size, length and athletic ability.

[azncorruptedo17]

Imagine him with just a jump hook, really any semblance of a post move would work for him due to the size, length and athletic ability.

i def think i meant to say jump hook -.-' lol but seriously... DJ needs to go see "The Dream" and learn a little something.

[TheNewEra]

He did go see Dream I think it helped with his defensive awareness he looks so much more comfortable out there

[scratch21]

the clipps have such a wacky schedule.. they better win since we hardly play

[thanumba2clippersfan]

We are about a half hour away from tip off

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Chauncey is ready to go tonight and I see Reggie in a suit so he won't be playing.

[TheNewEra]

Come on Blake take him off his shot

[mkwest]

Nice and-1 for Griffin.

[mike3]

so reggie isn't active, is Jones?

[mkwest]

2 on Hill.