Game 37: Los Angeles (22-14) VS New Jersey (12-27)

[mkwest]

Los Angeles Clippers VS New Jersey Nets
Where: Prudential Center in Newark, NJ
When: Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 @ 5:00PM (PST)
TV:
Radio: KFWB News Talk 980

Season Series: Clippers lead 1-0
1/16/12 in LA: Clippers over Nets 101-91



PG: #3 - Chris Paul SG: #4 - Randy Foye

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

C: #6 - DeAndre Jordan


Reserves

Williams | Bledsoe | Simmons | Evans | Martin



PG: #8 - Deron Williams SG: #9 - Marshon Brooks

SF: #92 - DeShawn Stevenson PF: #43 - Kris Humphries

C: #33 - Shelden Williams


Reserves

Farmar | Gaines | Morrow | Green | Petro


Inactive List:

Chauncey Billups (Left Achilles) is out.


Damion James (Sore Right Foot), Brook Lopez (Sprained Right Ankle), Mehmet Okur (Sore Back) and Shawne Williams (Sore Left Foot) are out.


Team Leaders and Statistics



Blake Griffin - 21.2 Points and 11.1 Rebounds (6th)

Chris Paul - 8.3 Assists (5th) and 2.2 Steals (3rd)

DeAndre Jordan - 2.5 Blocks (3rd)


Team Performance
97.7 Points Per Game - 6th Overall
43.1 Rebounds Per Game - 10th Overall
21.0 Assists Per Game - 13th Overall
95.6 Points Allowed - 16th Overall
13.6 Turnovers Per Game - 2nd Overall
13.6 Turnovers (Opp.) Per Game - 27th Overall
Offensive Rating: 107.7 Points Scored Per 100 Possessions - 4th Overall
Defensive Rating: 105.4 Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions - 21st Overall
Pace: 89.6 Possessions Per Game: 26th




Deron Williams - 22.6 Points (7th), 8.2 assists (6th), 1.1 Steals

Kris Humphries - 10.6 Rebounds (7th) and 1.2 Blocks

Team Performance
92.9 Points Per Game - 25th Overall
39.7 Rebounds Per Game - 29th Overall
19.8 Assists Per Game - 21st Overall
99.3 Points Allowed - 25th Overall
15.7 Turnovers Per Game - 27th Overall
14.2 Turnovers (Opp.) Per Game - 21st Overall
Offensive Rating: 103.7 Points Scored Per 100 Possessions - 16th Overall
Defensive Rating: 110.9 Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions - 30th Overall
Pace: 89.3 Possessions Per Game: 28th

mkwest's game thread record: 6 - 2

This game will mark the last time the Clippers and the Nets will square off against each other in New Jersey. The Nets have bested the Clippers 9 out of the last 10 times in New Jersey with the last Clipper 91-82 win coming in 2007. The 2007 team was led by Chris Kaman, Tim Thomas, Corey Maggette and Dan Dickau while Nets featured the Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson trio.

The Nets were just stomped by 30 in Miami on Tuesday night, so they'll be entering into a b2b game having in which they had to travel. Our guys have had a chance to settle down in the New York area and mentally prepare to rebound from another deflating loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

The two big match-ups are at the power forward and point guard positions. Chris Paul vs Deron Williams and Blake Griffin vs Kris Humphries. Humphries has a very similar body type to Blake, resembles him (somewhat) and has outplayed BG on more than one occasion. Throughout their 3 head-to-head battles, Humphries has put up 15 and 13 on 72% shooting against Blake's 19 and 8.7 on 56% shooting and helped the Nets secure 2 wins. Williams and Paul have been and will forever be linked as being two of the league's best point guards and representatives of the 2005 draft class. In their 16 regular season games over the past 6 years, Deron has had the upper hand and has a 12-4 win advantage over his point guard counterpart.

[RiversideClips]

The Nets gave us a lot of trouble when they played at Staples. The Clips. especially CP3 need to play smart BBall. I think CP3 has played 2 error filled games the past 3 nights, I am hoping he gets it together.
Kris Kardashian always gives Blake a hard time, hoping we can destroy the Nets.

[Neddy]

thanks to pistons we are back on top in our division, we have got to take care of this game and hope the fakers go on a losing streak.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to beat the Nets. I know they got stomped by the Heat so I'm sure they will be pissed. On the other hand, we should be pissed too for the way we played against the Twolves. We should be the "fresher" team coming into tomorrow's ball game. Hopefully we play some defense, rebound, and play smarter. We can't keep having let down losses.

[scratch21]

in my mind there is no guaranteed win for this team anymore =(

[GetItDone]

Sup guys....Knicks fan here, but also always been a die-hard Chris Paul fan and follow him wherever he goes, so i'll be posting here too lol.

[ejftw]

in my mind there is no guaranteed win for this team anymore =(

Even against Adult League squads, I'm not sure we can win guaranteed

Either way, if we can't stop Deron and close out on Morrow, this game is over. Historically, Deron has had the better of his match ups with Chris Paul.

[Angel strike1]

they 4/6 in last 10 games.

so they playing good ball. dwill is on fire.
and he is going to try to light it up vs cp3.

we got to play smart game

[LOJ]

thanks to pistons we are back on top in our division, we have got to take care of this game and hope the fakers go on a losing streak.

MWP went back to his old ways.

[mj_shoefanatic]

LAC reserves easily have a slight advantage but otherwise this scrappy bottomfeeder team will be no easy defeat. I say let Deron go for almost 60 again but shut everyone else down.

Hopefully Blake beasts, Paul gets going early, Caron snaps out of whatever he's under the influence of and gives us 15-20pts, Randy can hit(not miss) his jumpers and DJ goes nutso on Mr Candice Parker(Shelden). Kenyon, Reggie, Bobby, Mo and Eric B should all give us solid bench production/min. Must win as usual since the next two after this one are even tougher.

GO CLIPPERS!

[mj_shoefanatic]

in my mind there is no guaranteed win for this team anymore =(

Not until we sign a legit sg and backup wing(86 Gomes!) I agree.

[og15]

Gotta run them off the three point line. New Jersey takes the second most threes in the league, hit about 35%, and they are on of the slowest paced teams. In addition, when Stevenson isn't hurting their 3PT percentage, they are actually about a 37% 3PT shooting team.

They are top two in the league in terms of highest amount of offense coming from behind the three point line. Lastly, while they are awful on defense, they actually aren't that bad of an offensive team.

Goal this game is 3PT defense and trying to keep Humphries and Shelden below their averages on offensive rebounds. On offense, they will foul, and their shot blocking is limited. In addition, similarly to the Clips, they are a poor 3PT defensive team.

Getting open 3's and driving to the basket will be a bonus in this game.

More side pick and roll
I'm not a huge fan of too much high pick and roll for this team (in general, I love it), and here's why. The high pick and roll is really good for running pick and pop, and for rolling to the basket if you have a stretch big on the floor. It's also really good if the guy setting the pick rolls.

Example: high pick and roll with Nash and Gortat --> Frye is spotting up in the corner and spreads out the defense. High pick and roll with Nash and Frye --> Frye pops for the three pointer.

On Toronto, high pick and roll with Jose and Amir Johnson --> Bargnani is spotting up
New York, high pick and roll with Chandler and Lin --> Amare can spot up for mid-range jumpers, or when on, Novak spots up

...the examples go on.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Db5rtDraM0[/youtube]
Here's the example, with a team where the big can spread the floor (or if they are playing small ball), the high pick and roll is much more effective. If teams help, they leave the weak side open, if they stay on the shooters, the roll man has a good lane.

On the high pick and roll, Blake likes to pop a decent amount and either attack his man/put the ball on the floor, or shoot the jumper. Blake shoots 31% on his jumpshots from 16-23, it's really just not a shot he should take 4 times a game. In terms of attacking his man, many times it is too congested and he just has to toss the ball back out and reset.

On the side pick and roll, Blake:
1) cuts to the basket more
2) will have a shorter jumpshot, and though he's gone away from it, can take the off the backboard jumpshot


High Pick and Roll Issues for the Clippers

Teams congest the lane, it's not as big of a triple threat, that is 1) Paul scoring after coming off the screen and 2) Paul finding the roll man 3) Paul attacking the defense and getting a kick out

The issue with this is congestion. If Blake pops, his man sags down and leaves him open. DJ's man is already playing close to the basket because he's not a threat to score. Teams have many scouting resources, they know Blake's conversion rate from there and they will give up a 16-23 foot jumpshot that goes in 31% of the time. Funny enough, even though they are giving up an open shot, it is good defense.

When Blake's man sags down, it closes off driving lanes for Paul. Similarly, if the high pick and roll is run with DJ, the same problem is repeated, except that DJ doesn't pop. Blake's man will give Blake the shot if available and close down the lane. Due to this, Paul (or whomever is the ball handler) will have a harder time getting to the basket.

There's no easy solution to the high pick and roll problem. The hard solutions are Blake's jumper becoming more consistent, DJ developing a mid-range jumpshot, or the acquisition of a stretch big that can open up the defense. None of those are options for right now. The "easy" solutions are modifying how it is run.

The pick and roll is still an important part of the team offense, so the solution is changing where it is run. Both the side pick and roll, and the pick and roll off the Paul mid-range iso are much better plays.


Move the "big"
Since the Clippers generally have two bigs on the floor, Vinny needs to have the non screen setting big start out on the weak or non pick side, then as the play is developing, flash mid-post to the ball side block. This is best used with Blake as the non screen man he's a good passer. That gives him three options, find DJ who was the screener cutting to the basket, find the weak side shooter, take the jumpshot (mmm...maybe not), or post up on his defender.

In that same set, if DJ get's open and get's the ball, his man will be drawn out (hopefully), and after flashing to the strong side high post, Blake can cut to the middle of the basket and receive a pass from DJ to get a layup (maybe this is better run with KMart and Blake)

PG/SF Pick and Roll
Caron Butler is a good passer and has good post up skills depending on the matchup. Running wing pick and roll with Caron Butler and then look for the switch to get a PG guarding him. Immediately have Butler run into the post and post up the PG. He then has options, if no double comes, he isolates in the post against the PG. If the double comes he kicks it out to the open shooter, or the team can get the ball swinging and find an open man.

Baseline Cuts
Now, this doesn't mean that the high pick and roll is just taken out of the equation. No, it has it's benefits. It opens up Paul for jumpshots, it can cause wing defenders to sag and open up 3PT shots for the wing player, and of course it can open up the ball handler to get to the basket.

Another benefit of the side pick and roll is that if can create cut options. If you have the baseline spot up man cut to the basket while the ball handler is attacking, they have the ability to loose their man, and a ball handler with good vision can find the for easy baskets.

During the Clippers high pick and rolls, many times, all other movements is halted. This is not necessary. A guy like Butler should be used to make hard cuts to the basket to give the ball handler another passing option, and then if there is no pass, continue and spot up on the other corner, while if there was a man on the opposite corner, he can flash to the wing, or depending on the set and spacing, flash to the wing, then make a cut towards the basket.

[Neddy]

come on lets go clippers i took off work early just to watch this game from the beginning to the end. hope the wizkids at DC can pull off an upset of the year for them.

[LOJ]

Great post og, do you work in the sports industry?

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Taking a break from college hoops to watch our Clippers play

[Neddy]

yes it's starting let's go clips win that jumpball to set the tone

[mkwest]

og15, very nice breakdown on the PnR options.

Moving forward, there is so much riding on Blake to improve his shooting touch, not only for his individual development but for this team. There has been marginal improvement from 3-9 feet (42.8% on 3.9 attempts) and 10-15 (37.5% on .7 attempts), but he's taking more attempts (4.0) from the 16-23 range where he's currently at 30%. If he can bump up those percentages, then he not only opens the game up for the rest of the team, he won't have to work as hard physically.

[Neddy]

yes they are actively looking for DJ early

[mkwest]

Evan Turner is starting today and is killing the Celtics.

[Neddy]

what a great move by griffin. he couldn't do that last year.