2013 NBA Playoffs, Round 1: Clippers (1) vs Grizzlies (0)

[mj_shoefanatic]

CLUTCHP3!

[Sofia]

Watched the final quarter from a bar in Seattle. Happy with a win, but equally disappointed/frustrated in the way we had to get it. (CP's reaction leads, or lack of leads me to believe he feels that way also)

The Gasol dunk to tie it up came on an absolute basic pick and roll and there was no one within 6 feet of him. There was no split line help defence, and he waltzed through with such ease like it was a final slow motion play at the end of a Disney sports movie. I don't understand why we had that line up in to play D on that possession either, but Vinny gon Vinny.

[TheNewEra]

Huge win. We need Barnes , Odom,Billups, Butler or Jordan to have a huge scoring surprise game. Memphis is going to throw everything at us game 3.

[mkwest]

Courtesy of Taylor Griffin:


Double foul? I guess, Z-Bo does foul BG twice....

#Grizzlies Tony Allen on CP3 "take hat off to him. Made amazing shot. All you can do is deal with result"

Beto Duran

I can know it was a pushoff and know Griffin held him and know I wouldn't want those called if it was switched. Defend better.

Hardwood Paroxysm

Memphis doesn't make the comeback if the refs don't start swallowing whistles like one on the pushoff. Can't have it both ways.

Hardwood Paroxysm

I said it before I'll say it again, @CP3 is the best point guard in the business. He did it again tonight!

Larry King

I don't know if anybody caught the postgame interviews. Tony Allen said "There's two more games left, it's still a long series"

Blake needs to get himself a kid.




[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBLcRQKsS6I[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nJMslgUzP4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLZE8FZkhd4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-bNwPkVGe4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzBikWn8wY[/youtube]

[mttwlsn16]

Lol props to Blake's bro. I like.

[Angel strike1]

mk blake is a kid himself dont worry i am sure he fits in great with those other kids. LOL

[QRich3]

lol at Chuck, right after he spat the "worst halfcourt offense of all time" comment he proceeded to say that it won't cut it against the elite teams. As if we are gonna face a team that excels at halfcourt defense as much as these Grizzlies do. Thank god advanced metrics are getting mainstream and we aren't gonna have to listen to these 'traditional' analysts (meaning clueless analysts) much more.

[QRich3]

I was pretty dissapointed with how we ended the game, specially with Vinny's rotations on the 4th and (as usual) our weak defense down the stretch. We better get ourselves in check cause if we advance and keep playing like this OKC is gonna butcher us. That said, I think it's great for the team to get over meltdowns like this on the first round. Specially if we end grinding out a win out of them, it'll help us be battle tested when (if) the real contenders are in front of us.

[mttwlsn16]

gotta give mike conley props for his efforts tonight. usually gets completely owned by chris and eric

[azncorruptedo17]

Courtesy of Taylor Griffin:


Double foul? I guess, Z-Bo does foul BG twice....

shouldn't this be considered as a flop? he intentionally tried to gain attention for a call... and he did.

[mkwest]

1. Chris Paul Keeps His Controlling Interest

LOS ANGELES -- Control freaks make other people uneasy.

They're usually bossy, pig-headed, hyperactive and constitutionally incapable of deferring to anyone else. A control freak never stops planning, rarely leave things to chance -- and he's exactly who you want in charge in a crisis. With 13.9 seconds left and the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies tied at 91-91 in Game 2 of their first-round series, the Clippers called on the NBA's leading control freak, point guard Christopher Emmanuel Paul.

But there's a larger takeaway from these first two games, one that has more profound implications: The Clippers have restored themselves to their December grandeur, when they went undefeated for a calendar month, ran off 17 consecutive wins and pulled up a chair to the adult table in the Western Conference.

Game 2 had all the hallmarks of December -- the controlled chaos of the bench, the half-court synergy of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the unconscionable exploits of Jamal Crawford and the seamlessness with which everyone who was assigned a specific task performed it.

Trying to recapture December has been a lengthy process for the Clippers. They dropped hints during the final two weeks of the regular season, a stretch that included a crucial win at Memphis to effectively determine home court in this series, but we still needed some more evidence.

Maybe it was the heroics at the buzzer or the displays of freakishness by Eric Bledsoe or defensive activity from DeAndre Jordan or the renewed confidence from midrange by Griffin, but something about Monday felt like a turn for the Clippers.

It felt like December.

Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN

[mkwest]

Charles Barkley....


I like him and I'm a fan of his. That's not going to change, but he's pretty ridiculous when it comes to the Clippers.

For most of the season his list of contenders include Memphis and not us. After last night, he said that what the Clippers do will not work against good teams. So because the Clippers have bested Memphis lately, Memphis is no longer a good team? Just a week ago, both Kenny and Charles stated that the Clippers had the worst possible match-up in the playoffs. So now I'm assuming that there are worse possible match-ups for the Clippers than the number 1 ranked defense, physical, grit and grind, slow down, post-oriented Grizzlies.

Chris Paul takes over the reigns late in the game to hit the game winner, yet you basically come out and praise Conley (he did have a great game and should be complimented on it) and proclaim that Tony Parker is the best point guard in the NBA. Parker's Spurs weren't even playing the game and would not even factor against the Clippers until the WCF if either of them were to make it that far. What's the point of that? You're being super petty.

Kenny was mocking Jamal's handles. Jamal is a bench player on the 2nd unit. The 2nd unit does not have any go-to-scorer outside of Crawford, yet score more than just about every other team's bench. Both Kenny and Chuck put Jamal on the spot about the half court offense just shortly after calling it the worst in the history of the NBA. I don't know if he could hear their comments or not, but he was incredibly poised and gave the right answers. We were playing the 2nd best defensive team in the league which was anchored by the Defensive Player of the Year and the likely best perimeter defender in the league. Teams have averaged 89 points against the Grizzlies on the season, the Clippers have averaged just under 97 points against them this season. The Clippers have had the 5th most effective half court offense (points per possession) in the league. It may not be pretty, but it has gotten the job done for us for the most part. Other teams play at a faster pace than the Clippers and are more reliant on transition baskets, but that's never mentioned.

It's never about what the Clippers are doing right, it's always what the other team is doing wrong or isn't doing. I think that is lame as hell. Have the Clippers cost you money in the past and you are just still salty about it?

[mttwlsn16]

Who cares. Chuck sounds slow when he talks anyways

[Quake Griffin]

Charles Barkley....


I like him and I'm a fan of his. That's not going to change, but he's pretty ridiculous when it comes to the Clippers.

For most of the season his list of contenders include Memphis and not us. After last night, he said that what the Clippers do will not work against good teams. So because the Clippers have bested Memphis lately, Memphis is no longer a good team? Just a week ago, both Kenny and Charles stated that the Clippers had the worst possible match-up in the playoffs. So now I'm assuming that there are worse possible match-ups for the Clippers than the number 1 ranked defense, physical, grit and grind, slow down, post-oriented Grizzlies.

Chris Paul takes over the reigns late in the game to hit the game winner, yet you basically come out and praise Conley (he did have a great game and should be complimented on it) and proclaim that Tony Parker is the best point guard in the NBA. Parker's Spurs weren't even playing the game and would not even factor against the Clippers until the WCF if either of them were to make it that far. What's the point of that? You're being super petty.

Kenny was mocking Jamal's handles. Jamal is a bench player on the 2nd unit. The 2nd unit does not have any go-to-scorer outside of Crawford, yet score more than just about every other team's bench. Both Kenny and Chuck put Jamal on the spot about the half court offense just shortly after calling it the worst in the history of the NBA. I don't know if he could hear their comments or not, but he was incredibly poised and gave the right answers. We were playing the 2nd best defensive team in the league which was anchored by the Defensive Player of the Year and the likely best perimeter defender in the league. Teams have averaged 89 points against the Grizzlies on the season, the Clippers have averaged just under 97 points against them this season. The Clippers have had the 5th most effective half court offense (points per possession) in the league. It may not be pretty, but it has gotten the job done for us for the most part. Other teams play at a faster pace than the Clippers and are more reliant on transition baskets, but that's never mentioned.

It's never about what the Clippers are doing right, it's always what the other team is doing wrong or isn't doing. I think that is lame as hell. Have the Clippers cost you money in the past and you are just still salty about it?

beautiful post.
i agree with every single word starting from the top.

[mkwest]

Thanks Quake

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0yMTJaVhig[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XbUgYNDAEw[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1khFZP9mJM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQTKph2KmEQ[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6NbbCmfgRc[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b0jqLtcAuE[/youtube]

[mkwest]

Blake Griffin Vs Photographer



With nine minutes remaining in the third quarter of Game 2 of the Clips’ first-round matchup against the Memphis Grizzles, Griffin caught a chest pass from Chauncey Billups at full speed as he raced near the half court line. While slashing toward the bucket, Griffin was tangled up with Tony Allen and then shoved by center Marc Gasol into the baseline of sitting photographers. Griffin literally torpedoed into NBA Entertainment cameraman Michael Winik and somehow got twisted up with his high speed Phantom Camera, rising to his feet quickly with the handle of the camera caught up in his fingers, gripping it ferociously.

NBA Entertainment Camera technician Andrew Pidcock was directly behind Winik and was horrified when he saw the camera dangling from Griffin’s fingers, so he immediately rose up to his feet to secure the precious equipment, grabbing the slow motion camera from Blake in a freaked out, protective manner. It made for a bit of a funny scene afterward, as Blake made sure Winik was OK before releasing his tight grip. “I think he was very disoriented as he stood up and didn’t really know what he was doing,” Pidcock told me after the game in the press room. “He was really nice about making sure we were OK.”

The camera survived but the lens was clearly bent and will need repair. Winik seemed to have hit his head but Pidcock said he was going to be fine, which is important news since he has shot every NBA Finals since 1979. Winik is considered one of the best sports cinematographers in the world, and he hadn’t been caught up in a collision like that since a wet Patrick Ewing crashed into him many years ago.

Nima Zarrabi, SLAM Online