LA Clippers (1) @ SA Spurs (2)

[Lindecision]

I've never been as proud of this team than I was after game 4.

[og15]

Wonder if Rivers scoring double digits in the blowout game 3 helped his confidence for today.

His confidence is sky high, but confidence without skill is hurtful. I can't say that because of one game, Rivers' shooting and finishing have now risen to another level, but he could be having a hot streak, and there's no better time than now, but we obviously can't have him wasting possessions on that. He just needs to keep cautiously attacking, and if Mills guards him, take advantange

[mkwest]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/nbastats/status/592766604749975553[/tweet]

[Ranma]

Danny Chau, Grantland (4/27/15)

Take Your Kid to Work Day



Austin Rivers missed his first field goal attempt of the game. It came with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter. He received the ball with 13 seconds left on the shot clock from Glen Davis, who gave him the ball as a last resort, because every other perimeter option was well covered. From there, Rivers did what he always does. He took a spastic dribble going right and eluded his defender with a pump fake, only to immediately reverse any positive progress he’d made with his trickery by taking an off-balance midrange jumper without anyone within 3.5 feet of him.

Rivers did not miss again the entire afternoon; for all we know, he may never miss again, ever.



Rivers scored 16 points in 17 minutes last night on 7-for-8 shooting. He had the ball in his hands only 21 times all game, which accounts for only 5 percent of the Clippers’ touches. That’s efficiency in a hyperspecific role. While Rivers was on the floor last night, more than one out of every four possessions ended up as an Austin Rivers shot. And for the first time, in a game that actually had legitimate consequences, that was a very, very good thing.

I don’t think this performance has the kind of career-altering gravity that Goran Dragic’s 23-point fourth-quarter explosion against the Spurs in 2010 had, and even if the Clippers do go on to win the series, I’m not sure if this performance will leave the kind of mental scars that Dragon left in his wake. Whereas Dragic pulled out the entire repertoire of moves on the unsuspecting Spurs five years ago, Rivers was largely doing what he’s always done — except this time, the shots went in. That’s not meant as a backhanded compliment: Seeing Austin Rivers–type shots go in against one of the best teams in the league in a must-win game on the road has to be encouraging as hell for Clippers fans.

There might be hope yet for Rivers as a spark plug — a player you let loose to unwind his nervous coil of energy for a few minutes at a time while you cross your fingers and border on asphyxiation. He’s still the annoying kid at the park who is too impressed with his own ballhandling skills and shouts “KOBE!” on every shot attempt, but isn’t it kind of awesome that there might actually be a place for a guy like that in the NBA?

NBA Shootaround: Very Emergency

[Quake Griffin]

oh and someone asked about SFs. I said DeMarre Carroll.

Al Farouq Aminu looks good out there guarding James Harden and has INCREDIBLE length. IIRC Kawhi Leonard type length if not more.
He's foolish if he takes his player option after this playoffs….and I think he is a possible get.


doesnt shoot well enough to start but he can easily get significant minutes off our bench with his D and rebounding at the 3.

[nickhx2]

oh and someone asked about SFs. I said DeMarre Carroll.

Al Farouq Aminu looks good out there guarding James Harden and has INCREDIBLE length. IIRC Kawhi Leonard type length if not more.
He's foolish if he takes his player option after this playoffs….and I think he is a possible get.


doesnt shoot well enough to start but he can easily get significant minutes off our bench with his D and rebounding at the 3.

you know, when we first drafted aminu i loved the pick because i always thought he'd be that crazy, long-armed defender who would both solve our wing and rebounding issues for the next several years. i didn't really want to see him go but i'd be ecstatic to see him come back. would be some twist of fate, huh?

what's his PO worth? also how much could we dole out to him with our limited cap room?

[Ranma]

I know the Clippers pursued Aminu before he signed with Dallas the previous offseason. There was plenty of resentment by the players dealt to New Orleans (just look at the picture below). Gordon was promised by Olshey prior to the trade that he would not be included in the CP3 trade right before being packaged in the finalized version of the deal. It was also no coincidence that Kaman gave Paul a two-hand shove out of bounds at the beginning of this month (see video below), so it wouldn't surprise me if Al-Farouq gave the Clips a flip of the middle finger when he signed with the Mavs. Hopefully, a year later, feelings will soften and Doc's vaunted schmoozing skills will actually pay off.

I like the SF targets that have been mentioned in this thread: DeMarre Carroll, K.J. McDaniels, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Kris Middleton. I'm also interested in pursuing Jeremy Lin in consideration for our backup PG.



[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj8LNFTJX4o[/youtube]

[nickhx2]

i remember there was some twitter stuff between blake and aminu that made me think they didn't really get along back when he was still here. not sure he'd even want to come back even if we could pay.