PSG4 | Los Angeles vs Charlotte | 10/14/15 | 5:00AM PDT | NBA TV

[mkwest]

Where: Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China

TV:

Radio:





The Starters

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

Forward: #33 - Wes Johnson * Forward: #32 - Blake Griffin

Center: #6 - DeAndre Jordan

The Supporting Cast


34 - Paul Pierce * 1 - Lance Stephenson * 5 - Josh Smith

11 - Jamal Crawford * 25 - Austin Rivers * 45 - Cole Aldrich

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

44 - Chuck Hayes * 12 - Luc Mbah A Moute




Starters

Kemba Walker * Jeremy Lamb * Nicolas Batum * Marvin Williams * Al Jefferson

Reserves

Brian Roberts * Jeremy Lin * PJ Hairston * Cody Zeller * Frank Kaminsky



Inactive List:

Chris Paul (Fractured Left Index Finger) and Austin Rivers (Dental) are probable.


Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Torn Labrum, Right Shoulder) is out.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PtOvjn_Aio[/youtube]
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[tweet]https://twitter.com/LAClippers/status/653742666983804929[/tweet]



[tweet]https://twitter.com/RowanKavner/status/653426751939317760[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/latbbolch/status/653789516939956224[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/RowanKavner/status/653789302531362816[/tweet]
[instagram]https://instagram.com/p/8w9POMPswD/[/instagram]
[instagram]https://instagram.com/p/8w7kzCGiaP/[/instagram]
Branden Dawson serenaded Doc and Pierce who share a birthday.
If the above video doesn't work, watch here

[tweet]https://twitter.com/latbbolch/status/653789942984740864[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/LAClippers/status/653827152593313792[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/NBA/status/653831568780361728[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/NBA/status/653832413047586816[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/RowanKavner/status/653825872970035200[/tweet]

[nickhx2]

yao looks fat!

[LACtdom]

I really hope the bench (less The Truth) are given bulk minutes this game. I really want them to be ready.

[Don Tommy]

When will we ever get any respect? Listen to NBA radio and tell me the first time you hear a host with something good to say about us. But this is the worst. I went to tape the game and passed right by it at first because NBA TV has it as the Hornets vs the LAKERS.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I hate those road red jerseys

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Though 3rd quarter, we've only scored 2 points half way through the quarter.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

What a 3rd quarter, we only scored 8 points..................................

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Underwhelming 2nd half to say the least, we lose to the Hornets 113-71 in China. We only had 20 total points in the half.

[Dynamix]

Team looks ready. /greenfont

[RollingWave]

Underwhelming 2nd half to say the least, we lose to the Hornets 113-71 in China. We only had 20 total points in the half.

That seems to be a mild understatement

[QRich3]

Fantastic, I see we're already mirroring last season's start form. In fact we seem to be taking it up a notch (down, I mean)

Jamal already leading the league in pre-season +/- with an average of -19 a game when he's on the court, closely followed by the rest of the bench

[nickhx2]

in a way i kind of want to see the threshold of how bad crawford is before doc eventually decides to not play him. like losing 5 games in a row shooting 20% from the field with the worst defense in the league? 10 games of -20? just to satisfy my own morbid curiosity.

[QRich3]

lol don't test yourself, Doc has a lot more patience than you and me!

In all seriousness, I know the excuse of it's just "pre-season" should not solve any problems, but truly, it's just pre-season. Even if we continue like this in November, like we did last year, it's just the start of the season. By the end of the season we were a top 3 team, and it might just be true again. Though I fear, just like last season and many others before that, we'll have no bench and no wing defense.

[mattd13]

awful all the way around. pp needs to start. the second unit looks like a street ball pick up game. there is no discipline what so ever. I had hoped for better. josh smith should never shoot past 10 feet and Austin is not an nba player. looks like a long way to go. I will remain positive for now.

[og15]

lol don't test yourself, Doc has a lot more patience than you and me!

In all seriousness, I know the excuse of it's just "pre-season" should not solve any problems, but truly, it's just pre-season. Even if we continue like this in November, like we did last year, it's just the start of the season. By the end of the season we were a top 3 team, and it might just be true again. Though I fear, just like last season and many others before that, we'll have no bench and no wing defense.

I'm not worried about the team being able to win 50+ games, but like you said, we're all hoping for a bit more than just winning 50+ games. We are hoping for a championship level team and so far the bench is looking like the furthest thing from a supporting cast for a championship level team.

Maybe if it was in the East where many seasons you just have to beat one "really good" team, then sure you can take your chances that your guys are good in that one series, but in the West you essentially have to beat about 3 55+ win teams just to get to the finals and hoping your bench produces enough for 3 straight series' just to get to the finals, and then again in the finals is not really a smart plan.

[QRich3]

lol don't test yourself, Doc has a lot more patience than you and me!

In all seriousness, I know the excuse of it's just "pre-season" should not solve any problems, but truly, it's just pre-season. Even if we continue like this in November, like we did last year, it's just the start of the season. By the end of the season we were a top 3 team, and it might just be true again. Though I fear, just like last season and many others before that, we'll have no bench and no wing defense.

I'm not worried about the team being able to win 50+ games, but like you said, we're all hoping for a bit more than just winning 50+ games. We are hoping for a championship level team and so far the bench is looking like the furthest thing from a supporting cast for a championship level team.

Maybe if it was in the East where many seasons you just have to beat one "really good" team, then sure you can take your chances that your guys are good in that one series, but in the West you essentially have to beat about 3 55+ win teams just to get to the finals.

Well, I don't think we were that far from being a championship level team last year, nor the year prior for that matter. But yeah, at that point, any little thing can sway the course of a series, and having no bench and no wing defense are no small things. But tbh, I didn't need a pre-season ass whooping to know that we had those problems, and neither does this game (or the next 10) negate the possibility of the bench contributing something later in the season.

But, for those people who thought we had one of the deepest teams in the league this year, yeah, I guess it's time to wake up.

[og15]

That is true, but I'm still extremely skeptical about the small ball bench plan with their lack of consistent shooting. Pierce has been off, he should find his rythmn, but the bench has only two shooters and one is Jamal who everyone is just about tired of now.

I'm just trying to picture in my mind how the bench will be effective in these "full bench" lineups that Doc is for some reason obsessed with. I think in staggered lineups there are ways where you can find mixes and matches that work quite well.

Yes, the deepest bench idea will have to die unless those players prove it. Right now the hope is to just be better than last season, but then there's no Matt Barnes in the starting lineup to give that same consistency on defense and even offense during the regular season, so you have to balance that out too.

If not for the worryful nature of his health, Martell Webster from Washington if producing like he did in 12-13 and 13-14 would be a welcome addition to the starting SF spot for the Clippers on both ends.

[QRich3]

Yeah, I agree with all of that, and would do a Crawford for Webster trade in an instant, even if there was concerns about Martell's health. The upside is worth it.

Yeah, the all bench line ups are baffling, we've been talking about them since Mullens and Jamison were on the team, and for some reason he still does it. We might be the team in the league who'd benefit the most from staggering their stars' minutes, since both Paul and Blake can be creators, but Blake can act as a finisher too. It's just stupid in every way, and it seems national writers are taking note of this lately. Hopefully Doc will stop being an idiot and buy into the idea.

I never bought into the advantage we were supposed to have by having a lot of ball handlers on the team, but Doc seems a fan of it since he's came here. It's a problem cause a lot of the guys we have that are adept at ball handling, can't do a thing when they're not doing exactly that. And, you know, there's just the one ball.

I'm ready for another year of a 4-and-a-half-NBA-players roster

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DanWoikeSports/status/654351016217866240[/tweet]

[nickhx2]

if there is one silver lining to all this:

it's that the amount of light being shone in our direction right now is pretty incredible, because most people are expecting a grand spectacle of some sort. with so much attention it'll be pretty easy to see that jamal crawford is a disaster of a player and that doc has virtually no bench plan. and one would hope with enough people talking about his lack of a plan he'd be more inclined to drop the dead weight without stubbornly sticking to it until the season's end.

hope lol.