Game 50: Clippers (32-17) @ Orlando (21-27)

[nickhx2]

pure absolute coincidence. also great pass by lance to cole right there. lance really needs to be one of our primary p/r facilitators.

[og15]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FlyByKnite/status/695779341775470593[/tweet]

What would be the biggest thing you attribute this to?

Role players stepping up? A weaker western conference? Winning the games you are supposed to win?

Consistency

[nickhx2]

much too smart an answer

[og15]

Poor Hezonja is just getting picked on by the Clippers guards

[Ranma]

What would be the biggest thing you attribute this to?

Role players stepping up? A weaker western conference? Winning the games you are supposed to win?

It's a combination of related things such as focus and a sense of urgency with Blake out. Doc finally implementing a suitable defense and getting production from the bench by dumping non-contributors like Josh Smith and playing role players like Prigioni, Aldrich, and Stephenson more. Crawford toning down his game a little to be a little more efficient offensively even while his defense is still lacking. The floor spacing available and aggressiveness from CP3 and Redick resulting from Griffin's absence.

All of the above but I think the biggest factor is the focus and sense of urgency that seems to serve as a catalyst for all the others. The team had been taken the regular season for granted while Blake was here, which is a bad habit and mindset that it needs to overcome if it wants to get to or approach the level of the Golden State Warriors.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Doc Rivers said Lance Stephenson was going to win a game for them someday. Well, he was right. But he said it incorrectly.

The only reason why Stephenson was put into the fray was because of a Pablo Prigioni facial contusion. Just because you put him in doesn't automatically label him a savior. His inclusion was just a factor of the flow of the game forcing Doc River's hands.

[nickhx2]

lance is kinda dominating lol

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FlyByKnite/status/695791109222637568[/tweet]

[Wammy Giveaway]

It's a combination of related things such as focus and a sense of urgency with Blake out. Doc finally implementing a suitable defense and getting production from the bench by dumping non-contributors like Josh Smith and playing role players like Prigioni, Aldrich, and Stephenson more. Crawford toning down his game a little to be a little more efficient offensively even while his defense is still lacking. The floor spacing available and aggressiveness from CP3 and Redick resulting from Griffin's absence.

All of the above but I think the biggest factor is the focus and sense of urgency that seems to serve as a catalyst for all the others. The team had been taken the regular season for granted while Blake was here, which is a bad habit and mindset that it needs to overcome if it wants to get to or approach the level of the Golden State Warriors.

I would actually pin the Clipper's resurgence on Griffin's injury, but not necessarily the punching scandal. In the last couple of days, I wondered how the Clippers were going to respond to pressure. It took losing a player to really hit it home. It almost felt like a divine punishment, that the basketball gods were punishing the Clippers for taking the season lightly. Everybody's legacy is on the line. It isn't just individually, but the entire franchise if the clubhouse fails to get out of the 2nd round. Media analysts would probably denounce the Clippers, even going as far as praying they'd just stay away from the playoffs completely because they're better off as a laughing stock.

This is why the Clippers should play more as a family than a basketball unit. When they try to do things like a basketball team, they fail miserably. But when the team plays basketball as a family, with the intent of looking out for, helping and protecting their fellow brother (or father, or uncle, or nephew, or a friend), they excel.

The trade rumors involving Griffin evoke the concept that the 29 other teams are still bullying the Clippers, that their only purpose in the NBA is to attract new fans and serve the league as an extended farm franchise: a sideshow. A third 2nd round exit would put the team back into the Donald Sterling years as a loser. Losing Blake Griffin would seal their fate as a cursed franchise. And you can bet Doc Rivers will see to it that it's never going to happen.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DanWoikeSports/status/695840410116096000[/tweet]

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DanWoikeSports/status/696044785296023552[/tweet]

[nickhx2]

more lance then. pablo needs a break anyway, imo. he has not been good for a while now.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/RowanKavner/status/696055293042679809[/tweet]