Clippers vs. Spurs

[SD2042]

Spurs 78
Clips- 74

Clips need to catchup again.

[SD2042]

The lead is slowly getting out of control

Spurs 83
Clips 76

[mkwest]

Kaman picks up his 5th foul and will send Ginobli to the line. Spurs up by 4 with 2:04 left in the game.

[SD2042]

That sucks Kaman picked up his 5th foul and the Spurs hitting the line.

[mkwest]

Tim Duncan on the floor clutching his knee. It doesn't look too bad though.

[SD2042]

TP and Manu are keeping the Spurs in this one. At least the Clips are staying close in this one. It would be better if the Clips had the lead.

[mkwest]

Maggette and Duncan bumped knees. Maggette fouls out with 14 points. Duncan misses both but Bowen catches the airball.

[cinnamon]

Well, that was a shame. I had high hopes there.
I'm proud of them for staying so close right up to the end, though.

[mkwest]

Spurs win 88-82. Spurs got to the line. They shot 3 times as many free-throws as us (36 attempts to our 12). Overall we had a decent shooting night. Played inspirational in the first quarter. We needed to not make the little mistakes if we were to pull it out. We played well but it wasn't enough today. Maybe our play against another team would result in a different outcome. I'm glad to see Chris bounce back from the Hornets game. I loved seeing Juice get some big minutes, Powell with some much appreciated hustle play, and Thomas back in the lineup. Next up is the Magic. I'm looking forward to seeing D12 and the Kaveman matchup. Dwight will go into the game saying: "everything you can do, I can do better" We'll finally see how it plays out head-to-head.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Spurs just pulled it out at the end. The stat that pops out at me is the free throws attempted by both teams. The Spurs had 36 free throws, Clippers had 12. We still played pretty well but the Spurs wanted it more at the end. Hopefully we'll have the same effort against the Magic, but with a win.

[SD2042]

Spurs just pulled it out at the end. The stat that pops out at me is the free throws attempted by both teams. The Spurs had 36 free throws, Clippers had 12. We still played pretty well but the Spurs wanted it more at the end. Hopefully we'll have the same effort against the Magic, but with a win.

That's one stat that grabbed my attention as well. If you looked at the amount of fouls the SPurs had overall like mostly two or less fouls in the majority of the game. That tells me that the Clips weren't aggressive going into the interior to draw fouls despite them playing a decent game which ended in the loss. I suggest that the Clips kick up the aggressiveness next game around.

[JJ LoDuca]

Overall, nice game by the Clips. I was impressed with their effort in the first half especially. Everybody seems to be getting back into their groove, and finally halfway through the season, it looks like guys are starting to define their roles on this team. That said, I'm so sick of losing. Yeah, it is the Spurs we lost to, but it doesn't matter who the losses come against, that number in the L column is getting rather large. So much for treading water until the big guns come back-- 11 games below .500? jeesh.

Next Wednesday against Orlando (that's a lotta time off aint it?) is gonna be fun. Dwight Howard is by far my favorite player in the NBA aside from any of our Clippers. The man is a beast...but I think its about time for another W.

[loflin3hree5ive]

that was rough. blowing a ten point lead on a sunday matinee to anybody hurts. after tim thoms puts us up 1 with his trifecta, parker and ginobili kicked it up a notch with their clutch 3's. maybe b/c i never watch the spurs but i don't think i've ever seen tony parker attempt a 3, ever. but as soon as he caught the ball in the left corner you knew he was gonna bury that shot. same for ginobili's bomb. that's the kind of chemistry and execution down the stretch that seperates the elite teams from the league. i'm very pleased that the reigning champs had to draw upon that strong of an effort down the stretch to beat 10-21 clippers.

this got me to thinking that maybe we shouldn't give up on dunleavy just yet, because the players haven't. the young guys are improving (kaman, thornton, powell) and the vets continue to play inspired and haven't tuned him out despite winning only 6 of our last 21 games. 80% of the league's coaches would get ripped to shreds by the oldest team in the nba, and even with the excuse that elton is hurt, would probably be fired by now. the players are still buying what dunleavy is selling, and that tells a lot.

[JJ LoDuca]

maybe b/c i never watch the spurs but i don't think i've ever seen tony parker attempt a 3, ever.

I heard Ralph say during the broadcast that Tony is something like 8-35 on the season in three point attempts. Well, now make that 9-36. I really hate that little frenchie.

this got me to thinking that maybe we shouldn't give up on dunleavy just yet, because the players haven't.

This is a really good point loflin, and I gotta say I agree with you. As frustrating as the last 2.5 seasons have been, you'd think good ol' coachie coach would have hit the road by now, but the team must really have faith in him. At games, I hear fans complain about two things: Tim Thomas and Mike Dunleavy. Naturally, I gotta join in the TT bashing. I just can't stand the guy. But I remain fairly silent when it comes to conversations about Dunleavy, cuz I'm not sure where I stand with him. The sad thing is, I talked with Clipper Darrell after the win against the T'Wolves on New Year's Eve, and even he is off the Dunleavy bandwagon. I asked him what he thought our major malfunction was so far this season (aside from any injuries), and before I could even get the whole question out he was already saying "the coach." Clipper Darrell ain't the Alpha & the Omega of Clipper Nation or anything, but he's definitely the ultimate fan. If even he has lost faith in Dunleavy... it doesn't look so good for our man. With his new contract though, you can be sure he ain't goin' anywhere. He's still here for a reason...I think we need to see him work with a fully healthy roster before we can fairly argue against him.

[illastrate]

-= original quote snipped =-



This is a really good point loflin, and I gotta say I agree with you. As frustrating as the last 2.5 seasons have been, you'd think good ol' coachie coach would have hit the road by now, but the team must really have faith in him. At games, I hear fans complain about two things: Tim Thomas and Mike Dunleavy. Naturally, I gotta join in the TT bashing. I just can't stand the guy. But I remain fairly silent when it comes to conversations about Dunleavy, cuz I'm not sure where I stand with him. The sad thing is, I talked with Clipper Darrell after the win against the T'Wolves on New Year's Eve, and even he is off the Dunleavy bandwagon. I asked him what he thought our major malfunction was so far this season (aside from any injuries), and before I could even get the whole question out he was already saying "the coach." Clipper Darrell ain't the Alpha & the Omega of Clipper Nation or anything, but he's definitely the ultimate fan. If even he has lost faith in Dunleavy... it doesn't look so good for our man. With his new contract though, you can be sure he ain't goin' anywhere. He's still here for a reason...I think we need to see him work with a fully healthy roster before we can fairly argue against him.

My patience has run out on Dun for awhile. The guy needs to go...NOW. Obviously, injuries have played a bigger part this season in losing, but Dunleavy's inadequate coaching hasn't helped. He's not the right guy for this team. His controlled, slow it down, hold the ball until 2 seconds on the shot clock tactics are useless. Our ball movement is terrible, we have the worst offensive sets in the league, and the guy can't put together a consistent lineup to save his life!

Just imagine, if the 05-06 team had a coach like Don Nelson, Mike D'antoni or Nate McMillan...I believe we would've been in the conference finals.

[loflin3hree5ive]

-= original quote snipped =-
Just imagine, if the 05-06 team had a coach like Don Nelson, Mike D'antoni or Nate McMillan...I believe we would've been in the conference finals.

those coaches are good, but you're giving dunleavy a back-handed compliment b/c he was only a raja bell desperation 3 away from being in that category w/ those coaches himself.

[mkwest]

The Dunleavy issue has been bothering me as well. Just the other day I was thinking we need another coach, and while we're at it a new athletic trainer. Overall, this season has been plagued by injuries and maybe we would be better off developing the young guys, get a good pick and see what we have next year (in regards to the ball club and coach).

He has done some good things for the franchise, and some boneheaded things. The same things that we want out of the team, are the same things he pretty much wants (ball movement, team defense, guys to attack the boards, etc.). I personally feel the offensive sets need an overhaul. I understand the nature of wanting to play the matchups, but the inconsistency of the lineups are ridiculous. I'll cut him some slack this season, because he's pretty much had no choice. The players respect him as a coach and ultimately do what he instructs, but obviously they don't always agree with him (that's putting it nicely). I'm going to try to be patient, but next season will be the determining factor for me.

[JJ LoDuca]

He's not the right guy for this team. His controlled, slow it down, hold the ball until 2 seconds on the shot clock tactics are useless. Our ball movement is terrible, we have the worst offensive sets in the league, and the guy can't put together a consistent lineup to save his life!

It's hard to argue with any of that, especially the bit about having the worst offensive sets in the league. The thing about Dunleavy that irks me the most is how he's inconsistent with the lineups. His excuse is that he builds the starting line based on matchups with the other team, but the way I see it, the other team should switch their lineup for matchups with us! Why should we go around changing our lineup when no other team in the leauge sees it fit to change their lineup based ours? Even when we were healthy, teams didn't find that necessary.

As far as Dunleavy not being the right guy for this team, I disagree a little bit. Look at our future: Kaman, Livingston, & Thornton-- this is the team that Dunleavy built. As far as I know, most of the players like him, and I know Kaman absolutely adores him (I read a quote of him saying he never wants to play for another coach). I think Dunleavy has the right idea when it comes to coaching this squad, but I don't think he has the right players to do it. Let Shaunie, Kaman & Al grow up alongside EB, and I think we can be legit with Dun as the coach.

[ClipperDomination]

Dunleavy's in game strategy is downright terrible. All he does is complain about non-foul calls, can't come up with the right lineup, and his time out use is beyond poor.

Does anyone remember the last time Dunleavy called a TO with under one minute left in crunch time and come up with an offensive play call that worked? I haven't seen that happen this season, once!

As for the game, it was a well played game from the Clipps, but the streaky nature of poor/good shot selection came to haunt them this game. They played great defense for the second game in a row, but we could not execute offensively. The second quarter run was the best I've seen from the Clipps in a long time. Let's hope we can finally bring in that W on Wednesday against Dwight.