Interesting game so far, not much in it in terms of excitement except for the very sweet dunk Thornton just had right before the half. Thornton is doing well and I am very pleased to watching as he looks good. Maggette is doing real well at getting to the line as he has already been there 12 times and its only half. Kaman is doing ok but it is nice seeing that he is going for the dunk this year.
Clippers are playin pretty good right now. Al is an offensive stud! P Diddy aka Paul Davis is looking like the guy how should have got the 50 mil extension instead of sorry *** Kaman. The perimeter shots are falling which is good. Patterson is providing great hustle, he looks like he is going to help us alot in that area.
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“Hit him with a Glock, put him in a coma/Now what that boy got? Uh, glaucoma”
Nice elevation and finesse on fast break layup by Thornton. It looked like a simple layup but nobody else on the Clippers can make that play and make it look so smooth and easy. He has 19 points right now I think on only 13 shots. He's also 3-3 from 3 point range.
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“Hit him with a Glock, put him in a coma/Now what that boy got? Uh, glaucoma”
Kaman is so careless and stupid with the ball. If it wasn't for his contract and the fact that he was drafted so high, PD would be staring over him, Davis is clearly the more skilled player, with out a doubt.
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“Hit him with a Glock, put him in a coma/Now what that boy got? Uh, glaucoma”
With the way Thorn and Patterson are playing tonight, Q Ross should be buried on the bench. No way in hell should he be getting more than 15 mpg and taking away time from those two.
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“Hit him with a Glock, put him in a coma/Now what that boy got? Uh, glaucoma”
Great game by Thorton, he looked fantastic. He ended up with 24 points and 5 rebounds, not to mention he was 4-5 from 3! Thorton had one great dunk and one really tough made 3 at the shot clock buzzer. Davis turned it around in the 2nd half and was making some nice jumpers. Maggette played well as most of his time came in the 1st half. Patterson played hard. Dickau played well and I am getting the feeling by the amount of time he has been playing that right now he may be the 2nd option for PG. It was good that this game was on tv.
i really really really like Thorton, Ruben patterson is too Maggetteish as far as trying to drive to the hoop every single time down, but i wouldnt mind having him going into the season, Q Shot a 3 wooah!
ok game overall, and i saw Dickau for the first time in a Clippers uni, he moves around good and moves well looks good out there, WHY IS IT THAT HE DID NOT HAVE A TEAM ??? injury problems? ? is he a sorry shooter? ? ?WHAT!!?
damn there is not reason why we cant make it to the playoffs with Al
GO CLIPPERS!
I agree it was nice to see Q make a 3, heck he made 2 and both were swishes. I believe I read somewhere that he had been working on his 3's and it is part of his game now.
my first clipper game and its a victory, sucks not to see Elton out there but im excited about AL
oooh man cant wait till the first game of the season then we will see what our guys can do WHEN IT COUNTS
Ok. first clippper game ive seen since summerleague. Gave me a good idea of a lot of things i was wondering about. First of all, im not even paying attention to this box score, i dont think its important in this setting. What i was looking for were tendencies. Tell tale good/bad signs. Movement away from the ball, etc. etc.
Here is my analysis
1. Dunleavvy - Dont really see this new up tempo thing he said he would try. Still heard him call out the same plays mostly. I like kaman in the high post area with some new entry passes...more on that later. But one thing that i was really pleased with, was out of a timeout, the clippers did a full court play that actually was beautiful. Ended with a thornton dunk, but it was drawn up beautifully. How many times last year did we see a timeout called, and the play out of the timeout completely inploded?
2. Davis - Not impressed at all. I still say he doesnt belong in the league, or else just a journeyman. Not looking at the box score, i know he scored a lot, but he didnt show me any improvement over last year. His major problems are lack of speed to really play PF, or guard PF's, and lack of size to play center, or guard centers. He looked exactly the same as last year. Decent outside shot when open, and hit his layups/dunks. But not that great defensively on man up. and still too slow to guard the PF's. For some reason the lakers just refused to guard him tonight, leaving him open for outside shots, and back doors left and right. But he doesnt have anything where he can create his own shot. One thing he does have, which might keep him in the league, is his court awareness. He doesnt have altheticism at all, but seems to always be in the right spot at the right time for rebounds. Like he can sense where the ball will be. Same with getting open. Hes a 2nd roudn pick, so i wouldnt call him a bust...just dont think hes worth more than 500K a year.
2. Kaman - last year he improved leaps and bounds in the passing department, and might even be a bit better this year again. A couple times he caught the ball in the post. Instead of dribbling right away, he surveyed the court and got a couple assists by kicking it out. Also some beautiful entry passes on curl moves to thornton and maggette, i believe they even blew a couple layups off of them. Footwork pretty good, made some moves tonight that not many 7 footers, bynum included in the league can do. The troubling thing was his shot was going in and out again. I dont understand how one person can have so many shots go in and out. Just odds itself is against something like that happening. But, anyway, was pleased with what i saw. Really locked down chris mihm when mihm came in. Another thing he improved on, attacking the basket with authority. He got fouled on some nice drives, where he was going for dunks, when last year they might have been weak layup attempts.
3. Maggette - Maggette was maggette. I see zero improvement, but someone his age you dont really expect to improve anyway. I say he goes for over 20 this year since the ball will be in his hands more. He still does the same old stuff, nothing new from him...occasional jump shot...getting fouled....couple missed and-1s, some silly TO's, but at the end of the night we should be able t ocount on 22 points from him.
4. Cassell - Looks a step slower. I hope its just him toning it down in the preseason. Shot not completely there. Im worried about him lasting the season. Hope hes just saving his a game for the regular season.
5. Ross - We know his defense, what i wanted to see was more outside shot, because hes a SF trapped in a SG's body at this time. He didnt dissapoint. Hit 2 three pointers i believe, something i doubt he has ever done in any game in his career. Thats what he needs to do.
6. Mobley - A little rusty, but to be expected. I think we can count on a similar year to last year with him.
7. patterson - Really hustles on both ends of the court. Played the passing lanes well. I cant see how he doesnt get on the roster. Hes a dunleavvy type guy.
8. Williams - Outside of a dunk, he pretty much stunk it up on both ends of the court. At this point even davis is better than him.
9. Dickau - Very pleased when he was running the team. Had some great penetration, stretched the defense with the outside shooting, and really pushes the ball on the break, not to mention just on normal possessions, getting the offense started early in the shot clock.
10. Knight - DONT like him at all. He got his trademark steals i guess, but i hate him running our team. Hes like ewing...takes his sweet time getting into the offense, barely crossing the half court to beat the 8 second clock, then not getting into the offense unti like 12-14 secs left on the shot clock. Since he has no outside shot, defense can stay home on him, making it harder for the post guys, and guys like maggette to drive.
11. thornton - As i suspected, very similar skill set to singleton. Jumps high, good outside shot when open, good instincts on the glass, looks to be decent shot blocker. The thing that sets thornton apart from singleton though is probably his lack of timidness. Singleton at times would pass up shots, and wouldnt be aggressive, instead passing the ball off. Thornton just goes for it. Most of his shots were good, and in the offense, probably only 2 bad shots all evening. Thats what will keep him in the lineup. If he gets like the maggette of early last year, and starts chucking bad shots, he will be benched right away. I doubt he had any assists tonight, that might be a problem with him. But good to see his aggresiveness, and that he is not intimidated by being a rookie. Not sure how much dunleavvy had to do with it, but singleton never seemed to have confidence out there, even though he had the skills.
Korolev didnt play that i saw, diaz played like a few seconds. Thomas didnt play. Not sure who im forgetting.
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08-09 Clippers - A Thomas/Mobley trade for a star on the cheap away from a championship
GT: Pre-Season Game 6 @ Lakers 10/21
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