No, there was no power shortage at the Clippers’ hotel that prevented their alarm clocks from waking them up.  They weren’t told the game would be later & thus had to scramble.  Nor did some foul fiend slip the whole team mickeys to knock ‘em out.  The game was in L.A., so they weren’t all in the same hotel and of course didn’t all eat together, so that rules out foul play from an outsider.  The team was even at the court on-time to prepare beforehand, yet somehow they still managed to sleepwalk through nearly 40 minutes of the game.
Those [...]

No sugar coating: we’ve had a sad start to the season due to injuries to two key players and disappointing loses.  However, while some view being a Clipper fan as a form of self-masochism (and not in that kinky fun way), really being a Clipper fan is all about hope.  About faith.  About believing things will get better.  We refuse to give up, and somehow we always believe that tomorrow will bring better days.  That if we gut it out, our day will come, and ohhh, then it will be all the sweeter (ie. see Red Sox; Winning World Series [...]

Friday night the Clippers actually had a nationally televised game.  Most likely it was due to the fact that they drafted Blake Griffin, and thus could be interesting to watch.  Unfortunately, with Griffin out, plus up-and-coming soph Eric Gordon, and the team sucking, it looked like the scorching hot Denver Nuggets would have an easy blowout.  The Nugs came out strong, and within the first quarter they were already up by 12.  Nugget & Clipper fans everywhere started thumbing through the TV Guide to see what else was on.  However, early-MVP candidate Carmelo Anthony sat down, and the Clippers’ second [...]

After stinking it up in the previous game, Baron came back last night determined to make amends.  Unfortunately, the rest of the Clippers came out determined to play crappy defense and do their best imitation of last year’s pitiful team.  Memphis, who earlier this week had only won one game but had lost eight, shot an astounding 54% against your LA Clippers.  Offensively, the Clippers were fine, they shot 47.6% which should be enough to win most games.  Their three-point shooting is still off, as they shot only 20% for the long ball.  The free-throw shooting was a pitiful 61% [...]

Over the weekend the Clippers won 2 games, getting their record up to a respectable 3-4.  They whupped Golden State first, but then had a tough game against Memphis.  The Grizzlies lead for most the first three quarters, but the Clippers hung tight, showing they’re a different squad than last year by pulling out the game in the end.  However the odd thing was that the Clippers looked pretty darn good and yet the game was so tough.  Kaman shot 50% from the field for 26 points.  Baron Davis, who’s not known for shooting well and had been shooting in [...]

Check out Part I and Part II if you missed ‘em.  We now continue with our analysis of a fantasy bball draft chosen completely randomly from all the fantasy drafts in which I participated.  …Okay, fine, it was the only one I did.  Again, a (K) after a player’s name means they were a keeper & probably won’t be discussed.
Round 4
1. Monta Ellis Brad
2. Al Horford Ginny
3. Marcus Camby Michael C.
4. David Lee Mike M.
5. Baron Davis Nick
6. Antawn Jamison Frankie
7. Elton Brand Mike K.
8. Mo Williams Rich
9. Tony Parker Greg
10. Mehmet Okur Shai
11. Manu Ginobili Eyal
12. Shawn Marion Alex

It wasn’t pretty — okay, it was ugly — but the Clips finally got their first win.  After possibly making history by losing 4 games in October (since the season starts the end of October, I dunno if any team has ever even played 4 games in the month before), they broke on through to the other side.  This has been a tough stretch to start the season.  First, learning the day before the season starts that Blake Griffin is seriously injured, and then having to play 5 games in 7 days is insane.  Particularly considering the first four teams [...]

Two games.  Two loses.  Two different showings.
Game #1 against the Lakers:
Even missing Pau Gasol, the defending champs looked pretty darn good.  Kobe drove fearlessly & hit outside shots.  Artest was non-stop on defense & didn’t force things on offense: he only took wide open kick out threes or posted up players.  Bynum was the force he’s been the last two years when healthy.  Odom filled up his stat sheet everywhere.  Honestly, no one on the Lakers looked bad.
In contrast, on the Clippers Baron Davis was awful, turning the ball over a ton & jacking up ill-advised shots.  Al Thornton kept [...]

To my surprise, the Clippers decided to hang on to Kareem Rush.  Now even though I dumped on Kareem’s D the other day, I’m actually not upset with this decision.  Truth is that after Steve Novak, Rush probably has the best 3-pt shot on the team.  And we need good outside shooters to space out the floor so Baron, Telfair, Gordon & Thornton can slash, while Kaman & (eventually) Griffin can go to work down low.  Kareem’s a much better defender than Novak, so it should be easier to get him out there on the floor.  Also, since he’s a [...]

For I believe just the second year in a row, Staples Center was host to a mini pre-season tourney.  On Saturday, in the first round the Clips beat the Jazz, and the Lakes beat the Bobcats (who if I recall, they were oddly enough the only team with an undefeated record against the Lakers).  This set up the oh-so-huge finals of Lakers vs Clips (with the ‘Cats & Jazz playing in the “B” bracket).
Okay, so this was definitely a pre-season game, particularly with coaches being overly cautious by holding out slightly dinged up players who would’ve played if it was [...]