PtR Quick Cap: Los Angeles Clippers knock off Spurs 93-90: Pop Ians
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Oct 14, 2009 10:25 PM CDT
in Game Previews
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PrintIn a battle of the two best players from this year's draft, the Blake Griffin led Clippers beat the DeJuan Blair led San Antonio Spurs 93-90. Both power forwards had big games, but so did a pair of veteran small forwards from each team and I bet the coaches liked what they saw of them.
Richard Jefferson had his best game as a Spur with 15 points on 9 shots. He was 7-9 from the floor with a 3-pointer. Exactly the kind of game we want from him.
For the Clips, Al Thornton had 18 points and 4 rebounds on 8-11 shooting. If his role is going to be bench scorer, he excelled tonight.
DeJuan Blair put up another double-double -- he leads the team -- tonight with 11 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. You sure have to like his rebound rate. Every game I see him play I think back to what Jonathon Givony of Draft Express told me at the Summer League. "He's really good. Those dumb ******* GMs let their doctors tell them what to do." Ok, that might not be a direct quote. But it was something like that and he was just shaking his head in disgust that Blair got drafted where he did. He said we would love him. You know, I'm starting to think that Givony guy might be right. There are some GMs with some problems. Speaking of Draft Express, they are getting ready for the start of the college basketball season with their conference previews. Check it out if you want to know who to watch as far as draft prospects for 2010.
Blake Griffin was very efficient with his 10-14 shooting in 29 minutes. I'm not sure how he was scoring in the half court and who was covering him, I listened on the radio, but he's a hellion on the break.
George Hill got a ton of minutes at the point with Tony out. George logged a team-high 29 in the game. He was solid with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists including 2-3 from 3-point land. He tied with a team-high 3 turnovers.
Marcus Williams had his best game of the preseason which he needed in his attempt to hold onto a roster spot. Unfortunately for him, Malik Hairston had another strong game. Marcus had 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists (and a team-high 3 turnovers) while Malik had 9 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, and a team-high 5 assists.
Ian Mahinmi was solid, if not spectacular, with 7 points and 5 rebounds.
All-in-all the Spurs pulled down 16 offensive rebounds in the loss. I'm going to be very interested in following the offensive rebounding as the season gets going for real. If we can improve significantly in that area, it would be a huge boost for the team.
Your 3 stars
- George Hill -- Pop's favorite player did a good job at the point tonight and Baron Davis shot 2-9.
- DeJuan Blair -- He just does what he does. Rebound and score. Oh, and he's a crowd favorite already.
- Richard Jefferson -- Nice to see RJ looking more and more comfortable.
Video Highlights From Spurs.com
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I saw the highlights of the 1st half. Blair did a sick move to score between a forest of reds and RJ made a thunderous dunk that I’m sure made pop sub him right away,
I’ll just blame the loss on the 3rd string point guard. Will they cut him already?
I have a feeling Jerrells is here for the entire preseason. Pop wants Tony to rest and Jerrells will probably end up in the D-League anyway. And since he went to Baylor, the Toros will probably get him as a “market” player.
Teams in the D-League can be assigned players if the guy went to college in the area.
We specialize in misinformation around here. Facts and stats just get in the way.
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Oct 14, 2009 11:29 PM CDT up reply actions
Maybe you know how it works Wayne; when guys are on a teams preseason squad, as Jerrells is, are they getting paid anything beyond like per diems for food and whatever else?
Just call me The Profit
Sham answered this one on ST the other day:
1. Bogans is fully guaranteed.
2. Hairston is $50,000 of $736,420 guaranteed.
3. Jerrells is $75,000 of $457,588 guaranteed.
4. Jones was fully unguaranteed.
Don’t know about Williams.
9.20.21.24.34
ACLs are like crutches. They’re only for the weaklings who can’t get along without them. -jollyrogerwilco
Awesome
Had a blast. Blair, Williams, and Hairston looked great. I’d like to see more improvement from Yawn (I liked today’s performance) in the next two games.
Jerrells passing and court awareness bothers me. He did have a few defensive stops I liked though.
Received my season ticket holder pin and then a free seat upgrade (mid-court, 2nd row, facing the bench) in the 3rd quarter.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Oct 14, 2009 11:18 PM CDT reply actions
Wow, so you think you’re special now huh? Thousands of people losing their jobs, but hey, look at the rich man here, with his season ticket holder pin. What does it feel to walk on the back of the rest of us? Did you receive a million dollar bonus after sinking your company? Do go you around saying, let them eat cake?
Bastard.
If you haven't lived with a squirrel, you haven't lived. - Bob Ross
Well, I was special before but that is a different story.
And bite me. I got to move from eight rows back from the nose bleeds to some rich bastard’s seat. :)
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Oct 14, 2009 11:45 PM CDT up reply actions
Are you gonna be taking pics at the games?
If you haven't lived with a squirrel, you haven't lived. - Bob Ross
Only if we get moved down again or if my wife goes (she has to take pictures of everything she sees). No sense in posting upper deck shots.
I took some today but my phone doesn’t adjust well to bright lights.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Oct 15, 2009 12:09 AM CDT up reply actions
I like how ESPN acknowledges everything except for Dejuan Blairs monster games.
The boogie man checks his closet for DeJuan Blair before he goes to sleep !
Hollinger trying to calculate DeJuan's PER:
9.20.21.24.34
ACLs are like crutches. They’re only for the weaklings who can’t get along without them. -jollyrogerwilco
We need to make more of those.
Straight from the No-Stat Zone to your computer!
Dunkin' Cheerleaders
Blake was usually defended by the smaller or more forward-ish of our big men. So when it was Duncan-Dice, Dice guarded him, and later on Marcus Haislip go the assignment. The exception is when we had Mahimi and Dejuan Blair out together Mahimi defended Griffin if I remember right.
He was just a complete monster, and when Al Thorton came in for him in later in the game he destroyed us too. Their frontcourt looked really good despite (because!?!?) Kaman and Camby not playing at all.
The Spurs starters looked really good and seemed to be making a point toget RJ involved. several times he got the pass out of double-team or defensive breakdown, faked the three, and drove hard and scored at the basket. We saw a lot of teams last year defend the 3 point line and bite on 3pt fakes, allowing the awkward drive/kinda-open long two, as only Tony and Manu can score at the basket. It’s gonna be hard medicine when teams defend the spurs right and still eat a RJ dunk or 3.
greyberger, thanks for this. I love the details and, especially since the game wasn’t broadcast, the evaluation of what was going on. RJ is exciting in that capacity. He’ll hit the 3, so you have to run at him when he’s on the line. But if you run at him, his chances of driving for an easy two open up.
TCCW (Too Cool Can’t Wait)
From under the radar to hanging in the rafters - Big50
5 in 10
Oh Bee Tee Dubs Pop went into full audition mode at halftime and our third-string-about-to-be-cut-string played valiantly to almost protect that lead against a very real and deep Clippers bench, even if they do all play forward
Thank you for these reports. It’s ridiculous how hard it is to get preseason coverage. Seriously, the NBA brass needs to have their collective head examined. I guess no one wants to volunteer for that task, since the head in question would have to be extracted from a rather unsavory place.
WWTD?
Nice game!
felt better if we won… but it’s just the preseason…
RJ played great! and Hairston was gain solid!
http://myspurslink.blogspot.com
Robby posts all his stuff here. -- ATS
Blair and Griffin
Hey, I need a prospective from someone who saw the game… from what I heard, Griffin sounds like the real deal. ROY? With his offense and amount of playing time; does any one else have a chance. I am a Blair homer, loved him since draft night. Blair won’t get the time on the court or the scoring options that Griffin will. The Media won’t care about points or rebounds that DeJuan has per minute. They will look at the No 1 pick and see how the Clips have improved…end of story. I think…hope…pray that DeJuan gets major minutes, I feel he can make a significant contribution.
What say ye…PtR’ers
Griffin is definitely the real deal. He is incredibly active on both ends and can finish. I’d be shocked to see anyone else get the ROY. I think veterans like Timmy will abuse his inexperience, but he definitely will make some posters with equal opportunity victims. You can’t sleep on him either because there were a few times after we got the defensive rebound and he was still fighting for the steal/offensive board. There was a play where he came from behind Duncan and caught him off guard.
I also think Blair is the real deal though, but he was the 37th pick and a steal and not the 1st pick consensus like Griffin.
There was a play in the 4th quarter near the end of the game where Griffin was down in the post and calling for the ball. Thorton, on the wing, completely ignored him and passed to the top of the key. Griffin pushed for position angling to the ball and was calling for it even more. It looked like a deliberate effort by the Clippers not to pass to him and he looked frustrated to me because of it. He was fighting really hard for position and got nothing. It was just one play though.
I love the fact that I can hear DeJuan’s rebounds from the 200 sections… I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that before.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Oct 15, 2009 10:42 AM CDT reply actions
I’m taking my girlfriend’s 8 year old nephew who has never been to a game. I’m getting him a Manu jersey and everything. I’m just really worried that Manu and Duncan aren’t going to play after playing in this Clippers game. Tony, Bonner, and Finley are good to go though….
And it isn’t him grunting. It’s him grabbing/smacking/crushing the ball.
We specialize in misinformation around here. Facts and stats just get in the way.
by Wayne Vore (ATS) on Oct 15, 2009 11:01 AM CDT up reply actions
Correct sir.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Oct 15, 2009 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions
and the sound of pain and defeat in the heart of his opponents… you can hear that from up top too.
"We suck on 'D. Both individually and team-wise, we suck. We're pretty consistent that way. I don't know if I have an answer to that. If I did, we wouldn't suck quite so bad." - Popovich
by Aaron "Hirschof" Preine on Oct 15, 2009 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions
Hairston
I’m really starting to like how he’s playing. Good D, can shoot, good passer. I think he has a shot of taking Bogans minutes.
Asked the scrub of the bearded bodhisattva, "Master, how does one take that which has not yet existed?"
The Master sipped his wine and answered, "The world is vast and wide. Why do you take off your warm-ups at the sound of a buzzer?"
::soft gong::
WWTD?
Nice.
Lauri, just knowing Pop’s history I really think he is going to give Bogans the minutes on the second unit cause he’s a proven vet. I think when Hairston makes the team, his play would be too much for Pop to ignore. Like 03’ when Jack was tearing it up, Pop had to start giving him minutes over S. Smith. Just my pennies.
Maliks stats are really solid.
The only thing is his three point shooting, where we dont realy have a bead on how much it has improved.
While he is shooting 50% from there, hes only made one of two…( We all know how much pop wants his wings to be good from downtown…)
The boogie man checks his closet for DeJuan Blair before he goes to sleep !
how is Bogan’s three point shooting?
"He's Manu Ginobili"
"moonshine is dangerous stuff."- HIpuks
by the little o on Oct 15, 2009 10:31 PM CDT up reply actions
he was a 34% shooter last year averaging over 3 attempts per game. I just scrolled through his game log. He has some terrible droughts and some terrible games, but he is also capable of lighting it up. I usually assume playing with Manu, Parker, and Duncan increases open looks and then shooting percentage so there is that too.
Malik was shooting the 3 just fine in the Summer League.
Straight from the No-Stat Zone to your computer!
Dunkin' Cheerleaders
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