Whats Wrong with the Clippers? Top 5 list
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Whats Wrong with the Clippers? Top 5 List
1. COMPLAINING: Starts from the top and trickles down to the starters and all the way to the bench. Every foul, every non-foul = Complaints. Doc, Griffin, Blake (yes I mention him 2x), Barnes, Crawford. JUST PLAY and STOP COMPLAINING!!! It's terrible to watch, and it can kill a teams momentum. When you are too worried about the refs and calls you can not focus on producing because you have a built in excuse for failure. CP3 is exempt from this one. So is Deandre for different reasons (see point 2)
2. FT% JORDAN WHO: Only reason Deandre doesn't complain about fouls is because heaven forbid he makes 1 FT every time. If you thought Deandre was bad shooting FTs during the regular season you would be right (39.7%), and amazingly enough he has been able to get even worse in the playoffs (36.7%). I'm sorry. I do not get paid millions of dollars to play basketball, but if I did, I could kick the ball in the basket more than 36.7%. PRACTICE. 10 hours a day all off-season. 10,000 FTs a day. Its all about practice. Wilt shot better granny style. And speaking of Jordan, didn't MJ make a free throw in a game with his eye closed? COME ON MAN.
3. AUSTIN RIVERS MINUTES: Yes he had a game of his life in game 4, but....BUT. Last night, game on the line, Kawhi drives, Rivers leaves a 3pt shooter to help, leaving Green wide open in the corner (yes Green missed it, but Rivers shouldn't have even been allowed to be in that situation). I get it. If I were Doc, I would play my son too. That said, just another reason Doc should be gone. Clippers have one good bench player (good is relative in Crawford, and he has proven he can shoot the Clippers out of games as often as he shoots them into games)
4. ANTI CLUTCH: Griffin TO's, Deandre Goal Tending, Redick missing 3's, missed free throws, no momentum killing TO's, Technicals. The Opposite? SAN ANTONIO SPURS. Who is Boris Diaw? Danny Green on another team? 70 year old TIMeless Duncan? Spurs always make the right plays at the right time, whether its the star or the 10th guy on the bench. See the below "matchups" and in the clutch, who would you choose?
Doc < Pop
Paul > Parker
Griffin < Duncan
Jordan < Splitter
Barnes < Leonard
Redick < Green
Crawford < Diaw
Rivers < Mills
Davis < Ginobli
5. BAD LUCK: Not bad calls, or ball not going in, or lucky shots by the other team. Simply bad luck of playing a great team/organization like the SAS in the 1st round. Same way Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Ewing, Wilkins etc were unlucky to be in the league at the same time as Jordan's dominance.
CAN THE CLIPPERS WIN? Sure. They have proven it 2x and were one or 2 bad plays from winning 2 others. They can win. I just don't trust them.
