What the Clippers have to do to win Game 6

In the eyes of many the odds that the Clippers even up this series are very slim. San Antonio are 14-4 in these type of situations when they have a chance to close out a team on their home floor but the Clips have been the underdogs from the start and they've embraced this.

There's no doubt that the Clippers are up for a tough night, they're about to climb a mountain with a steep gradient but in order for the Clips to survive such an uphill battle and give themselves the best shot at upsetting the Spurs guys will have to step up. There will need to be changes for the Clips to tip the scale back in their favour.

 Blake Griffin Must Step Up in The 4th Quarter

This has undeniably been the best playoff series of Blake's career, he's averaging a breathtaking stat-line of 24 points, 7.2 assists and 13.4 rebounds. These numbers were last achieved by the great Oscar Robertson in 1963.

However, if one thing has become noticeable in this series, it's that Blake appears to be tired by every 4th quarter. This is no surprise considering he's probably played more minutes in this series than anyone on either the Clippers or Spurs. Due to Blake's tiredness the things he has done really well in this series such as his unstoppable face-up game he's stopped using in crunch time, instead he's settling for much more jumpers and had a few crucial turnovers. The most notable mistake coming in game 2 when he committed a crucial turnover when Clips had a chance to take the lead, this led to the game going to OT where the Spurs took control. Below is Griffin's production per quarter (NBA.com)

1st Quarter	6.8.	53.8%	0.8
2nd Quarter	7.4	57.7%	0.4
3rd Quarter	7.0	48.0%	0.6
4th Quarter	2.3	19.0%	1.3

Blake's production seems to take a heavy dip in the 4th quarters of this series and he's got to avoid this since he's depended on so much. Unfortunately, it's going to be difficult for Blake to cut down on his late game inefficiency and lack of production since his minutes are very unlikely to decrease in such a crucial game. If the Clips are going to snatch game 6 from the Spurs he must find a way to stay effective.

The Bench Must Produce

 Doc Rivers' rotation in this series has pretty much been reduced to eight players in this series. The starters and the only bench players he trusts - Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers and Glenn 'Big Baby' Davis.

With a bench of 3 guys except for when garbage minutes are handed out these 3 guys off the bench must produce with consistency which has eluded them to this point. Jamal had a great game 1 but has been unable to replicate, the same goes with Austin and his game 4. Big Baby has provided a lot of energy for his team but he needs to put more numbers on the board if the Clips are to stay afloat when Blake or DJ sits.

If these numbers (via NBA.com) suggest anything, it's that when the bench play well so does the team.

Crawford and Rivers in the Playoffs

Player	Points in Wins	FG% in Wins	Points in Losses	FG% in Losses
Jamal Crawford	32	56.5%	24	23.0%
Austin Rivers	18	72.7%	17	36.8%

The Clippers starters have generally been better than the Spurs' at this point, the difference in the series has been the bench but if the guys off the bench produce they could turn this series around.

Better Half Court Execution

L.A.'s Efficiency By Shot Clock Segment

Shot Clock Time	FG%	3P%
22-18 seconds (Very early)	63.9%	42.9%
18-15 seconds (Early)	52.8%	42.9%
15-7 seconds (Average)	54.8%	42.1%
7-4 seconds (Late)	30.0%	16.7%
4-0 seconds (Very late)	33.3%	14.3%

Throughout this series the Clips have had times when they struggle to produce in the half court, much of this has been due to Kawhi Leonard's exceptional defense of J.J. Redick who is a huge part of the Clippers offense in the half court. However, the numbers suggest that early offense seems to work very  well of the Clippers while shots late in the clock are more likely to brick than swish. In order for the Clippers to succeed in the half court they must get as much early offense as possible and Paul and J.J. must find a way to shake of Kawhi and his lockdown defense. 

All these adjustments will help increase the Clippers chances to take this series back to staples centre for a game 7 where the Clippers will be comfortable, if not, it's going to be a long summer.

Clippers fall to Spurs in devastating 111-107

Deandre Jordan made the go ahead basket that would have put the Clippers up 1 with 4.9 seconds left on the clock against the Spurs, but, then came the whistle the devastated the Clipper, players, coaches, fans and the whole of the Staples Centre crowd. Deandre Jordan's tip in called for offensive interference.

Despite the very tough loss Blake Griffin, who was terrific in the first 3 quarters of the game remained positive as the Spurs went up 3-2.

"It's a tough loss but the series isn't over".

The call on Deandre wasn't the only call that didn't go the teams way. Arguably the worst call was the tech given to CP3 for supposedly passing to ball angrily to the ref. This left many in shock, especially Doc Rivers.

The Clippers have until Thursday to get over the gut-wrenching loss that in many ways felt like the most important game of the series but it's likely some guys will struggle to get over many aspects of the game that hurt them significantly down the stretch. The missed 3pt attempt that would have tied the game for the Clips with 31 second left, the numerous missed free throws that made the Clippers climb harder and harder with each painful miss. All of it stung.

"I've got a team in their that played their heart out and there frustrated" said Doc Rivers. "There frustrated at themselves and their frustrated at other stuff too"

The game took back and fort basketball to the next level. Down the stretch it felt impossible to tell who would come out with the result. Despite a 1-14 3pt shooting performance from the Clips they key thing is they still had a chance to win late.

"It just goes back and forth like that" said Greg Popovich. "You don;t know what's going to happen".

Regardless of the result the Clippers showed fight and a tremendous amount of heart, they have to take this to the AT and T centre when they face Spurs in an elimination game on Thursday, if they don't have it they won't survive.

Crawford the key for Clippers survival

Jamal Crawford is an offensive dynamo. He's the vocal point of the Clippers bench, a guy who makes shots you should never make and takes shots you should never take. He makes hard shots look easy and easy ones look hard. There is nobody in the league like Jamal and currently there may be no bench player in the league that's as important.

For much of the 2014-15 reg season the Clips' bench scoring burden was Jamal's alone to cope with and with the exception of a couple games in the 1st round against the Spurs this looks to still be the case. When Jamal is not really a player that can be game planned for, his ridiculous shot making and creating ability combined with out-of-this-world ball handling skills making him very tough to stop when he gets going. Therefore, the Clips will be relying on Jamal more than ever in the postseason. Doc will need him to get hot and stay hot since the Spurs bench is no joke. Spurs back-up point guard Patty Mills has out played Hall of Famer Tony Parker so far in this series, while Diaw and various other bench components have done great things  on the court for the Spurs.

But, none of them are Jamal. He has the capability to put up better numbers than both of those combined if he was really feeling it and with the stakes so high it would be nice if Crawford could return to 100% sixth man form.

To be fair, you could argue that the Clips don't need much from their bench since the Clippers starting 5 consisting of Paul, Redick, D.J, Barnes and Griffin was arguably the most dominant in the league during the regular season but at the end of the day no championship is won without a bench. Nor is series.

Spurs head coach Greg Popovich recognises the huge importance Jamal has for the Clipper team and how he's simply irreplaceable in many ways.

"He's tough to game-plan for unless you go ahead and double team him and never let him shoot and dribble more than once" said Pop. "He's an uncanny scorer. He's such a great assets of the bench because he can bring so much offense to your team".

During the playoffs Jamal has often found himself playing half his minutes with the starters as-well as the bench meaning he's had to integrate his ability to complement a unit with his ability to feature as the focal point. With the starters there will be less shots for Jamal but he's always been good at feeling his way into a game with the 1st unit. Crawford has proved himself able to contribute to the Clippers in every way they want him to since he started his tenure in L.A. If he plays great then the Clippers NBA best offense may be too much for the Spurs. Crawford is the key to the Clippers escaping the 1st round alive.

A leader has emerged in Blake Griffin

There are many similarities between the 2011 Blake Griffin and the 2015 Blake. He still can defy gravity on a regular basis, he still has that natural knack for passing and he still strikes fear into defenders when rolling to the rim after setting a pick for Paul. However, some things have changed and Blake is many ways is not the same. Some differences are obvious, he has that smooth midrange game that barely existed and he has somewhat now morphed into a small forward-power forward hybrid with his passing and dribbling skills being taken to the next level and he has larger reigns on the Clippers offense than ever before. But the biggest and probably the most important change - Griffin has become the leader the Clips always expected.

In Game 4 of the Clippers' 114-105 victory over the Spurs there was a moment when Griffin was the only star on the court. Paul had to sit with foul trouble and DJ had to join him since Coach Popovich decided to employ the 'Hack-a-DJ' infamous strategy. Without the Clips' best passer and rebounder Griffin needed to take a lead on both ends of the court for the Clips to stay alive at a crucial moment. It was sink or swim and Griffin responded. He put up a sublime near triple double performance finishing with a stat line of 20 points. 19 rebounds (career high) and 7 assists. With every game he looks more and more like the leader of the Clippers team, a title that used to unquestionably belong to Paul.

"Blake has taken a lead on both ends of the floor now" said Clippers SF Matt Barnes. "He really has the complete game on offense".

Blake has maybe more than anyone else on the team bought into Docs philosophy of "if the opponent takes something away from you, what else can you do to help the team".

The ball wasn't dropping for Blake in the 4th quarter, he finished 1-5 in the period yet he still looked dominant with his passing and rebounding, both just as important as scoring in the playoffs. Now Blake he's become extremely good at leading by example but he's also more vocal then ever. About the career best rebounding performance he put on Blake simply said "that's what we needed. I just had an opportunity".

Like Austin Rivers, Blake came through for the Clips when they needed it most. That's what leaders do.

Austin Rivers helps save Clips' season

The Clippers locker room after a game 4 win against San Antonio was loud. Chris Paul told his teammates to congratulate the young combo guard that help save the Clippers' season who put on a fantastic performance in arguably the most important game in the teams history. It wasn't a must-win game for the Clippers but in many ways it was a MUST-WIN. Going down 3-1 against the defending champions is practically a death sentence but the Clippers found a way through in large part due to Austin Rivers. CP3 presented him the game ball and everyone cheered. It was easily the best game of his career.

"For a moment, for half a second maybe, I became a Dad in their" said Austin's father and Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. Tears welled in his eyes as quickly as he wiped them away. It was rare to see this emotion from him but clearly this game meant a lot to Doc. Austin hasn't had the easiest career, much of that comes from the foolish scrutiny of the fact that he is the son of a head coach. He's not always put on equal terms to other players and is therefore overly criticised because of his background.

In his finest moment in his career, Austin scored 16 points keeping the Clips in the game when SAS's Patty Mills was firing away and hitting with accuracy. Without Austin that night the result could have easily changed. Chris Paul mentioned that seeing Austin play so good seemed to inspire and drive the rest of the team.

Austin's teammates deserve credit for being...well... great teammates. Paul and Griffin have been providing Austin with the advice and guidance needed to get him going in the postseason, the mentorship that's important in helping a young guard like Austin develop.

After losing game 3 against the Spurs Blake was alone with Rivers after the game, he used the time to share some advice. Blake told him the Austin could be the difference maker for the team, the guy that takes them over the top, and that he needed to use his size and speed to go downhill and attack the rim (Austin's bread and butter) as much as possible when there are opportunities.

Griffin said Austin could be the difference. He was.

"I need you" Paul said to Austin in a timeout. Austin responded to Paul's belief and game a great performance at the crossroads of the Clippers' season. It was make or break time.

Maybe the best part of the whole thing was the simple fact that Austin didn't use the performance to get one up and snap back his critics. Instead he said "this is something I know I can do".


Rivers is a smart guy, he knows that one performance isn't going to change everything, The Clippers have championship aspirations and therefore the team wants to go much deeper than  game 5 of the 1st round but like i said,Austin knows this.

"Nah man we didn't win a championship" said Austin.

In order for Rivers to silence his critics he has to put in this type of performance again, and again, and again but it all starts with something and what better place to start with playing fantastic in one of the franchises most important games ever.

Austin earned his little moment of greatness in that locker room, the cheers and the claps and in Docs case, a few tears. If Austin can keep playing this was then everything would have been worth it and more. All the criticism, the hate and blame will be worth it.

The NBPA releases categories for 'Basketball Players Awards'

The National Basketball Players Association has recently unveiled the categories that will be featured in the upcoming 'Basketball Players Awards'. These awards mark a departure from the traditional NBA awards since these are to be voted on by players instead of the media.

The categories as follows:

Most Valuable Player
Best Rookie
Man of the Year
Best Defender
Global Impact Player
Hardest to Guard
Clutch Performer
Coach You Would Want to Play For
Best Home Court Advantage
Player You Secretly Wish Was on Your Team

The media will continue to vote for the traditional awards such as MVP and DPOY but due to NBA players such as Kevin Durant taking exception to the fact players have no say in the awards process the NBPA thought it'd be best to introduce a separate awards categories in which they player have their say.

“I think media gets too much power to vote on stuff, quite frankly, that you don’t know a lot about, as much as we [players] know about it,” Durant said in February. “We play against these guys every single night, we battle against these guys, we know what they say on the court, we know how they handle their teammates, we know how they approach the game. 

It seems Durant's wish has been granted as the winners of the awards will be unveiled this summer, expect to see a few different winners from the traditional awards voted on by the media.

For The Clippers, the dark Donald Sterling days are in the past

Saturday, the day of game 4 against San Antonio in the Clips' current playoff series signified the one year anniversary of the audio tapes featuring former Clippers owner Donald Sterling's racist rants.  This was a highly controversial moment in Clippers history, one that led to Sterling's lifetime NBA ban and the selling of the team to Steve Balmer.

If one things has become clear in the year since the rant, it's that the Clippers have completely moved on and have no interest in rehashing Sterling's final days.

"I have no clue what you were talking about when you said one year anniversary" said Chris Paul. "I think that shows how far behind us this is".

Although the Clips don't want to look back, head coach Doc Rivers will happily take the time to mention how far the organisation has come since the incident.

"We have a new ownership, a new president, we have a new everything" said Doc. "It takes time. Organizations don't grow overnight". 

The biggest difference from now and a year ago is that Steve Balmer is now the new owner of the team. He has been an enthusiastic, controversial free owner who gives fans the occasional viral video of him dancing over-excitedly at games.

Although the Clippers are moving on from there past it doesn't mean they are not prepared to embrace some tradition. The organization has been reaching out to former players and staff. They honoured their legendary play-by-play Ralph Lawler as well as welcoming back many former coaches including Norm Nixon and Gene Shue. Doc knows they don't have a rich history like their Staples Centre brother the Lakers but they are "building it". 

Indeed, the Clips have plans to rebrand this summer to embrace their future yet they are also planning to connect with their Buffalo Braves past by introducing classic throwback jerseys and retire the jerseys of a couple team legends in Bob McAdoo and Randy Smith. The Clippers have no reired jerseys hanging up at the staples and this would be a great step in building history.

It's worth mentioning that Doc thinks the 1st jersey the team retire may not even be the one of a player. 

“When I first took this job, I said I was trying to find a way of building some tradition,” Rivers said. “I was like, ‘Let’s hang some jerseys up of retired players.’ And then I started looking at the rosters and the only guy that came up was Ralph Lawler. So he will be the first whenever we get around to retiring someone’s jersey. The first one will be a microphone or a moustache for Ralph.”

Clippers need J.J. Redick to get hot

Clipper starting shooting guard J.J. Redick hasn't been shooting the ball well for the tea,  and this may  be putting it lightly.

The teams lights out shooter has struggled to get going against  the Spurs often falling victim to the length of reigning DPOY Kawhi Leonard who's guarded Redick for much of the series. Game 3 proved to be the lowest point for J.J when he finished with 7 points on 2-7 shooting. This isn't what the Clips expect from one of their most important offensive contributors.


"Their team has done a really good job" said Redick. "they put the DPOY on me and it's been a challenge".

The fact that the J.J. is being guarded by the reigning DPOY speaks a lot about his value on that end. A solid argument could e made that he is the most important offensive player on the Clips' roster. The key that makes things tick. Redick's off the ball movement spaces the floor for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan to go to work and it allows Chris Paul's pick and roll to be very deadly. He simply provides a new dimension to this offence since he's such a threat on the court. However, he seems to have been neutralized in this series against San Antonio.

"They've been in our airspace and have taken away the flow of our offense" said Redick.

The Clippers offense crumbled in game 3 against The Spurs, much of this is due to the cold shooting of Redick, his importance is immeasurable and for The Clippers to have a chance to take out San Antonio and escape the first round they must find away get J.J. going or the mountain they will have to climb may be too large.

J.J. is shooting 31 percent from the field through the 3 games of the series so far but despite the struggles of himself and the team as a whole he said "mentally" the team is in a "good place". This is encouraging news as the Clips will need to be mentally prepared for game 4 at the AT and T centre. If the Clips can win  there then they go back to Staples with the series even and and chance to finish things off with home court advantage. If they lose then The Clippers might have dug themselves a hole to deep to climb out of because they' have to win 2 games straight against the defending champions to stay alive.

"Now is our chance to respond" said Doc. "We have to do it"

Game 4 may be the most important game in the Clippers' history and in order for them to "respond" they must get J.J back on form. If he is making shots and the ball is moving then the Clippers' offense goes back to the unstoppable, league leading force we're accustomed to.

Clippers offense stagnates in 100-73 loss to Spurs

For the LA Clippers this was easily their worst loss of the 2014-15 season and worst loss of the playoffs so far. There is no doubt that this is a game the Clips will want to forget and move on from sooner rather than later.

"They jumped on us" said Matt Barnes. "I  think they got in out heads a little bit"

From the get go The Spurs were wide awake playing airtight defense and making shots with Kawhi Leonard on fire for most of the game. The Clippers could stop San Antonio or shake free from them and before team had a chance to gather themselves they were down by 20. The Spurs that showed up was The Spurs was the one from the 2014 finals and not the 2015 version that's been fairly inconsistent.

The Clippers finished with the top offensive rating in the lead but they were very cold in this game, they missed open shots but they also lacked ball movement which led to many contested one. It's not often that Doc Rivers blames the teams offense for losses but today was one of those rare days.

The team had hope after the first half ending it with Blake Griffin buzzer beater to keep them within striking distance but Kawhi came out in the third and just shut things down. It's clear the Clips will have to take things back to the drawing board after this one after many of the teams prime contributors couldn't get anything to go.

"I though Kawhi at the start of the third quarter changed the game, at that moment our spirit was broken" said Doc.

Blake Griffin led the way scoring with 18 points while Austin finished with 11 and Paul with 7. J.J Redick and Jamal couldn't find the range all game and when both of those players struggle winning becomes a much tougher task for the Clippers.

Chris Paul described what the Spurs did as doing "what we did in game one" and for the Clippers to win moving forward they no have to show some "resolve". Let's hope they do or this series will be over. Quickly.

DeAndre Jordan finishes 3rd in Defensive Player Of The Year Voting

DeAndre Jordan for the 2nd year running finished 3rd in DPOY voting. Depending on how you view matters this may been seen as a downright snub or in the eyes of some the correct placement. Either way, it cannot be denied DeAndre simply cemented himself as one of the leagues premier defensive centers this season in some may think he deserved more than another 3rd place finish behind the winner Kawhi Leonard and runner up Draymond Green.

Kawhi finished with 333 points in voting to win the award although he was second in 1st place votes to Golden State's Draymond Green. Kawhi became the 1st perimeter player to win the award since Ron Artest (Metta World-Peace) in 2004.

While DeAndre had many supporters for him to win the award nobody was behind him more than Clippers head coach Doc Rivers who had endless praise to heap on DJ.

Via Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles

He’s clearly the defensive player of the year,” Rivers said Sunday. “If anybody else gets that award, we need to have an investigation. … What he’s doing defensively, if he was doing that offensively, he would be recognized as the MVP or one of them, but because it’s defense, no one notices.”

This high praise was similarly echoed by Clippers point guard Chris Paul who talked about DeAndre's defensive plays that don't show on the stat sheet.

"You look at the stat sheet and you don't see how many times Aaron Brooks didn't drive because D.J. was there or how many shots where guys went up and they passed it. That doesn't show up on the stat sheet."

Additionally, Jordan received heavy endorsement about his defensive impact from NBA coaches Scott Brooks and Byron Scoot, something other candidates never received.

"if he doesn't win the award we may need an investigation" said Rivers.

Unfortunately, Doc may need to have one after all since this year wasn't the one when DJ finally made the push that got him the award even though in the eyes of many he was worthy. Me personally and many other Clipper fans probably share the belief that he will get his hands on the trophy eventually but it seems this year wasn't meant to be for DeAndre Jordan.

Clippers fall 111-107 in Overtime thriller

The San Antonio Spurs got the best of the LA Clippers Wednesday night as they won game two of the Western conference 1st round series.

Although the Clippers' stars played very well on the night, ultimately they were unable to stop the Spurs from executing on the night.

The Spurs led by six points in overtime before Chris Paul made a three-pointer with 44.5 seconds left to cut the Clippers' deficit to three, 107-104. J.J. Redick then attempted a three-pointer to tie the score, but it bounced off the rim.

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with an astounding triple double 29 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Paul had 21 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Deandre had 20 points and 15 rebounds but was only 6-17 at the FT line when the Spurs diverted to the Hack-a-Deandre tactic.

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with an efficient 28 points as the Clips were just unable to find an answer for him the whole night. Kawhi Leonard had a strong 23 point showing.
 Although the Clippers would prefer to be two games up on San Antonio they will have to live with the result and hopefully try to steal some wins when they visit the Spurs Friday night. 

It was clear the Spurs were going to make adjustment and they were evident - they played tighter on Blake Griffin giving him much less breathing room while making CP3 mainly become a passer in the 1st half.

In return the Clips will have to make adjustments. They might have to consider double teaming Tim Duncan if he remains this hot and efficient from the field. 

The Clippers did have a chance to win however. The Clippers took their first lead of the fourth quarter, 94-92, after Chris Paul made two free throws with 50.2 seconds left, prompting a large "Cp3" chant from the crowd. However, a Blake Griffin turnover in the games closing stages and 2 clutch Patty Mills free throws allowed the Spurs to send things to OT. 

The Clips will have games 3 and 4 in San Antonio to make up for their mistakes at he AT and T centre and hopefully their late game execution will be a step up from what we saw today. If things go well the Clippers could be leading this series again before you know it.

Chris Paul to play in NBA's first exhibition game in Africa

Basketball is a rapidly growing sport with the sport starting to emerge in markets such India and Africa, places where other sports have dominated the countries for a long time. The growth of basketball is in large part due to the NBA and the work they do to help promote the sport. A key example being the upcoming Africa exhibition NBA game that the NBA just announced. It will be the 1st to take place in Africa and NBA stars Chris Paul and Luol Deng have been confirmed to be taking part.

 The game will see team world vs team Africa with Paul captaining the former and Deng the latter.

"I look forward to representing team world in Africa said CP3. "It will be my first visit to the continent and i cannot wait to contribute to the growth of the game on and off the court".

The full player rosters are to be announced at a later date. Nevertheless, this is undoubtedly a huge step for the league in establishing a foothold in a country currently dominated by soccer. The NBA is already known in the continent for using it's NBA cares programmed in Africa for charitable causes.

Since the start of the league more than 35 players have come to the NBA from Africa to play in the league, this group includes hall of famer Hakeem Olajuwon and future inductee Dikembe Mutumbo. One of the most prominent Africa players in the NBA today is Serge Ibaka of the OKC Thunder.

Clipper fans all over can look forward to the game and since CP3 is captaining team world this is sure to be a fantastic game indeed.

DeAndre Jordan becomes 1st man in new Batmobile

DeAndre Jordan is known to many as being the biggest  Batman fan in the NBA. Therefore, it's fitting that he became the first person to sit in the brand new Bat-mobile from the upcoming film Batman vs Superman. It was part of an exclusive tour exhibition at Warner Bros VIP Studios.

Jordan described the exhibition as "the best field trip ever" and he had bright eyes and a big smile when he saw the Batman suit Ben Affleck donned in the film and all the other sleek props and set-pieces

It's likely other fans of the bat would have been left extremely jealous from Jordan's recent exploits.

You can check out Jordan's exploits at the Warner Bros tour in the video below.

"Game 1 the hardest, not the smartest, the Clippers have played"

Although the Clippers pulled an impressive 107-92 win over the San Antonio Spurs Doc Rivers is still looking at ways the Clippers can be better.

"We can't get intoxicated with winning one game, if we do then we're in trouble" said Rivers.

It evident that Doc has learnt from multiple playoff runs and a championship run that the Clips mustn't settle, instead they should always look for ways to improve as opposing teams especially ones a good as the Spurs will always find ways to improve.

The Clippers played harder than the Spurs last Sunday but Doc recognized that the Spurs are not going to keep missing open shots, they will eventually start hitting them. For when that happens the Clippers need to be prepared and brush up on mistakes.

Doc woke up early Monday morning to analyse film and had practice pushed back just so the team could have an in depth look at their mistakes. The LA Clippers' title window won't be open forever and it's clear the Clippers don't want to take chances.

"They crushed us in the 50/50 game" Doc said. " It felt like they got every loose ball and long rebound. We won last night and we were fortunate in a way"

On a bright note however, doc was impressed with Clipper bench players Austin Rivers and Glenn 'big baby' Davis. When they were on the floor the teams lead manage to extend further and Doc loved
the way the team "fed the pig" when they found sets that were consistently working for them.

Hopefully the team will be able to pull out another win at the Staple Centre on Wednesday against The Spurs, there going to need all the wins they can get if they want to avoid a long series.

LA Clippers' Jamal Crawford finishes 3rd in Sixth Man of The Year voting

Toronto Raptors shooting guard Lou Williams has officially been named the 2015 Sixth man of The Year. Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas finished 2nd in voting while the Clippers' Jamal Crwaford finished 3rd.

Williams, a 28-year-old, 10-year veteran in the league, averaged a career-high 15.5 points a game, helping lead the Raptors to an Atlantic Division title and a record of 49-33.

Jamal finished the season averaging 15.8 points per game as he helped the Clippers secure the third seed in the Western Conference. His candidacy for the award was undeniably hurt by the fact he missed 5 weeks of NBA action went he was injured with a bruised calf.

Thankfully, the Clippers guard said he finally felt like himself after an impressive game 1 performance in the opening round of the playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs. 
"I thought the days between this game and the last game I was able to put some work in and get my conditioning right" Jamal said.  "It just felt normal"

Hopefully Jamal can keep up the good work as the playoffs continue since the Clips are going to need his offense of the struggling bench.

 

Clippers start strong against Spurs, win 107-92

In game 1 of the the 2015 playoff series against The Spurs the Clips came into the game as the underdogs but if you managed to watch the game Sunday night you wouldn't have realised it.

The defense led by DeAndre Jordan swarmed as he dominated the glass and paint, the dunks were ferocious as Blake Griffin threw down thunderous slam after slam including a harsh posterization of Aron  Baynes. The Clippers offense hummed nicely throughout the game, it the scoring being led by Chris Pauls 32 points and 6 assists as he looked dominant throughout.

The Clippers started hot early getting to a 30-18 lead in the 1st quarter and they knew The Spurs were going to make runs but the Clips managed to remain consistent. It also helped that The Clippers' sixth man Jamal Crawford seem to look like his usual self in the game. He scored 17 points on an efficient 7/10 shooting.

The highlights of the game came in the third quarter when Blake decided to have some fun and unleash his fury on Aron Baynes 3 times. It got the crowd fire and it's worth noting that Doc said the crowd were better in this game than "last year against Golden State".

The Clippers shot 51.3 percent and went 10-of-18 from 3-point range while holding the Spurs to 36.6 percent shooting and just a 10-of-33 mark behind the arc. Kawhi Leonard was the only Spurs starter to shoot better than 40 percent, going 7-of-12 from the floor.

"There defense was better than our offense said Greg Popovich "that's the bottom line".

Rivers also included Matt Barnes’ play as one of those "little moments," as he scuffled with Aron Baynes for a ball out of bounds. There were plenty of plays that energized a STAPLES Center crowd that was louder than it had been all season.

“For Matt, he's part of the heart and soul of our team,” Crawford said. “He makes plays like that. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He's an emotional guy, and that play was a good, hard, clean playoff play, and it lifted the whole building. We feed off that. We feed off each other. We're fans of each other and we always support each other.”

Deandre Jordan ready for the Spurs favourite 'Hack-a-DJ'

Although San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich  has made it very clear that he heavily dislikes the hacking strategy it is clearly evident that he is not hesitant in anyway about using it.

In one of the Clippers-Spurs meetings this season Pop sent DJ to the line 28 times.

Thankfully the Clippers still managed to win the game after DJ went 10/28 shooting at the line.


DJ expects that The Spurs will send him to the line "a lot" during the playoffs but the jokingly said that he "had a lot of practice during the season anyway".

"I'm ready for it" Deandre expressed confidently and he has a right to be confident since the Clips are 12-0 when he shoots at least 14 free throws and 9-0 when he has shot 15 free throws.

Clippers head coach also has a strong confidence in DJ when he goes to the line but believes that this rule will no longer exist after this NBA off-season.

"I have a strong feeling we won't have to deal with this next year" said Doc.

The free throw line is Deandre's main struggle this season but it hasn't rained on his parade this season as he is in the midst of a career year, most of his success on the defensive end of the floor. Therefore, it comes at no surprise that the DPOY candidate has expressed his eagerness to guard Tim Duncan in the playoff series against The Spurs.

"He's on of the greatest players to play this game, on both sides of the floor" DJ said. "I idolized him growing up".

If Deandre shoots with confidence at the free throw line when The Spurs send him there and brings his usual defensive impact to the playoff series then The Clippers will  have to feel pretty good about their chances of winning against the defending champions.

Doc Rivers says Clipper bench will be "fine" in The Playoffs

An easy excuse that many pundits and fans across the league are using to doubt The Clippers come playoff time is their lack of a serviceable bench. This stems from the fact that core bench pieces like Austin Rivers, Glen Davis, Hedo Turkoglu and especially Spencer Hawes have struggled mightily at times this season.

Many Clipper fans would respond to the critics by saying that many on the Clippers' bench will likely see their roles reduced and this no different to what Doc is saying.

"you don't worry about it"Doc said about his bench. "Show me a team where the starters aren't going to play 40 minutes "

Although in quite a few cases the starters don't always exactly play 40 minutes Rivers is right in  the sense that come playoff time the starters play more, the bench less.

"I keep hearing about our bench, and I'm like we'll be fine"

Coaches taxing their starters in the playoffs is no strange concept, it happens often. Back to back games don't exist during the playoffs and each game is extremely important.

Phoenix Suns coach Jeff Hornacek also aired a similar attidude to Rivers'.

"TNT, ESPN games, all these games to me , it seems like you should be able to play 48 minutes" said The Suns' coach. "you play 4 minutes a time then there is a timeout. So unless there is foul trouble , you'll see Chris Paul and these guys play 44 minutes a game".

It's no secret The Clippers bench was barely utilized this season with the Clippers' starting 5 playing 302 more minutes more than any other lineup. Luckily, the players know what to expect this season.

"We know rotations shorter in The Playoffs. Some guys are not going to get the minutes there used" said Matt Barnes.

The starters playing big minutes seems all well and good except for one problem. There are likely to be a few long series' that go to game 6 or 7 waiting for the Clips. Teams, especially great ones like San Antonio and Golden State may quickly come familiar with the plays the starting unit use and may quickly adjust in an attempt to neutralize the starters. Therefore it may help to have a few guys off the bench that may change things up and cause problems for the opposition.

Whether this ends up being a problem for The Clippers remains to be seen but either way, I cannot wait.

There are rumours of a new Clippers uniform and logo, and it's not impressive

Pictures have surfaced on the internet of a supposed redesign of the LA Clippers uniform.

The fact that there are rumours of a planned redesign is no surprise since NBA teams more-so than any other major sports team are always trying to modify and redesign their image to stay relevant.

However, although the images that have surfaced seem to have a sense of illegitimacy about them sources have apparently confirmed they are legitimate. Either way, I'm not a fan at all of the design.

The logo and jersey as a whole seems to have a childish, unprofessional look to it and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone with this view.

However, although it seems the Clips may undergo a re-branding this summer I am informed that a franchise name change is out of the question.

The Spurs are coming, but The Clippers are ready

The LA Clippers know The Spurs have multiple rings, multiple division titles and have one countless series' against very good teams but this doesn't mean the Clips are backing down from the tough road ahead.

"All roads lead through The Spurs" Crawford said, yet he has a point. Even though The GSW have been the best in the west this season San Antonio are still the team to beat.

They are the reigning champions and until somebody proves they can dethrone them as the class of the Western Conference than there is no reason to believe otherwise but this is what The Clippers hope to do and they have embraced that challenge.

To beat The Spurs The Clippers are not going to emulate them and their playing style but be themselves.

"I think we just play" Paul said. "We have to be who we are".

This match-up is undeniable the must-see series of the first round and although The Spurs have their advantages The Clippers know that they managed to get a top 3 seed in one of the toughest NBA conferences in NBA history.

"They've been through everything they could possibly have been through to be champions and they don't get rattled" said DJ.

It seems The Clips are well aware of the greatness of The Spurs but they want this title bad. The window won't be open forever for them so they have to seize the moment. Now.

MY NBA AWARD PICKS 2014-2015 SEASON

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER : James Harden

For me personally James Harden  has been irreplaceable for the Houston Rockets this season.

The injury bug had struck the team hard this season taking away Patrick Beverly for the postseason and Dwight Howard for most of the regular season.

Houston was meant to sink down the Western Conference and maybe even out of the playoff picture but due to the brilliance of James Harden he kept the team afloat.

 The jaw dropping scoring numbers and improved defence of Harden have allowed him to drag a seemingly mediocre team on paper when injuries are accounted for to the number 2 seed in the WC,

Even though Stephen Curry wizardry on the court and the 'best player on best team' argument goes heavily in his favour this is the MVP award and no player has been more of an MVP to their team that Harden.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Deandre Jordan

Deandre Jordan is my pick for defensive player of the year and its not because of the fact he is 5th in he NBA in blocks and first in rebounds or leading the NBA in defensive win shares.The reason Deandre is my DPOY is because of the things that don't show up in the box score.

The endless amounts of shots he changes as he has no learnt to suppress his urge to block every shot and focus on positioning, The huge amount of drives to the hole he prevents as slashers turn away in fear of Jordan swatting their shots.  Jordan's dominance extends far beyond the box score and this must be considered.

Deandre has played all 82 games this season unlike many of the other candidates in the conversation and the Clips' average defence cannot be blamed on him but the pieces around him.

Lastly, unlike Draymond Green, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert and other DPOY candidates DJ has had more coach support than any other. Scott Brooks, Brad Stevens and Byron Scott have all sung DJ's praises about his defense. I have no reason to believe anybody else other than Deandre Jordan is the DPOY.

Sixth Man Of The Year: Isaiah Thomas

The argument here is simple. Jamal Crawford although he has been fantastic this season he simply has missed too many games this season to win the award. Therefore the argument boils down to Lou Williams and Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas has the edge in scoring which is a vital part of the SMOTY argument and though both players have been a fantastic source of offense for there clubs Isaiah's offense has meant more to The Boston Celtics since Isaiah help drag a very young, inexperience roster from the depths of the Eastern Conference to a playoff berth. Without him, no playoffs. Therefore, Isaiah my pick

Rookie Of The Year: Nikola Mirotic

My top 2 candidates for this award was Nikola Mirotic of the Chicago Bulls and Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves. I chose Nikola because although Wiggins has put up bigger numbers over the whole season as a whole Nikola has been of fire for the 2nd half of the season as has put up more meaningful numbers for a team that has championship aspirations and depends on his offence.

Clippers clinch 3rd Seed, will face Spurs in 1st Round

The Los Angeles Clippers have clinched the third seed in the Western Conference after a Spurs loss and a Memphis and Houston win on the last day of the regular season. This means The San Antonio Spurs slipped to the 6th spot in the WC and will therefore face the Clips in the 1st round.

Undeniably, this is a tough match up for the Clips since the Spurs are the defending champions who are highly experience due to the countless trips to the finals and are likely the favourites to win this match-up. Nevertheless, The Clippers like The Spurs finished the season strong and look to win the series and get closer to achieving their championship aspirations.

Both teams went 2-2 in the season series so clearly things could go over way but if the Clips are firing on all cylinders there's no reason to believe they couldn't come out on top against a tough, experience Spurs team.

The Western Conference Playoff Picture For The Clips

With the LA Clippers' win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday the team managed to clinch the third seed in the Western Conference guaranteeing them homecourt advantage in the 1st round of the playoffs.  However, The Clips have a chance to get one higher and gain the second seed but unfortunately their fate is out of their hands.

The Clippers' fate rests in the hands of the red hot San Antonio Spurs who are facing The Pelicans for their last game of the season. If the Spurs manage to win the game then they will have the 2 seed heading into the playoffs but if they lose then The Clippers will get the two seed heading into the playoffs and will have a much more advantageous position when it comes to match-ups.

If LA retain the two seed then they will face Dallas in the 1st round instead of Memphis which would be more favourable for LA since The Clips have struggled with this Memphis team for a few years now.

Gaining the 2 seed would also allow The Clippers to avoid San Antonio in the 2nd round, something that the team and fans would want since The SAS are the reigning champions and facing them in the conference finals would be much more preferable.

Since The Clippers' fate is out of their hands the team and fans can only sit,wait and watch to find out their playoff destiny and only hope things go their way.

Paul wills Clippers to a win late against Denver 110-103

Clippers didn't come out strong against Denver, Doc Rivers put it down to the fact that team may not have expect Denver to come out and play as "hard" as they did since they have nothing to play for. Nevertheless, a strong come back led by CP3 in the 4th quarter allowed the Clippers to clinch their 6th straight victory.

"I didn't make any adjustments" Doc said "The only thing I told them was 'it's in your hands'.

Doc's words turned out to be enough to spark a turnaround in the game as the Clippers once again had to find the grit to win.

Paul finished with 17 points on the game, 9 of witch came in the final two and a half minutes of the of the 4th quarter. His biggest points coming from a 3 pointer that stretched the lead to 4 points and proved to be the biggest turnaround.

"He wasn't going to let us lose the game" said Rivers.

Deandre also proved to be huge in the game finishing with 20 points and 21 rebounds and drilling two important freethrows when Denver employed the 'Hack-a-Deandre' strategy.

Blake Griffin also added 22 points and 9 rebounds in the win.


Although the team would have preferred to play better from the start instead of allowing Denver to out-shoot them throughout the game these last two games have shown they know how to pull out a win in a tough game. Blake mentioned that the team didn't have this last year.

The Clippers' next game will be on Tuesday on the second day of the back to back. This is an important game because if The Clips get a win in Phoenix they will finish no worse than the 3rd seed in the Western Conference.