The Association

Clippers At Memphis: LIVE Blog

by Brett Edwards

Due to the monumental playoff implications of the Clippers/Grizz game tonight, I will be live blogging a portion of the game, most likely the 3rd quarter. As has been well documented, it is in the Clippers' best interest to lose this game, since doing so would clinch the 6th seed and a home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs against Denver. The Grizzlies' reward for the 5th seed? A road playoff opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

Keep checking back to see if I can spot any signs that either team isn't quite giving it their all.

2nd Quarter : Announcers openly discussing the weirdness of the loser of tonight's game actually benefiting. The NBA really needs to address this in the off season.

7:20 : OK this is very unwatchable. I'll keep my promise and give a little bit of live blog action, but this is really bad basketball. 30-19 MEM is up, and neither team is playing ANY of their regulars. Check that, at least LAC started Elton Brand.

6:01: 33-19, thanks to a 3 by BOBBBBBBBY JACKSSSSSSSSSON. MEM's announcer needs to relax, seriously.

5:25: Timeout. So the Clips haven't played Cassell, Radmanovic, or Kaman, and actually started Vin Baker! If that alone doesn't warrant an investigation I don't know what does.

4:50: Walter McCarty scores, cutting it to 13. Tsakalidis just scored for MEM. Clipper announcers talking about their favorite movies, good stuff. A minute ago they were saying that they actually packed for 10 days in case they go to DAL. Like anyone's buying that.

3:40: Jackson hits his 3rd 3 of the quarter. Pau Gasol is not playing for MEM by the way. I heard he has a hangnail but we're awaiting official word from the team doctor.

3:00: McCarty BINGO! It only took him 80 games, as the Clipper's announcer Ralph Lawler just pointed out. By the way, Clipper announcers are actually one of the best play-by-play teams in the league. I would know, having the NBA League Pass I've heard them all, and most are horrible. Lawler has such gimmicks as BINGO! when someone hits a 3, and "Lawler's Law," which is the first team to 100 wins. Every time it happens in a game, he follows it up by saying "It IS the law!" in a serious tone. Classic.

0:26: Announcers giving reasons to watch the rest of the game, even though Clips are down 18. Can Mobley get his confidence back? Can McCarty contribute for the playoffs? Can Kaman film The Burbs 2 while the playoffs are going on? You know, important stuff.

HALFTIME: Mercifully, the half is over and I'm outta here. It's 51-33 Memphis, and I don't see the Clippers making a big second half push. I believe that all the players on the floor are actually trying and not screwing around or tanking, but the lineups for both teams are obviously ridiculous.

Unwatchable

by Brett Edwards

The fact that I am a basketball junkie should be obvious by now. I spend more of my time watching, reading about, or writing about the NBA than anyone who is gainfully employed should. I get every NBA game beamed to my television via satellite, and I am usually able to find a reason to watch just about any NBA contest. Tonight, however, is a different story.

Due to the fact that we are 2 days away from the end of the regular season, and there are no playoff spots up for grabs, I find this evening's crop of games to be completely unwatchable. None of tonight's games involve two teams that are both competing at 100%, and there is absolutely nothing at stake. As I type this it's 6:12PM Pacific, and the only two games that are under double digit leads are CHI vs ORL, (where one team will be getting swept in the first round of the playoffs and the other didn't make it) and CHA at NYK in the battle to see who will have the worst record in the league. Yuck.

Side note, I just saw some pre-game for the HOU game at DEN, and immediately turned off the TV once I saw Matt Bullard and Jon Barry doing *ahem* "color" commentary. Do the Rockets let every annoying white guy who ever came off their bench into the broadcast booth? Barry is one of the most obnoxious and least talented players to ever play in the NBA. I may be in the minority here though, because apparently there are some people who are actually happy about this.

I guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow's clash between the Clippers and Grizz, which should be very exciting to see how each team will attempt to manipulate the standings.

Manipulating The Standings

by Brett Edwards

This is the phrase I've seen in a few places that refers to teams tanking regular season games to secure a certain position in or out of the playoffs. For example, we mentioned the fact that Minnesota seemed to be resting KG for no other reason than to secure a bottom 10 record, and therefore keep their draft pick they received in the Sam Cassell trade. This one seems serious, as the NBA is actually investigating this (see "Briefly", bottom of page).

We also have discussion of this regarding seeding in the West. Might the Clippers and Grizzlies attempt to slide from 5th to 6th to avoid Dallas (likely) or San Antonio (possibly)? The Blog Maverick discussed it, and so have many others. What hasn't been mentioned though is that it's virtually impossible for the Grizz to tank their last few games, based on their schedule.

The Grizz payed MIN at home last night, and the T'Wolves were missing KG and Ricky Davis (their two leading scorers). Result: 16-point MEM win. Tonight they play at Charlotte, whose record is only one game better than Portland, who has the worst record in the NBA. Memphis may try, but they will have a very tough time losing to CHA unless they intentionally turn the ball over like 30 times. Let's call that one a W. Their next game is at HOU, who has nobody left since now T-Mac and Yao are done for the year. Again, tough to lose that one even if they try. Next game at home versus the Clippers. As we discussed in our last podcast, we may actually see David Stern in attendance to physically threaten both teams. The Clippers though have many "injured" players, including Sam Cassell, Corey Maggette, and Vladimir Radmanovic, so they may want the L a little more. Last game for MEM is the next night at MIN, and you know how that's turning out.

I won't go into as much detail regarding the Clippers, except to say their schedule involves a home and home with Seattle, and then road games at MEM and DAL. Combine this with their current crop of "injuries" and the Clips can much more easily drop most of those games, and consequently into the 6th spot.

Look for the Clippers to face Denver and for Memphis to face Dallas (or San Antonio) in the first round of the playoffs. Either of those match-ups for the Grizz would make it extremely difficult for John Hollinger to be correct, which is just fine with us.

Daily Dime Discussion

by Brett Edwards

The Daily Dime is a page on ESPN's website that covers the NBA. I normally think that what's written there isn't worth the pixels it's displayed on, and today is no exception. But something posted there today seemed especially ridiculous to me, so I felt the need to comment.

John Hollinger, who basically is a numbers guy with no actual feel for the NBA, wrote:

"In the West, I like Memphis's chances a lot. The Grizzlies should have home court against Denver in Round 1 (as long as the Griz remember to lose to the Clippers next Tuesday) and Phoenix has been an absolute sieve on defense ever since Kurt Thomas went out. I wouldn't be completely shocked to see the Griz in the conference finals"

WTF?! Now being a numbers guy, Hollinger would no doubt point to the Grizz's 2-1 record vs. the Suns this season, even though the two wins were in November and December. He would also point to the fact that the Suns are recently playing .500 ball over the last month, even though they literally have nothing to play for (the 2 seed is secure) until the playoffs.

The numbers also work against you, stat boy. MEM is 1-2 against the Nuggets this year, and the one win came a few weeks ago in a game where Mike Miller scored 41 points. Like that's ever happening again. The way Carmelo's been playing, I wouldn't just give that series to MEM. The Grizz haven't been that impressive lately either, losing 4 of their last 7, even though possibly tanking to secure the 6 seed and avoiding a first round series with DAL or SA.

The NBA is more than just numbers, and sometimes you just have to trust your eyes: Does anyone see the Grizz beating the Suns in a 7-game series? If so, you are definitely hallucinating.

Western Race Tightens Up

by Craig Kwasniewski

The race for the final playoff spots out west just got a little tighter Friday night. Here's a look at three key games:

Indiana 92 - NOOCH 90: At All-Star break NOOCH was on fire! They were the surprise of the season, with stellar play from Chris Paul, a great home court advantage in OK City and an attractive up-tempo style, what's NOT to like about them.

Going 2-7 since All-Star break... that's what. (Including an awful 16 point second half flop against the Clips.) They have dropped from sixth to eighth in the race with a 1 game lead over Sacramento in the loss column.

NOOCH lost at home to a decent Indiana team on Friday as forward David West came up short on a 3-pointer from the right wing. West is the only NBA player with three game-winning shots in the final 2 seconds of games this season.

Lazy sports writers will say that NOOCH's cold streak is because Chris Paul's hitting the wall. On the contrary, Paul is averaging 18.2 points and 9.4 assists, both above his season averages, during the 2-7 stretch. I just think they are hitting a difficult portion of their schedule and have lost some confidence.

LA Lakers 100 - San Antonio 92: Just where the hell was this game last Monday? I could have saved a few nights on the couch if the Lakers could have shown the same effort.

Anyway, San Antonio looked tired Friday night. They played 4 games in five nights, including a late game in Phoenix on Thursday. Luke Walton (13 points, 10 rebounds) played his best game since Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals. Kwame Brown held his own, guarding Duncan one-on-one in the post, thus preventing the Spurs from seeing the wide open threes they had last Monday. Mix in some sick Kobe drives in the 4th quarter and the Lakers held off any Spurs rally. Added bonus: LeDev (Devean George) sitting out for the second game in a row with a ruptured vagina.

The Lakers sit in the seventh spot in the Western Conference standings.

Sacramento 105 - Memphis 93: One of the hotter teams in the west, Sacramento used a 13-2 run in the third quarter to beat the Grizz. During the run, Sactown kept Pau Gasol from getting the ball on the block. They threw several bigs on Gasol, forcing other Grizz to step up. Need I remind you that Chucky Atkins is on Memphis?

(As great of a mid-season pick-up that Atkins was, he still is Chucky EFFING Atkins. I went all last season watching the guy play for the Lakers. He sucks at perimeter defense, forcing rotating bigs into foul trouble as he is constantly beat by his man. He's a decent scorer, but makes several poor passing decisions a game. He's more of a two guard, but injuries have forced Memphis to play him at the one. This will not end well for them.)

Anyway, Sactown is 7-2 since All-Star break and with Bonzi Wells retuning, they have their top seven players back from injury. They are learning how to play with Artest and the team defense is improving. Of all the teams competing for the final playoff spot (Lakers, NOOCH, Houston, Utah), Sac is a lock to make the postseason. They are too deep in talent to miss out.

Crazy Woodsman

by Craig Kwasniewski

Pau Gasol's transformation from Euro-Metrosexual to Crazy Woodsman is complete.

Last year he was a stylish/soft Euro (aren't they all?) who dropped 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds a game. So last offseason he journeyed to the plains of Montana, set up his own private country, hunted for raw meet, lived off the land and never listened to techno music or highlighted his hair once.

The result: 19.8 points and 9.3 rebounds a game and an invitation to the All-Star game. Last night, the "new" Pau Gasol scored the winning bucket over the Golden State Warriors 81-79.

No Tridecaphobia Here

by Brett Edwards

Before we get to tonight's match-ups, there were 13 games last night, with plenty of items that warrant discussion. Here's a sampling of some of the events that caught our interest last night:

-The Mavs won their 10th straight game, coming from 10 down in the 4th quarter, and 3 down with 40 seconds left to beat the Grizz in Memphis. There was some D in Dallas, as they held Memphis to 13 points and 28% from the field in the 4th quarter. Predictably, Mark Cuban was excited.

-What happened to the Nuggets? After winning 11 of 13 games, including 7 straight, the hype machine was in full force, until they lost two nights in a row to the Clippers by a combined 51 points. Now they've lost 4 straight, and the wheels are coming off the Carmelo Campaign.

-It's worth mentioning that the Lakers got killed in Indiana by a squad that rolled out Scot Pollard and Jeff Foster in the starting lineup, and that featured substantial contributions from David Harrison and Danny Granger. The Lakers scored 79 points and lost by 26. It appears that unless Kobe scores 40+, L.A. is in for a long night.

- The President triple-doubled en route to the Cavs beating the Nets. LBJ was really on his game, and although he was only 8-21 from the field, he was smart enough to get to the line 12 times. As for the Nets, there was no way the wife beater was going to pull another game out of his ass like he did against Detroit the night before. In that game, J Kidd went for 23, 12, and 7, and made 5-8 3-pointers. Last night Kidd played more like he always does, which means 4-15 from the field and only 5 assists. O-ver-RAT-ed clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

- It was Super Bowl night at The Palace, as many players from the Steelers rolled in and sat courtside. Combine this with the fact that the Pistons lost the night before, and that they were playing their new coach's former team, and the result was no surprise: an easy 14-point win for your 2005-06 Champs. I wonder if Big Ben hit the party scene again after the game?

Kobe the Enforcer?

by Craig Kwasniewski

From Maurice Lucas to Bill Laimbeer to Anthony Mason to Kobe Bryant???? Well, based on three of the last four games, Kobe Bryant is staking his claim as the new league enforcer. Just ask the growing list of bruised mugs; Dirk Nowitzki - a flailing elbow off a spin move, Dwyane Wade - a flailing elbow off a cut through the lane and tonight, Mike Miller - a direct elbow/flagrant foul retaliation.

Maybe this is all part of the whole Black Mamba persona that Kobe is embracing. From my view high up in the rafters, his Mambaness chose the wrong time to retaliate or slither or whatever the hell a smelly snake usually does during an attack. The end result was a 100-99 loss by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Grizz in overtime at Staples.

Right up to the incident, the Lakers were trying to put away a very pesky Grizz team. The Lakers were up by seven with seven minutes to play. Miller drove the lane and was flattened by Kobe's elbow. At first, I was completely surprised at the NON-reaction by any Grizz player. Miller laid on the ground, his face beet red, trying to compose himself. Not one Memphis player confronted Kobe. It looked like the Alpha Dog had reclaimed his pack. I thought the non-response was a telling sign that would lead to the Grizz rolling over in a big loss.

Instead it lit a slow burning fire in the team. Eddie Jones got ejected one minute later arguing a bad call. Eddie Jones??? This guy is one of the softest/nicest guys in the league and HE started jawing with the refs. Then Memphis rallied... first came the defense, followed up by some low post scoring by Pau Gasol, then Damon Stoudamire got hot and sent the game into overtime. Memphis pulled away early in OT and held on to win despite losing three starters to foul trouble/ejection.

The Lakers had the Grizz on the ropes and the Mamba fired them up with his ill-advised elbow. That didn't keep Kobe from adding afterward:

"Any player that was going to come down the lane at that point in time, I was going to let him know that he just can't walk through there," Bryant said. "I think we as a team have to do a better job of establishing that. And me, as a leader of the ballclub, I've got to take the initiative to do that -- and hopefully, everybody will see that.

"This being our home court, people come here and think it's Hollywood and all sorts of stuff, so they think they'll come down (the lane) and look pretty and shoot jump shots and dunk the ball and finger-roll the ball and do all sorts of cute stuff. And we've got to stop that."

Try winning a home game first....Mr. Mamba!

DTH Alert

by Brett Edwards

There are a few times during the NBA season where the outcome of a game seems to be pre-determined...destiny, if you will. And tonight's contest between Dallas and the Lakers seems to be one of those games.

The Lakers went into Dallas last week and handed the Mavs one of their 6 losses of the season. We discussed this (3rd one from the bottom) at the time, basically the Lakers played reeeeally well, and Dallas had players returning from injury and looked out of sync.

We know that NBA teams need things like revenge as extra motivation during the long 82-game season. Especially upper echelon teams that need to win 55+ games to affect their playoff seeding. DAL had a similar situation where Memphis beat them at DAL, then the Mavs easily won in Memphis a week later, which sent the then-hot Grizz into a tail spin. Before that game the Grizz had won 6 in a row; including/since they've dropped 4 out of 5.

But I digress. Tonight DAL is at full strength, it's the first game of a short road trip, and it's payback. Take out a second mortgage and head to Vegas...it's time to Drop The Hammer.

All B-B-Business

by Brett Edwards

The Pistons had an 11 point lead in Memphis last night with about 9:30 left in the game. DET clearly lost interest, and allowed the Grizz to come back to tie the game and send it into two overtimes. DET eventually won thanks to a step back 15-footer from Mr. Big Shot. Most teams on the road would have let the home team have the game after coming from behind with such a fury, but not the 2005 Pistons.

This Pistons team is all business, and is here to do something special this season. You could see it in their faces. When MEM was whooping it up and the crowd was going nuts, the Pistons were simply straight-faced and would not be rattled. Their look was like, "you don't think you're winning this game, do you?" And they eventually delivered.

Detroit is now 19-3 on the season, including a ridiculous 12-2 record away from the Palace. 12 and freaking 2 on the road! They are definitely focused on winning as many games as possible to recapture the championship they let slip away to the Spurs last season.

Speaking of the Spurs, as Walter said in the Big Lebowski, "You're entering a world of pain." SA has to travel to DET on Christmas morning to receive their gift from the Pistons: a serious beat-down. The Spurs don't care about the regular season (as evidenced by losses at Atlanta and New orleans). After they knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs in 2003, they had a game at Staples Center in November the following season. The Lakers had re-tooled with Karl Malone and Gary Payton, and didn't forget the recent playoff loss to the Spurs. The Lakers kicked the hell out of them, leading by as many as 30 points. I expect a similar result from the Pistons on December 25.