Clippers Can’t Overcome Injuries in Game 2
By Matt Miller
There were too many injuries for the Clippers to overcome a much smaller deficit than they faced Sunday night in Memphis. On the floor late Tuesday night, making a run Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Nick Young, Randy Foye, and . . . Bobby Simmons?
After losing Caron Butler for 4-6 weeks, aka the rest of the season, to a fractured left hand, high-energy guard Eric Bledsoe left the game with an apparent elbow injury, and sharp shooter Mo Williams left the game on a similar freak arm injury. This left Randy Foye, who has started most games but has received little playing time late in games recently, and Bobby Simmons who had frequently been a DNP-coach’s decision the last month of the season (including Sunday) on the floor to make the difference. And Simmons had a great game. He was not a liability, but instead was a big part of the Clippers success with 9 points on 4 of 5 shooting.
It was a game the Clippers could have won, so the outcome is disappointing. But they have to be encouraged with the energy they came out of the gates with, and that that level of effort should get the job done in this series.
From a numbers standpoint, the differences in the game were Memphis’ rebounding and free throw shooting. Memphis was plus 9 in rebounding, including 16 offensive rebounds, compared to the Clippers 4, which lead to 18 second chance points. And more impressively they made 31 of 39 free throws, including their first 18 in a row and missing 3 of their last 4 when the game was (likely) out of reach. If they are getting the interior shots, going to the line, and converting at those chances, it gets awful hard for the Clippers to get stops and get out in transition.
But certainly the difference maker in the game was once again an-ex Trojan guard. It was not Nick Young knocking down fourth quarter threes on Wednesday, but one and done O.J. Mayo coming off the bench and hitting big shots every time it looked like the Clippers were going to make a run. He was not an efficient 9-13 like elite teammate Rudy Gay. But Mayo still had 20 points on the night.
The Clippers played well. They had more energy at times than I have ever seen. DeAndre Jordan was more animated on the defensive end, getting on guys who missed defensive rebounding assignments, than he even was about not getting foul calls at the other end. Griffin’s free throw shooting wasn’t a liability, since he made 4 of his 6 attempts. And the Clippers shot 56% percent for the game, which includes 56% from behind the three-point line. Those should translate to a Clipper victory.
There was that moment with only a few minutes to go, after Chris Paul gave the ball up to Bobby Simons who knocked down a three, and the Grizzlies slowly came back down the court. They stood there. There was that look in their stagnant offense like “uh oh, this is going to happen again, isn’t it.” The Clippers were unable to secure a few defensive rebounds, and convert a few baskets, but in those tense moments, the Clippers looked like they wanted to win and Memphis looked like they didn’t know how.
If the Clippers are healthy when the ball tips on Saturday in Staples Center, and more importantly when the buzzer sounds that afternoon, I give them in the edge in the rest of the series (which is a crazy idea).