The Jet ruins a big night for L.A.
Jason Terry (photo. Dallas Morning News)
For about an hour, it looked like Tuesday would be the night that sparked 1,000 TV features and Internet columns about how the tides are changing in L.A., and the Clippers are seriously challenging the Lakers for local supremacy. The Clippers were outplaying the Mavs in the first half of a huge road game, while the Lakers had a dangerous Utah team on the schedule. The stage was set. But by the end of the night, status quo had been maintained … Mavs/Clippers started out bad for Dirk Nowitzki‘s crew: Sasha Pavlovic air-balled, DeAndre Jordan dunked, Dirk bricked, and Baron Davis hit a H.O.R.S.E.-style three. A few possessions later, Baron hit Blake Griffin (22 pts, 11 rebs) with an alley-oop from halfcourt, as the home fans were either saying “Oooh!” for Blake or “Booo!” for their squad … In the second half, however, Dallas found a bottle of that stingy defense they had been using earlier in the season. While the D shut L.A. down in the third quarter and most of the fourth, Jason Terry (28 pts) and J.J. Barea (25 pts) carried the O while Dirk (20 pts, 6-15 FG) had a quiet night by his standards. The Mavs took control but the Clips didn’t die easy, cutting a double-digit lead to six before Terry’s corner three with 30 seconds left served as the dagger … According to one Dallas announcer, Griffin is “the alpha dog of (the Clippers), unquestioned. Good for him and good for them.” That’s true, but as L.A.’s offense struggled last night, it looked like they needed Eric Gordon more than anybody … The Mavs neutralized Blake — as much as possible, anyway — with a combination of mind and muscle. They cut off passing lanes so Blake couldn’t even get the ball a lot of times, and Jason Kidd got at least one steal by sneaking behind Blake and snatching the ball from him. And when that didn’t work, Brendan Haywood just slammed the rookie to the floor … We don’t want to accuse Vinny Del Negro of waving the white flag early, but, well, you saw Brian Cook on the court in the fourth quarter. Although that reverse layup Cook made might have been the most athletic thing he’s done since he was at Illinois … When he’s on a roll, Barea has a little Steve Nash in his game, including the part where opponents eventually get annoyed with him. One time a frustrated Baron knocked Barea down with a couple forearm shots, which brought Rick Carlisle onto the court to yell at Baron. Both Carlisle and Baron got T’d up …Read More>>
-->
January 26th, 2011 at 3:39 am
Showtime says:
I like Blake Griffin as much as everybody else and I love watching them but let’s be realistic. They are 15 games behind the Lakers, right now they are not close to making the playoffs (13th place in the west), Eric Gordon is said to miss 2-4 weeks and I haven’t even mentioned THE CURSE or Donald Sterling.
January 26th, 2011 at 4:42 am
dmitry of jersey says:
You guys do realiza that Utah has been awful the past two weeks and about as dangerous as Switzerland, right?
January 26th, 2011 at 6:45 am
Lee says:
@DIME
LA = Lakers
Clippers = Clippers
It makes it easier to read your report that way.
January 26th, 2011 at 7:27 am
sean.dynastybball says:
Shannon Brown… dunk of the year (click my name)
@Showtime
I’m not so sure that Griffin’s elbow contusion (questionable for Wednesday) and Eric Gordon messing up his wrist are the fault of Sterling (or his curse). His curse is more along the lines of players bolting from the team as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Don’t get me wrong, Sterling doesn’t seem to be the type of owner you’d want to play for… ESPN did an extensive article on him a few years back (it might’ve been Simmons) that is worth a read that’ll give people insight into Sterling’s character (or lack there of).
January 26th, 2011 at 7:29 am
sean.dynastybball says:
LOL about dunk of the year.
January 26th, 2011 at 8:05 am
NYK says:
i kind of get the feeling that the CAVs are now tanking on purpose (at about 10 games ago) to try to achieve what they did during early 2003.
January 26th, 2011 at 8:09 am
JAY says:
It’s too bad the LA Blakers are in the west. If they were an East team they’d be a lock for the playoffs.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:00 am
First & Foremost says:
@ Jay, So what if they played in the East. How many lower seeds advance past the first round? True anything can happen but for the most part the expected happens.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Stunnaboy2K11 says:
@NYK
Me and my bro had a discussion about that, cuz really there are no players coming in that guarantee such a turn around like Bron did in 03. I may be wrong but this is gonna be a week draft year.
JET was amazing in the clutch, but Barea carried the Mavs. Still think they are too much of a jump shooting team but hey if it works, good for them.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:11 am
C says:
I thought it was Joe Smith who Magic faked out…
January 26th, 2011 at 10:13 am
jdizzle says:
@Showtime I thought Donald Sterling WAS the curse.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:19 am
neoy says:
eric gordon is so underrated in the clippers offense, and wtf is wrong with utah???? theyve got to make some serious changes
January 26th, 2011 at 10:40 am
That's What's Up says:
I honestly think it’s time to look at Sloan as the issue. He’s from a different era and Stockton and Malone are long gone. He may be out of touch and the players just don’t relate
January 26th, 2011 at 10:53 am
K Dizzle says:
Clips about to realize how important Eric Gordon is to this squad. Dudes act like Blake doin it all solo but havin a dude puttin up 24ppg, 5 as and 3 rebs out of the lineup is gonna be a wakeup call. Teams gonna start playin Blake like the Mavs did…..if they can.
R.I.P. to the Raptors 1,986 game 3 point hit streak. Ends after 12 seasons.
Lakers, baby. Startin to hit stride. And it’s not even the all-star break yet lol. Utah got murked so early, I started to feel bad for them….almost.
Is D-Will gonna bounce when he’s a free-agent?
Dude was massively frustrated, been so lately.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:54 am
JAY says:
@TWU
Blame Sloan?? You’re kidding right?? This is the first time in like 23 years any of his teams are “underacheiving” and you want to blame Sloan?? Lol. Blame the players. He has coached worse to a better record.
January 26th, 2011 at 11:46 am
First & Foremost says:
No way you can blame Sloan. He has a system that has proven it works, when done properly. He turns average joe’s into nba worthy players just by telling you to be in the right spot at the right time. Look at Utah’s roster, aside from the starting 5 who else would make the starting line up of the Cavs?
January 26th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Claw says:
Sloan’s teams are known for their percision on Offense, but they have looked lost for nearly a month. I thought Al Jefferson would help since he is a better post player than Boozer but something isn’t clicking and Deron’s numbers have been coming down (he’s on my fantasy team).
A shakeup might do them some good, but what do they have AK and possibly Okur coming back and after he gets in his groove will help. Okur just got back from injury and of course Gasol is going to abuse him, hell Robin Lopez would have schooled him (maybe not).
January 26th, 2011 at 11:59 am
sean.dynastybball says:
Hopefully the Jazz can muster the effort to beat the Spurs tonight in Utah (I know it’s unlikely). 10 games tonight…OKC vs MINN should be nice (fantasy wise).
January 26th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
JAY says:
@K Dizzle
DIME really needs to hire you as a consultant bro. Good call on the Raptors’ 3-pt streak coming to an end. The Raptors’ streak beats the old record by like 8 full seasons and DIME doesn’t mention it, at all.
@DIME
Being a basketball publication, I’m assuming you guys pay attention to the NBA, right?? Wake up boys. Some people are even calling the streak one of the untouchable records in the NBA record book, and there’s no shout out. I know the Raps have been a bad team for the majority of their existence, but you mentioned Brian fukkin Cook for goodness sakes!! BRIAN fukkin COOK!
January 26th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
DH says:
@ Dime,
Where’s Blake’s toughness after getting slammed by Haywood? You were all over how he’s big and strong when he’s yelling at Chalmers, but when someone actually does check him he does NOTHING.
I’m a Blake fan but let’s get it straight…he’s more of a Kevin Garnett than a Charles Oakley.
January 26th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
WinDelRoj says:
@20 thats insane. Chalmers was the first one to get any heat from Blake after he was being a douche. Since he got T’d up after Lamar Odom threw a fit wouldnt it be smarter to have let this go (foul wasnt hard, the landing was)? Comparing him to KG is laughable given that this guy has shown nothing but class and KG has a TOP 10 bitch ass moments video on YouTube..
January 27th, 2011 at 10:44 am
DH says:
@21 – I’m just saying what has Blake done to prove he’s tough? Dude can jump out of the gym and goes hard on every play…but that doesn’t mean he’s a tough guy. Dime was sweatin’ him the other day about how Chalmers is lucky Blake didn’t put him down. Why do we have any reason to believe he would do it?