Clippers (3-6) vs Toronto Raptors (4-4)
Gameday Haiku
Bargnani shooting,
Chris Bosh throwing down monstrous
dunks; oh me on my.
First Look
Raptors are starting its long west coast road trip tonight at Los Angeles.
From what I have seen, the Raptors are the best 2nd tier team behind the East's big 3. Their record does not reflect this, just 4-4, with some tough losses. Without Eric Gordon, the Clippers are really in disarray at the wing positions. Butler/Thornton combo is simply too weak against other NBA starting combos. The Clippers catch a break today with the Raptors starting Demar DeRozan who is not of NBA starter quality yet.
- Clipper bigs will be lost.
Bargnani is taking five 3s a game while making close to half of them. Bosh will also be shooting an array of midrange/outside jumpers. Kaman and Camby simply won't be able to defend them on the perimeter. Hopefully Kaman will be able to muscle up Bargnani inside. - Jose Calderon
He is not having the kind of statistically driven season that we are used to seeing the past two years. He has uncharacteristically missed a few free throws and is shooting far below career norm from the field. His assists numbers are also down due to Hedo Turkoglu's influence. Having Hedo means taking the ball out of Calderon's hand. This has brought his average from nine assists per game to six. He is reduced to spot up duty on many possessions. Jarrett Jack signing the full mid-level exception with the Raptors also mean Calderon's playing time is reduced. - Baron Davis
For the Clippers to have any chance of winning, we need a big game from Bdiddy that we really haven't seen since his addition to the team. Davis has played fine so far and looked to be enjoying his job. Let's hope he can step up to night and be the star he once was.
Clippers (3-4) vs New Orleans Hornets (2-5)
Gameday Haiku
Almighty Chris Paul
dropping dimes to David West;
May I plead ’Mercy?"
First Look
I hate to be pessimistic but Clippers will have trouble without Eric Gordon. Baron will have plenty of trouble with CP3, everyone does; Thornton starting and playing 40+ means is very unappealing. David West had two mediocre games in a row so I will watch out for him to make it up tonight. Plus he has the ability to draw Camby away from protecting the rim.
Chris Paul is Godlike
He is averaging 27 points a game this season but he is just not getting the support from his teammates. He is also not getting the amount of steals we are used to seeing. Not sure what is wrong there.- Outstanding Okafor
He's been quietly averaging 12p/11r/2b over 7 games. This is a major upgrade from Tyson Chandler which makes it strange that the Hornets are playing so poorly. He is a premier low post defender with the size to bother Kaman.
Preview: Clipsnation | At The Hive
The Curious Case of Baron Davis
What went wrong last season?
Let us take a look at his basic stats from the last four seasons:
As one can see, Baron averaged just 15 points, well below his career average. This can be attributed to his extremely poor shooting from the field even for his lowly standards. He also attempted four less shots than he did the year before. I will get into that later. But we already know he sucks at shooting from watching him dribble into contested long shots, jack up 3s, and take half-hearted floaters.
Contrary to what Baron himself said, the fans know he felt betrayed by Elton Brand. This coupled with the clashing of basketball styles with coach Dunleavy and his well-published disinterest in basketball made a miserable union with the Clippers.
The passing stats chart to the right is a compilation of passing ratings of the top PGs in the league(I also added Wade and Lebron for comparison) in 08-09.
Despite Baron's bad first season with the Clippers, his passing ability is still ranks him among the best floorleaders.
What will happen this season?
At his best, Davis is a big defender that can hold his own while having one of the highest steals rate in the league. His size and strength are useful as the undersized Eric Gordon will be spending a lot of time on the court with him. As long as his heart is there, the defense will be acceptable. This is not a big part of his game and is not what will impact the season.
This brings us to Baron's offense. His numbers were way down last season due to not just horrify shooting but also because of the set plays that Dunleavy runs. The slower pace of attack takes away a huge part of Davis's game where he can use his athleticism and passing to lead the fastbreak. Dunleavy's walk the ball up preference simply just tempts B Diddy to dribble into a 3 early in the shot clock. He started last season shooting in the 20% range but got a tad better towards the end. As shown in my projection, I think Baron will return to shooting just over 40% from the field and taking a few more shots. I think he deserves some slack on his shooting ability since he had always been the one on his team that has to force up a contested 3 as the shot clock winds down.
Baron's rebound rate went down last season but that should rebound nicely this seasons. haha. His career rebound rate among active NBA point guard is second only to Jason Kidd.
Coach Dunleavy likes to post his guards. So let Baron punish smaller guards inside. With EJ and Butler as bombers, this should create a lot of problems for oppositions.
And yes Baron, last season was like a bad dream. Bring back the beard, and the excitement and intensity you played with. I leave you for now with one of my favorite basketball video ever.
Stats used in this article are extracted from sports.yahoo.com and 82games.com
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